Bjoergen wins 30K race, Norway completes women's gold sweep

LAHTI, Finland (AP) Marit Bjoergen won the 30-kilometer classical race as Norway completed a sweep of women's cross-country ski titles at the Nordic world championships on Saturday.

The Norwegians made an emphatic statement ahead of the Pyeongchang Olympics, taking the top four places with strong team tactics on the final sprint of the 30K.

Bjoergen took her record 18th career gold medal - and fourth of the championships - by 1.9 seconds from Heidi Weng, who needed a photo finish to beat Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen into third place.

''It has exceeded all expectations. I'm glad it's over now. It has been so thrilling,'' Bjoergen said.

Jessica Diggins of the United States was the top non-Norwegian in fifth, a place behind Ragnhild Haga. Sweden's Charlotte Kalla had been in the hunt for a medal but broke a ski pole shortly before the finish.

No country had won all of the women's cross-country gold medals at a single worlds since Russia in 1997, when there were only five on offer, rather than the current six.

Poland swept to victory in the men's ski jumping large hill team competition. The squad of Kamil Stoch, Maciej Kot, Dawid Kubacki and Piotr Zyla brought together some of the sport's biggest names to win with a score of 1104.2 points from eight jumps.

Norway took second on 1078.5, while Austria took third on 1068.9.

The Austrian bronze meant a fourth medal for Stefan Kraft, who earlier won the individual competitions on the normal hill and large hill, as well as silver in the mixed team normal hill event.