Norwegian cross-country skier Therese Johaug won the first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics by winning the skiathlon on Saturday at the Zhangjiakou cross-country ski stadium.
The Norwegian thus won the first individual Olympic title of her career. She is ahead of the Russian Natalia Nepryaeva, silver medalist, and the Austrian Teresa Stadlober, in bronze.
Johaug, whose first individual Olympic gold medal was 33, flew over the 15 km course (7.5 km x 2) with a time of 44:13.7, a time 30.2 seconds over faster than its nearest pursuer.
Russian Olympic Committee athlete Natalia Nepryeva and Austrian Teresa Stadlober completed the podium.
Excellent day for the Canadians: Cendrine Browne, of Saint-Jérôme, finished 20th; Katherine Stewart-Jones, of Chelsea, 23rd; Dahria Beatty, of Whitehorse, 28th and Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt, of Mori Heights, 44th
Norway, favorites to top the medal table, are kicking off their fortnight perfectly despite COVID-19 cases piling up in their Olympic squad. Before the positive case of the immense favorite of the Nordic combined Jarl Magnus Riiber, an outbreak had appeared among the cross-country skiers.
Case contact, Therese Johaug did not arrive until Wednesday evening at the Zhangjiakou site. But less than three days on site were enough for the three-time skiathlon world champion (2015, 2019 and 2021) to knock out the race on Saturday.
At 33, Johaug won his first individual Olympic gold medal. Only one has been on his list so far, as a relay at the 2010 Olympics.
Because another type of positive test had deprived her of the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang: a positive test for steroids (attributed to a lip balm) sanctioned by an 18-month suspension by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“It’s a dream come true,” exclaimed Johaug. I trained a lot for many, many years to achieve this result.
“It means a lot. I have never had an Olympic gold medal, this is my first. I am so happy. »
Two Canadians in the ski jumping final
At the Zhangjiakou Ski Jumping Center, Canadians Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes and Matthew Soukup secured their ticket to the final.
Boyd-Clowes was the better of the two Maple Leaf representatives in qualifying, finishing 17th. Soukup has just reached the final, taking the 47th rung.
A 14th position in biathlon
In the 4 x 6 km biathlon relay event, the Canadian team, made up of Sarah Beaudry, Emma Lunder, Christian Gow and Scott Gow, finished 14and rung for completing the course in 1:11:12.4.
Victory went to Norway who edged France by nine tenths of a second with a time of 1:06:45.6. The athletes of the Russian Olympic Committee finished on the third step of the podium.
