Norway's men, women sweep X-C relay openers

GALLIVARE, Sweden (AP) -- Norway's men and women won the World Cup cross-country ski relays openers by small margins on Sunday.

Petter Northug anchored the team that edged Sweden by 0.2 seconds in the men's 4x10 kilometer mixed-style event and 19-year-old rookie Marthe Kristoffersen crossed 0.4 seconds ahead of Finland in the women's 4x5K relay.

Norway's men won in 1 hour, 30 minutes, 58.8 seconds and the women won finished in 51:01.5. Germany was third in the men's race and Sweden was third in the women's event.

The United States used the relay as a training opportunity with Andy Newell of Shaftsbury, Vt., and Chris Cook of Rhinelander, Wis., skiing the first two legs.

"We did do what we wanted to do as far as getting Newell and Cook some good racing," U.S. Cross Country coach Pete Vordenberg said. "They definitely had the kind of workout we wanted them to have going into Kuusamo (Finland next weekend) and I feel pretty confident that we're going to have a good weekend there."

Situated above the Arctic Circle, Gallivare is the world's northernmost World Cup venue.

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