FALUN, Sweden (AP) — Norway’s Marit Bjoergen protected her big lead to win a 10-kilometer freestyle pursuit Sunday in the last women’s race of the cross-country World Cup season.
The triple Olympic champion skied alone for the whole race and won in 26 minutes, 39.6 seconds. Fellow Norwegian Therese Johaug was 49.3 seconds back in second, with Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla 1:11.7 behind in third.
It was Bjoergen’s 59th World Cup race victory. In her 13 races this season, she was never worse than second.
But she skipped many races before the world championships and couldn’t prevent Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland from taking the overall title. Kowalczyk skipped Sunday’s race but still finished more than 500 points ahead of the second-place Johaug. Kikkan Randall of the United States was third, with Bjoergen in fourth.
