30 kilometres (Freestyle), Women

After 10 kilometers this event became an all Norwegian contest as Marit Bjørgen, Therese Johaug and Kristin Størmer Steira built up a lead of around a minute from the rest of the field. The three clearly raced as a team, taking turns leading until the final two kilometers, when Johaug and Bjørgen pulled away from their teammate. Obviously the Norwegians left their waxing problems from the early days of Sochi far behind, sweeping the medals in an event no Nordic country had ever won. Approaching the last hill and then coming into the stadium, Johaug could not challenge Bjørgen’s lead in the sprint, finishing 2.6 sec behind the winner. Steira, a slightly surprising medal winner, came in on third place another 23.6 sec behind Johaug but well ahead of the fast finishing Kerttu Niskanen from Finland. One of the favorites, Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk, the defending gold medalist, had to retire halfway through the race due to an injury after being hit by another skier.

In winning, Bjørgen equaled her gold medal count at Vancouver. Her sixth gold medal also equaled the Olympic Winter Games record of Soviet speed skater Lidiya Skoblikova and Russian cross-country skier Lyubov Yegorova. With her additional three silver medals and one bronze medal, Bjørgen became now the most successful woman in Olympic Winter Games history, although her 10 medals equalled the female Winter best by Stefania Belmondo (ITA-CCS) and Raisa Smetanina (URS-CCS).