Brazil's 47-year-old veteran Mourao wins first race of Planica 2023: 'I can't imagine that I did that'

Brazil’s veteran Jaqueline Mourao once again showed that age is just a number as she won the women's 5km individual start free qualification race at the Planica 2023 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships by a clear margin.

The 47-year-old multi-talent, who has competed at eight Olympic Games in three sports, beat home hope Lucija Medja from Slovenia in second place by seven seconds as Gigja Bjornsdottir from Iceland grabbed the last podium spot 34.4 seconds after the Brazilian winner.

"It was hard. But it's a very nice course for me, I love this kind of course," Mourao said.

Born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, but based in Canadian Quebec, Mourao has competed at Olympic Games in mountain bike cycling as well as Cross-Country skiing and biathlon. After switching mountain bike at Tokyo 2020 for Cross-Country at Beijing 2022 in only six months, she took a break from competing – coming back to win the first event of the world championships one year later.

"I was very nervous this morning," Mourao said.

"This is my first race after such a long time (only) training and training, so I was very nervous, I didn't know what to expect. At the end of the day it was my best qualification race in the world championships. I can't imagine that I did that."

The top-ten skiers, earning themselves a spot in the women's 10km individual start free on 28 February, include Mourao's teammates Bruna Moura and Mirlene Picin, who finished ninth and tenth respectively.

Enkhtuul Ariunsanaa from Mongolia, Ieva Dainyte from Lithuania, Sara Plakalovic from Bosnia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Anna Rashoyan from Armenia and Iran's Samantha Beyrami Baher also made it safely to the 10km race.

Albert Jonsson from Iceland won the men's 10km individual start free race, just under a minute before runner-up Manex Silva from Brazil. Armenia's Spartak Voskanyan finished third.

The 25-year-old gradually increased his lead to the rest of the field throughout the race, adding another 30 seconds to his advantage in the second lap – despite feeling that the snow slowed him down.

"It was good and tough," Jonsson said.

"The track was good in the first lap but in the second lap the snow got pretty soft and slow. But I just kept on skiing."

Silva, 20, had been in fifth place halfway through the race but won the battle against Voskanyan, Iceland's Dagur Benediktsson and Adam Buki from Hungary for the top spots behind Jonsson.

Colombia's Fredrik Fodstad, Mark Chanlong from Thailand, Danyal Savehshemshaki from Iran and Adam Konya from Hungary completed the top-ten and qualified for the men's 15km individual free race on 1 March.

For Jonsson, that will be his only race at the world championships as he now gets one week to recover and prepare.

"It's most likely just going to be some easy ski and chill," the winner said about his plans for the coming week.

The competitions in Planica continue with an action-packed Thursday, where the men's and women's sprint world champions will be crowned.

Click here for full results from the women's 5km individual start free and here for full results from the men's 10km individual free.