LEAD: Norway rules Nordic skiing from Bjoergen, Northug, Schmid

Dec 10, 2011, 15:02 GMT

Davos, Switzerland - Petter Northug cruised to victory and Marit Bjoergen led a women's podium sweep as Norway ruled Saturday's cross-country ski World Cup races.

Jan Schmid made it three Nordic wins for Norway with a first career victory in the Nordic combined World Cup.

Northug, 25, got a commanding victory in the men's 30km freestyle race as he outclassed his rivals by almost a minute with 1 hour 7 minutes 43.8 seconds in the Swiss alpine resort of Davos.

Frenchman Maurice Manificat was 51.4 seconds off the pace in second place and Czech Lukas Bauer trailed by 59.5 seconds in third as Northug powered to his second season victory and 12th overall.

Bjoergen, like Northug a multiple world and Olympic champion clocked 35 minutes 59.5 seconds for her 49th career victory in the women's 15km. Vibeke Skofterud was a distant second, 41.8 seconds behind and Therese Johaug third, 42.2 seconds off the pace.

Bjoergen, 31, won the season-opening sprint in Norway and a three-stage race in Finland before her latest success. She did not compete last weekend in sprints in Germany.

Northug commands the men's World Cup with 455 points and Bjoergen has 546 to dominate the women's list.

Schmid beat World Cup holder Jason Lamy Chappuis of France in Ramsau, Austria, to get his first Nordic combined victory.

Placed fourth after the morning jumping, Schmid won the 10km cross-country portion in 22:05.08 minutes, 2.4 seconds ahead of Lamy Chappuis and 3.0 seconds from German World Cup leader Tino Edelmann.

The day's other Nordic event was team ski-jumping at the Czech hill in Harrachov.

Sunday will see cross-country sprints, and individual events in Nordic combined and ski-jumping.