Eigenmann, Bjorgen win

Bjorgen has won the overall women's sprint title in each of the past four years so her victory was not unexpected, but Eigenmann's win in the men's competition was a shock, as he benefited from some high profile falls.

The 1.1km course at the Olympic Stadium in Munich represented the first challenge in this year's Tour di Ski after the planned opening event in Nove Mesto was cancelled.

However, slips and falls caused havoc in the men's event with the Norwegians in particular having trouble staying on their skies.

Firstly, in the first men's semi-final, Norwegian duo Tor Arne Hetland and Simen Oestensen both fell, and then, in the final, Petter Northug tripped up and brought fellow Norwegian Oystein Pettersen and fastest qualifier Thobias Fredriksen down also.

With current World Cup and Olympic sprint champion Bjorn Lind having been eliminated in the semi-finals that allowed Swiss man Eigenmann to romp home to victory ahead of Devon Jershaw of Canada and Roddy Darragon of France.

The B final was won by Oestensen in a photofinish ahead of Hetland, with Lind coming in third.

In the women's final, Bjorgen conserved her energy perfectly to demolish the field by over a second.

She had looked rather lack-lustre in her semi-final as she came in second behind Olympic champion Chandra Crawford, and for three quarters of the semi-final it looked like Crawford may get the better of the Norwegian again.

However, as the Canadian tired, Bjorgen grew in stature and stepped up a gear with the race on the line to storm her way to victory.

Crawford would eventually only finish third as Italy's Arianna Follis took second. Aino Kaisa Saarinen was fourth, Petra Majdic fifth and Virpi Kuitunen sixth, while Pirjo Manninen won the B final.

The only downside of a highly entertaining days worth of skiing was the poor crowd inside the admittedly massive Olympic Stadium in Munich.

Next up in the Tour di Ski is the pursuit races in Oberstdorf, with the women's 10km race on Tuesday, and the men's 15km race taking place on Wednesday.