Winter Olympics 2022 – ROC strike gold in women’s 4x5km relay as Therese Johaug misses out on medal
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ByEurosport
Updated 12/02/2022 at 10:46 GMT
Therese Johaug had struck gold in the women’s 10km classic and women’s 15km skiathlon at the Winter Olympics – but the Norwegians finished down in fifth as she missed out on the podium for the first time in Beijing. Watch every moment of Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on discovery+
'Demolished the field' - ROC take victory in women's relay classic
The Russian Olympic Committee swept to gold in the women’s 4x5km cross-country skiing relay at Beijing 2022 to end Norway's dominance in the event.
The quartet of Yulia Stupak, Natalia Nepryaeva, Tatiana Sorina and Veronika Stepanova combined to see off Germany by 18.2 seconds, with Sweden taking bronze.
Therese Johaug was denied her third gold of the Games as defending champion Norway finished fifth after a fall on the opening leg.
The Norwegians arrived in Beijing as strong favourites in the event, having won the world championship title last year and Olympic gold in 2018. However, they are now without retired all-time great Marit Bjoergen and were also missing Heidi Weng, a former overall World Cup champion who tested positive for coronavirus before the Games.
Their defence started in the worst possible way following a collision between Tiril Udnes Weng and Latvia’s Patricija Eiduk, leaving the champions with a lot of work to do to claw themselves back into contention as they were 27 seconds back at the first exchange. But Johaug couldn't make up more than five seconds to the leaders on the second leg, which ended their chances of gold.
The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) started strongly, with Yulia Stupak handing over a convincing lead to Natalia Napryaeva at the first changeover, although Germany, Sweden and Finland remained in pursuit, sensing an opportunity for medal success.
It was the German team who were first to make a move for the front, with Katharina Hennig taking the lead during the second leg, and handing over an advantage of more than 20 seconds at the halfway point. This is the part of the race where the style changes; moving from a classic skiing technique to freestyle.
The Germany v ROC battle continued, with the lead changing once more with Tatiana Sorina putting the Russians back in pole position for gold.
However, Germany’s Victoria Carl is a sprint specialist and she showed her class on the approach to the finish line, where she handed over to Sofie Krehl for the final leg with a healthy five-second lead.
With 2.5km remaining, Germany still held the lead, but it was time for a new star of the sport to be born. Step forward, 21-year-old Veronika Stepanova.
Eyebrows were raised when the junior champion was selected to compete on the biggest stage of all, but she proved her worth by blitzing past Krehl to take gold - finishing a whopping 18 seconds ahead of her German opponent.
Krehl was left in a daze, having been in pole position for an Olympic title, and just managed to hold on for silver. Sweden's Jonna Sundling, who won gold in the individual sprint in Beijing, once again showed her blazing speed by pipping Finland's Krista Parmakoski to the line in a fight for the bronze medal.
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