Germany wins gold in women’s cross-country team freestyle sprint

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Germany has won the women’s cross-country team freestyle sprint after Claudia Nystad beat Sweden’s Anna Haag in a race to the finish.

Nystad went past Haag as they entered the ski stadium and pulled away on the final sprint. The German team of Nystad and Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle finished in 18 minutes, 3.7 seconds for the gold. The Swedish team of Haag and Charlotte Kalla took the silver medal, and Russian duo Irina Khazova and Natalia Korosteleva won bronze.

The U.S. team of Caitlin Compton (Minneapolis) and Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, Alaska) finished sixth in 18:51.6.

The freestyle event features a relay with two members on every team taking turns going three laps each around a 1.4-kilometer course.

-- Mitchell Houston in Vancouver, Canada