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Marit Bjoergen lived up to her billing as the hot favorite by winning the womens 15-kilometer skiathlon at Sochi on Saturday, giving the Norwegian cross-country skier her fourth career Olympic gold medal. Bjoergen pulled away from Swedens Charlotte Kalla on the final straight to win in 38 minutes, 33.6 seconds and defend her title from the 2010 Vancouver Games. Kalla was 1.8 seconds back. Heidi Weng of Norway took bronze. Bjoergen was the most successful athlete of the Vancouver Games with three gold medals, a silver and a bronze and showed right away she has the ability to match that feat in Sochi. With a group of five skiers staying together until the last kilometer, Kalla tried to pull away in the final tough uphill section and decide the race before the final sprint. Only Bjoergen was able to match her pace going up the hill, and the Norwegian then went in front as they entered the stadium. Kalla had no answer for the strong finish by Bjoergen, who had time to turn her head and then raise her arm in celebration as she crossed the line. The skiathlon event starts with 7.5 kilometers of classical-style skiing before switching to freestyle, making it a tough test of the athletes all-round abilities. Kalla won the 10K freestyle event in Vancouver four years ago and showed she has vastly improved her classical style skiing since then. She has never finished on the podium in a skiathlon on the World Cup circuit and celebrated as if she had won on Saturday, raising her arms to celebrate as she crossed the line behind Bjoergen and then jumping up and down holding her skis in the air. She prevented a Norwegian sweep of the medals, with Therese Johaug finishing fourth. Aino-Kaisa Saarinen of Finland was fifth. Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland, a three-time overall World Cup winner who has been struggling with a foot injury, was with the leading group of seven skiers at the halfway mark but slipped and fell just as she was about to enter her station for the ski change and lost several seconds. She exited the ski change 7.4 seconds behind Kalla, and never came any closer during the freestyle. Entering the last lap, she was nearly 19 seconds behind and she finished sixth, 58.1 seconds back. The next womens event is the individual freestyle sprint on Tuesday, when Bjoergen is again among the favorites. The mens 30K skiathlon is Sunday. Wholesale Patriots Jerseys . 22 because of a bruised foot and have added forward Sean Collins to the roster on emergency recall from Springfield of the AHL. New England Patriots Gear .com) - The Toronto Raptors are paying Rudy Gay a visit on Wednesday night when they head into the Sleep Train Arena to take on the Sacramento Kings. https://www.patriotsjerseysale.com/. Didnt need any help this time. Wood beat Cincinnati for the first time in his career, repeatedly pitching out of threats for seven innings, and Chicago stalled the Reds week-long surge with a 2-0 victory Monday night. Stitched Patriots Jerseys . Expensive. The NFL fined Tomlin $100,000 on Wednesday for interfering with Baltimores Jacoby Jones on a kickoff return in the third quarter of a 22-20 loss to the Ravens on Thanksgiving night. Patriots Jerseys China . On Saturday night, Winnipegs strong offense was again accompanied by some fantastic pitching which gave the Fish a commanding victory.MONTREAL -- The Montreal Impact smell blood. The clubs final group stage match in the CONCACAF Champions League on Wednesday night will come against a New York Red Bulls team that is already eliminated from contention for the quarter-finals. And the Red Bulls will likely sit out most of their best players to save them for a Major League Soccer match on Sunday that has playoff implications. It is a glittering chance for the Impact to finish the group stage with a perfect 4-0-0 record and perhaps earn one of the top four seeds for the quarter-finals. But coach Frank Klopas cautioned this week that the Impact cant expect to walk into Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., and take the three points without any effort, even if New York opts to use mostly reserve players. The game they played here against us (a 1-0 Montreal win on Sept. 17), they played some guys that are not in their starting group, but theres a lot for all those guys to play for, said Klopas. Its the end of the season, and maybe its an opportunity to impress their coach. They have a lot to prove. Theyre playing for contracts. But regardless of who we play, we have to focus on ourselves. And its another opportunity to get a win on the road. Its not MLS, but it counts. On the downside, the Impact will be without arguably their two best players, as midfielder Ignacio Piatti is nursing tendinitis in a knee and striker Marco Di Vaio has a one-game suspension. Otherwise, they expect to field a strong lineup. The Impact have had a miserable MLS season, sitting last in the Eastern Conference thanks largely to a 0-12-5 record away from home. But they won the Canadian Championship, which put them into the Champions League group stage, where they already have an away win over CD FAS of El Salvador. Montreal clinched a quarter-final spot when the Red Bulls (1-1-1) were held to a draw by CD FAS. And the club has its 3-2 away win in San Salvador on Aug. 20 to build on. Now we can do it again, said midfielder Maxim Tissot. Itll be big for us to get momentum for next year. Weve been playing better. Maybe its because we dont have the stress of trying to make thhe playoffs, but weve been moving the ball better.dddddddddddd The fifth-place Red Bulls have made the MLS playoffs, but a win Sunday in Kansas City can move them into third place and avoid the fourth versus fifth knockout game. Or it could give them home field advantage if they come fourth and have to play the knock-out match against either Kansas City or Columbus. To finish with four wins would give Montreal a chance to play the quarter-final return leg at home. Theoretically, it would also give them a weaker opponent, although all eight teams in the quarter-finals should be tough. Tissot said Montreal hopes to draw a fellow MLS side. The quarter-finals will be played between Feb. 24 and March 5, when MLS teams are still in training camp but clubs from Mexico and Central America will be in mid-season. Id prefer to play a team from MLS, Tissot said. That may not be best for the league, but it may be best for us because well know the team were facing. No matter who we play, we have to be ready. But we want as much on our side as possible. MLS clubs D.C. United and the Portland Timbers are also 3-0-0 headed into their final group stage match. Montreal reached the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2009. That year, they beat Santos Laguna 2-0 at home before more than 55,000 at Olympic Stadium only to collapse in the second half of a 5-2 defeat in the return leg in Mexico. Now theyve earned another shot. Its big for the club, said Tissot, a Gatineau, Que. native who was playing youth soccer at that time. Well want to get our revenge. We lost in a pretty difficult way. I think (president) Joey Saputo and (general manager) Nick De Santis still remember. (Assistant GM) Matt Jordan played in that game, so he remembers. Well want to win for them especially. The Impact wont be in next years Champions League. That spot has already gone to the Vancouver Whitecaps. A rule change for this year only gives the 2015 CONCACAF spot to the Canadian team that finished highest in MLS standings. Normally, it goes to the club that wins the Canadian Championship trophy, the Voyageurs Cup. ' ' '