Marit Bjørgen is a former Norwegian cross-country skier. She is ranked first in the all-time Cross-Country World Cup rankings with 114 individual victories. Bjørgen is also the most successful sprinter in Cross-Country World Cup history, with 29 victories. She headed the medal table at the 2010 Winter Olympics by winning five medals, including three gold. A five-time Olympian, her five Olympic medals at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games brought her total number of medals up to a record 15, the most by any athlete in Winter Olympics history.
Justyna Maria Kowalczyk-Tekieli is a Polish cross-country skier who has been competing since 2000. Kowalczyk is a double Olympic Champion and a double World Champion. She is also the only skier to win the Tour de Ski four times in a row and one of two female skiers to win the FIS Cross-Country World Cup three times in a row. Kowalczyk holds the all-time record for wins in the Tour de Ski with 14, and had 29 podiums in total. She also won the Vasaloppet women's edition in 2015.
Marina Charlotte Kalla is a former Swedish cross-country skier who has been competing at international level since the 2003–04 season. Kalla is a three-time Olympian, winning her first Olympic gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in the 10 km freestyle event in Vancouver. At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi Kalla ran the final leg in the 4 × 5 km women's relay race and started third with a 25.7 seconds lag behind the first place but reduced the gap, overtaking her competitors in the final straight, earning Sweden the first gold medal in the women's relay event since 1968. At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang Kalla won Olympic gold medal in the skiathlon event.
Maiken Caspersen Falla is a Norwegian former cross-country skier who specialized in sprint and short-distance races. She is the 2014 Olympic champion in the individual sprint and three-time Olympic medalist. She became the individual sprint World champion at the 2017 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships and successfully defended her World title in 2019. Falla won a total of five gold, one silver and four bronze medals at the World Championships in her career and she is the most medalled skier in the individual sprint discipline in the Championship history with five medals. Winner of three consecutive Sprint World Cup crystal globes, Falla's highest finish in the overall World Cup standings was sixth-place which she achieved in 2014–15 and 2015–16 World Cup seasons.
Sweden competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, from 7 to 23 February 2014. The Swedish Olympic Committee sent 106 athletes to the Games, 61 men and 45 women, to compete in nine sports. 38 of the 98 events had Swedish participation. The youngest athlete in the delegation was freestyle skier Sandra Näslund, at 17 years old, while ice hockey player Daniel Alfredsson was the oldest athlete at 41. Alfredsson competed in his fifth Olympics, and he thus became the first Swedish ice hockey player that has participated in five Olympic tournaments. 55 athletes were Olympic debutants. Sweden won 15 medals in total, making the Sochi games Sweden's most successful Winter Games ever in terms of medals. However, the number of gold medals (2) was lower than in the two previous Winter Games.
The following is about the qualification rules and the quota allocation for the cross-country skiing at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
The women's freestyle sprint cross-country skiing competition in the free technique at the 2014 Sochi Olympics took place on 11 February at Laura Biathlon & Ski Complex.
The men's freestyle sprint cross-country skiing competition in the free technique at the 2014 Sochi Olympics took place on 11 February at Laura Biathlon & Ski Complex. Ola Vigen Hattestad won the gold medal.
The women's 10 kilometre classical cross-country skiing competition at the 2014 Sochi Olympics took place on 13 February at Laura Biathlon & Ski Complex. Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland won the race after taking a commanding lead early on, then never threatened. Swede Charlotte Kalla won her second silver medal of the 2014 Olympic Games, and Therese Johaug of Norway edged into third place to win the bronze medal.
The men's 15 kilometre classical cross-country skiing competition at the 2014 Sochi Olympics took place on 14 February at Laura Biathlon & Ski Complex. Dario Cologna from Switzerland was the defending champion from Vancouver and was successful in defending the title. Johan Olsson and Daniel Richardsson from Sweden took silver and bronze.
The men's 30 kilometre skiathlon cross-country skiing competition at the 2014 Sochi Olympics was held on 9 February 2014 at 14:00 MSK at the Laura Biathlon & Ski Complex. The event is split into half distance classic skiing and half distance skate skiing.
The women's 30 kilometre mass start freestyle cross-country skiing competition at the 2014 Sochi Olympics took place on 22 February at Laura Biathlon & Ski Complex. Three Norwegian athletes, Marit Bjørgen, Therese Johaug, and Kristin Størmer Steira, took the lead from 1 km on and skied in the group, never being threatened by other competitors. At the finish line, Bjørgen won gold, Johaug finished second, and Størmer Steira was third. This is the first gold for Norway in women's 30 km race, and the first clean sweep in Olympic cross country skiing since 1992. For Bjørgen, this was the sixth Winter Olympic gold medal, which, together with Lidiya Skoblikova and Lyubov Yegorova, made her a woman with the largest number of Winter Olympics gold medals won. Størmer Steira won her first individual Olympic medal. The defending 2010 champion Justyna Kowalczyk did not finish.
The men's 50 kilometre freestyle cross-country skiing competition at the 2014 Sochi Olympics took place on 23 February at Laura Biathlon & Ski Complex.
The men's 30 kilometre skiathlon cross-country skiing competition at the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 11 February 2018 at 15:15 KST at the Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The event, split into half distance classic skiing and half distance skate skiing, was won by Simen Hegstad Krüger, for whom this was the first Olympic medal. There was a podium sweep for Norway with Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Hans Christer Holund winning silver and bronze medals, respectively.
The women's 15 kilometre skiathlon cross-country skiing competition at the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 10 February 2018 at 16:15 KST at the Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Charlotte Kalla of Sweden finished first to win the first gold medal of the 2018 Winter Games. The defending champion Marit Bjørgen finished second. For her, this was the eleventh Olympic medal, making her the most successful female cross-country skier. Krista Pärmäkoski took bronze.
The women's 4 × 5 kilometre relay cross-country skiing competition at the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 17 February 2018 at 18:30 KST at the Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Norway won the event, with Sweden taking the silver medal and Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) bronze.
The women's 10 kilometre freestyle cross-country skiing competition at the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 15 February 2018 at 15:30 KST at the Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Ragnhild Haga of Norway won the gold medal, finishing more than 20 seconds ahead of silver medalist Charlotte Kalla of Sweden. Two bronze medals were awarded after Norwegian Marit Bjørgen and Krista Pärmäkoski of Finland recorded identical times; it was Bjørgen's twelfth Winter Olympic medal leaving her one behind the all-time record of thirteen held by biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen.
The women's team sprint freestyle cross-country skiing competition at the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 21 February 2018 at 19:00 KST at the Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The event consisted of 6 by 1.25km sprints alternating between 2 teammates. Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins won the event, making this the first ever Olympic medal for the United States in women's cross-country skiing. It was also the first ever Olympic gold medal for the United States in cross-country skiing. Charlotte Kalla and Stina Nilsson came second, and the defending champion Marit Bjørgen, skiing in pair with Maiken Caspersen Falla, won the bronze medal.
The Nordic Opening is a cross-country skiing event held annually since the 2010–11 season in Ruka, Finland or Lillehammer, Norway. The Nordic Opening is a Stage World Cup event in the FIS Cross-Country World Cup, and are held as the first or second World Cup race weekend of the season. The inaugural Nordic Opening was held in 2010 and was originally named Ruka Triple. The editions of the mini-tour hosted in Lillehammer is also known as Lillehammer Triple. Each Nordic Opening consists of three stages; a sprint, an individual race and a pursuit. As of 2019, the prize money for the event amount to 240,000 Swiss francs, shared out on both men and women. Men's and women's events are held together on the same days, with the only difference being the distance skied.
The women's 10 kilometre classical competition in cross-country skiing at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 10 February, at the Kuyangshu Nordic Center and Biathlon Center in Zhangjiakou. Therese Johaug of Norway became the Olympic champion, Kerttu Niskanen of Finland won the silver medal, and Krista Pärmäkoski, also of Finland, won bronze.
