Cross-Country Skiing 2018/Men's sprint

Men's sprint
General information
Sport	Cross-Country Skiing 2018
Date	13 February 2018
Competitors	80 athletes
Venue	Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre
Previous medalists
Gold	Ola Vigen Hattestad
Silver	Teodor Peterson
Bronze	Emil Joensson
Conditions
Temperature	-7°C / 19.4°F
Length	1381 metres
Height	27 metres
Medalists
	Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo
	Federico Pellegrino
	Alexander Bolshunov

The men's sprint of Cross-Country Skiing 2018 during the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 13 February 2018 in the Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre. With 80 athletes competing, the event was won by Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo from Norway, with Federico Pellegrino from Italy taking the silver medal and Alexander Bolshunov from Olympic Athletes from Russia taking bronze.

Format

The competition exists out of a single lap of 1381 metres in the classic technique. The competition consists of four different phases, with all competitors setting a time in the qualification. The 30 athletes with the best time advance, after which the quarterfinals, semifinals, and final are head-to-head races between six athletes, with the first two advancing to the next round. The athlete with the fastest time in the final is the winner of the event.

Preview

Eighty athletes qualified for the event with a field that had many medal contenders and potential outsiders. Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo was one of the big favorites to win the event, but Norway has been traditionally very strong in cross-country skiing, with his countrymen Emil Iversen, Eirik Brandsdal, and Paal Golberg also among the big medal candidates. Alexander Bolshunov could be one of the big challengers, just like Ristomatti Hakola and Iivo Niskanen from Finland, and the world champion in this event Federico Pellegrino. Sweden had won two out of three medals in 2014, with Teodor Peterson having won the silver medal, and could be once again competing with the medals with Calle Halfvarsson.

Summary

Qualification

In the qualification, all athletes completed the track individually, with an interval of 15 seconds between each competitor. Calle Halfvarsson was the first to start, and he set a reasonable time, but Alexander Bolshunov was the first of the big medal contenders to finish, being three seconds faster than Halfvarsson. Out of the rest of the first ten skiers, only Ristomatti Hakola was able to beat the time of Halfvarsson, skiing the fastest time after his qualification. Behind Hakola and Bolshunov, defending silver medalist Teodor Peterson and Oskar Svensson were able to finish within five seconds of the time of Hakola, but Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo was the one to challenge the leader most. The Norwegian finished within 0.2 seconds, almost catching up on Andrew Young, who started in front of him. In the rest of the ranked section with the 21 ranked athletes, only Federico Pellegrino and Paal Golberg remained within 7 seconds from Hakola. The rest of the competitors started according to their world ranking, and Alexander Panzhinskiy, and Alexey Poltoranin, and Alexey Vitsenko performed their best. Maicol Rastelli and Viktor Thorn were the only ones to be faster than the first starter Halfvarsson, completing the top 10. The 30 athletes with the fastest time qualified for the next round, with Alex Harvey, Lucas Chavanat, Andrew Newell, and Andrew Young failing to qualify from the seeded group. Sun Qinghai was disqualified after a technique violation.

Qualification Results
Rank	Nat.	Name	Time
1		Ristomatti Hakola	3:08.54
2		Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo	3:08.73
3		Alexander Bolshunov	3:10.20
4		Maicol Rastelli	3:11.32
5		Teodor Peterson	3:11.55
6		Alexander Panzhinskiy	3:11.63
7		Oskar Svensson	3:12.02
8		Viktor Thorn	3:12.19
9		Federico Pellegrino	3:13.18
10		Calle Halfvarsson	3:13.27
11		Paal Golberg	3:13.71
12		Emil Iversen	3:14.36
13		Alexey Poltoranin	3:14.43
14		Alexey Vitsenko	3:14.56
15		Marko Kilp	3:15.05
16		Sebastian Eisenlauer	3:15.06
17		Jovian Hediger	3:15.86
18		Eirik Brandsdal	3:15.95
19		Simeon Hamilton	3:16.13
20		Baptiste Gros	3:16.27
21		Iivo Niskanen	3:16.37
22		Thomas Bing	3:16.66
23		Lauri Vuorinen	3:16.69
24		Martti Jylhae	3:16.79
25		Peter Mylnar	3:16.82
26		Len Valjas	3:17.11
27		Aliaksandr Voranau	3:17.12
28		Kamil Bury	3:17.15
29		Richard Jouve	3:17.69
30		Erik Bjornsen	3:17.69
31		Raido Rankel	3:17.88
32		Alex Harvey	3:17.95
32		Miha Simenc	3:17.95
34		Lucas Chanavat	3:18.46
35		Dominik Baldauf	3:18.54
35		Jesse Cockney	3:18.54
37		Andrew Newell	3:19.36
38		Maciej Starega	3:19.42
39		Ueli Schnider	3:19.47
40		Mirco Bertolina	3:20.07
41		Stefan Zelger	3:20.18
42		Logan Hanneman	3:20.74
43		Ales Razym	3:21.05
44		Modestas Vaiciulis	3:21.10
45		Andrew Young	3:21.50
46		Janez Lampic	3:22.03
47		Alin Florin Cioanca	3:22.22
48		Andrey Melnichenko	3:22.27
49		Kim Magnus	3:22.36
50		Erwan Kaeser	3:22.48
51		Denis Volotka	3:22.52
52		Karel Tammjarv	3:22.68
53		Luis Stadlober	3:23.01
54		Russell Kennedy	3:23.37
55		Isak Stianson Pedersen	3:24.57
56		Andrej Segec	3:24.84
57		Mark Chanloung	3:26.12
58		Miroslav Rypl	3:27.46
59		Veselin Tsinzov	3:28.19
60		Michal Novak	3:28.33
61		Miroslav Sulek	3:28.74
62		Thomas Maloney Westgaard	3:29.61
63		Indulis Bikse	3:30.53
64		Mantas Strolia	3:31.11
65		Phillip Bellingham	3:31.54
66		Wang Qiang	3:31.56
67		Adam Konya	3:31.84
68		Yordan Chuchuganov	3:32.62
69		Edi Dadic	3:33.17
70		Oleksii Krasovskyi	3:33.40
71		Hamza Dursun	3:36.53
72		Mikayel Mikayelyan	3:37.40
73		Andrii Orlyk	3:39.18
74		Apostolos Angelis	3:47.10
75		Damir Rastic	3:50.65
76		Seyed Sattar Seyd	3:56.08
77		Omer Aycicek	3:57.91
78		Tariel Zharkymbaev	4:05.99
79		Stavre Jada	4:23.85
-		Sun Qinghai	DQ

Quarterfinals

The first quarterfinal immediately had three of the five fastest skiers of the qualifications against each other, with only two ensured of advancing to the next round. Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, Maicol Rastelli, and Teodor Peterson at least had to leave Alexey Poltoranin, Richard Jouve, and Erik Bjornsen behind them. The three immediately took the lead in the race, but Rastelli was not able to hold the pace and dropped back, while Jouve marched to the front in the climb. Hoesflot retained the lead, and even dropped the others, with Rastelli and Peterson back in pursuit. In the last stretch, the Italian once again dropped back, not being able to accelerate in the final sprint, while the remaining four all finished within half a second from each other. Peterson joined the Norwegian in the next round, winning the final sprint against Jouve, Poltoranin, and Bjornsen.

Quarterfinal 1 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo	3:11.09	Q
2		Teodor Peterson	3:12.23	Q
3		Richard Jouve	3:12.40
4		Alexey Poltoranin	3:12.60
5		Erik Bjornsen	3:12.72
6		Maicol Rastelli	3:14.38

The second quarterfinal had world champion Federico Pellegrino, Calle Halfvarsson, and Paal Golberg, who qualified ninth, tenth, and eleventh, and who were the fastest qualifiers of the heat. Marko Kilp and Eirik Brandsdal were not far behind them, however, with also Kamil Bury competing against them. Despite the six staying well together on the first climb, it was Halfvarsson who tried to take control up the second climb, but Pellegrino fully countered it and took the lead. Meanwhile, Brandsdal and Bury were the victims of this acceleration and were not able to follow the rest. The Italian won the heat comfortably, while Golberg attempted a last acceleration in the final stretch. Halfvarsson and Kilp still sprinted for it, with the Swede coming up on top in a photo finish.

Quarterfinal 2 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Federico Pellegrino	3:10.55	Q
2		Paal Golberg	3:11.07	Q
3		Calle Halfvarsson	3:11.95
4		Marko Kilp	3:12.00
5		Eirik Brandsdal	3:18.25
6		Kamil Bury	3:25.79

The third quarterfinal once again had three of the ten fastest qualifiers, and two of the top three. Ristomatti Hakola and Alexander Bolshunov were only separated by Hoesflot, who competed in the first heat. Viktor Thorn qualified as eighth, with Jovian Hediger, Iivo Niskanen, and Aliaksandr Voranau as the other athletes in the third heat. Right at the start, Thorn tumbled and immediately fell behind. Bolshunov set a quick pace at the front, with the two Finns directly behind him, but a gap was created between Hakola and Niskanen, and between Niskanen and Hediger. Within the stadium, Bolshunov and Hakola took it a bit easy, with Niskanen following on 4 seconds, and Hediger and Voranau another few seconds behind him.

Quarterfinal 3 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Alexander Bolshunov	3:08.45	Q
2		Ristomatti Hakola	3:09.41	Q
3		Iivo Niskanen	3:12.20
4		Jovian Hediger	3:14.25
5		Aliaksandr Voranau	3:14.95
6		Viktor Thorn	3:17.33

The penultimate quarterfinal had Alexander Panzhinskiy and Oskar Svensson, who qualified sixth and seventh. Emil Iversen and Sebastian Eisenlauer qualified in the top 20, while Peter Mlynar and Len Valjas completed the lineup. Panzhinskiy took the front in front of the group, with Iversen challenging him for the lead twice uphill. The Russian was also caught by Svensson, while Eisenlauer couldn't hold the pace. Svensson would comfortably win the heat, followed by Iversen, while Valjas also beat Panzhinskiy in a last sprint for the third place.

Quarterfinal 4 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Oskar Svensson	3:08.77	Q
2		Emil Iversen	3:10.21	Q
3		Len Valjas	3:10.87	LL
4		Alexander Panzhinskiy	3:11.15	LL
5		Peter Mlynar	3:15.77
6		Sebastian Eisenlauer	3:16.22

The best qualifier of the last quarterfinal was Alexey Vitsenko, who qualified fourteenth. However, with the last qualifier being Martti Jylhae being only 3 seconds slower in the qualification, there were no real favorites to qualify here. Simeon Hamilton, Baptiste Gros, Thomas Bing, and Lauri Vuorinen had all qualified around the top 20, and the six were also evenly matched in this race. Vitsenko took control up the hill, but he was followed by the two Fins in the race, with many permutations, until Hamilton took Vuorinen with him in his crash, while Vitsenko lost one of his skis in the encounter. Jylhae, Gros, and Bing were vying for two qualification spots, with the Fin retaining his lead, while the battle between Bing and Gros was decided in a photo finish, in favor of the Frenchman.

Quarterfinal 5 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Martti Jylhae	3:17.46	Q
2		Baptiste Gros	3:18.62	Q
3		Thomas Bing	3:18.64
4		Simeon Hamilton	3:27.89
5		Alexey Vitsenko	3:30.72
6		Lauri Vuorinen	3:33.13

Semifinals

With twelve competitors remaining, the lineup for the final was decided in two semifinals, with the two fastest of each heat and the fastest two losers qualifying. All six athletes in the first semifinal had qualified in the top 12 of the qualification, with Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, Alexander Bolshunov, and Teodor Peterson also having qualified in the top 5. Alexander Panzhinskiy, Federico Pellegrino, and Paal Golberg were some of the pre-event medal contenders, so the three were up for a challenge. Hoesflot took the lead of the race, but was quickly caught by Bolshunov. The two had a small gap to Pellegrino, but the Russian lost quite some time on the second hill, falling back to fourth. Klaebo was right in front, but the Italian came back from behind in the final sprint to close the gap, while Bolshunov finished just before Golberg. Peterson and Panzhinskiy couldn't follow and finished on more than 5 seconds.

Semifinal 1 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo	3:06.01	Q
2		Federico Pellegrino	3:06.17	Q
3		Alexander Bolshunov	3:06.63	LL
4		Paal Golberg	3:07.24	LL
5		Teodor Peterson	3:11.02
6		Alexander Panzhinskiy	3:19.05

The second semifinal had the fastest qualifier Ristomatti Hakola, but Oskar Svensson was the only other one who qualified in the top 10. Emil Iversen was not far behind, but Baptiste Gros, Martti Jylhae, and Len Valjas all qualified outside of the top 20. In the race, Hakola took the lead and remained in front for the entire race. Behind the Fin, the other Nordic countries were represented in front by Svensson and Iversen, but the Swede remained in second place until the finish, despite a sprint for first. Behind Svensson, Valjas won a close sprint against the Norwegian, and was immediately followed by Jylhae. Gros took it slow and finished last in the race.

Semifinal 2 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Ristomatti Hakola	3:09.93	Q
2		Oskar Svensson	3:10.61	Q
3		Len Valjas	3:13.91
4		Emil Iversen	3:14.09
5		Martti Jylhae	3:14.93
6		Baptiste Gros	3:27.44

Final

Most of the favorites qualified for the final, including the fastest three qualifiers Ristomatti Hakola, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, and Alexander Bolshunov. The other three were the world champion Federico Pellegrino, Norwegian Paal Golberg, and Oskar Svensson from Sweden. Similar to their semifinal, Bolshunov took the lead, with Klaebo in his tracks, with a small gap to Pellegrino. Klaebo took to front in the second climb and accelerated further, while Svensson and Golberg were not able to hang on. The favorite Klaebo was well ahead of Pellegrino and Bolshunov, who would sprint for the silver medal. In another photo finish, the Italian was 0.02 seconds ahead of the Rususian, while Golberg finished over 2 seconds behind them. Svensson couldn't follow the tempo of the four and finished another 4 seconds behind, while Hakola wasn't feeling it and finished over 20 seconds behind the leader.

Final Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time
1		Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo	3:05.75
2		Federico Pellegrino	3:07.09
3		Alexander Bolshunov	3:07.11
4		Paal Golberg	3:09.56
5		Oskar Svensson	3:13.48
6		Ristomatti Hakola	3:26.47

Results

Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won a gold medal at his Olympic debut, as one of the youngest athletes of the field. Federico Pellegrino won the first Olympic medal in men's cross-country since Pietro Piller Cottrer won the silver medal in the 15 km in 2010, while Alexander Bolshunov finished third at his Olympic debut. Paal Golberg finished just behind the podium after he finished in the top 20 in the 15 km in 2014, while Oskar Svensson and Ristomatti Hakola could also have won their first Olympic medals.

Result	Athlete	Nationality
	Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo	Norway
	Federico Pellegrino	Italy
	Alexander Bolshunov	Olympic Athletes from Russia
4	Paal Golberg	Norway
5	Oskar Svensson	Sweden
6	Ristomatti Hakola	Finland
7	Len Valjas	Canada
8	Emil Iversen	Norway
9	Teodor Peterson	Sweden
10	Martti Jylhae	Finland
11	Alexander Panzhinskiy	Olympic Athletes from Russia
12	Baptiste Gros	France
13	Calle Halfvarsson	Sweden
14	Iivo Niskanen	Finland
15	Thomas Bing	Germany
16	Richard Jouve	France
17	Marko Kilp	Estonia
18	Jovian Hediger	Switzerland
19	Simeon Hamilton	United States
20	Alexey Vitsenko	Olympic Athletes from Russia
21	Eirik Brandsdal	Norway
22	Peter Mlynar	Slovakia
23	Aliaksandr Voranau	Belarus
24	Erik Bjornsen	United States
25	Maicol Rastelli	Italy
26	Viktor Thorn	Sweden
27	Sebastian Eisenlauer	Germany
28	Lauri Vuorinen	Finland
29	Kamil Bury	Poland
30	Raido Rankel	Estonia
31	Alex Harvey	Canada
31	Miha Simenc	Slovenia
33	Lucas Chanavat	France
34	Jesse Cockney	Canada
35	Andrew Newell	United States
36	Maciej Starega	Poland
37	Ueli Schnider	Switzerland
38	Mirco Bertolina	Italy
39	Stefan Zelger	Italy
40	Logan Hanneman	United States
41	Ales Razym	Czech Republic
42	Modestas Vaiciulis	Lithuania
43	Andrew Young	Great Britain
44	Janez Lampic	Slovenia
45	Alin Florin Cioanca	Romania
46	Andrey Melnichenko	Olympic Athletes from Russia
47	Kim Magnus	South Korea
48	Erwan Kaeser	Switzerland
49	Denis Volotka	Kazakhstan
50	Luis Stadlober	Austria
51	Russell Kennedy	Canada
52	Isak Stianson Pedersen	Iceland
53	Andrej Segec	Slovakia
54	Mark Chanloung	Thailand
55	Miroslav Rypl	Czech Republic
56	Veselin Tsinzov	Bulgaria
57	Michal Novak	Czech Republic
58	Miroslav Sulek	Slovakia
59	Thomas Maloney Westgaard	Ireland
60	Indulis Bikse	Latvia
61	Mantas Strolia	Lithuania
62	Phillip Bellingham	Australia
63	Wang Qiang	China
64	Adam Konya	Hungary
65	Yordan Chuchuganov	Bulgaria
66	Edi Dadic	Croatia
67	Oleksii Krasovskyi	Ukraine
68	Hamza Dursun	Turkey
69	Mikayel Mikayelyan	Armenia
70	Andrii Orlyk	Ukraine
71	Apostolos Angelis	Greece
72	Damir Rastic	Serbia
73	Seyed Sattar Seyd	Iran
74	Omer Aycicek	Turkey
75	Tariel Zharkymbaev	Kyrgyzstan
76	Stavre Jada	Macedonia
-	Sun Qinghai	China
-	Alexey Poltoranin	Kazakhstan
-	Dominik Baldauf	Austria
-	Karel Tammjarv	Estonia