Marit Bjørgen was fastest at all splits in the season opener in Gällivare today! A very impressive race by Bjørgen, who seems to be in great shape this early in the season. Above you see a screenshot from Splitsbrowser which gives you a graphical overview of how the race developed.

In the above Splitsbrowser-screenshot a flat line on a split means that an athlete is the fastest on a split. The steeper the line goes, the more an athlete looses on that split. Split 1 is at 1.8 km, split 2 at 2.2 km, split 3 at 5.0 km, split 4 at 6.8 km (same position as split 1), split 5 at 7.2 km (same position as split 2) and finish at 10.0 km.

• Splitsbrowser from the race: Play with the results yourself
• All news from the race available at WorldofXC.com

As you can see from the illustration above – and also from the splitsbrowser if you play with it yourself –  nobody was even close to keeping up the speed of Marit Bjørgen. The only one trying was Kristin Størmer Steira who kept the speed of Bjørgen between split 3 and split 4 after being caught by Bjørgen by 30 seconds out in the course. As you can see from the illustration, that period got tough for Steira - resulting in a fall through the results list from a 3rd spot down to a 5th spot.

The following illustration shows how many percent each runner lost to the best split time on each split. Bjørgen of course has a flat curve at the top – being best at all splits. Bjørgen is strongest at the short splits between 1.8 and 2.2 km and between 6.8 and 7.2 km (they seem to be partly downhill and partly uphill from the course profile). At the part between 2.2 and 5 km (and 7.2 and 10 km) she is not that dominant – Skofterud and Kalla being very strong in this part of the course.  Looking at the course profile, you can see that this is the flatter part of the course.

Skofterud versus Steira

Above you see curves comparing the position at each split for Kristin Størmer Steira and Vibeke Skofterud. As you can see, Skofterud got stronger and stronger through the race. Starting at a 10 place at the first split, and finishing with the second best split at the last split.

Split 1

1.	04:54		Marit BJOERGEN	NOR
2.	05:02	+00:08	Charlotte KALLA	SWE
3.	05:04	+00:10	Anna HAAG	SWE
4.	05:05	+00:10	Arianna FOLLIS	ITA
5.	05:06	+00:12	Marthe KRISTOFFERSEN	NOR
6.	05:07	+00:13	Therese JOHAUG	NOR
7.	05:09	+00:15	Mia ERIKSSON	SWE
8.	05:09	+00:15	Justyna KOWALCZYK	POL
9.	05:09	+00:15	Silvana BUCHER	SUI
10.	05:10	+00:15	Vibeke W. SKOFTERUD	NOR
11.	05:10	+00:16	Maria RYDQVIST	SWE
14.	05:12	+00:18	Kristin Stoermer STEIRA	NOR

Split 2

1.	01:15		Marit BJOERGEN	NOR
2.	01:19	+00:04	Nicole FESSEL	GER
3.	01:19	+00:04	Arianna FOLLIS	ITA
4.	01:20	+00:04	Charlotte KALLA	SWE
5.	01:20	+00:05	Evi SACHENBACHER STEHLE	GER
6.	01:20	+00:05	Anna HAAG	SWE
7.	01:20	+00:05	Marthe KRISTOFFERSEN	NOR
8.	01:21	+00:06	Justyna KOWALCZYK	POL
9.	01:21	+00:06	Therese JOHAUG	NOR
10.	01:22	+00:07	Kristin Stoermer STEIRA	NOR
11.	01:22	+00:07	Petra MAJDIC	SLO
16.	01:23	+00:08	Vibeke W. SKOFTERUD	NOR

Split 3

1.	05:44		Marit BJOERGEN	NOR
2.	05:47	+00:03	Charlotte KALLA	SWE
3.	05:51	+00:07	Kristin Stoermer STEIRA	NOR
4.	05:52	+00:08	Arianna FOLLIS	ITA
5.	05:56	+00:13	Vibeke W. SKOFTERUD	NOR
6.	05:57	+00:13	Riitta-Liisa ROPONEN	FIN
7.	05:58	+00:14	Marthe KRISTOFFERSEN	NOR
8.	05:59	+00:15	Justyna KOWALCZYK	POL
9.	06:03	+00:19	Therese JOHAUG	NOR
10.	06:03	+00:19	Marianna LONGA	ITA
11.	06:03	+00:19	Svetlana MALAKHOVA-SHISHKINA	KAZ

Split 4

1.	04:45		Marit BJOERGEN	NOR
2.	04:46	+00:01	Kristin Stoermer STEIRA	NOR
3.	04:54	+00:10	Arianna FOLLIS	ITA
4.	04:55	+00:10	Marthe KRISTOFFERSEN	NOR
5.	04:57	+00:12	Charlotte KALLA	SWE
6.	04:57	+00:12	Vibeke W. SKOFTERUD	NOR
7.	05:00	+00:16	Anna HAAG	SWE
8.	05:01	+00:16	Nicole FESSEL	GER
9.	05:02	+00:18	Maria RYDQVIST	SWE
10.	05:03	+00:18	Astrid Uhrenholdt JACOBSEN	NOR
11.	05:03	+00:18	Justyna KOWALCZYK	POL

Split 5

1.	01:17		Marit BJOERGEN	NOR
2.	01:20	+00:03	Kristin Stoermer STEIRA	NOR
3.	01:20	+00:03	Marthe KRISTOFFERSEN	NOR
4.	01:21	+00:04	Charlotte KALLA	SWE
5.	01:22	+00:05	Anastasia DOTSENKO	RUS
6.	01:22	+00:05	Anna HAAG	SWE
7.	01:22	+00:05	Nicole FESSEL	GER
8.	01:22	+00:05	Therese JOHAUG	NOR
9.	01:22	+00:05	Vibeke W. SKOFTERUD	NOR
10.	01:23	+00:05	Arianna FOLLIS	ITA
11.	01:23	+00:06	Justyna KOWALCZYK	POL

Split 6

1.	05:54		Marit BJOERGEN	NOR
2.	06:01	+00:07	Vibeke W. SKOFTERUD	NOR
3.	06:04	+00:10	Charlotte KALLA	SWE
4.	06:04	+00:10	Astrid Uhrenholdt JACOBSEN	NOR
5.	06:06	+00:12	Alena PROCHAZKOVA	SVK
6.	06:07	+00:14	Arianna FOLLIS	ITA
7.	06:08	+00:14	Marthe KRISTOFFERSEN	NOR
8.	06:10	+00:17	Justyna KOWALCZYK	POL
9.	06:11	+00:17	Marianna LONGA	ITA
10.	06:11	+00:17	Nicole FESSEL	GER
11.	06:12	+00:18	Ida INGEMARSDOTTER	SWE
28.	06:17	+00:23	Kristin Stoermer STEIRA	NOR

Overall (unofficial results from live timing)

1.	23:48		Marit BJOERGEN	NOR
2.	24:30	+00:41	Charlotte KALLA	SWE
3.	24:40	+00:51	Arianna FOLLIS	ITA
4.	24:47	+00:58	Kristin Stoermer STEIRA	NOR
5.	24:47	+00:59	Marthe KRISTOFFERSEN	NOR
6.	24:49	+01:00	Vibeke W. SKOFTERUD	NOR
7.	25:04	+01:16	Justyna KOWALCZYK	POL
8.	25:05	+01:16	Anna HAAG	SWE
9.	25:11	+01:22	Nicole FESSEL	GER
10.	25:11	+01:22	Therese JOHAUG	NOR
11.	25:14	+01:26	Astrid Uhrenholdt JACOBSEN	NOR
12.	25:17	+01:29	Maria RYDQVIST	SWE
13.	25:17	+01:29	Petra MAJDIC	SLO
14.	25:20	+01:32	Marianna LONGA	ITA
15.	25:23	+01:35	Silvana BUCHER	SUI
16.	25:30	+01:42	Svetlana MALAKHOVA-SHISHKINA	KAZ
17.	25:30	+01:42	Britta JOHANSSON NORGREN	SWE
18.	25:31	+01:42	Mia ERIKSSON	SWE
19.	25:35	+01:46	Kikkan RANDALL	USA
20.	25:36	+01:48	Yulia TCHEKALEVA	RUS
21.	25:39	+01:51	Krista LAHTEENMAKI	FIN
22.	25:41	+01:53	Ida INGEMARSDOTTER	SWE
23.	25:43	+01:55	Riitta-Liisa ROPONEN	FIN
24.	25:44	+01:56	Silvia RUPIL	ITA
25.	25:45	+01:57	Elizabeth STEPHEN	USA
26.	25:46	+01:58	Evi SACHENBACHER STEHLE	GER
27.	25:48	+02:00	Alena PROCHAZKOVA	SVK
28.	25:49	+02:00	Riikka SARASOJA	FIN
29.	25:50	+02:02	Vesna FABJAN	SLO
30.	25:53	+02:04	Elena KOLOMINA	KAZ
31.	25:59	+02:10	Anastasia DOTSENKO	RUS
32.	26:01	+02:13	Valentina SHEVCHENKO	UKR
33.	26:02	+02:13	Alena SANNIKOVA	BLR
34.	26:02	+02:13	Laure BARTHELEMY	FRA
35.	26:04	+02:16	Ingvild Flugstad OESTBERG	NOR