Source: Xinhua

02-20-2009 15:04

YABULI, Northeast China, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Russian showed its dominance in cross-country skiing here on Friday by sweeping top places in both men's and women's freestyle events of the 24th Harbin Winter Universiade.

Gold medalist Aleksey Tchernousov (C), silver medalist Sergey  Turychev (L) and bronze medalist Konstantin Glavatskikh of  Russia celebrate after the men's 10km free individual  cross-country skiing finals at the 24th World Winter  Universiade in the Yabuli Ski Resort, 195km southeast  away from Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang  Province, Feb. 20, 2009. (Xinhua/Gesang Dawa)

Aleksey Tchernousov crossed the line first in the men's 10 kilometers race in 27 minutes and 10.1 seconds to lead a Russian sweep of top four finishes.

Sergey Turychev came in second with 27:19.3 and Konstantin Glavatskikh clocked 27:46.6 to finish third, followed by Ilya Mashkov on 27:50.9

The only non-Russian top five finisher was Ivan Drobyazko of Kazakhstan, who covered the course in 27:57.3.

Later on Friday, Russian women refreshed the record as Valentina Novikova led compatriots to a clean sweep of top five places in the women's 5 kilometers freestyle competition.