Norway, Sweden win World Cup relays

Nov 22, 2009 - 4:59 PM BEITOSTOLEN, Norway(AP) -- Norway won the men's opening World Cup cross-country ski relay on Sunday, while Sweden took the women's event.

Triple world champion Petter Northug surged ahead just before the final straight to give Norway a 5.1-second win over Russia.

"The pace was not that fast, I had everything under control," said Northug, who caught the front-runners 2 kilometers into the leg.

The Norwegians covered the 4x10 kilometer mixed-style race in 1 hour, 48 minutes, 50.7 seconds. Also on the team were Eldar Ronning, Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Ronny Hafsas. Germany finished third, 11.8 seconds behind.

Charlotte Kalla skied a strong anchor leg to help Sweden win the women's relay.

Kalla overtook leader Aino-Kaisa Saarinen of Finland a few kilometers into the final leg and held on to secure victory in the 4x5K mixed-style event in 58:37.1. Norway was second, 16.7 seconds back and Finland took third 22 seconds behind.

"When I took the lead I was able to ski more relaxed," Kalla said. "I'm really happy about this. We all fought very hard."

It was Sweden's first relay win in two years and the last relay to be held before the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in February.