IN BRIEF : Finn Women Cool Nordic Ski Meet

Veteran Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi won the women’s 10-kilometer cross-country ski race today, leading Finland to a 1-2-3 sweep in the World Nordic Ski Championships.

Kirvesniemi, 33, skied a steady race in near perfect conditions in beating runner-up Pirkko Maatta by 53.2 seconds. The winning time was 29 minutes, 19.0 seconds.

Marjo Matikainen was third in 30:12.9, missing the silver medal by only seven-tenths of a second, as the Finns blanked the powerful Soviet team in the opening event of the 10-day championships.

The Soviets had finished 1-2 in the 10K race at the 1988 Winter Olympics, but could do no better than 4-5-6 this time.

Thousands of Finns, waving blue-white Finnish flags, celebrated the nation’s perfect start of the championships.

Kirvesniemi, winless in the 1988 Olympics as the Soviets dominated the women’s events, made cross-country ski history in the 1984 Winter Games when she swept the three women’s individual titles.