Therese Johaug thrives on Lillehammer’s tough courses. She turned up the pace in the skiathlon race immediately. Ebba Andersson and Jonna Sundling hung out with the best of the Swedes.
Towards the end of the classic half of the race, the 36-year-old put in another gear and started to create distance to the remaining riders. After the ski change, the distance grew quickly.
With 2.5 kilometers left in the race, she was a minute ahead of Ebba Andersson and the group that was fighting for the other podium places.
Therese Johaug has both Olympic and World Cup gold in skiathlon. Today’s victory was her 86th World Cup victory. The final margin of victory was 42 seconds.
Heidi Weng took second place ahead of Jessie Diggins and Ebba Andersson finished just off the podium in fourth.
Only four Swedes to start
Only four of the six Swedish starting places were used as Frida Karlsson is resting and Linn Svahn and Moa Lundgren have cold symptoms.
The text is updated.