Russians take Olympic gold in women's cross-country relay

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The Russian team took the lead at the start of the women's four-person relay and held on at the end to win another Olympic gold medal in cross-country skiing on Saturday.

Yulia Stupak broke away early with nine women chasing. On the next leg, Natalia Nepryaeva was chased down by Katharina Hennig of Germany.

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The Germans briefly took the lead on the last lap, with Russian skier Veronika Stepanova just behind Sofie Krehl. But Stepanova pulled away on the final climb and won in 53 minutes, 41 seconds. Germany took silver, 18.2 seconds behind. Sweden edged Finland for bronze.

"Of course, it is a special day," Stepanova said. "It was really tough because we have a win in the World Cup, and a lot of people know we can win, so they say, ‘You must win. You must win.’ So I am like, ‘OK, we need a good result,’ and I do what I can do."

Tatiana Sorina skied the third lap for the Russian team, which is competing at the Beijing Games under the acronym ROC — short for Russian Olympic Committee.

Despite settling for silver, Krehl was satisfied.

Veronika Stepanova, of the Russian Olympic Committee, celebrates after crossing the finish line during the women's 4 x 5km relay cross-country skiing competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

"Maybe I need some time and then I can recognize what we have done," the German said. "Of course it’s a surprise, but we all had really good races the last (few) days."

The four-person relay began as a mass-start with 18 racers. Each woman skied