page_title: Cross-country skiing at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009
section_title: 4 × 5 km relay
hierarchical_section_title: Cross-country skiing at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 / Women's events / 4 × 5 km relay
caption_attribution_description: Čeština: MS 2009 Liberec. Start ženské štafety 4x5km
context_page_description: At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec, Czech Republic, twelve cross-country skiing events were held with six for men and six for women. The format of the program was unchanged since the 2005 World Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany. For the men's events, Norway won five of the six events and a total of six medals with Petter Northug winning golds in the pursuit, 50 km and relay events. Ola Vigen Hattestad won two golds in the sprint events. The only event the Norwegians did not win was in the 15 km event, won by Estonia's Andrus Veerpalu, who became the oldest world champion ever.
  Norway won only one medal in the women's event with a silver in the pursuit event by Kristin Størmer Steira. Dario Cologna of Switzerland, the overall World Cup leader entering the championships, won no medals, with a best finish of fourth in the individual sprint event. For the women's events, the biggest winners were Finland's Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, the women's overall World Cup leader entering the championships, and Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk, the women's World Cup leader in the distance event, winning four and three medals respectively with golds in five of the six events.
context_section_description: 26 February. The Finnish team of Kuitunen, Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, Roponen and Pirjo Manninen (Muranen since June 2007) were the defending champions and repeated albeit in a different starting order. The top three at the first exchange with Poland (who would finish sixth), Finland and Russia (who finished eighth), with Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk having the fastest first leg. Finland's Kuitunen had the fastest time in the classical technique and the second leg to propel her team from second to first with Norway (who would finish fourth) and Japan (who finished seventh) rounding out the top three at the second exchange. Germany's Gössner had the fastest time of the third leg, moving her team from sixth to fourth. At the third exchange, the top three teams were Norway, Finland and Poland. Sweden's Kalla had the fastest time in the freestyle technique and the anchor leg to propel her team from sixth to the bronze medal, losing the silver to Germany by 0.4 seconds. Saarinen of Finland won the gold by 13.0 seconds.
caption: Start of the women's 4 × 5 km relay at the world championships on 26 February.
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