In what was the final individual event for the women in cross country, gaining a medal had a dramatic finish in the women’s 10 km freestyle cross country Friday. Norway’s Ragnhild Haga took the gold medal getting ahead of Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla halfway to take the gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Kalla managed to secure the silver while both Marit Bjoergen of Norway and Finland’s Krista Parmakoski finished at the exact time to both win the bronze medal.
Bjoergen remained the only defending medalist to qualify for the race which saw them take on four laps of 2.5 kilometers each. With no need to be in the grooves or have anyone drafting behind you, the need to be out front alone was essential to finishing in the top three in the final individual race of the sport.
In the first lap, it was Kalla who set the pace for the first 12 minutes of the competition. It wasn’t until the 6-kilometer mark that she lost pace and fell behind Haga who took over for her during her run to stay out front. Bjoergen never threatened her teammate nor Kalla who kept a strong time that she couldn’t keep up with. By the 6.2km mark, the 37-year-old was almost 17 seconds behind the Swede and 19 from her countrywoman who continued to lead.
Haga remained solid during the final four kilometers setting the bar high for Kalla who came out two spots later during the run. The Norwegian finished the race at 25:00.5 that beat the powerful Swede by 20 seconds. Bjoergen slowed down significantly but managed to gain third place by four seconds. The surprise came a little bit after as Parmakoski was out on the course maintaining position in the top six since crossing the first checkpoint. She sat in fifth at the 8.4km mark making a push to get the chance to knock Bjoergen off the podium. As she rushed towards the finish, the 27-year-old found herself completing the race with the exact time as Bjoergen.
With nearly half the competitors still coming in, it was a waiting game before the four athletes could celebrate the accomplishments they pulled off on the course. It remained that way as two women each won the bronze with Haga in lock for the gold and Kalla securing the silver medal. Parmakoski was thrilled to realize that she managed to pull off the rare finish in Olympic sports to join Bjoergen winning the bronze. With Norway winning two medals, it gives the country’s cross-country team a lot of confidence moving into the team competitions.
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