Bjoergen closes Tour de Ski gap
Triple Olympic champion Marit Bjoergen of Norway won her third consecutive stage in the Tour de Ski on Wednesday in Dobbiaco, Italy, and moved within 4.8 seconds of overall leader Justyna Kowalczyk.
Bjoergen edged American Kikkan Randall and the Polish two-time defending champion Kowalczyk in the 1.3-kilometre freestyle sprint.
Kowalczyk won the opening three stages.
"This was very important for me having Kikkan between us so I gained some seconds and now I'm very close," said Bjoergen, who also gained five seconds over Kowalczyk in qualifying.
Bjoergen won individual sprint and pursuit races at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and also helped Norway to gold in the relay, but her previous best Tour de Ski result was second overall behind Finland's Virpi Kuitunen in the 2007 inaugural event.
In the men's sprint, Nikolay Morilov of Russia lunged his foot ahead to narrowly beat Norway's Petter Northug, with overall leader Dario Cologna of Switzerland crossing third.
Alex Harvey of St-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Que., was sixth, matching his best result of the season. Devon Kershaw of Sudbury, Ont., reached the quarter-finals but finished 13th.
Harvey and Kershaw had the misfortune of lining up alongside one another in the same quarter-final round heat. Harvey won that race and eventually advanced to the semifinal while Kershaw was third in the heat.
"My skis were good and the body felt really good throughout the heats," said Harvey. "Conditions started to change a little bit and in the final I think I was lacking speed a bit in the downhills and gliding.
"I wish I could have passed one two guys but sixth is good."
Ivan Babikov, of Canmore, Alta., didn't qualified for the heats and finished 73rd to stand No. 43 overall.
Cologna's overall lead over Northug was cut to 13.5 seconds with three stages remaining. Kershaw stands fourth overall while Harvey moved up six spots into ninth.
Cologna won the first of his two Tour titles in 2009, while Northug has finished second overall the past three years.
The seventh stage Thursday will feature a men's 35-kilometre and women's 15-kilometre pursuit, while the final leg Sunday features a gruelling climb up Mount Cermis, which is otherwise used as a downhill skiing slope.