Cross Country Skiing at the 1960 Winter Olympics

Dates 19 – 27 February 1960
Medal Events 6

There were no cross-country ski trails around Squaw Valley when the village was selected to host the 1960 Winter Olympics. The organizers eventually chose an area on the west shore of Lake Tahoe for the cross-country events, near to McKinney Creek, and as a result the site was called McKinney Creek. A stadium was built for the start and finish of the events with 65 km of trails emanating from the stadium. The trails were prepared mechanically for the first time at the Winter Olympics, using a Tucker Sno-Cat to pull an agricultural grain flail that broke up the snow surface, making it granular for better skiing. The program was the same as in 1956, with four men’s events and two for women. On the female side, the Soviet women swept the medals in the 10 km, but were upset by Sweden in the relay.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
15 kilometres, Men Olympic 23 February 1960 54 19
30 kilometres, Men Olympic 19 February 1960 48 17
50 kilometres, Men Olympic 27 February 1960 31 10
4 × 10 kilometres Relay, Men Olympic 25 February 1960 44 11
10 kilometres, Women Olympic 20 February 1960 24 7
3 × 5 kilometres Relay, Women Olympic 26 February 1960 15 5
112 (88/24) 19 (19/7)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
15 kilometres, Men Håkon BrusveenNOR Sixten JernbergSWE Veikko HakulinenFIN
30 kilometres, Men Sixten JernbergSWE Rolf RämgårdSWE Nikolay AnikinURS
50 kilometres, Men Kalevi HämäläinenFIN Veikko HakulinenFIN Rolf RämgårdSWE
4 × 10 kilometres Relay, Men FinlandFIN NorwayNOR Soviet UnionURS
10 kilometres, Women Mariya GusakovaURS Lyubov BaranovaURS Radya YeroshinaURS
3 × 5 kilometres Relay, Women SwedenSWE Soviet UnionURS FinlandFIN

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Sweden SWE 2 2 1 5
Finland FIN 2 1 2 5
Soviet Union URS 1 2 3 6
Norway NOR 1 1 0 2