As expected, Therese Johaug is the sovereign winner of the first stage of the Ski Tour in Sweden and Norway. Over ten kilometers in free technique in interval start, only the 0.6 kilometer split did not show the best time for Johaug, but the Czech Katerina Janatova (CZE, Fischer ***) quickly noticed that she started out far too quickly. After five kilometers, Johaug was 20 seconds ahead and extended her lead in the second lap to up to 47 seconds - the arc of suspense for the entire Ski Tour drops significantly after the first race. For almost the entire race, Heidi Weng was in second position behind Johaug, which she also saved just ahead of Ingvild Flugstad Østberg after crossing the line. Ebba Andersson (SWE, Fischer ***) missed the podium in fourth by about six seconds. Ragnhild Haga (NOR, Fischer ***), who had held the lead for a long time, finished fifth. Natalia Nepryaeva (RUS, Fischer ***) has already lost too much time in the overall ranking as tenth.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby fought for a podium with Finn Hågen Krogh (NOR) during the race, but fell behind him due to the strong final lap of the colleague and had to be content with fourth place. Hans Christer Holund (NOR, Fischer ***) was dropped back to sixth place after setting the best split times in the first kilometers. Denis Spitsov (RUS, Fischer ***) and Ivan Yakimushkin (RUS, Fischer ***) finished ninth and tenth.
* = Fischer skis
** = Fischer skis and bindings
*** = Fischer skis, bindings and boots
