Resilient Russians fend off Norway, France for relay title

Just like in the women's cross-country ski race, the Russian Olympic Committee team opened up a lead on the first leg of the men's relay on Sunday and then held on for the Olympic gold medal.

Sergey Ustiugov maintained a lead of more than a minute on the last lap over the two-man chasing group of Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo of Norway and Maurice Manificat of France.

Ustiugov grabbed a flag on his way to the finish line and met his teammates with an embrace, winning the 10-kilometer relay in 1 hour, 54 minutes, 50.7 seconds. Klaebo pulled away from Manificat for the silver, 1:07.2 back. France took third, 1:16.4 behind the Russians.

Alexey Chervotkin skied the first leg for the Russians and opened that all-important gap.

"We tried to achieve it, and for several years we haven't been able to," Chervotkin said. "Today everything aligned. Everything was super. The weather seemed to be hard and there was snow but it was in our favor so everything was great."

Emil Iversen, who skied their first leg for Norway, said he knew what the Russians were capable of.

"I knew that I needed to stay with them, but I wasn't strong enough so it's a bad start for the relay when I end up second to them. It's hard to take it back," Iversen said. "But I tried my best. We have to be happy with silver. It's also a good result."

Snowy conditions made the ski tracks slow, especially on the first two classic ski legs. Leaf-blowers were used to clear out the snow. By contrast, the winning time in the four-man relay at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics was more than 20 minutes quicker.

Paal Golberg, who skied the second leg for Norway, said the race was challenging "but we did our best".

"The course was tough before and with the snow and wind today, it was even tougher," Golberg said. "The four Russian guys were better so just take the hat off to them and try to be satisfied with the silver."

Agencies via Xinhua