SOCHI, February 3 (R-Sport) - Russia won the men’s cross-country World Cup team sprint in Sochi on Sunday, skiing to victory by an imperious margin.

The second-placed Swedish team was a full 18.4 seconds behind Russia’s Maxim Vylegzhanin and Dmitry Japarov, with Germany 2.1 seconds further adrift in third.

“Thank you very much to Maxim, he did a great job for us and at the end it was an easy victory,” Japarov said in televised comments.

“I hope that next year, we can repeat the victory again,” Vylegzhanin said, referring to the Winter Olympics, which will be held in Sochi next year.

Russia’s second team was fourth, ahead of Norway and Kazakhstan.

Earlier Sunday, Finland won the women’s team sprint.

On Saturday, Norway’s Kristin Stormer Steira won the women’s distance race, with Swiss skier Dario Cologna victorious in the men’s event. Friday’s individual sprints saw wins for Kikkan Randall of the United States and Norway’s Petter Northug.

The Sochi round of the World Cup was the first major cross-country test event at the Laura cross-country and biathlon complex, the future Olympic venue.