Sprint, Men

A sprint event had been contested at the World Championships in 1999 and 2001, won by Bjarte Engen Vik in 1999 and Germany’s Marco Baacke in 2001, who was not in Salt Lake City. In 2001 the silver medalist had been Finnish athlete Samppa Lajunen, followed by German Ronny Ackermann. The event consisted of a single jump on the large hill followed by a 7½ km cross-country race, started by the Gundersen Method with the jumping leaders going off first, in the order of their finish. On the large hill, Lajunen took the lead with a jump of 126.5 metres, to take a 3.9 point margin over Ackermann, which gave the Finn a 15 second start lead in the cross-country. In third place after the jumping was Lajunen’s teammate, Jaakko Tallus, who had already won a silver medal in the individual event in Salt Lake City. Lajunen and Ackermann were never challenged in the ski race, with Ackermann closing slightly but unable to catch Lajunen, who won by 9 seconds. Tallus could not hold onto the bronze, being passed by Austrian Felix Gottwald in the last kilometer of the ski race.

For Lajunen it was his third gold medal in Nordic combined at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Prior to his feats at Salt Lake City he was better known in Finland as a rock star, as he was the songwriter and guitarist of the group Vieraileva Tahti, or Guest Star, which also contained several other Nordic skiers.