The first gold medal of the 2022 Winter Olympics was claimed by Norway’s Therese Johaug in the women’s 15-kilometre skiathlon on Saturday.
The event, which sees competitors race with classical technique and skis for the first half of the race before switching to freestyle skis and technique to finish, took place under bitter wind and frigid conditions.
But Johaug broke clear of the pack to claim her fourth Olympic medal, having missed the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang after testing positive for the banned anabolic steroid clostebol, for which she had an initial 13-month suspension extended following an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Russian athlete Natalia Nepryaeva, the current overall World Cup leader, pulled away from the group on the last climb to take the silver. Teresa Stadlober of Austria followed just behind for the bronze medal.
Dinigeer Yilamujiang, a skier from China’s Uyghur community who helped deliver the Olympic flame to the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games, placed 43rd.
The skiathlon was a mass-start race that began with 7.5km of classic skiing. After striding two laps around the 3.75km course, racers came through the stadium and quickly switched to skate skis before heading out for another two laps.
Johaug crossed the line with her arms in the air and a huge smile on her face. She has 10 world championship titles but never an individual Olympic gold medal.
Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee has described the decision to use Uyghur athlete Yilamujiang to light the cauldron at Friday night's opening ceremony of the Games as "a lovely concept".
She joined Nordic combined athlete Zhao Jiawen to light the small flame that sat inside a large snowflake at the National Stadium.
The 20-year-old is one of five athletes from Xinjiang who is competing the Games. China denies allegations of genocide and the establishing of forced labour camps in the region.
IOC spokesperson Mark Adams, speaking about Yilamujiang's role on Friday, said: “I think it is a lovely concept.
“This is an athlete who is competing here, she has every right wherever she comes from, whatever background she comes from to compete and she has every right whatever her background and wherever she comes from to take part in the opening ceremony."
The move was criticised by Uyghur human rights groups, with Zumretay Arkin of the World Uyghur Congress describing the decision as a “most politically motivated move”.
