CROSS-COUNTRY:

Kowalczyk edges Bjoergen for 30 km gold

Feb. 27, 2010 — The Canadian Press     ►Photo: Justyna Kowalczyk edges Marit Bjoergen at the finish line (Agence Zoom)

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WHISTLER, B.C. — Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland denied Marit Bjoergen a fourth gold medal of the Olympics, beating the Norwegian in a frantic final sprint Saturday to win the 30-kilometer classical cross-country race. Canada's Sara Renner was 16th.

Kowalczyk and Bjoergen were side by side down the final straightaway before the Norwegian lost her rhythm near the end and watched her rival surge first across the finish line.

Kowalczyk, the World Cup leader who settled for a silver and bronze in previous races at the Games, pumped both hands into the air before collapsing face first onto the snow as she gasped for air. She finished in 1 hour, 30 minutes, 33.7 seconds for her first Olympic gold. Bjoergen was 0.3 seconds back to take the silver, and Aino-Kaisa Saarinen of Finland took the bronze, 1 minute, 5 seconds back.

"It feels good to be No. 1," said Kowalczyk, who won Poland's first gold of the Games. "I don't even remember the last 200 meters. But this is the Olympics, you must fight."

Bjoergen was looking to become the first woman to win four golds at the same Winter Olympics since speedskater Lidiya Skoblikova did it for the Soviet Union in 1964. The Norwegian won the individual sprint, 15 km pursuit and anchored Norway's winning relay team in Vancouver, and looked headed for a win on Saturday until Kowalczyk proved to have more energy toward the end.

It was Bjoergen's fifth medal from five events — she skipped the team sprint — after taking bronze in the 10 km freestyle race.

"She was just stronger than me today," Bjoergen said of Kowalczyk. "But I get to take five medals with me home. I never would have thought that, and I'm incredibly satisfied."

After skiing in a group of about a dozen competitors for much of the event, Bjoergen and Kowalczyk made it a two-way race shortly after the 20 km mark.

The Norwegian went up front and pulled away from everyone but Kowalczyk, who stayed within 6 seconds of Bjoergen before catching up to her as they left the ski stadium for the final five-kilometer lap.

The Norwegian led for much of the last lap with Kowalczyk right behind, until the Pole tried to pull away with about 800 meters left. Bjoergen stayed close, however, and the two entered the final straight together, matching each other with each push of the pole until Bjoergen faltered near the end.

For the first time in a 30 km at the Olympics, the competitors were allowed to change skis during the race, with a maximum of three pit stops allowed. The format was first tried at the world championships last year in Liberec, Czech Republic.

Saarinen seemed to have wasted her chance for a medal when she opted to make a pit stop at the 25 km mark and struggled to get one of her new skis fastened correctly. However, she quickly caught up to the other medal contenders and pulled away, finishing 14 seconds ahead of Germany's Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle.

"My fingers were so frozen, I almost couldn't move them," Saarinen said about her ski change, but added that it was the right decision to make another pit stop. "We have seen in this competition, when you come into the stadium you have to have good glide."  SRC

Whistler women's Olympic 30 km results