Olympics-Crosscountry-Sweden’s Karlsson out of women’s 50km classic race due to illness

By Tommy Lund and Liz Hampton

TESERO, Italy, Feb 21 (Reuters) – Sweden’s Frida Karlsson will sit out the women’s 50km cross-country skiing mass start classic race at the Olympics on Sunday due to illness, a team representative said.

Karlsson, widely seen as a podium contender, won a gold medal in the 20km skiathlon and 10km-freestyle race to help lead a dominant Swedish women’s team at the Milano Cortina Games.

Several other medal contenders have been hit by illness this week, including Federico Pellegrino of Italy and American Ben Ogden, who did not start Saturday’s 50km men’s classic race.

(Reporting by Tommy Lund and Liz Hampton in Tesero, Italy; Editing by Ken Ferris)

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