Men's 50 kilometre freestyle at the XXIV Olympic Winter Games | |||||||||||||
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Venue | Kuyangshu Nordic Center and Biathlon Center, Taizicheng | ||||||||||||
Date | 19 February 2022 | ||||||||||||
Competitors | 60 from 32 nations | ||||||||||||
Winning time | 1:11:32.7 | ||||||||||||
Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Cross-country skiing at the 2022 Winter Olympics | ||
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Qualification | ||
Distance | ||
Classical | men | women |
Skiathlon | men | women |
Freestyle | men | women |
Relay | men | women |
Sprint | ||
Individual | men | women |
Team | men | women |
The men's 50 kilometre freestyle competition in cross-country skiing at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 19 February, at the Kuyangshu Nordic Center and Biathlon Center in Taizicheng. [1] Alexander Bolshunov, representing the Russian Olympic Committee, won the event, and Ivan Yakimushkin, also of ROC, won silver, his first Olympic medal. Simen Hegstad Krüger of Norway won the bronze medal, competing in his first and only race at these Games after an illness. Bolshunov became only the second skier who won 30 km and 50 km at the same Olympics, after Russian Nikolay Zimyatov accomplished this in 1980.
This event was delayed by an hour and shortened to 28.4 km (17.65 mi) due to high winds and freezing temperature. [2] Temperature was −9 °F (−23 °C) or −25 °F (−32 °C) with windchill, while wind gusts varied within 17-30 mph (27-48 km/h), according to the local weather. [3] Athletes complained that the weather conditions were too severe, but many also criticized the decision to shorten the race. [4] 28th place finisher, Finland’s Remi Lindholm, suffered a frozen penis as a result of the extreme conditions. [5] The decision means that the gap between "proper" Olympic men's 50 km freestyle races will be at least sixteen years from Sochi 2014 to the 2030 Olympics. It also caused the rare occurrence that the women's 30-kilometre race, held the following day, was the longest cross-country skiing race in the Beijing Olympics both in course length and duration, despite women's distance races usually being significantly shorter than men's.
The 50 km (31.07 mi) distance event alternates between classical style and free style skiing in succeeding Olympics, and in 2022 it was the free style event. The defending champion was Iivo Niskanen, who declined to compete due to favoring classical style. The silver medalist, Alexander Bolshunov, qualified for the Olympics but the bronze medalist, Andrey Larkov, did not. The overall leader of the 2021–22 FIS Cross-Country World Cup before the Olympics was Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, and the distance leader was Bolshunov. The season was dominated by the Norwegians and Russians, who together took 20 podium places in distance events out of 24, and three more podium places were taken by Niskanen. Emil Iversen was the 2021 World Champion in 50 km classical.
At 15 km (9.32 mi), a group of 14 skiers were within 6 seconds of each other and had a gap of 6 seconds to the next pursuer and almost half a minute to the rest of the skiers in the race. This group included all four ROC skiers. At 21 km (13.05 mi), only 10 skiers remained in the leading group. Even when they were entering the stadium, Bolshunov, Artem Maltsev, Yakimushkin, Sjur Røthe, and Krueger were skiing in a group. Bolshunov was the fastest at the finish line.
The race was scheduled for 14:00, but the start was delayed to 15:00 and the race distance shortened to 28.4 km due to inclement weather. [6]
Rank | Bib | Name | Country | Time | Deficit |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | 2 | Alexander Bolshunov | ![]() | 1:11:32.7 | — |
![]() | 3 | Ivan Yakimushkin | ![]() | 1:11:38.2 | +5.5 |
![]() | 4 | Simen Hegstad Krüger | ![]() | 1:11:39.7 | +7.0 |
4 | 5 | Artem Maltsev | ![]() | 1:11:43.4 | +10.7 |
5 | 7 | Sjur Røthe | ![]() | 1:11:48.5 | +15.8 |
6 | 6 | Denis Spitsov | ![]() | 1:11:58.9 | +26.2 |
7 | 14 | Clément Parisse | ![]() | 1:12:01.5 | +28.8 |
8 | 27 | Scott Patterson | ![]() | 1:12:06.6 | +33.9 |
9 | 22 | William Poromaa | ![]() | 1:12:29.1 | +56.4 |
10 | 15 | Maurice Manificat | ![]() | 1:12:30.3 | +57.6 |
11 | 20 | Roman Furger | ![]() | 1:13:24.8 | +1:52.1 |
12 | 12 | Andrew Musgrave | ![]() | 1:13:29.3 | +1:56.6 |
13 | 8 | Hans Christer Holund | ![]() | 1:13:30.2 | +1:57.5 |
14 | 17 | Dario Cologna | ![]() | 1:13:31.1 | +1:58.4 |
15 | 31 | Jules Lapierre | ![]() | 1:13:50.3 | +2:17.6 |
16 | 18 | Jens Burman | ![]() | 1:14:22.3 | +2:49.6 |
17 | 25 | Jason Rüesch | ![]() | 1:14:48.4 | +3:15.7 |
18 | 28 | Giandomenico Salvadori | ![]() | 1:14:49.1 | +3:16.4 |
19 | 21 | Perttu Hyvärinen | ![]() | 1:14:49.5 | +3:16.8 |
20 | 16 | Jonas Dobler | ![]() | 1:14:50.0 | +3:17.3 |
21 | 33 | Imanol Rojo | ![]() | 1:14:50.5 | +3:17.8 |
22 | 34 | Candide Pralong | ![]() | 1:14:50.5 | +3:17.8 |
23 | 38 | Snorri Einarsson | ![]() | 1:14:51.6 | +3:18.9 |
24 | 26 | Naoto Baba | ![]() | 1:14:52.7 | +3:20.0 |
25 | 24 | Irineu Esteve Altimiras | ![]() | 1:15:09.8 | +3:37.1 |
26 | 19 | Florian Notz | ![]() | 1:15:32.2 | +3:59.5 |
27 | 46 | Olivier Léveillé | ![]() | 1:15:54.3 | +4:21.6 |
28 | 37 | Remi Lindholm | ![]() | 1:15:55.6 | +4:22.9 |
29 | 30 | Thomas Maloney Westgård | ![]() | 1:15:59.0 | +4:26.3 |
30 | 35 | Dominik Bury | ![]() | 1:16:01.0 | +4:28.3 |
31 | 10 | Friedrich Moch | ![]() | 1:16:03.6 | +4:30.9 |
32 | 32 | Paolo Ventura | ![]() | 1:16:05.4 | +4:32.7 |
33 | 11 | Lucas Bögl | ![]() | 1:16:11.5 | +4:38.8 |
34 | 23 | Adrien Backscheider | ![]() | 1:16:16.6 | +4:43.9 |
35 | 42 | Rémi Drolet | ![]() | 1:16:27.1 | +4:54.4 |
36 | 47 | Alvar Johannes Alev | ![]() | 1:16:28.4 | +4:55.7 |
37 | 36 | Petr Knop | ![]() | 1:16:35.0 | +5:02.3 |
38 | 13 | Calle Halfvarsson | ![]() | 1:16:47.6 | +5:14.9 |
39 | 29 | Leo Johansson | ![]() | 1:17:16.5 | +5:43.8 |
40 | 44 | Ján Koristek | ![]() | 1:17:26.0 | +5:53.3 |
41 | 39 | Chen Degen | ![]() | 1:18:14.1 | +6:41.4 |
42 | 40 | Adam Fellner | ![]() | 1:18:14.3 | +6:41.6 |
43 | 43 | Yevgeniy Velichko | ![]() | 1:18:43.8 | +7:11.1 |
44 | 41 | Raimo Vīgants | ![]() | 1:18:55.2 | +7:22.5 |
45 | 51 | Hadesi Badelihan | ![]() | 1:19:45.9 | +8:13.2 |
46 | 45 | Wang Qiang | ![]() | 1:19:53.5 | +8:20.8 |
47 | 56 | Thibaut de Marre | ![]() | 1:19:53.8 | +8:21.1 |
48 | 50 | Liu Rongsheng | ![]() | 1:19:58.5 | +8:25.8 |
49 | 61 | Mark Chanloung | ![]() | 1:20:11.5 | +8:38.8 |
50 | 48 | Mateusz Haratyk | ![]() | 1:20:24.0 | +8:51.3 |
51 | 58 | Seve de Campo | ![]() | 1:21:02.5 | +9:29.8 |
52 | 49 | Strahinja Erić | ![]() | 1:21:07.6 | +9:34.9 |
53 | 55 | Phillip Bellingham | ![]() | 1:23:03.8 | +11:31.1 |
54 | 54 | Roberts Slotiņš | ![]() | 1:24:46.4 | +13:13.7 |
55 | 57 | Ádám Kónya | ![]() | 1:25:21.4 | +13:48.7 |
56 | 53 | Stavre Jada | ![]() | 1:25:41.8 | +14:09.1 |
57 | 60 | Marko Skender | ![]() | 1:30:34.5 | +19:01.8 |
58 | 59 | Manex Silva | ![]() | 1:33:11.8 | +21:39.1 |
59 | 52 | Apostolos Angelis | ![]() | 1:34:04.2 | +22:31.5 |
1 | Johannes Høsflot Klæbo | ![]() | Did not finish | ||
9 | Michal Novák | ![]() | Did not start |
Andrew "Andy" Musgrave is a British cross-country skier. He has competed in the World Cup since 2008 and represented Great Britain at the 2009 World Championships and the 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022 Winter Olympics.
Kerttu Elina Niskanen is a Finnish cross-country skier. She is a four-time Olympic medalist.
Iivo Henrik Niskanen is a Finnish cross-country skier who has competed in the FIS Cross-Country World Cup since 2011. He is a three-time Olympic champion.
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo is a Norwegian cross-country skier who represents Byåsen IL. He holds multiple records, most notably for being the youngest male in history to win the FIS Cross-Country World Cup, the Tour de Ski, a World Championship event, and an Olympic event in cross-country skiing.
Alexander Alexandrovich Bolshunov is a Russian cross-country skier and two-time winner of the 14th and 15th Tour de Ski.
Denis Sergeyevich Spitsov is a Russian cross-country skier who competes internationally.
Ivan Andreyevich Yakimushkin is a Russian cross-country skier.
Finland competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, from 4 to 20 February 2022.
Andorra competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, from 4 to 20 February 2022.
Australia competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, from 4 to 20 February 2022.
Belgium competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, from 4 to 20 February 2022.
Bosnia and Herzegovina competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, from 4 to 20 February 2022.
Greece competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, from 4 to 20 February 2022. As the founding nation of the Olympic games and in keeping with tradition, Greece entered first during the opening ceremony. Greece has yet to win a medal in the Winter Olympics.
The men's 15 kilometre classical competition in cross-country skiing at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 11 February, at the Kuyangshu Nordic Center and Biathlon Center in Zhangjiakou. The event was won by Iivo Niskanen of Finland. Alexander Bolshunov, representing the Russian Olympic Committee, won silver, and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo of Norway became the bronze medalist.
The men's 30 kilometre skiathlon competition in cross-country skiing at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 6 February, at the Kuyangshu Nordic Center and Biathlon Center in Zhangjiakou. The event, with half distance classic skiing and half distance skate skiing, was won by Alexander Bolshunov, for whom this is the first Olympic gold medal. Denis Spitsov finished second and Iivo Niskanen third.
The women's 15 kilometre skiathlon competition in cross-country skiing at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 5 February, at the Kuyangshu Nordic Center and Biathlon Center in Taizicheng. The event was won by Therese Johaug of Norway. The event was noted for its extreme weather, which many athletes complained. Temperature was −17 °C (1 °F) or −35 °C (−31 °F) with windchill, according to the International Ski Federation.
The men’s team sprint competition in cross-country skiing at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 16 February, at the Kuyangshu Nordic Center and Biathlon Center in Zhangjiakou. Erik Valnes and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo of Norway won the event. Iivo Niskanen and Joni Mäki of Finland won the silver medal, and Alexander Bolshunov and Alexander Terentyev, representing the Russian Olympic Committee, bronze.
The men's 4 × 10 kilometre relay competition in cross-country skiing at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 13 February, at the Kuyangshu Nordic Center and Biathlon Center in Zhangjiakou. Aleksey Chervotkin, Alexander Bolshunov, Denis Spitsov, and Sergey Ustiugov, representing the Russian Olympic Committee, won the event. It was the first gold for Russian athletes in the relay since 1980, when the Soviet Union won. Norway won the silver medal, and France bronze.
Rémi Drolet is a Canadian cross-country skier.
Remi Lindholm is a Finnish cross-country skier who competes internationally.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)It varied, but competition temperatures hovered around -9 Fahrenheit, but with the wind it felt like -25. Wind gusts varied from 17-30 mph, according to the weather app from Chongli.
Perhaps the worst part of it all for Finland's Remi Lindholm is that it was not even the first time it had happened.