Skiing: Poltoranin wins silver in World Cup stage

Kazakhstan’s skier Alexey Poltoranin won silver in the men's 15-kilometer classical race as part of the 13th Cross Country Skiing World Cup stage in Lahti, Finland, Vesti.kz reports. Petter Northug of Norway won the race. Poltoranin was 31.7 seconds behind him. 15-kilometer race is Poltoranin's favorite event. The Kazakhstan skier started it perfectly, he was second at the first check point, then he lost time and was sixth at the next checkpoint, but later he returned into the top three. Poltoranin was third and another Norway’s skier Martin Johnsrud Sundby was second at the last checkpoint before the finish. But the Kazakhstan skier covered the last section of the race faster then his rival and became second in the overall ranking. Another Kazakhstan skier Nikolay Chebotko became 20th. He was almost one and half minute behind the winner. Yevgeny Velichko, who started the race first, finished 34th and Mark Starostin was 60th.