The men's skiathlon of Cross-Country Skiing 2018 during the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 11 February 2018 in the Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre. With 68 athletes competing, the event was won by Simen Hegstad Krueger from Norway, with Martin Johnsrud Sundby from Norway taking the silver medal and Hans Christer Holund from Norway taking bronze.
Format[]
The competition exists out of eight rounds of 3.75 kilometres, of which the first four laps in the classic technique and the last half in the free technique. The athletes started simultaneously, with the competitor with the fastest time after 30 kilometres winning the event.
Preview[]
Sixty-eight athletes qualified for the event with the Norwegian competitors as favorites. Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo was the winner of the World Cup and the top seed of the event, with Hans Christer Holund, Martin Johnsrud Sundby, and Simen Hegstad Krueger also in the top 7 seeds. The world champion in the regular individual event Maurice Manificat and the defending Olympic champion Dario Cologna were also competing, while Alex Harvey could become the first Canadian gold medalist in men's cross-country. Some potential outsiders included Iivo Niskanen, Denis Spitsov, Calle Halfvarsson, and Andrew Musgrave, with defending silver medalist Marcus Hellner also competing.
Results[]
The event started with the classic technique, and immediately after the start, there was a crash involving Simen Hegstad Krueger, Andrey Larkov, Denis Spitsov, and Toni Livers. While the three medal contenders were catching up to the big group, Hans Christer Holund, Dario Cologna, and Andrew Musgrave took the group in tow, with Iivo Niskanen coming up in front, as well. Not even five minutes in, and Mantas Strolia also crashed in the downhill, taking Callum Smith in his fall. Right when Krueger caught up with the middle of the pack, Niskanen and Holund created a small gap in front, taking a few seconds on the big chasing group with the Norwegians Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo and Martin Johnsrud Sundby determining the tempo. At the end of the first lap, the big group was diminished to around 50 competitors, with the remaining athletes not being able to follow the high speed. Niskanen completed the first lap in front, just ahead of Cologna, Holund, Sundby, Jean Marc Gaillard, Klaebo, and many others.
Niskanen, the world champion in the classic technique, stayed in front in the second of eight laps, and once again, gaps were created between small groups. Where Holund and Niskanen were the two sole leaders in the first lap, this time, Niskanen was followed by Cologna, Klaebo, Holund, Sundby, and Alex Harvey, with a small gap to the next group. Behind the six leaders, another group of five chasers was created, and going back into the stadium to complete the second lap, Cologna took the lead from the Fin for the first time in over 15 minutes. Niskanen, however, still completed the halfway point of the classic technique first, with Cologna, Harvey, Holund, Sundby, and Klaebo in his tracks. They had a lead of roughly 10 seconds to the next group with Daniel Rickardsson, Musgrave, Gaillard, the world champion of the free technique Maurice Manificat, and Marcus Hellner. Calle Halfvarsson and Thomas Bing also followed within 20 seconds, with a large group of almost 30 skiers following on 30 seconds of the leaders.
Starting the third lap, Manificat joined the leading six, with Gaillard, Rickardsson, and Musgrave also at the verge of joining the leading group. The Frenchman succeeded fast in that mission, but the last two had to make a bit more effort, but together with Bing, joined the leaders halfway through the lap. The second Swede in the race, Hellner, remained a few seconds behind, but he had a lead of 10 seconds on the chasing group now lead by Spitsov and Krueger, who came back from their fall at the start. Some of the gaps decreased a bit, and at the end of the third lap, a group of 12 athletes lead by Sundby and Harvey had a lead of only 10 seconds to the chasing group with 11 skiers, including Halfvarsson and Krueger.
In the last lap of the classic technique, Sundby took the leading group up the hill, while Spitsov tried to bridge the gap to the front. With the Russian joining the leading group halfway through the lap, Krueger and Lucas Boegl tried to accelerate from the chasing group to do the same, with Clement Parisse, Jonas Dobler, Giandomenico Salvadori, and Martin Jaks following them. This situation remained the same to end the classic part, with Niskanen and his eleven compatriots going first into the pit stop, with Krueger, Boegl, Salvadori, and Parisse on 16 seconds, and Dobler and Jaks on a small gap behind them. Alexey Vitsenko already followed on almost 40 seconds of Niskanen, just like Andreas Katz, Francesco De Fabiani, Keishin Yoshida, and others. Halfvarsson, who was in the chasing group, had to retire.
Starting the free technique with Klaebo in front, the two groups in front combined into one, now existing of 18 athletes, with Parisse barely hanging on. Niskanen took his usual position in front again, but with the free technique, there were plenty of others who could set the pace. Gaillard took the lead halfway through the lap, with Cologna and Bing behind him, but Sundby set the Norwegians in front to consider a team strategy. Sundby and Krueger took a small gap in front, and Spitsov was able to close that gap fast. With the group remaining of 18 skiers, it seemed likely that the medalists would be part of this big group, especially with the next pursuers following on over 30 seconds already.
With a high speed with the free technique, the positions within the first group had changed drastically. Spitsov took the lead in the sixth lap, with Niskanen, the leader of most of the first half, and Salvadori barely hanging onto the group. With the Norwegians taking control on the climb, Cologna and Spitsov tried to disrupt the dominance in front, and the Swiss was the only one to remain between the four Norwegians. With only two laps to go, the group remained with 17 athletes, with Salvadori already losing over 20 seconds. The chasing group followed on close to 30 seconds, with Scott Patterson, Jules Lapierre, and De Fabiani leading the second group.
Rickardsson also took his turn in front, setting a high pace and stretching out the front group, but the Norwegians once again took the lead up the hill, this time in the form of Krueger. He continued the high speed, finally dropping Niskanen and Gaillard from the group, after both had been on the stretch for a longer time. The Norwegian then accelerated again, and with no one being able to follow, he started the last lap with a 10-second lead over Harvey and Cologna, who were in front of the former leading group.
Krueger extended his lead for a good part of the last lap, with the chasing group now down to only 8 skiers, lead by Manificat and Cologna. The three Norwegians in the group left most of the work of chasing their countryman over to the rest of the group, but with a growing gap, it seemed like Krueger would win the gold medal. With only 1500 metres to go, Krueger had a lead of 15 seconds over his compatriots Sundby and Holund, who escaped from the group. Harvey followed on 20 seconds, with Spitsov now leading the bunch. The gap between the sole Norwegian and his two countrymen decreased fast, but not quickly enough, and Krueger had 8 seconds left at the finish line to Sundby. Holund completed the Norwegian sweep, with Spitsov and Manificat finishing within 15 seconds of the winner. Defending Olympic champion Cologna finished sixth on 25 seconds, just in front of Musgrave, while Harvey, Jaks, and the fourth Norwegian Klaebo completed the top 10.
Simen Hegstad Krueger won a gold medal at his Olympic debut, winning the first gold medal for Norway ever in the skiathlon. With Martin Johnsrud winning his third Olympic medal after his bronze medal in the skiathlon in 2014 and a silver medal in the relay in 2010, and Hans Christer Holund winning a bronze medal at his Olympic debut, Norway won all three medals in a single event. After the 3000 metre event in speed skating, which was dominated by the Netherlands, this was the second time in Pyeongchang that the podium consisted of a single country. Denis Spitsov, who also fell at the start, finished just outside the podium at his first Olympic appearance, while Maurice Manificat just missed his second Olympic medal, after his bronze medal in the relay in 2014, while Dario Cologna failed to defend his title of 2014 and finished sixth.
| Result | Athlete | Nationality | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Simen Hegstad Krueger | Norway | 1:16:20.0 |
 |
Martin Johnsrud Sundby | Norway | 1:16:28.0 |
 |
Hans Christer Holund | Norway | 1:16:29.9 |
| 4 | Denis Spitsov | Olympic Athletes from Russia | 1:16:32.7 |
| 5 | Maurice Manificat | France | 1:16:34.2 |
| 6 | Dario Cologna | Switzerland | 1:16:45.1 |
| 7 | Andrew Musgrave | Great Britain | 1:16:45.7 |
| 8 | Alex Harvey | Canada | 1:16:53.4 |
| 9 | Martin Jaks | Czech Republic | 1:16:53.8 |
| 10 | Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo | Norway | 1:17:03.4 |
| 11 | Thomas Bing | Germany | 1:17:03.7 |
| 12 | Marcus Hellner | Sweden | 1:17:04.8 |
| 13 | Clement Parisse | France | 1:17:08.6 |
| 14 | Daniel Rickardsson | Sweden | 1:17:12.2 |
| 15 | Jules Lapierre | France | 1:17:19.1 |
| 16 | Lucas Boegl | Germany | 1:17:19.9 |
| 17 | Jens Burman | Sweden | 1:17:23.9 |
| 18 | Scott Patterson | United States | 1:17:27.5 |
| 19 | Iivo Niskanen | Finland | 1:17:34.2 |
| 20 | Francesco De Fabiani | Italy | 1:17:54.9 |
| 21 | Matti Heikkinen | Finland | 1:17:55.9 |
| 22 | Jonas Dobler | Germany | 1:17:56.6 |
| 23 | Alexey Vitsenko | Olympic Athletes from Russia | 1:18:02.2 |
| 24 | Paul Constantin Pepene | Romania | 1:18:20.4 |
| 25 | Keishin Yoshida | Japan | 1:18:23.0 |
| 26 | Giandomenico Salvadori | Italy | 1:18:36.9 |
| 27 | Jean Marc Gaillard | France | 1:18:48.5 |
| 28 | Andrey Melnichenko | Olympic Athletes from Russia | 1:18:50.5 |
| 29 | Andrey Larkov | Olympic Athletes from Russia | 1:18:50.6 |
| 30 | Candide Pralong | Switzerland | 1:19:15.6 |
| 31 | Lari Lehtonen | Finland | 1:19:26.6 |
| 32 | Vitaliy Pukhkalo | Kazakhstan | 1:19:46.7 |
| 33 | Andreas Katz | Germany | 1:19:49.2 |
| 34 | Devon Kershaw | Canada | 1:19:55.3 |
| 35 | Dietmar Noeckler | Italy | 1:19:55.5 |
| 36 | Petr Knop | Czech Republic | 1:20:12.1 |
| 37 | Jonas Baumann | Switzerland | 1:20:13.4 |
| 38 | Toni Livers | Switzerland | 1:20:13.4 |
| 39 | Perttu Hyvarinen | Finland | 1:20:28.5 |
| 40 | Eik Bjornsen | United States | 1:20:54.7 |
| 41 | Yevgeniy Velichko | Kazakhstan | 1:21:03.9 |
| 42 | Michail Semenov | Belarus | 1:21:12.0 |
| 43 | Graeme Killick | Canada | 1:21:39.6 |
| 44 | Irineu Esteve Altimiras | Andorra | 1:21:47.7 |
| 45 | Sergio Rigoni | Italy | 1:22:54.9 |
| 46 | Imanol Rojo | Spain | 1:23:06.5 |
| 47 | Yury Astapenka | Belarus | 1:23:12.5 |
| 48 | Patrick Caldwell | United States | 1:23:18.1 |
| 49 | Dominik Bury | Poland | 1:23:20.3 |
| 50 | Kresimir Crnkovic | Croatia | 1:23:26.9 |
| 51 | Noah Hoffman | United States | 1:23:28.7 |
| 52 | Ales Razym | Czech Republic | 1:23:33.8 |
| 53 | Snorri Eythor Einarsson | Iceland | 1:23:33.9 |
| 54 | Callum Smith | Great Britain | 1:23:49.9 |
| 55 | Callum Watson | Australia | 1:25:15.4 |
| 56 | Martin Voegeli | Liechtenstein | 1:26:08.2 |
| 57 | Thomas Maloney Westgaard | Ireland | 1:32:34.2 |
| 58 | Oleksii Krasovskyi | Ukraine | LAP |
| 59 | Knute Johnsgaard | Canada | LAP |
| 60 | Wang Qiang | China | LAP |
| 61 | Kim Eun-ho | South Korea | LAP |
| - | Calle Halfvarsson | Sweden | DNF |
| - | Sergei Dolidovich | Belarus | DNF |
| - | Edi Dadic | Croatia | DNF |
| - | Mantas Strolia | Lithuania | DNF |
| - | Max Hauke | Austria | DQ |
| - | Karel Tammjarv | Estonia | DQ |
| - | Andreas Veerpalu | Estonia | DQ |
| 2018 Winter Olympic Games | |
|---|---|
| Cross-Country Skiing 2018 | |
| ← 2014 | 2022 → |
| Men | Women |
| 15 km | 10 km |
| Skiathlon | Skiathlon |
| Sprint | Sprint |
| Team sprint | Team sprint |
| Mass start | Mass start |
| Relay | Relay |