CROSS COUNTRY SKIING: Norway’s Johaug returns with World Cup win in Ruka

Norway's Olympic and World Champion skier Therese Johaug.

In late 2016, triple Olympic medalist Therese Johaug (NOR) was suspended for doping for 18 months because a team doctor mistakenly gave her some lip balm which contained an anabolic steroid.

That kept her out of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games by about a month, but she returned in style to the FIS Cross Country World Cup with a victory in the 10 km Classical race on Sunday in Ruka (FIN).

Now 30, she didn’t just win, she dominated the race, winning by 22.5 seconds over Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla, the PyeongChang Skiathlon gold medalist from last February. For Johaug, it was the 43rd career World Cup gold medal and her 101st medal on the circuit from 2006-18. In her last competitive season in 2016, she won the overall World Cup and the distance title, and she is highly motivated to do so again.

In contrast, the women’s Sprint race on Saturday was for the newcomers, with Yulia Belorukova (RUS) posting her first-ever World Cup win, Sweden’s Maja Dahlqvist her second-ever World Cup medal and Swede Ida Ingemarsdotter winning her first World Cup individual-race medal in almost three years.

The men’s races were swept by Russian Alexander Bolshunov, who came into Ruka with seven career World Cup medals and just one win, in a 15 km Mass Start race in Falun last March. But at just 21 years old and as the winner of four medals at PyeongChang (0-3-1), much more is expected of him this season … and he has already delivered. Summaries:

FIS Cross Country World Cup
Ruka (FIN) ~ 24-25 November 2018
(Full results here)

Men’s 1.4 km Sprint: 1. Alexander Bolshunov (RUS), 2:29.35; 2. Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), +0.31; 3. Eirik Brandsdal (NOR), +1.35; 4. Emil Iversen (NOR), +3.04; 5. Gleb Retivykh (RUS), +3.86.

Men’s 15 km Classical: 1. Bolshunov (RUS), 36:17.8; 2. Iversen (NOR), 36:37.3; 3. Calle Halfvarsson (SWE), 36:39.0; 4. Martin Johnsrud Sundby (NOR), 36:48.9; 5. Ardrey Larkov (RUS), 36:52.1.

Women’s 1.4 km Sprint: 1. Yulia Belorukova (RUS), 2:52.62; 2. Maja Dahlqvist (SWE), +1.12; 3. Ida Ingemarsdotter (SWE), +1.51; 4. Maiken Caspersen Falla (NOR), +1.52; 5. Krista Parmakoski (FIN), +4.71.

Women’s 10 km Classical: 1. Therese Johaug (NOR), 28:02.5; 2. Charlotte Kalla (SWE), 28:25.0; 3. Ebba Andersson (SWE), 28:35.3; 4. Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg (NOR), 28:52.0; 5. Yulia Belorukova (RUS), 28:57.4. Also in the top 25: 8. Sadie Bjornsen (USA), 29:13.0; … 14. Jessica Diggins (USA), 29:41.0; … 23. Rosie Brennan (USA), 30:05.3.