Sweden's Charlotte Kalla led from start to finish to win the women's 10km freestyle race at the Vancouver Games on Monday for her first Olympic gold medal.

Kalla led by more than 12 seconds with less than 3km to go in the interval-start race and then held off Kristina Smigun-Vaehi's strong finish to win in 24 minutes, 58.4 seconds.

"I feel a bit confused," the 22-year-old Swede said. "It's going to take a while for this to sink in ... I can't believe I'm a gold medallist."

Smigun-Vaehi, the Estonian who won two golds at the 2006 Turin Games but has struggled this season, won silver after finishing 6.6 seconds behind Kalla. Marit Bjoergen of Norway took the bronze medal, 15.9 seconds back.

World Cup leader and double world champion Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland trailed from the start, finishing fifth behind Anna Haag of Sweden.

"This course is not for me," said Kowalczyk, who has complained the Olympic track is too easy without a major uphill climb. "I'm very disappointed, not very happy."

Coming down the last hill into the ski stadium, Kalla nearly fell as she rounded the final bend but managed to stay upright and then sprinted against the clock to beat Smigun-Vaehi's time.

"I had time on the straightaway to think '(wow), this isn't your ordinary World Cup race,"' Kalla said. "But I tried to push those thoughts away as fast as possible."

The race had been widely tipped to be a battle between Kalla and Bjoergen, the Norwegian veteran who again missed out on a gold medal - she already had silver medals from Turin and the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

"I didn't feel so good in the beginning, but better on the second lap," said Bjoergen, who was only fifth at the 7.3K mark. "It's a good beginning. I dream about gold, so hopefully I can get a gold."

AP