Happy New Year beckons for China's women skiers

National champion Li Hongxue and Man Dandan made the most of the final weekend of 2008 as China's women skiers dominated the first two stops of the Tour de Ski, a cross-country tournament sanctioned by the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Man won her 1.4km race on Sunday and Li followed suit at the longer 3.6km race yesterday, both of which were held at Xiwu Banner, 600km east of Hohhot, the capital of China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Li led yesterday's race from start to finish, living up to her billing as the de facto top seed to cross the finish line in 10 minutes, 33.6 seconds. Li Xin and Guo Liping ensured a Chinese sweep of the event by coming in second and third.