CROSS COUNTRY SKIING: Phil Bellingham has gone close to making his second World Cup Sprint final in succession in Planica, Czech Republic.

After the Australian Team made history last week in Dresden, where Bellingham made his first ever World Cup Sprint final, the Sochi 2014 Olympian was unable to back it up seven days on. 

Bellingham stopped the clock at 3:41.80, just over 3 seconds outside the top 30 placing he needed to progress into the heats.

Australian teammate Jess Yeaton placed 60th in the women's event, 15 seconds outside of the top 30.

Norway's Johannes Klaebo and Sweden's Stina Nilsson took out the events.

The Australian duo, along with teammates Barbara Jezersek and Callum Watson, then backed it up in the women's 10km and the men's 15km Classic events on Sunday.

Jezersek claimed 46th in a time of 30:07.9 while Yeaton was 58th after completing the course in 31:43.3. Finland's Krista Parmakoski secured the victory in just over 27 minutes.

In the men's event Bellingham was 61st in a time of 41:39.4 as Watson finished in 42:33.3. Kazakhstan's Alexey Poltoranin ensured it wasn't a Scandinavian clean sweep on the weekend's events as he took top step on the podium after finishing in a time of 36:54.7.

Matt Bartolo
olympics.com.au