Germans leave it late
Germany¿s Claudia Nysted and Norway¿s Petter Northug both produced stirring late finishes to grab gold in their respective women¿s and men¿s cross-country team sprint event in Vancouver.
Last Updated: 22/02/10 10:20pm
Germany's Claudia Nysted and Norway's Petter Northug both produced stirring late finishes to grab gold in their respective women's and men's cross-country team sprint event in Vancouver.
In the women's event, the Swedish duo of Charlotte Kalla and Anna Haag bounced out in front and led from start until almost the finish.
The Germans had been shadowing Sweden throughout the six laps of the 1.4km course, where each skier takes it in turns to race around.
Nystad raced in front of Haag at the start of the final lap, and despite the Swede making a brave burst for it at the final hill, the German was too strong as she pulled away just as they entered the stadium for the finish.
Germany finished just 0.6 seconds ahead of Sweden, while Russia duo Irina Khazova and Natalia Korosteleva took bronze after finishing four seconds further back.
Own medicine
Germany had a taste of their own medicine in the men's event soon after, as Norway's Northug came flying home past Axel Teichmann in the closing stages to walk away with gold.
After dominating the sport over the last four years, Northug won his first Olympic gold medal after racing alongside partner Oeystein Pettersen.
Teichmann and team-mate Tim Tscharnke had to settle for silver with Russians Nikolay Morilov and Alexey Petukhov taking the bronze.
