February 28, 2015 (Falun, Sweden) – Therese Johaug (NOR) charged to victory in dominant style in the women’s 30km CL as she soloed to across the line with a decisive 1:31 margin over her super star teammate Marit Björgen in second claiming her third gold medal of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships.

Swedish star Charlotte Kalla recovered to take the bronze and her fourth medal in Falun after two crashes and almost completely being eliminated on the “killer hill” – Mordarbacken – halfway through the race.

The US camp was smiling as well with a very solid day placing three skiers in the top 20 led by Liz Stephen in 11th – one place shy of her top ten goal – with newcomer Rosie Brennan a superb 16th at her Worlds debut, followed by Sadie Bjornsen in 20th.

As expected the pace was hard from the start Johaug, Björgen and Weng at the front. But the Finns, Kerttu Niskanen and Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, and the Swedes including Sofia Bleckur were there as well even leading to show Norway they were up for the challenge.

The USA Björnsen was also at the front in the beginning of the race. “I just go out as hard as I can and see how long I can hold it. Sometimes It works and sometimes it does not and today it worked for about 10km and then I got tired,” Björnsen told Trax post-race.

Her teammate Stephen also had a better than she usually does. “I had a really good start for me, I think I was third out of the stadium which has never happened – I’m such a slow starter.”

But on this day no one could stop Johaug as she jumped into the lead at the 6.5km mark and attacked up Mordarbacken never looking back as the group split under the pressure leaving six chasers.

”After 5km we were still in a large group and I felt that it went fast but I increased the speed at Mordarbacken and got a 5-6 second gap on the top. I felt it was a little early with 23km still to go but my skis and shape were so good. I focused on myself and my technique. It was fantastic to go out there. I got so much energy from the crowd. I’ve never been in such good shape before,” said Johaug.

She made a ski change around the 15km mark with a 50s lead but Niskanen and Saarinen did not change skis and moved up to within 30s. Most of the big names also made a change including Kalla who fell going into the stadium. Soon after it looked like she was cooked on the Mordarbacken – she even thought of giving up.

But she hydrated and soon started to feel better and regain her energy. ”We’re supposed to drink every five kilometers but I’m not sure if I did. I saw water stations all over the place and it was good after that,” said Kalla with a laugh. Her fast skis were crucial in making up ground to capture the bronze over Niskanen and Bleckur.

Björgen was untouchable in second as the group was shattered given the challenging pace – but even the multi-decorated Norwegian star could not match Johaug this day.

”I tried but Therese was too strong. I had no chance to get back to her after we changed skis. I’m very happy with the silver today,” said Bjorgen. ”My goal at these championships was to take an individual gold and I done that. I’ve had a very good season with a victory in the Tour de Ski and the overall World Cup.”

Following her strong start Stephen fell back after 5 kilometers dropping to 24th. But soon after she regained her form and continued to fight advancing thru the field to lead the second chase group in 8th place. In the end she found herself in a sprint for tenth against top Norwegian sprinter Ingvild Flugstad Østberg.

”My goal was top ten but I really need to work on my sprinting if I wanna ever beat Ingvild at the finish, so I think my result is ok. I kind of just worked myself into the race. It was hard from the start which is typical – that’s how women race these days – so I just tried to be patient and keep going and it worked out.”

You pushed really hard out of the stadium on the second lap: ”I have to push on all the uphills because I tend to loose time on the downhills, so I was fighting for every second and knew that the next pack I could see was second through to tenth or something so I was just trying to get to them the whole time.”

Bjornsen recapped her day, “I haven’t been feeling spectacular lately…I just haven’t felt on fire yet. As I said I went out hard and just tried to keep fighting and not give up. I was yoyo-ing with some skiers around me but I had some really spectacular skis and it was a hard decision to figure out if I should switch or not because I was so happy with them.

“Sometimes I wonder if I should had just stayed on the same skis but I was trying to look around to see what everyone else was doing… it’s hard to keep the same skis when everyone else is switching. But fortunately I had another good pair and I’m really happy with JP who waxed my skis excellent today. They kept me going.”

For Canada’s Nishikawa in 32nd it was a decent day. ”It was very fast from the start, I think this is one of my best 30km results. It’s still a really hard race and I struggled a little bit in the middle and then I felt better at the end, but a big improvement from my last one.

On Mordarbacken: ”It’s great! There’s so many fans out there and so loud and the fans give you so much energy”.

Are you satisfied with your race? ”Yeah it’s not my best performance but yeah I’m happy”

What’s next: ”I’m going to Lahti and then Holmenkollen in Oslo.”

Full results here.