Lilia Vasilieva of Russia was victorious in the women’s 15 kilometer cross-country skiing mass start race at the 2017 Winter Universiade.
Vasilieva made it difficult for herself in the early stages of the race at the Alatau Cross-Country Skiing & Biathlon Complex.
Despite leading after 5km, she then fell back to fourth at the halfway stage.
Vasilieva continued to trail her compatriot Anna Nechaevskaya with 2.4km to go but managed to overtake her rival to sneak into first place in a time of 44min 9.7sec.
Nechaevskaya was forced to settle for second and the silver medal in 44:11.7.
Kazakhstan’s Anna Shevchenko rounded out the podium in 44:17.5 despite leading the race at the halfway stage.
Today’s gold was Vasilieva’s fifth medal on what has been a stunning few weeks for the 22-year-old who studies at the Samara State University.
She has also tasted success in the 3x5km relay and 5km individual events.
Completing her impressive haul are two silver medals in both the 5km pursuit and women’s sprint events.
By Max Winters
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz.