Cross-Country Skiing 2022/Men's relay

Men's relay
General information
Sport	Cross-Country Skiing 2022
Date	13 February 2022
Competitors	15 teams
Venue	Zhangjiakou National Cross-Country Skiing Centre
Previous medalists
Gold	Norway
Silver	Olympic Athletes from Russia
Bronze	France
Medalists
	ROC
	Norway
	France

The men's relay of Cross-Country Skiing 2022 during the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 13 February 2022 in the Zhangjiakou National Cross-Country Skiing Centre. With 15 teams competing, the event was won by the team from ROC, with Norway taking the silver medal and France taking bronze.

Format

The competition exists out of each athlete conducting three rounds of 3.3 kilometres, with the first two athletes of each team conducting their laps in the classic technique, and the last two athletes using the free technique. The team with the fastest time after 4x10 kilometres is the winner.

Preview

Fifteen teams qualified for the event with quite a few medal contenders, though the biggest favorites seemed to be defending champions Norway and ROC with three Olympic medals so far. France won bronze in 2018 and would be one of the big contenders for the two, just like Finland with multiple Olympic medalists in the team, Sweden and Germany as traditionally strong teams, and Italy.

Home competitor Liu Rongsheng was the youngest athlete in the field at the age of 19, and was four months younger than his compatriot Chen Degen and another two months younger than Olivier Leveille. Seven other athletes were born after 1 January 2000, with Liu being fifteen years younger than the veteran of the field Dario Cologna. He and Maurice Manificat made their fourth Olympic appearance at the age of 35, with only five other competitors making their third edition of the Olympic Games in Beijing. Cologna and Manificat were three years older than Hans Christer Holund as the only other athlete from before 1 January 1990. In a field of sixty, twenty-eight made their Olympic debuts in Beijing.

Results

The teams from the ROC dominated the relay events in cross-country skiing in Beijing after the delegation also won gold in the women's relay a day prior. The delegation from the ROC also remained the only team to medal in all men's cross-country skiing events so far, with Alexander Bolshunov winning his third medal in Beijing and seventh Olympic medal overall, though he only won his second Olympic title. Bolshunov, Alexey Chervotkin, and Denis Spitsov won their second medals in the men's relay in a row, after winning the silver medal in the same event in 2018, while Sergey Ustiugov won his first Olympic medal. Defending champions Norway took silver this time with almost a minute from gold, though Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo was the only athlete who competed in both editions, winning his sixth Olympic medal. Hans Christer Holund won his second Olympic medal after he won bronze in the men's skiathlon in 2018, and Paal Golberg and Emil Iversen won their first Olympic medals, with both having had prior Olympic experience. France won the bronze medal for the third time in a row, with Maurice Manificat winning his fourth Olympic bronze medal after medals in the relay in 2014 and the team sprint in 2018, while Clement Parisse joined him to win bronze in the relay in 2018. Richard Jouve also won his second Olympic medal after the bronze medal in the team sprint in 2018, while Hugo Lapalus won his first Olympic medal. 2014 Olympic champions Sweden missed out on the medals by less than a minute, followed by Germany and Finland, within five minutes from the winners.

Result	Team	Time
	ROC	1:54:50.7
	Norway	1:55:57.9
	France	1:56:07.1
4	Sweden	1:57:00.4
5	Germany	1:57:46.5
6	Finland	1:59:28.6
7	Switzerland	2:00:13.3
8	Italy	2:00:16.6
9	United States	2:02:56.3
10	Japan	2:03:01.5
11	Canada	2:04:01.1
12	Czech Republic	2:04:57.8
-	China	LAP
-	Slovenia	LAP
-	Estonia	LAP