Kowalczyk remains unbeaten in Tour de Ski, Russian men's sweep

Dec 31, 2011, 15:45 GMT

Oberstdorf, Germany - Holder Justyna Kowalczyk made it three wins from as many stages at the Tour de Ski while Olympic champion Nikolay Kriukov led a Russian one-to-four finish at the cross-country season highlight on Saturday.

The Pole Kowalczyk beat her fiercest title rival Marit Bjoergen for victory in the day's classic style sprint held in driving rain, with Natalia Matveeva of Russia third.

Kowalczyk has won all three stages of the race contested so far and increased her overall lead over Bjoergen to 22.2 seconds. Another Norwegian, Therese Johaug, is a distant third, 1:01.4 minutes adrift.

The men's sprint saw Kriukov win from Alexey Petukhov, Nikolay Morlilov and Dmitriy Japarov while the main rivals for the overall title, Dario Cologna of Switzerland and Petter Northug of Norway, came fifth and sixth, respectively.

Northug holds a slender advantage of 4.8 seconds over Cologna as like Bjoergen he bids for a first Tour de Ski title. Japarov is a third, 14.1 seconds behind Northug.

The nine-stage Tour de Ski continues on Sunday with double pursuit races in Oberstdorf and runs until January 8.