Norway's Johaug claims 2nd cross-country gold in as many days

Therese Johaug again proved too strong for the rest of the field in Falun, Sweden to take her second cross-country World Cup victory in two days as Norway swept the podium on Sunday.

Johaug won the 10-kilometre freestyle after shaking off second-place Heidi Weng on the gruelling Morderbacken — "Murder hill" — to win by 8.75 seconds.

It was Johaug's 14th win of the season, a feat matched by only two other women before her.

"I wanted to push really hard from the beginning today and see how many were able to come with me," Johaug said. "In the end it was just Heidi and I pushed one more time going up the Morderbacken because I didn't want to have to be in a sprint at the finish."

Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen was third, while the top Canadian was Emily Nishikawa, who finished 1:35.1 back of Johaug for 39th spot.

In an exciting finish to a closely fought men's 15-kilometre race, Russia's Sergey Ustiugov won ahead of Italy's Francesco De Fabiani, who surged late to push overall leader Martin Johnsrud Sundby of Norway into third.

Sundby is now 743 points ahead of second-placed Finn Haagen Krogh in the standings and 786 of Petter Northug Jr., both of whom are also from Norway. Johaug, meanwhile, extended her lead over fellow Norwegian Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg to 208 points, while Weng is 466 points behind.