Classic start for Norway in openers

BEITOSTOELEN, Norway (AP) -- Ronny Hafsas and Marit Bjorgen won the cross country skiing World Cup openers Saturday on home snow in Norway.

Hafsas, who specializes in biathlon, covered the men's 15-kilometer freestyle race in 34 minutes, 42.1 seconds to edge Vincent Vittoz of France by 0.2 seconds. It was his first World Cup victory.

Matti Heikkinen of Finland placed third in 34:48.7 and triple world champion Petter Northug of Norway was fourth in 34:53.8.

"I have worked very hard in preseason training to ski fast and it paid off today," said Hafsas, fighting back tears. "I finished the race very strongly. I have worked hard mentally the last few days to prepare myself for the last lap."

The 24-year-old Hafsas has a career-best sixth-place in the biathlon World Cup, a sprint at Ostersund, Sweden, last year. He was named to the Norwegian team for the World Biathlon Championships in South Korea last season, but did not enter a single race.

Bjorgen dominated the women's 10-kilometer freestyle race, winning by nearly 30 seconds.

The Norwegian led from the start and finished in 24 minutes, 48.3 seconds to beat Charlotte Kalla of Sweden by 29.7 seconds. Anna Haag of Sweden was third, another 7.5 seconds back, while defending overall World Cup champion Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland was a disappointing 12th.

It was Bjorgen's 31st individual World Cup victory and third straight at Beitostolen.

A former two-time overall champion now entering her 10th season, Bjorgen said she was very tense and nervous before the race.

"I hardly managed to go to the ski stadium," she said.

After the race, she was a lot more relaxed.

"This win hopefully confirmed that I have done all things right during preseason training," she said. "It went very well today. Maybe I don't have to ski so much faster at the Winter Olympics."

The meet ends with men's and women's relays on Sunday.

Next weekend, the World Cup circuit continues with classical-style races at Kuusamo, Finland.

"I'm in great shape, but I don't expect to get such a good result there," Bjorgen said. "The Finns have a few strong classic-style skiers."