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, making her the most decorated Winter Olympian of all time and the third-most decorated Olympian of all time.
Kristin Størmer Steira is a retired Norwegian cross-country skier. She competed from 2002 to 2015, and won six individual World Cup victories and five individual medals at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships and Winter Olympic Games. She also won four gold medals with the Norway relay team. In Norwegian media, Steira was dubbed "the eternal fourth" due to her many finishes in fourth place.
Cross-country skiing was one of the three disciplines of the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2007, held between February 22 and March 4, 2007 in Sapporo, Japan. The sprint events were held at the Sapporo Dome and the distance races were held at the Shirahatayama Open Stadium.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby is a former Norwegian cross-country skier who competed between 2003 and 2021. He is a two time Olympic champion at the 2018 Winter Olympics in the team sprint and relay and was also a silver and bronze medalist in the 30 km skiathlon in 2014 and 2018. Sundby is a 4-time world champion, winning his sole individual gold medal at the 15 km at the 2019 Nordic World Ski Championships in Seefeld. In 2014, he became the first Norwegian to win the Tour de Ski, a feat he repeated in 2016. He also won the overall world cup in 2014, 2016 and 2017.
At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec, Czech Republic, twelve cross-country skiing events were held with six for men and six for women. The format of the program was unchanged since the 2005 World Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany. For the men's events, Norway won five of the six events and a total of six medals with Petter Northug winning golds in the pursuit, 50 km and relay events. Ola Vigen Hattestad won two golds in the sprint events. The only event the Norwegians did not win was in the 15 km event, won by Estonia's Andrus Veerpalu, who became the oldest world champion ever.
The Women's 4 × 5 kilometre relay at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2011 was held on 3 March 2011 at 14:00 CET. The defending world champions were the Finnish team of Pirjo Muranen, Virpi Kuitunen, Riitta-Liisa Roponen and Aino-Kaisa Saarinen while the defending Olympic champions were the Norwegian team of Vibeke Skofterud, Therese Johaug, Kristin Størmer Steira and Marit Bjørgen. Kuitunen retired after the 2009-10 season.
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 Rickardsson from Sweden took silver and bronze.
The women's 15 kilometre skiathlon cross-country skiing competition at the 2014 Sochi Olympics took place at 14:00 (MSK) on 8 February 2014 at Laura Biathlon & Ski Complex.
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 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.
