Norway’s Therese Johaug won the 15-kilometer skiathlon at Beijing Olympics with a crushing half-minute margin to Natalia Nepryaeva of Russia: Skiathlon Results.

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Norway’s Therese Johaug won the 15-kilometer skiathlon at Beijing Olympics with a crushing half-minute margin to Natalia Nepryaeva of Russia: Skiathlon Results. Therese Johaug left no doubt: Only a crash could separate the 33-year-old from grabbing the first gold medal at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. 

Therese Johaug appeared strong from the gun went off. When the seasoned 33-year-old Norwegian went to the front two kilometers into the race, she created a gap. However, a lead group of roughly ten racers were able to follow, including Kerttu Niskanen and Krista Pärmäkoski of Finland, Sweden’s Frida Karlsson and Ebba Andersson, Austria’s Teresa Stadlober and Natalia Nepryaeva of Russia. 

Johaug came first into the exchange zone, and headed out on the skate leg with a one-second lead to Niskanen and two seconds down to Pärmäkoski. Karlsson was 4.7 seconds behind, Stadlober 15 seconds behind and Nepryaeva nearly 20 seconds back. 

From there, Johaug just increased the gap to the rest. At 8.8 kilometer, she led by 15 seconds. At 10 kilometers she led by 27 seconds. And at the finish line, the gap was more than half a minute. 

Behind Johaug, Stadlober and Nepryaeva fought a fierce battle for the silver medal, which the Russian decided in her favor by 0.3 seconds. 

Top 3, 15km skiathlon, women
1. Therese Johaug, Norway, 44:13.7
2. Natalia Nepryaeva, Russia, +30.2
3. Teresa Stadlober, Austria, +30.5

Complete results

The gold medal at the 15-kilometer skiathlon was Johaug’s first ever individual Olympic gold medal. Her last Olympic performance was at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, 2095 days ago. 

The next cross-country skiing event at the Beijing Olympics is the men’s 30-kilometer skiathlon. The race format is the same as for the women, a classic leg followed by a skate leg, but the distance is twice that of the women: 15-kilometer classic and 15-kilometer skate.

FACTS: 2022 OLYMPICS 

What: XXIV Olympic Winter Games (24th edition)
Beijing 2022 – All you need to know 
Where: Beijing, China
Biathlon, cross-country skiing and Nordic events will take place at the Zhangjiakou arena, situated at and above 1650 meters above sea level. 
When: February 4 to 20, 2022
What happens when: 
Complete schedule for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, all sports. 
Who: 53 cross-country teams compete at the 2022 Olympics, each fielding from 1 to 16 athletes. 
All the cross-country ski teams to the Beijing Winter Olympics 
How: Where to watch the Olympics – World Wide

Results, start lists and competition details for all events at the 2022 Beijing Olympics will be posted here

Beijing Olympics homepage