Injured Kowalczyk wins Olympic cross-country gold Medal

Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk, skiing on a broken foot, produced a one-sided victory at the Olympics Thursday in the 10-kilometer cross-country race. Kowalczyk won by nearly 20 seconds to give her a second cross-country Olympics gold. She also won the 30-kilometer, mass start race in Vancouver.The Polish skier injured both her left foot and ankle last month and on the day after the opening ceremonies in Sochi she put a picture of the X-ray of her foot on Facebook. That picture showed a fracture, but it did not keep her away from the skiing course at these Games. Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland wins women's 10K classical despite fractured foot As her rivals tired in the heat, Kowalczyk showed exactly why this is her signature event, powering forward relentlessly toward the finish line to finish in 28 minutes, 17.8 seconds.She probably won't mind the pain too much after earning her second career gold medal, having won the 30K classical race in Vancouver four years ago. That time, she beat Marit Bjoergen of Norway in a tight sprint finish. On Thursday, there was never any drama as no one could keep up. Bjoergen, who won her fourth Olympic gold on Saturday in the skiathlon, was only 1.9 seconds back after 2.3 kilometers, but that gap grew to 9 seconds by the halfway point and the Norwegian simply ran out of steam after that. She finished fifth, 33.4 behind.