Kowalczyk, Kruikov win cross-country sprint races

Defending champion Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland won her third race in three days in the Tour de Ski cross-country series on Saturday, taking a sprint event ahead of Marit Bjoergen of Norway.

Kowalczyk improved her chances of winning the series for the third time by covering the 1.2-kilometre distance in two minutes 45.3 seconds.

Bjoergen was 3.2 seconds behind and Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen of Norway was third, 6.3 seconds back. Kikkan Randall of the United States fell in the semifinals.

Nikita Kruikov led a Russian sweep of the top four places in the men's sprint, taking advantage of a fall by Petter Northug of Norway, who also slowed down the other favourite, Dario Cologna of Switzerland.

The Russians were ahead at the time and Northug's crash left them to decide the race among themselves. Alexey Petukhov was 0.7 seconds behind in second place and Nikolay Morilov was third, 1.2 seconds off the pace.

The gruelling nine-event series in 11 days takes place in Germany and Italy.