Marit Bjoergen, the most successful women's cross-country skier in history, won a 10-kilometre classic race at the World Cup season opener in Ruka, Finland, on Saturday. The 37-year-old Norwegian claimed her 111th career World Cup win by a comfortable 17-second margin over Sweden's Charlotte Kalla in the season's first distance as she builds up to her fifth Olympics. Bjoergen has won her last five races in the 10K classic format, and finished on the podium in 21 of the last 22 such races in the World Cup. Another Russian skier with an Olympic doping ban, Maxim Vylegzhanin, was 16th. The International Ski Federation hasn't extended Russian skiers' Olympic bans to its events yet, saying it needs more information from the IOC.

Source: CBC News November 25, 2017 14:48 UTC