Kowalczyk and Sedov enjoy memorable wins in Pyeongchang

BySportsbeat

Updated 04/02/2017 at 12:43 GMT

Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk and Russia's Petr Sedov enjoyed differing milestones atop the medal podium after winning the women's and men's cross-country skiathlon competitions respectively in Pyeongchang.

Sedov

Image credit: Eurosport

For Kowalczyk, victory represented her 50th in World Cup competition and her first win at that level since January 2014.

She crossed the line first after completing the 7.5km course in 43:54.7 minutes, nearly a full minute clear of America's Liz Stephen who picked up her sixth individual World Cup podium.

Japan's Masako Ishida was third, 1:14.8 back, returning to the podium for the first time since Trondheim 2009.

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Kowalczyk said: "It has been a long time since I have been on the World Cup podium. I had very good skis, both classic and skate. I was quite surprised to see how well I skated."

For Sedov, it was a first ever World Cup podium and win and was achieved after he broke away from Norway's Daniel Stock on the free technique portion of the 15km skiathlon to win in a time of 1:18.49.6.

Stock crossed second, 22.5 seconds later with fellow Norwegian Mathias Rundgreen third, 42.1 seconds behind the winner.

Sedov said: "I felt very strong today. I have to thank to my coach, service staff and to my family. I am very glad that my first ever World Cup podium is a win."

Competitions continue tomorrow with the team sprint competitions.

Sportsbeat 2017

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