IN BRIEF : Sweden Ski Relay Team Unbeaten

Sweden’s experienced cross-country relay team barely kept its unbeaten streak and Norway’s young Nordic combined threesome outclassed all rivals at the World Nordic Ski Championships today.

Anchor Torgny Mogren clinched the favored Swedes’ fourth straight major win in the 40K relay, pulling ahead on a tough uphill stretch with 1.7 kilometers left of the final leg.

The Swedes won the day’s featured event by 1.3 seconds as Mogren set the stage for the most dramatic finish so far in the championships.

Only 1.8 seconds separated the top four nations. Finland’s Jari Rasanen lunged past Vaclav Korunka for the silver, edging the Czech by one-tenth of a second.

Norway trounced Switzerland by 1 minute, 44 seconds in the final 30K cross-country relay to take the two-day Nordic combined team competition. The bronze medals went to East Germany, 1:48 behind.