15 kilometres (Classical), Men

Russian Aleksandr Bessmertnykh set the early pace in this event, where skiers started at 30 second intervals. Then the 21-year-old Finn Iivo Niskanen went off at a tremendous pace which was matched by only the more experienced Swiss Dario Cologna, winner of the skiathlon six days prior, and Sweden’s Johan Olsson. Two of the most prominent runners did not even appear in this event, Russian Aleksandr Legkov, winner of the last World Cup race over this distance, and 15 km freestyle World Champion Norwegian Petter Northug, Jr.. On the later part of the course, Olsson began to gain on Niskanen to finish 10.5 sec faster than the Finn. Next on the course was Cologna, who used Olsson’s splits for guidance, and was by far the fastest skier in the last 7 km, finishing 28.5 seconds ahead of the Swede to win the gold. While Niskanen was already hoping to win the first cross-country medal for his country in Sochi, Swede Daniel Richardsson, starting 43rd, finished strongly to take the bronze medal by a mere 0.2 sec.

Veteran Lukáš Bauer of the Czech Republic, attempting to win a third consecutive 15 km medal in his fifth Olympic Games, ultimately finished fifth, about 20 seconds out of the medals and almost one minute behind Cologna. Only three months after undergoing an ankle operation Cologna comfortably won his second gold medal in Sochi, defending his 15 km freestyle gold medal from Vancouver, this time in the classical style.

At the end of the race, Cologna waited until the final finisher, Roberto Carcelén of Peru, came across the line almost 38 minutes later, supporting his efforts by greeting him and congratulating him for finishing, despite competing with broken ribs sustained only a few days before. For this gesture, in 2015 Cologna was given the IOC President’s Trophy for Sportsmanship at a ceremony in Lausanne.