Again, the winner in a distance race is Therese Johaug, and once again she left the two Swedes Ebba Andersson and Charlotte Kalla behind. Therese Johaug, with her early start number 19, had a very high pace right from the start. After 3.3 kilometers, she had sighted Yulia Belorukova (RUS, Fischer skis, bindings and boots), the actual World Cup leaderwho had started one minute earlier, caught up and escaped after 5.8 kilometers. The two Swedes Charlotte Kalla and Ebba Andersson fought for second place - this time the youngster was six seconds faster. Kalla let the skis run better on the way to the stadium than lightweight Johaug and made time in the first lap on the Norwegian to only 2.2 seconds gap. In the second lap, she was unable to catch up, so she finished third, 15.7 seconds back. But tomorrow both will start into the handicap race in classic style almost at the same time. "It was a very tough track and I had to fight really hard on the course. It was a very tough race, and I heard that Ebba was close behind me and I had to work hard. The sprint was okay yesterday, I was just 7 seconds behind the fastest. That makes me happy", says Johaug. Fourth place, 34 seconds behind, went to Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (NOR, Fischer skis, bindings and boots), whose sprinting abilities declined sharply this winter as she focused more on distance training. Ragnhild Haga (NOR, Fischer skis, binds and boots) finished sixth ahead of Teresa Stadlober (AUT, Fischer skis, binds and boots). Sadie Bjornsen (USA, Fischer skis, bindings and boots) finished ninth.
Sjur Røthe (NOR) impressively demonstrated in front of his home crowd that he can win a World Cup race with Rheuma desease and he left the entire world elite behind. His compatriot Didrik Tønseth was in the lead for the first split times, but finished second, six seconds back. With third place and 28 seconds behind Denis Spitsov celebrated a very good debut in the season. Dario Cologna (SUI, Fischer skis, bindings and boots), who also raced his first distance race this winter, missed the podium in fourth after a disappointing sprint yesterday. Russia's Andrey Melnichenko (RUS, Fischer skis, bindings and boots) pushed forward from eight to five with a quick third lap. Emil Iversen (NOR, Fischer skis, bindings and boots) finished seventh, Martin Johnsrud Sundby (NOR, Fischer skis, bindings and boots) tenth.
