The 2007 FIS Cross Country World Cup started in Changchun on Thursday with Evgenia Shapovalova from Russia and Ola Vigen Hattestad from Norway claiming the women's 1,200m and men's 1,200m respectively.

Shapovalova's teammate Natalia Matveeva rounded out a Russian 1-2 by taking second place in the women's event with Norwegian Guro Stroem Solli finished third.

Chinese skier Man Dandan came a proud eighth in the event, the best ever finish for the Chinese cross-country skiing squad.

Norway pulled out all the stops at the men's race as Hattestad led a strong Norwegian contingent to a clean-sweep of all medals, with Boerre Naess and Tor Ame Hetland settling for second and third places.

The 2007 FIS Cross Country World Cup includes men's 1,200m, women's 1,200m, men's 12km and women's 10km, with the latter two events to be raced on Friday. Over 100 athletes from 15 countries are competing in the event, including Turin Olympic medalists Eugeni Dementiev and Thobias Fredriksson.

 (Xinhua News Agency February 16, 2007)