Matti Heikkinen captured the first gold medal for Finland at the Nordic skiing world championships on Tuesday when he beat two Norwegians on Tuesday in the 15-kilometer classical style race.

Heikkinen won the gold, also his world title, in 38 minutes, 14. 7 seconds.

Eldar Roenning was 13.3 seconds behind and Martin Johnsrud Sundby was third, 31.9 seconds back.

Heikkinen was delighted for the gold, and put it down to hard training and teamwork.

"I started skiing when I was 9 years old," he said. "This was the perfect day. I have had a good team around me. I have done a lot of high quality training."

To win a gold at the world championships is no easy for any top skiers, he said.

"You have to ski as close to your limit all the time. I skied close to my limit today to make the best result possible. If you want to win the gold medal you need to be perfect in every way," he said.