Kalla wins skiathlon gold, Bjoergen makes history
PYEONGCHANG: The Pyeongchang Games got off to a historic start on Saturday. Charlotte Kalla of Sweden won the first gold of the games and Norwegian crosscountry skier Marit Bjoergen took silver in the women’s 15km skiathlon to become the most decorated female Winter Olympian ever.
But while the 37-year-old Bjoergen, who won three gold at the 2010 Vancouver Games and three more in Sochi, proved she’s still a dominant figure in the sport, she admitted there is a noticeable changing of guard happening in the sport. “I have been very good for many years but I’m also getting older and the younger girls are getting better,” Bjoergen said.
It was an 11th career medal for Bjoergen, breaking a three-way tie with Raisa Smetanina of Russia and Stefania Belmondo of Italy. Bjoergen thrust her arms up in the air as she crossed the finish, knowing she’d made history in what she said will be her last Olympics.
Kalla won the race by more than seven seconds after breaking away from the pack in the last 2 km to avenge her second-place finish to Bjoergen at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
She said she has plenty of respect for Bjoergen, one of her training partners. “It feels very good to be ahead of Marit,” Kalla said. “She’s a fantastic skier.”
Krista Parmakoski of Finland was third and Jessica Diggins placed fifth, missing a chance to become the first American woman to earn a medal in crosscountry skiing. Diggins was third in the World Cup standings coming into the race.
Diggins said she was so nervous before the race that she threw up. “The stress level has been pretty high,” Diggins said. “I need to work on a few things to manage stress.”
Led by Bjoergen, Norway won 11 medals overall in cross-coun- try in Sochi four years ago — including five gold — to tie the country’s record. The Norwegians have now tied Russia for the most medals all time in women’s cross-country skiing with 37.
Including men’s cross-country events, only Bjoern Daehlie of Norway has won more medals (12) than Bjoergen. She will have a chance to pass that mark in the upcoming weeks.
For Kalla it was her sixth career Olympic medal — and third gold.
WELLINGER CHAMP
The cold was biting. The wind was brutal. And for Andreas Wellinger, it added up to Olympic gold. The 22-year-old German won the men’s normal hill title despite the frigid temperatures and whipping wind at the Alpensia Ski Jumping Center. He nailed a jump of 113.5 metres to secure the gold with 259.3 points.
“The wind was quite good,” Wellinger said. “Sometimes a bit different — one, two, three metres headwind — but I think all in all it was a good competition, it was really fair and if you do your best jumps you can be close to the top and especially my second jump was really, really good.”