Liberec, Czech Republic  - Todd Lodwick of the United States capped his return to Nordic combined skiing on Friday when he won the world title in the mass start event.

Lodwick, 32, soared 100.5 metres and 97.5 metres for a winning total of 296.0 points from the jumps and Thursday's 10-kilometres cross-country mass start race win.

Liberec, Czech Republic  - Xu Wenlong of China and Morgan Smyth of the United States won cross-country qualifying races and Frenchwoman Coline Mattel had the longest ski-jump as the Nordic skiing world championships were set to get underway.

The women's 10km cross-country ski race and the Nordic combined mass start event kick off the championships on Thursday.

Oslo/Stockholm  - Norwegian cross-country ski star Marit Bjoergen and her Swedish rival Charlotte Kalla were considering not competing in the 10-kilometre classic event on Thursday at the world championships in the Czech resort of Liberec.

Bjoergen, 28, told broadcaster NRK on Tuesday that she had recovered from a stomach infection that she came down with over the weekend and on Wednesday would decide definitely if she would compete in the event.

Klingenthal, Germany - Anssi Koivuranta of Finland claimed his sixth season win on Saturday to increase his World Cup lead in Nordic combined skiing.

Koivuranta dominated the jumping portion with 142 metres and then crossed the line first in the 10-kilometres cross-country pursuit in 27 minutes 16.7 seconds.

His main title rival Magnus Moan of Norway failed to make up a deficit of 1.44 minutes from the jumping, trailing by 15.4 seconds at the finish line. Third place went to compatriot Jan Schmid, 1:04.1 minutes off the pace.