Host Japan pocketed both golds of the women's 15 km free and the men's 30 km free cross-country skiing at the winter Asiad here on Sunday.

In the women's event, 29-year-old skier Yuki Kobayashi crossed the finish line at Shirahatayama Open Stadium in 43 minutes and 28.6 seconds. It was her fourth gold in cross-country skiing here, including one in relay.

The 35-year-old Lee Chae-won from South Korea, 3.9 seconds slower, settled for the silver. She also finished second to Kobayashi in the women's 10km free earlier in the week.

China's Li Hongxue took the bronze in 43:33.8. It was her third medal here in Sapporo, following a bronze in women's 5km classical and a silver in women's relay.

"I'm satisfied with my performance today. I lagged behind at first but tried to catch up," Li said.

In the men's event, Akira Lenting from Japan and Sergey Cherepanov from Kazakhstan both finished the race in 1:22:54.0. The judge decided from the video that Lenting won the gold. The bronze went to Nikolay Chebotko from Kazakhstan.

The best Chinese finisher in the men's event was Wang Qiang who took the sixth place.

Source:
courtesy of XINHUA NEWS AGENCY

by XinHua News Agency

If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]