Kowalczyk takes her second and Northug first overall World Cup victory.
The last stage of Cross Country World Cup was held in Falun, Sweden today.
Marit Bjoergen started in heavy snowfall as the leader amongst women. She didn't give a chance to others and lead the field with a huge gap throughout the race. She finished the 10km free style race over 50 seconds ahead of Justyna Kowalczyk who took the victory in the overall ranking of the World Cup and received her second Crystal Globe. Charlotte Kalla managed to outsprint Kristin Stoermer Steira to take the third place for the pleasure of her home crowd.
This was the last World Cup race for two big names in Women's cross country skiing - Virpi Kuitunen (two time overall winner) and Sabina Valbusa.
The intense season ended with the prize ceremonies of World Cup Overall rankings.
Click Here for World Cup overall rankings!
Click Here for Women's final results in Falun!
Men's race followed the same script, as Petter Northug stared in front of the field and didn't let his position to be shaken. Instead, he decided to spend his extra seconds at the final stretch shaking the hands of his fans. He waited for the second place Maurice Manificat to step over the finish line just a few secons before him. Marcus Hellner raced a tough race by trying to catch Northug on his own, but had to satisfy with a third place at the end, after starting from second. Manificat showed his skill in free technique by reaching to the second place after starting from 12th position.
This 15km free style race was the last race in the World Cup for 2004 overall winner Rene Sommerfeldt.
Click Here for World Cup overall rankings!
Click Here for Men's final results in Falun!
Photo: Oeyvind Watterdal
