Sweden's Charlotte Kalla won the first gold medal of the PyeongChang Games and Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjoergen took silver in the women's 15-kilometer skiathlon to become the most decorated female Winter Olympian ever.
Bjoergen captured her 11th career medal Saturday, breaking a three-way tie with Russian Raisa Smetanina and Italian Stefania Belmondo.
Kalla won the race by more than seven seconds, breaking away from the pack in the final 2 kilometers to avenge her loss to Bjoergen in the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Krista Parmakowski of Finland finished third.
Jessica Diggins finished fifth, failing to become the first American woman to earn a medal in cross-country skiing.
Diggins says nerves may have gotten the best of her, causing her to throw up shortly before the race.
The 26-year-old says, "I need to work on a few things to manage stress."
She says she also struggled with cramping in her triceps during the race and will reconsider her hydration plan moving forward. Overall, though, she says she did the best she could and got the most out of her body.
Diggins says it wasn't her best race, but she still feels like she's in a "good place" to become the first American cross-country skier to win a medal since Bill Koch in 1976.
