MOSCOW, January 13 (R-Sport) – Russia's cross-country skiing team edged their Norwegian rivals to the sprint title Sunday at seventh World Cup stage in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic.
Vancouver Olympic champion Nikita Kriukov and three-time world silver medalist Maxim Vylegzhanin clocked 22 minutes, 3.8 seconds to beat Norway’s Eldar Ronning and Eirik Brandsdal to the gold by just 0.22 seconds.
The second Norwegian team comprising Pal Golberg and Ola Vigen Hattestad finished third, 1.56 seconds behind their compatriots.
However, Norway took revenge in the women’s event as Maiken Caspersen Falla and Ingvild Flugstad Ostberg topped the podium to leave a Finnish duo in second and the Russians third.
Points scored in the team sprint events contribute to the so-called Nations Cup standings, which also aggregate scores from individual results to determine the best-performing country by the end of the season.
In Saturday’s individual sprint races, world champion Kikkan Randal triumphed among the women, while Russia’s Sergey Ustyugov, 21, won his first World Cup gold in the men’s competition.
