ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — Therese Johaug won the first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics on Saturday, finishing first in the women’s 15-kilometer cross-country skiathlon.
The Norwegian fought wind and frigid temperatures to ski away from a chase group of four, winning in 44 minutes, 13.7 seconds.
“I’ve trained thousands of hours for this and been away from home a lot over the years. So it’s beautiful to reach this goal,” Johaug said. “I’ve never had an Olympic gold medal, it’s my first one.”
The skiathlon is a mass-start race that began with 7.5 kilometers of classic skiing. After two laps around the 3.75-kilometer course, racers came through the stadium and quickly switched to skate skis before heading out for another two laps.
Johaug lead through the first skate lap, opened a gap on the second lap and crossed the line with a comfortable lead.
Russian athlete Natalia Nepryaeva, the current overall World Cup leader, pulled away from the group on the last climb to take silver, 30.2 seconds behind Johaug. Nepryaeva is competing in her second Olympics. She won bronze in a relay race at the Pyeongchang Games.
“I’m pleased to get silver,” Nepryaeva said. “It’s my first time to produce a performance like this at the Olympic Games, and it gives me a lot of confidence for the races later this week. I feel very powerful now.”
Teresa Stadlober of Austria followed just behind for the bronze medal. She’s competing in her third Winter Games and won her first medal, having just missed out in Pyeongchang.