Cross-country skiing is back in World Cup action in Oberhof, Germany after a break following the Tour de Ski in early January.

The World Cup weekend began with the women's and men's sprint free events, from qualification races to the finals, under night skies.

In the women's sprint final, Jonna Sundling took home the 15th World Cup win of her career after she sprinted across the finish line in 2 minutes and 43.79 seconds.

"It feels great, it's the first time skating sprint here in Oberhof, it was very much speed today, short track and fast track. I'm thinking a lot about the Olympics, and this is for sure a good race for that," Sundling said after the win. 

German skier Coletta Rydzek took second right on the heels of Sundling in front of her home crowd and finished 0.71 seconds back from the Swedish winner.

Sweden's Maja Dahlqvist clinched the final podium spot and finished 2.54 seconds behind her winning teammate. The third-place finish was Dahlqvist's 35th individual World Cup podium of her career.

The evening concluded with the men's sprint final where U-23 leader Lars Heggen captured the first World Cup win of his young career. The 20-year-old Norwegian skier won the sprint final in 2 minutes and 25.83 seconds.

"In the final, I was just ready to give it all I had from the bottom of the last hill to the finish line, so it was a great day. It's nice to win ski races," Heggen said after the win.

Heggen bested veteran Italian skier Federico Pellegrino by just 0.32 seconds to seal his first victory. Pellegrino claimed second just weeks before Olympic competition begins on his home snow.

Even Northug snagged the final podium spot for Norway after he crossed the line 1 minute and 56 seconds after his winning teammate.

The World Cup weekend wraps up in Oberhof with the men's and women's 10km interval start classic competitions on Sunday.