Irina Khazova of Russia wins 10K cross-country WCup race, 1st win after 2-year doping ban

Khazova wins 10K cross-country WCup race

DAVOS, Switzerland — Irina Khazova of Russia won a 10-kilometer freestyle race by more than 27 seconds Saturday to top the cross-country skiing World Cup standings.

Khazova got her first career World Cup victory after missing the past two seasons while serving a doping ban for using a masking agent.

Khazova, known as Irina Artemova before she married, finished in a time of 26 minutes.

Charlotte Kalla of Sweden came second, 27.3 seconds behind, while Kristina Smigun-Vaehi of Estonia finished third.

Khazova leads with 206 points after five events, three more than Finland’s Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, who was 11th.