Rickardsson and Bjoergen win classic World Cup events

Feb 19, 2011, 20:58 GMT

Drammen, Norway - Switzerland's Daniel Rickardsson and Marit Bjoergen from Norway on Saturday won their respective classic cross- country skiing World Cup events.

Rickardsson clocked 37:19.1 minutes for the 15 kilometre race, beating Norwegians Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Petter Northug into second and third place.

Sundby was 29 seconds behind, while his compatriot Northug was a further second behind.

The World Cup-leading Dario Cologna, who has 1,247 points, finished in fourth place. Northug is second in the standings far off the pace on 834 points, while Rickardsson is on 781.

Superstar Bjoergen was too strong for the rest of the field in the women's 10 kilometre race, winning in 27:31.9 minutes. Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk was 17.3 seconds off the pace, while Aino-Kaisa Saarinen from Finland was a further 6.3 seconds behind.

Kowalczyk keeps her lead in the World Cup standings with 1,656 points from Bjoergen, who is 634 points behind. Italy's Arianna Follis is third on 975.

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