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| Event type

4 × 10 kilometres Relay, Men

Date13 February 1972 — 9:00
StatusOlympic
LocationMakomanai Cross Country Events Site, Sapporo
Participants56 from 14 countries
DetailsCourse Length: ?
Height Differential: 109 m
Maximum Climb: 67 m
Total Climbing: 313 m

The cross-country relay was expected to be a close duel between defending Olympic Champion Norway and the reigning 1970 World Champion, the Soviet Union. At the first exchange, three teams were close together. Norway’s Oddvar Brå and Sweden’s Thomas Magnusson came in together, with Soviet’s Vladimir Voronkov only two seconds behind, while Switzerland was in fourth place, 44 seconds behind the leader. On the second leg, Soviet Yury Skobov and Norway’s Pål Tyldum were close together at the exchange, with Sweden’s Lars-Göran Åslund in third place over a minute behind. When Norway’s 20-year old Ivar Formo built up a 1:01 lead on the third leg over Soviet’s Fyodor Simashov, it looked like an easy victory for the defending champions. Sweden in third was now only 20 seconds behind the Soviets, and the silver medalist from the Nordic Combined in 1968, Alois Kälin, brought Switzerland up from sixth to fourth, only two seconds behind Sweden.

The Soviet’s anchor leg skier Vyacheslav Vedenin started strongly, and after 5 km he had reduced the gap to the Norwegian Johs Harviken to around half a minute. The Soviets now began to hope for victory, and 100 m from home Vedenin had caught Harviken. In a desperate try to counterattack, Harviken fell, and Vedenin secured Soviet’s second Olympic relay gold, 16 years after their first win in Cortina d’Ampezzo. The fight for the bronze medal also ended in drama. Sweden’s Sven-Åke Lundbäck and Switzerland’s Edi Hauser arrived in the finishing stretch together, then Lundbäck fell and Hauser garnered for Switzerland their first ever Olympic cross-country relay medal. Alois Kälin is still the last skier, thru 2006, with Olympic medals both in cross-country skiing and Nordic Combined. The team from East Germany, who had won a surprising silver medal in the 1970 World Championships, had the same lineup in Sapporo as they had in 1970, but ended in a disappointing sixth place, over five minutes behind the winning team.

PosNumberCompetitorsNOCTimeExchange
11Soviet UnionURS2-04:47.94– (–)Gold
Lead-Off1-1Vladimir Voronkov 31:12.5231:12.52 (3)
2nd Leg1-2Yury Skobov 30:55.421-02:07.94 (1)
3rd Leg1-3Fyodor Simashov 32:18.631-34:26.57 (2)
Anchor1-4Vyacheslav Vedenin 30:21.372-04:47.94 (1)
24NorwayNOR2-04:57.06– (–)Silver
Lead-Off4-1Oddvar Brå 31:10.3831:10.38 (1)
2nd Leg4-2Pål Tyldum 30:58.111-02:08.49 (2)
3rd Leg4-3Ivar Formo 31:16.781-33:25.27 (1)
Anchor4-4Johs Harviken 31:31.792-04:57.06 (2)
35SwitzerlandSUI2-07:00.06– (–)Bronze
Lead-Off5-1Fredel Kälin 31:54.7631:54.76 (4)
2nd Leg5-2Albert Giger 31:40.141-03:34.90 (6)
3rd Leg5-3Alois Kälin 31:13.111-34:48.01 (4)
Anchor5-4Edi Hauser 32:12.052-07:00.06 (3)
43SwedenSWE2-07:03.60– (–)
Lead-Off3-1Thomas Magnusson 31:10.5631:10.56 (2)
2nd Leg3-2Lars-Göran Åslund 31:59.651-03:10.21 (3)
3rd Leg3-3Gunnar Larsson 31:35.961-34:46.17 (3)
Anchor3-4Sven-Åke Lundbäck 32:17.432-07:03.60 (4)
57FinlandFIN2-07:50.19– (–)
Lead-Off7-1Hannu Taipale 32:17.1932:17.19 (6)
2nd Leg7-2Juha Mieto 30:54.641-03:11.83 (4)
3rd Leg7-3Juhani Repo 33:47.891-36:59.72 (5)
Anchor7-4Osmo Karjalainen 30:50.472-07:50.19 (5)
62East GermanyGDR2-10:03.73– (–)
Lead-Off2-1Gerd Heßler 32:19.7432:19.74 (7)
2nd Leg2-2Axel Lesser 31:09.531-03:29.27 (5)
3rd Leg2-3Gerhard Grimmer 33:49.311-37:18.58 (7)
Anchor2-4Gert-Dietmar Klause 32:45.152-10:03.73 (6)
79West GermanyFRG2-10:42.85– (–)
Lead-Off9-1Franz Betz 33:08.1433:08.14 (9)
2nd Leg9-2Urban Hettich 34:06.061-07:14.20 (11)
3rd Leg9-3Hartmut Döpp 32:22.001-39:36.20 (9)
Anchor9-4Walter Demel 31:06.652-10:42.85 (7)
88CzechoslovakiaTCH2-11:27.55– (–)
Lead-Off8-1Stanislav Henych 32:00.8532:00.85 (5)
2nd Leg8-2Ján Fajstavr 31:51.701-03:52.55 (7)
3rd Leg8-3Ján Michalko 33:19.571-37:12.12 (6)
Anchor8-4Ján Ilavský 34:15.432-11:27.55 (8)
96ItalyITA2-12:07.11– (–)
Lead-Off6-1Carlo Favre 32:43.4932:43.49 (8)
2nd Leg6-2Elviro Blanc 33:13.801-05:57.29 (8)
3rd Leg6-3Renzo Chiocchetti 33:29.661-39:26.95 (8)
Anchor6-4Ulrico Kostner 32:40.162-12:07.11 (9)
1011JapanJPN2-13:59.14– (–)
Lead-Off11-1Hideo Tanifuji 35:21.6035:21.60 (14)
2nd Leg11-2Kunio Shibata 32:39.301-08:00.90 (12)
3rd Leg11-3Akiyoshi Matsuoka 33:40.581-41:41.48 (12)
Anchor11-4Tomio Okamura 32:17.662-13:59.14 (10)
1113FranceFRA2-14:35.98– (–)
Lead-Off13-1Jean-Paul Vandel 33:35.2833:35.28 (12)
2nd Leg13-2Roland Jeannerod 33:00.691-06:35.97 (9)
3rd Leg13-3Gilbert Faure 34:35.091-41:11.06 (10)
Anchor13-4Jean Jobez 33:24.922-14:35.98 (11)
1210United StatesUSA2-14:37.28– (–)
Lead-Off10-1Tim Caldwell 33:29.4333:29.43 (10)
2nd Leg10-2Mike Gallagher 33:09.561-06:38.99 (10)
3rd Leg10-3Larry Martin 34:47.781-41:26.77 (11)
Anchor10-4Mike Elliott 33:10.512-14:37.28 (12)
1314CanadaCAN2-16:56.41– (–)
Lead-Off14-1Fred Kelly 33:30.9233:30.92 (11)
2nd Leg14-2Roger Allen 35:06.611-08:37.53 (13)
3rd Leg14-3Jarl Omholt-Jensen 35:34.131-44:11.66 (13)
Anchor14-4Malcolm Hunter 32:44.752-16:56.41 (13)
DNF12AustriaAUT– (–)
Lead-Off12-1Herbert Wachter – (13)1
2nd Leg12-2Josef Hauser – (–)
3rd Leg12-3Ulli Öhlböck – (–)
Anchor12-4Heinrich Wallner – (–)