(Gallivare, Sweden) – Norway’s Marit Bjoergen killed it winning the women’s 10km freestyle World Cup opener in Gallivare by just over 41s over local favourite Charlotte Kalle (SWE) in second with Italy’s Arianna Follis in 3rd. The USA’s Kikkan Randall finished strong in 19th and Liz Stephen had a breakthrough result placing 25th only 10s behind Randall. Morgan Arritola finished in 60th while Ida Sargent, making her World Cup debut, was not on the start line electing to rest up for Sunday’s relay. No Canadian women competed.

World Cup winner from last year Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) was a surprising 7th at 1:15.9 and even more surprising was that the Russian women did not factor in today’s race with Yulia Tchevkaleva their top racer in 20th.

“It was a good start today,” said Randall, “It was nice to see it warm up a bit to -6 or -7 this morning from -20 a couple of days ago. The course was fast and firm and there’s a great atmosphere here. I’m happy with my race, I skied by myself most of the time and it was a solid effort and still had something left in the tank. Liz had a great race and we’re all excited about tomorrow’s relay.”

We caught up with Stephen as well who had a great race today – one of her best World Cup performances. “It was a super day out there and it’s a great course with lots of ups and downs. It was nice to see the weather warm up a bit as well,” commented Stephen. “I didn’t have any splits today so just paced myself well and felt good – some days are better than others and today was a good one. And it’s  great to see the US men doing well today out there as well.”

Regarding Sunday’s relay with Randall, Arritola, and Sargent, Stephen was effusive. “We’re all so pumped for Sunday’s relay. We never have four women racing and we’re hoping to do well but just being on the start line is really exciting for the team.”

“Great races today by Kikkan and Liz – they show themselves to be on track for a great season,” said US coach Pete Vordenberg. “Ida was not planned to start today but Sunday’s relay is on for both sexes.” For the women’s relay Sargent will lead off followed by Randall, then Arritola with Stephen as the anchor.

Full results HERE.

Results (brief)

1. Marit Bjoergen (NOR) 23:48.4
2. Charlotte Kalle (SWE) 41.1
3. Arianna Follis (ITA) 51.4

19. Kikkan Randall (USA) 1:46.4
25. Liz Stephen (USA) 1:56.5
60. Morgan Arritola (USA) 2:52.3