Russia’s rising young cross-country star Veronika Stepanova anchored her team to first place in the women’s relay at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. 

The 21-year-old Russian exchanged in second place, 1.5 seconds behind Olympic rookie Sofie Krehl of Germany, but finished nearly 20 seconds ahead of Krehl.

This was Russia’s first Olympic gold in the women’s relay since the 2006 Winter Games in Turin.

Germany, who were merely outsiders to the medals coming into the relay, took home the silver medal. Sweden snagged the bronze in front of Finland in a fierce battle for the last medal. 

Norway, long in contention for the bonze despite a damaging crash on the first leg, finished fifth. Norway came in to the relay as the defending champions from the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, but were not considered a favorite to win the gold this year. 

Updates in progress

Top 3, 4x5km relay, women
1. Russian Olympic Committee (Yulia Stupak, Natalia Nepryaeva, Tatiana Sorina, Veronika Stepanova), 53:41.0
2. Germany (Katherine Sauerbrey, Katarina Hennig, Victoria Carl, Sofie Krehl), +18.2
3. Sweden (Maja Dahlqvist, Ebba Andersson, Frida Karlsson, Jonna Sundling), +20.7

Complete results

Tomorrow, the men race their relay, which starts at 8am.

For the women, the sprint relay is the next event at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. The sprint relays for both men and women are scheduled for Wednesday, February 16. Semifinals start at 10am, while the finals take place at noon. (All times are CET). 

FACTS: 2022 OLYMPICS 
What: XXIV Olympic Winter Games (24th edition)
Beijing 2022 – All you need to know 
Where: Beijing, China
Biathlon, cross-country skiing and Nordic events will take place at the Zhangjiakou arena, situated at and above 1650 meters above sea level. 
When: February 4 to 20, 2022
What happens when: 
Complete schedule for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, all sports. 
Who: 53 cross-country teams compete at the 2022 Olympics, each fielding from 1 to 16 athletes. 
All the cross-country ski teams to the Beijing Winter Olympics 
How: Where to watch the Olympics – World Wide

Results, start lists and competition details for all events at the 2022 Beijing Olympics will be posted here

Beijing Olympics homepage