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| Event type

4 × 10 kilometres Relay, Men

Date25 February 1960
StatusOlympic
LocationMcKinney Creek Stadium, Tahoma, California
Participants44 from 11 countries
DetailsCourse Length: ?
Height Differential: 121 m
Maximum Climb: ?
Total Climbing: 348 m

The relay event was held two days after the close 15 km race. The Soviet team was the defending Olympic champions, but the Swedish team had beaten the Soviets in the World Championships in 1958, and both Finland and Norway also had medal aspirations.

On the first leg, Sweden’s Lars Olsson took the lead, seven seconds ahead of Finland’s Toimi Alatalo with Norway’s Harald Gronningen close behind. The opening man for the Soviet team, Anatoly Shelyukin, ran into trouble in the thin air and was a distant eight at the exchange, 2:21 behind the leader. On the second leg, Norway’s Hallgeir Brenden and Finland’s 22-year-old Eero Mäntyranta come together at the exchange. Sweden’s Janne Stefansson also got into trouble, and Sweden had dropped to sixth place at the exchange, passed also by the Soviets. Józef Rysula, at only 20-years-old, had brought Poland into third place, closely followed by Italy. In the third leg, Norway’s Einar Østby left Finlands Vainö Huhtala behind, and gave the Olympic 15 km champion Håkon Brusveen a 20 second lead ahead of Veikko Hakulinen. The Soviet Union’s Aleksey Kuznetsov had brought Soviet up to third position, but they were 2:21 behind the leader and out of contention for the gold medal. Hakulinen caught Brusveen halfway on the last leg and had a 30 m lead, but the energetic Brusveen was able to close the gap and the two rivals entered the ski stadium in McKinney Creek side-by-side. In a close finish, Hakulinen won by a couple of meters. Nikolay Anikin, the Soviet anchor leg skier, secured the bronze medal ahead of fast finishing Sixten Jernberg. It was Jernberg’s seventh Olympic start, and for the first time he was outside a medal position.

PosNumberCompetitorsNOCTimeExchange
17FinlandFIN2-18:45.6– (–)Gold
Lead-Off7-1Toimi Alatalo 35:03.035:03.0 (2)
2nd Leg7-2Eero Mäntyranta 34:45.01-09:48.0 (=1)
3rd Leg7-3Väinö Huhtala 35:01.01-44:49.0 (2)
Anchor7-4Veikko Hakulinen 33:56.62-18:45.6 (1)
21NorwayNOR2-18:46.4– (–)Silver
Lead-Off1-1Harald Grønningen 35:07.035:07.0 (3)
2nd Leg1-2Hallgeir Brenden 34:41.01-09:48.0 (=1)
3rd Leg1-3Einar Østby 34:41.01-44:29.0 (1)
Anchor1-4Håkon Brusveen 34:17.42-18:46.4 (2)
38Soviet UnionURS2-21:21.6– (–)Bronze
Lead-Off8-1Anatoly Shelyukhin 37:17.037:17.0 (8)
2nd Leg8-2Gennady Vaganov 34:22.01-11:39.0 (5)
3rd Leg8-3Aleksey Kuznetsov 35:11.01-46:50.0 (3)
Anchor8-4Nikolay Anikin 34:31.62-21:21.6 (3)
43SwedenSWE2-21:31.8– (–)
Lead-Off3-1Lars Olsson 34:56.034:56.0 (1)
2nd Leg3-2Janne Stefansson 37:44.01-12:40.0 (6)
3rd Leg3-3Lennart Larsson 34:44.01-47:24.0 (5)
Anchor3-4Sixten Jernberg 34:07.82-21:31.8 (4)
54ItalyITA2-22:32.5– (–)
Lead-Off4-1Giulio Deflorian 35:37.035:37.0 (4)
2nd Leg4-2Giuseppe Steiner 35:59.01-11:36.0 (4)
3rd Leg4-3Pompeo Fattor 35:30.01-47:06.0 (4)
Anchor4-4Marcello De Dorigo 35:26.52-22:32.5 (5)
65PolandPOL2-26:25.3– (–)
Lead-Off5-1Andrzej Mateja 36:22.036:22.0 (5)
2nd Leg5-2Józef Rysula 35:13.01-11:35.0 (3)
3rd Leg5-3Józef Gut Misiaga 37:19.01-48:54.0 (6)
Anchor5-4Kazimierz Zelek 37:31.32-26:25.3 (6)
79FranceFRA2-26:30.8– (–)
Lead-Off9-1Victor Arbez 36:50.036:50.0 (6)
2nd Leg9-2René Mandrillon 36:46.01-13:36.0 (7)
3rd Leg9-3Benoît Carrara 36:41.01-50:17.0 (7)
Anchor9-4Jean Mermet 36:13.82-26:30.8 (7)
810SwitzerlandSUI2-29:36.8– (–)
Lead-Off10-1Fritz Kocher 37:43.037:43.0 (10)
2nd Leg10-2Marcel Huguenin 38:15.01-15:58.0 (9)
3rd Leg10-3Lorenz Possa 36:37.01-52:35.0 (8)
Anchor10-4Alphonse Baume 37:01.82-29:36.8 (8)
92Unified Team of GermanyGER2-31:47.1– (–)
Lead-Off2-1Kuno Werner 37:27.037:27.0 (9)
2nd Leg2-2Helmut Hagg 37:53.01-15:20.0 (8)
3rd Leg2-3Werner Haase 37:58.01-53:18.0 (9)
Anchor2-4Enno Röder 38:29.12-31:47.1 (9)
106JapanJPN2-36:44.9– (–)
Lead-Off6-1Takashi Matsuhashi 39:02.039:02.0 (11)
2nd Leg6-2Kazuo Sato 37:41.01-16:43.0 (10)
3rd Leg6-3Eiji Kurita 39:17.01-56:00.0 (10)
Anchor6-4Akemi Taniguchi 40:44.92-36:44.9 (10)
1111United StatesUSA2-38:01.8– (–)
Lead-Off11-1Mack Miller 37:04.037:04.0 (7)
2nd Leg11-2Karl Bohlin 40:47.01-17:51.0 (11)
3rd Leg11-3John Dendahl 39:11.01-57:02.0 (11)
Anchor11-4Peter Lahdenpera 40:59.82-38:01.8 (11)