November 16, 2008 (Muonio, Sweden) – Day three in Muonio, Finland saw a fresh set of faces for the most part on the podium. In the women’s 10km skate Germany’s Claudia Nystad won over a world class field in a time of 22:22.62. In second at just 6.13 seconds back was Riita-Liisa Roponen of Finland, and in third showing impressive form in these early races was Slovenia’s Petra Majdic, who won Friday’s sprint.

In the men’s 15km skate Alexander Legkov of Russia won with a time of 30:16.47. Finnish skier Matti Heikkinen was second just 6.16 seconds back, followed by Italy’s Pietro Piller Cottrer. American Kris Freeman made his racing debut finishing in 31st place at 1:18.15 back from the lead. According to teamtoday.org it was a good start to the season for Freeman and he is ready for next weekend’s World Cup opener in Gallivare, Sweden. Also in the race was fellow American sprint specialist Andy Newell who place 93rd 2:22.95 off of Legkov’s winning time.

For complete results from both races click here.