OLYMPICS, CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING. Gold in Men's Relay go to Sweden. Daniel Rickardsson, Johan Olsson, Anders Soedergren and Marcus Hellner did not give a chance to the rest of the field. Norway (Martin Johnsrud Sundby, Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset, Lars Berger and Petter Northug) took Silver as Petter Northug jr. gave an outstanding performance. Third spot went surpisingly to Czech Republic (Martin Jaks, Lukas Bauer, Jiri Magal and Martin Koukal).

Marcus Hellner of Sweden skis in the Free style during the fourth leg of the cross country skiing men's 4 x 10 km relay on day 13 of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics at Whistler Olympic Park Cross-Country Stadium on February 24, 2010 in Whistler, Canada. (February 23, 2010 - Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images North America)

Heavy snowfall made first half of the relay very tactical. Almost all teams were skiing in one group and nobody to wanted to set a high pace and escape. At the end of the first leg a few teams opened a gap. Sweden, Norway, France, Finland and Germany created the first group. Odd Bjoern Hjelmeset of Norway had problems with skis and was staying behind.  In the skating part group of three was formed in front of the field with Sweden, France and Czech Republic. Time gap increased up to 35 sec. In the last leg Marcus Hellner escaped and secured gold for Sweden. Petter Northug jr. was attacking from behind and slowly deleted the time gap. In last kilometers he caught Koukal of CZE and Jonnier of France. He was sprinting hard and grasped Silver for Norway. Czech republic can be considered as a surprise of the day by winning Bronze.

Martin Johnsrud Sundby of Norway,Sami Jauhojaervi of Finland, Jean Marc Gaillard of France during the Men's Cross Country Skiing 4x10km Relay on Day 13 of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games on February 24, 2010 in Whistler Olympic Park in Whistler, Canada. (February 23, 2010 - Photo by Philippe Montigny/Agence Zoom/Getty Images North America)

Martin Johnsrud Sundby of Norway,Devon Kershaw of Canada during the Men's Cross Country Skiing 4x10km Relay on Day 13 of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games on February 24, 2010 in Whistler Olympic Park in Whistler, Canada. (February 23, 2010 - Photo by Philippe Montigny/Agence Zoom/Getty Images North America)

It is the first relay gold medal for the Swedish team since 1988 in Calgary where Gunde Svan was a part of the successful team. "It's a dream for all of us and I don't think we will really realize how amazing this is until we are ack in Sweden to see it," said Johan Olsson from the Swedish winning team. Marcus Hellner added: "I knew it was going to be enough. I never lose 35 seconds in such a short while on the last leg. I took it a bit easy in the first lap. They did a good job behind me today but we were stronger."

"The hardest part in the race was the last lap. But I made it and took the silver medal for Norway." said Petter Northug after his incredible performance.

Also Czech Republic was very satisfied:"We are more than happy, becasue we were counted as big favourites in the last Games and  Championships and it was always a big disaster. Now we made it," answered Martin Koukal after his race. "It was really tough at the end and I really concentrated for the medal. I know that Petter is very strong and so I stayed with him to get a boost."

FIScrosscountry.com
Wednesday 24 February 2010

Daniel Richardsson of Sweden, Jens Filbrich of Germany, Martin Johnsrud Sundby of Norway and Valerio Checchi of Italy ski in the Classic style during the cross country skiing men's 4 x 10 km relay on day 13 of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics at Whistler Olympic Park Cross-Country Stadium on February 24, 2010 in Whistler, Canada. (February 23, 2010 - Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images North America)

Alex Harvey of Canada, Lukas Bauer of Czech Republic, Curdin Perl of Switzerland, Ivan Batory of Slovakia and Giorgio Di Centa of Italy ski in the Classic style during the second leg of the cross country skiing men's 4 x 10 km relay on day 13 of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics at Whistler Olympic Park Cross-Country Stadium on February 24, 2010 in Whistler, Canada. (February 23, 2010 - Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images North America)

Jean Marc Gaillard of France during the Men's Cross Country Skiing 4x10km Relay on Day 13 of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games on February 24, 2010 in Whistler Olympic Park in Whistler, Canada. (February 23, 2010 - Photo by Philippe Montigny/Agence Zoom/Getty Images North America)

Maurice Manificat of France,Anders Soedergren of Sweden during the Men's Cross Country Skiing 4x10km Relay on Day 13 of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games on February 24, 2010 in Whistler Olympic Park in Whistler, Canada. (February 23, 2010 - Photo by Philippe Montigny/Agence Zoom/Getty Images North America)

Petter jr. Northug of Norway during the Men's Cross Country Skiing 4x10km Relay on Day 13 of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games on February 24, 2010 in Whistler Olympic Park in Whistler, Canada. (February 23, 2010 - Photo by Philippe Montigny/Agence Zoom/Getty Images North America)

Marcus Hellner of Sweden celebrates as he takes first place during the Men's Cross Country Skiing 4x10km Relay on Day 13 of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games on February 24, 2010 in Whistler Olympic Park in Whistler, Canada. (February 23, 2010 - Photo by Philippe Montigny/Agence Zoom/Getty Images North America)

Marcus Hellner of Sweden is congratulated by teammates after crossing the finish line to win gold during the cross country skiing men's 4 x 10 km relay on day 13 of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics at Whistler Olympic Park Cross-Country Stadium on February 24, 2010 in Whistler, Canada. (February 23, 2010 - Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images North America)

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