Sweden successfully defended its Olympic gold in the men's 4-by-10-kilometer cross-country relay on Sunday to become the first country in 42 years to win both the men's and women's team events in the same Winter Games.
A day after its women's team earned a narrow come-from-behind victory, Sweden's anchor Marcus Hellner skied alone for the entire final leg and was so far ahead he could leisurely ski down the final straight waving a Swedish flag. Russia took silver in front of President Vladimir Putin. France finished third. Hellner started the fourth leg with a 14-second lead on Russia's Maxim Vylegzhanin, and quickly extended the gap. Sweden won by 27.3 seconds.
It was another disappointing day for Norway, which had fallen a minute behind by the second exchange and ended up fourth, a day after its heavily-favored women surprisingly failed to get a medal. Sweden had a bad start as lars Nelson fell on the first leg when he got tangled up with another skier. He had to spend a few seconds putting one ski back on but quickly caught up to the main pack, and then set the pace to shake off everyone but Finland at the first exchange.
Finland's Iivo Niskanen was still with Sweden's Daniel Richardsson at the second exhange, but Johan Olsson then pulled away from lari lehtonen to give Sweden a comfortable lead heading into the final exchange. Hellner did the rest, keeping Vylegzhanin from getting closer and giving himself ample time to start the celebrations early. It was a vastly different finish to Saturday's women's relay, when Sweden's Charlotte Kalla made up a 25-second deficit on the final leg before winning a three-way sprint for the gold.