The competition exists out of six laps of 1176 metres in the free technique, alternating between the two competitors in a team. The two fastest teams in each semifinal advance to the final, as well as the six fastest non-qualifiers. The team with the fastest time in the final is the winner of the event.
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Twenty-one pairs qualified for the event with the teams of Norway and Sweden being the big contenders for the gold medal. Marit Bjoergen and Maiken Caspersen Falla won fifteen Olympic medals between them and the former was the defending champion of this event, while Charlotte Kalla and Stina Nilsson didn't do much worse with eleven medals. Kalla had won the silver medal in this event in 2010, and Nilsson had won the bronze medal in Sochi, though both with different partners. Behind the two, there were many other teams who would contend for the medals, including veterans Mari Laukkanen and Krista Parmakoski of Finland, Jessica Diggins and Kikkan Randall of the United States, and Yulia Belorukova and Natalia Nepryaeva of the Olympic Athletes from Russia. Other outsiders included the teams of Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Poland.
Norway
Switzerland
Slovenia
Germany
Czech Republic
Australia
Austria
Belarus
Slovakia
Kazakhstan
South Korea
United States
Sweden
Olympic Athletes from Russia
Finland
Poland
France
Canada
Italy
China
Ukraine
