Therese Johaug recovers from fall to crush competition at nordic worlds skiathlon

Therese Johaug bounced back from an early fall to crush the field and claim gold in the women's 15-kilometre skiathlon for Norway at the FIS Nordic Ski World Championships on Saturday in Oberstdorf, Germany, with Swedes Frida Karlsson and Ebba Andersson taking silver and bronze.

However, Johaug reeled her in with a powerful performance on the uphill parts of the course and came out of the switch from classic to freestyle skis at the halfway point with a lead of 4.3 seconds over Andersson.

The 32-year-old wasted no time increasing the gap, eventually cruising to a dominant victory by a margin of 30 seconds in 38 minutes 35.5 seconds to claim her 11th World Championship cross-country gold, while Karlsson held off her compatriot Andersson in a sprint finish to take silver in 39:05.5. Andersson's time was 39:05.7.

The skiathlon combines 7.5 km of classic and skate for the women and 15 km of each discipline for the men.

Three Canadian skiers moved into the elite group of 30 for the first time in nearly a decade at the event: Cendrine Browne of Saint-Jérôme led a charge of Quebec athletes in 23rd, Katherine Stewart-Jones of Chelsea followed in 28th and Gatineau's Antoine Cyr — competing at his first senior worlds — finished 27th in the men's race.

Browne, 27, remained steady in her four loops around the 3.75 km course to match her career-best finish with a time of 41 minutes 51.4 seconds and secure her second top-30 performance at worlds.

Breakthrough season

"Today was one of the hardest courses I've ever done. No flats, only up hills and twisty downhills," said Browne, who was 26th in a 30 km skate-ski race at the 2017 world championships in Lahti, Finland. "I'm really happy and proud that I was able to hold on in the classic and be in good position to start the skate."

The 2018 Olympian previously posted a pair of top-30 results this season from a handful of starts and has done so six times in her World Cup career.

Stewart-Jones continued her breakthrough season, finding her groove in the final 7.5 km after the world's best Nordic skiers clicked into skate-skis, and fought for a spot in the prestigious group of 30. The 25-year-old stopped the clock in 42:18.5.

Last month, Stewart-Jones and Browne became the first Canadian women since 2014 to finish in the top-30 together on the World Cup.

"Having two of us in the top 30 [again today] is definitely a good start, but I know that we have more in the tank, and I'm looking forward to some more racing," said Stewart-Jones.

Laura Leclair, of Chelsea, Que., finished 48th in 45:39.8.

'Huge confidence booster'

In the men's race, Cyr skied in control while matching strides with the biggest names in the sport until the frontrunners of a long line in the lead pack broke away group.

The 22-year-old skied relaxed and composed throughout the four classic-ski laps, setting up Cyr for his first-ever top-30 finish at the elite level in 1:15:35.8.

"The wax techs did an excellent job with the classic skis," he said. "I haven't done much racing at the World Cup level and I don't have a lot of mass start experience. Mass starts are chaos here in Europe. It is nothing like we race at Canada.

"This is a huge confidence booster for me," added Cyr, who finished one spot outside the top 30 in Thursday's opening sprint event. "I was close on sprint day, but just couldn't make the heats. Now, being on the other side of the 30 was a big, big thing for me. I knew I could do it."

Russia's Alexander Bolshunov outlasted five Norwegians in a sprint finish to post a winning time of 1:11:33.9. Simen Hegstad Krueger (1:11:35.0) and Hans Christer Holund (1:11:35.6) rounded out the podium.

Rémi Drolet of Rossland, B.C., was the youngest Canadian in the field at 20 and placed 39th in 1:16:36.3. Philippe Boucher, of Levis, Que., was 51st (1:19:20.), while Russell Kennedy, of Canmore, Alta., did not finish.

Catch more action from the cross-country skiing world championships on Road to the Olympic Games, streaming on CBCSports.ca on Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.

Competition continues Sunday with the team sprints.