Magdalena Olsson, Sweden returned to winning ways today, finishing 1 minute quicker than her compatriot Frida Sandberg. Men’s World Cup leader, Norwegian Jørgen Baklid, lost time early in the men’s race but came back strongly to win by 20 seconds.
Frida Sandberg, Sweden was the fastest in the early stages of the women’s race, with Olsson a few seconds slower up to 4.1 km of the 11.7 km course. From this point Olsson took over, taking advantage of a 38-second time loss by Sandberg. Anna Ulvensøen, winner of the Sprint, was also up with the pace through to the 8.1 km mark but then lost 20 seconds to 11.1 km and a further 10 seconds in the final stages, finishing with second-fastest time – and then found herself disqualified for skiing through an out-of-bounds area.
Sweden finished with 3 athletes in the top 6, and there was a podium place for Bulgaria today, the experienced Antoniya Grigorova taking fifth position, 2.14 down on the winning time.
Sweden had 3 athletes in the top 6 in the men’s race too, but it was a fifth victory for Baklid as his superior strength and fitness told in the final stages. The two Swedish athletes Jonatan Ståhl and Isak Lundholm were at the front early on, with Baklid 26 seconds down on Lundholm after 4.3 km. It was only after the 8.1 km mark on the 11.7 km course, where all three athletes had similar times, that Baklid began to pull away.
Snow canons had been in use to enable good courses to be set that included two arena passages.
Magdalena Olsson now leads the women’s World Cup standings by 25 points ahead of tomorrow’s Mass Start race, which will be held at a different venue from the first two days. Follow the action on IOF LIVE – the men’s mass start is at 9.30 CET and the women’s at 9.40.
Leading results, Middle distance
Women
- Magdalena Olsson SWE 49:12
- Frida Sandberg SWE 50:12
- Ella Turesson SWE 50:22
- Amanda Yli Futka FIN 50:33
- Antoniya Grigorova BUL 51:26
- Idunn Strand NOR 51:41
Men
- Jørgen Baklid NOR 41:51
- Jonatan Ståhl SWE 42:11
- Isak Lundholm SWE 42:20
- Pyry Riisanen FIN 42:55
- Gustav Nordstrӧm SWE 43:07
- Lavio Müller SUI 43:08
Frontpage photo: Magdalena Olsson on Saturday’s sprint. By Milan Venhoda