Falun, Sweden (dpa) - Norwegian stars Marit Bjoergen and Petter
Northug rewrote the skiing record books by winning cross-country
sprint races on the opening day of the Nordic world championships
Thursday.
Bjoergen won the women's race from Stina Nilsson of hosts Sweden and Norwegian Olympic champion Maiken Caspersen Falla. Northug topped a dramatic men's event from Canada's Alex Harvey and Ola Vigen Hattestad, the Olympic champion from Norway.
Bjoergen, 34, won an unprecedented third straight sprint title and fourth overall.
She now has 13 golds at the worlds, one shy of Russian Yelena Vaelbe. And with 30 medals overall, Bjoergen is now the most successful ski sports athlete at worlds and Olympics, ahead of compatriot Bjoern Daehlie (29).
Northug, meanwhile, also broke a tie with Daehlie when he became the first man to win 10 gold medals at Nordic worlds.
Bjoergen hung on to a narrow lead on the home stretch over Nilsson in the classic style race to win over 1.4-kilometres in 3 minutes 26.63 seconds, .42 of a second ahead of Nilsson.
Falla finished third to keep Polish star Justyna Kowalczyk, who had looked strong in qualifying and the first knockout rounds, off the podium.
Bjoergen now has 13 golds, four silvers and three bronze at world championships. She won four golds and one silver at each of the last two editions - 2011 and 2013 - and can achieve the same in Falun.
Bjoergen's first world title also came in the sprint, in 2003, and she was more than happy to still have the speed and power in the discipline.
"It feels very good. I am 34 and still good in the sprint," she said. "It was really tough. I felt Stina behind me and had to push hard."
Nilsson said she was "very happy with silver" in front of 18,500 fans, among them Swedish King Carl XVI Gustav and Queen Silvia.
Northug, 29, won a dramatic men's race at the Lugnet ski centre, in which the top four were separated by a mere 0.38 seconds.
He clocked 3:02.35 for his first sprint world title after silvers at the last two editions, pipping the charging 2013 bronze medallist Harvey by a mere five hundredth.
The 2009 world champion Hattestad took bronze, .35 seconds off the pace, as defending champion Nikita Kriukov of Russia missed a medal in fourth by three hundredth.
The sometimes controversial Northug took a deep bow before the Swedish crowd and shed a few tears at the flower ceremony. He had a dispute with the national federation ahead of the season and was also convicted in a drunk driving incident last autumn.
Without going into details, he spoke of "an important season. I focussed to be in shape for Falun. We had the days marked in red.
"The gold means a lot. It feels good to have won all four [individual events at world championships]. It was a good start. I am in good shape and look forward to more races."
The Nordic world championships continue Friday with the women's normal hill ski-jumping and Nordic combined normal hill/10km event.
Bjoergen won the women's race from Stina Nilsson of hosts Sweden and Norwegian Olympic champion Maiken Caspersen Falla. Northug topped a dramatic men's event from Canada's Alex Harvey and Ola Vigen Hattestad, the Olympic champion from Norway.
Bjoergen, 34, won an unprecedented third straight sprint title and fourth overall.
She now has 13 golds at the worlds, one shy of Russian Yelena Vaelbe. And with 30 medals overall, Bjoergen is now the most successful ski sports athlete at worlds and Olympics, ahead of compatriot Bjoern Daehlie (29).
Northug, meanwhile, also broke a tie with Daehlie when he became the first man to win 10 gold medals at Nordic worlds.
Bjoergen hung on to a narrow lead on the home stretch over Nilsson in the classic style race to win over 1.4-kilometres in 3 minutes 26.63 seconds, .42 of a second ahead of Nilsson.
Falla finished third to keep Polish star Justyna Kowalczyk, who had looked strong in qualifying and the first knockout rounds, off the podium.
Bjoergen now has 13 golds, four silvers and three bronze at world championships. She won four golds and one silver at each of the last two editions - 2011 and 2013 - and can achieve the same in Falun.
Bjoergen's first world title also came in the sprint, in 2003, and she was more than happy to still have the speed and power in the discipline.
"It feels very good. I am 34 and still good in the sprint," she said. "It was really tough. I felt Stina behind me and had to push hard."
Nilsson said she was "very happy with silver" in front of 18,500 fans, among them Swedish King Carl XVI Gustav and Queen Silvia.
Northug, 29, won a dramatic men's race at the Lugnet ski centre, in which the top four were separated by a mere 0.38 seconds.
He clocked 3:02.35 for his first sprint world title after silvers at the last two editions, pipping the charging 2013 bronze medallist Harvey by a mere five hundredth.
The 2009 world champion Hattestad took bronze, .35 seconds off the pace, as defending champion Nikita Kriukov of Russia missed a medal in fourth by three hundredth.
The sometimes controversial Northug took a deep bow before the Swedish crowd and shed a few tears at the flower ceremony. He had a dispute with the national federation ahead of the season and was also convicted in a drunk driving incident last autumn.
Without going into details, he spoke of "an important season. I focussed to be in shape for Falun. We had the days marked in red.
"The gold means a lot. It feels good to have won all four [individual events at world championships]. It was a good start. I am in good shape and look forward to more races."
The Nordic world championships continue Friday with the women's normal hill ski-jumping and Nordic combined normal hill/10km event.
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