The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) team won the women’s 4x5km relay in cross-country skiing at the Beijing 2022 Games.
The Russians Yuliya Stupak, Natalia Nepryaeva, Tatiana Sorina, Veronika Stepanova made a strong competition, and in the last post, Stepanova did not allow anyone to threaten the victory of the team.
The relay of ROC ended in 53:41.0 min and added gold to their bronze in the discipline in PyeongChang 2018.
The German team – Katherine Sauerbrey, Katharina Hennig, Victoria Carl, and Sofie Krehl won the silver, remaining 18.2 sec behind the winners. The Germans were a very serious competition of the Russians on the track but did not survive in the final stage of the race.
Sweden, a silver medalist from PyeongChang 2018, this time remained with bronze after rejoicing in a contested race with the relays of Norway and Finland. Maja Dahlqvist, Ebba Andersson, Frida Karlsson, Jonna Sundling finished 20.7 sec behind the Russian Olympic Committee.
Finland finished in fourth place with 21.2 sec, and the 2018 Olympic champion Norway – in fifth place with 28.8 sec of the champions. The athletes of the United States of America completed the ranking in the top 6 in 1:28.2 min after the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).
Yuliya Stupak of the Russian Olympic Committee took the lead at the beginning of the first post. At the 2.5 km control, she pulled with 12.5 sec to Sweden’s Maja Dahlqvist and 13.4 sec to Norway’s Tiril Weng.
At the 3rd kilometer, Tiril Weng and the Latvian Patricija Eiduka collided, fell, and lost precious seconds.
Yuliya Stupak was the first to pass the baton after the first post. The Russian Olympic Committee was 1.5 km ahead of Germany’s Katherine Sauerbrey. Masako Ishida from Japan passed the relay third in the 5th km with a lag of 12.3 sec. The quartet of Finland passed 4th (Anne Kyllonen) and Sweden 5th (Maja Dahlqvist).
Natalia Nepryaeva retained the ROC leadership position in 6th place, but only 0.7 sec ahead of Germany’s Katharina Hennig.
Natalia Nepryaeva retained first place in the control of 7.5 km in front of Katharina Hennig at 0.5 sec. Two-time 2022 Beijing Olympic champion Therese Johaug returned Norway to the top three but was 24.7 sec behind. Close behind her were Johanna Matintalo of Finland in 25.1 sec and Ebba Andersson of Sweden in 25.5 sec. Rosie Brennan from the USA completed the first six with a lag of 26.5 sec.
Germany’s Katharina Hennig put Germany ahead of the 8.5km control by 2.5 sec ahead of Natalia Nepryaeva.
Katharina Hennig of Germany was the first to pass the 10km relay, after two classic-style posts, with a 4.3-sec lead over Natalia Nepryaeva of the Russian Olympic Committee. Therese Johaug passed the post in third place with a lag of 22.8 sec.
Tatiana Sorina again put ROK in first place on the 11th-km. Victoria Carl from Germany was 3.8 sec behind. Frida Karlsson led Sweden to third place with 21.8 sec behind. Victoria Carl led Germany to the first position in the transfer of the third post with a lead of 5.0 sec ahead of Tatiana Sorina from Russia and 14.7 km from Helene Marie Fossesholm from Norway.
In the end, Veronika Stepanova led the Russian Olympic Committee to the title after finishing first with a time of 53:41.0 min.
Sofie Krehl brought the silver medal to Germany after falling behind by 18.2 sec. Beijing 2022 Olympic sprint champion Jonna Sundling led Sweden to bronze medals with a powerful final sprint and a 207-sec lag.
Finland’s Krista Parmakoski finished 4th in 21.2 sec. Norway also lost a medal after Ragnhild Haga finished 5th with 28.8 sec behind the winners.
The US team finished 6th after Jessie Diggins finished 57.6 sec behind.
Women’s cross-country skiing 4x5km relay:
1. ROC (Yuliya Stupak, Natalia Nepryaeva, Tatiana Sorina, Veronika Stepanova) – 53:41.0 min
2. Germany (Katherine Sauerbrey, Katharina Hennig, Victoria Carl, Sofie Krehl) – 53:59.2 min
3. Sweden (Maja Dahlqvist, Ebba Andersson, Frida Karlsson, Jonna Sundling) – 54:01.7 min
