Norway’s Northug, Bjoergen win cross-country World Cup sprints; Newell 6th for US in men’s 1K

Bjoergen, Northug win cross-country WCup sprints

ROGLA, Slovenia — Norway has won the men’s and women’s cross-country World Cup sprints, while American Andrew Newell finished sixth in the men’s race.

Petter Northug finished in 4 minutes, 09.9 seconds in the men’s 1-kilometer race on Saturday, 1.2 seconds ahead of Germany’s Tobias Angerer. Jesper Modin of Sweden was third, 1.8 seconds behind Northug. Newell was 6.1 seconds off the lead.

“It was a fun day,” Newell said. “Really epic conditions; snowing super hard, super cold. I just didn’t quite have enough for it at the end of the race.”

Northug leads the overall World Cup standings with 340 points.

Marit Bjoergen won the women’s 1K race in 4:28.8 to record her 32nd career victory. She leads the overall standings with 362 points.

Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland was second, 0.4 seconds behind and Petra Majdic was third.

Newell, of Shaftsbury, Vt., is excited to have finishes of sixth and seventh in the season’s two classic sprint events (the format at the Olympics in Vancouver), despite having room for progress.

“I’m not trying to be at peak fitness right now,” Newell said. “Hopefully in February, the training will pay off.”

Kikkan Randall of Anchorage, Alaska, didn’t advance past qualifying on the women’s side.