Beijing: The first gold medal of the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 has been awarded and it went to Therese Johaug in the women's 7.5km + 7.5km skiathlon on Saturday.
The Norwegian won in a time of 44:13.7 beating ROC's Natalia Nepryaeva into silver medal position (44:43.9) with Austria's Teresa Stadlober claiming bronze (44:44.2).
Johaug took the lead following the transition phase at the halfway mark following the 7.5km classic-style leg. After changing to freestyle skis, Johaug surged ahead opening up a 15-second lead in the space of 600m before going on to claim a first Olympic medal.
By the finish line it was ROC's Natalia Nepryaeva who claimed silver just ahead of Austria's Teresa Stadlober who took the bronze, banishing the memory of PyeongChang 2018 in which she took a wrong turn with 2km to go and dropped from second to ninth place.
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Finland's Kerttu Niskanen, who had a lovely family moment at the Tour de Ski in December winning gold on the same day as her brother Iivo who is also competing at Beijing 2022, finished fourth. Sweden's Frida Karlsson came fifth and Diggins ended up in sixth. Another medal favourite, Karlsson's compatriot Ebba Andersson finished 10th.
ANI
