18 kilometres, Men
| Date | 31 January 1948 — 10:00 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Skistadion, St. Moritz |
| Participants | 84 from 15 countries |
| Details | Course Length: ? Height Differential: 457 m Intermediate 1: 6.0 km Intermediate 2: 12.0 km Maximum Climb: ? Total Climbing: ? |
The Swedes were highly favored in the cross-country skiing events in 1948. During the war Swedish skiers had developed new training methods to increase their stamina, and changed their technique, giving more importance to the diagonal style. They had also developed a new type of ski wax, the famous brand Swix. At the Holmenkollen competition in 1947, Nils Karlsson won the 18 km. race, followed by three countrymen and two Finns, with the best Norwegian placing seventh, almost four minutes behind the winner.
Karlsson was regarded as the favorite, but after a fast opening section he struggled with the thin air and finished in fifth place, last among the Swedes, save for the Nordic combined entrants. Martin Lundström, a 29-year old from Umeå, had his international breakthrough and won comfortably ahead of Nils Östensson and Gunnar Eriksson. The winner of the Nordic Combined, Heikki Hasu (FIN), was the only skier able to split the Swedish quartet, beating Karlsson by 11 seconds for fourth place. For the Norwegians, the event was a great disappointment. Their best skier, Olav Hagen, came in ninth, beaten by Lundström by over five minutes.
Before 1948, Lundström had been unable to win a Swedish Championship, but this was his great year. Later in the season he won the Holmenkollen 18 km. race followed by four more Swedes, and he would also claim three Swedish titles – 18 km., 30 km. and as a member of his club’s relay team.
| Pos | Nr | Skier | NOC | Time | Int 1 (Pos) | Int 2 (Pos) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 | Martin Lundström |  SWE | 1-13:50 | 23:53 (1) | 51:28 (2) | Gold | ||
| 2 | 50 | Nils Östensson | SWE | 1-14:22 | 23:59 (2) | 51:19 (10) | Silver | ||
| 3 | 72 | Gunnar Eriksson | SWE | 1-16:06 | 24:12 (=4) | 52:48 (4) | Bronze | ||
| 4 | 15 | Heikki Hasu |  FIN | 1-16:43 | 24:12 (=4) | 52:40 (3) | |||
| 5 | 33 | Nils Karlsson | SWE | 1-16:54 | 24:15 (6) | 53:52 (7) | |||
| 6 | 25 | Sauli Rytky | FIN | 1-18:10 | 24:05 (3) | 53:33 (6) | |||
| 7 | 65 | August Kiuru | FIN | 1-18:25 | 24:41 (7) | 53:27 (5) | |||
| 8 | 4 | Teuvo Laukkanen | FIN | 1-18:51 | 24:44 (9) | 53:57 (8) | |||
| 9 | 62 | Olav Hagen |  NOR | 1-19:05 | 24:43 (8) | – (–) | |||
| 10 | 64 | Martti Huhtala | FIN | 1-19:28 | 24:49 (10) | 54:36 (9) | |||
| 11 | 21 | Benoît Carrara |  FRA | 1-20:03 | – (–) | 55:09 (10) | |||
| 12 | 76 | Eero Rautiola | FIN | 1-20:18 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 13 | 23 | Olav Økern | NOR | 1-20:37 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 14 | 71 | Olav Odden | NOR | 1-21:35 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 15 | 73 | Erling Evensen | NOR | 1-21:40 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 16 | 56 | Sven Israelsson | SWE | 1-21:44 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 17 | 1 | Reidar Nyborg | NOR | 1-21:47 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 18 | 59 | Olaf Dufseth | NOR | 1-21:50 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 19 | 34 | Erik Elmsäter | SWE | 1-22:12 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| =20 | 58 | Edi Schild |  SUI | 1-22:15 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| =20 | 55 | Niklaus Stump | SUI | 1-22:15 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 22 | 27 | Severino Compagnoni |  ITA | 1-22:21 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 23 | 26 | Olavi Sihvonen | FIN | 1-22:26 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 24 | 82 | Pauli Salonen | FIN | 1-22:28 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 25 | 7 | Max Müller | SUI | 1-22:40 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 26 | 32 | Robert Zurbriggen | SUI | 1-22:51 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 27 | 22 | Eilert Dahl | NOR | 1-22:52 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 28 | 67 | Karl Rafreider |  AUT | 1-23:19 | 26:10 (NP) | 56:34 (NP) | |||
| 29 | 14 | Alfred Prucker | ITA | 1-23:26 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 30 | 84 | Theo Allenbach | SUI | 1-23:54 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 31 | 60 | Rizzieri Rodeghiero | ITA | 1-24:12 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 32 | 13 | Kåre Østerdal | NOR | 1-24:20 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 33 | 9 | Clas Haraldsson | SWE | 1-24:21 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 34 | 39 | Alfons Supersaxo | SUI | 1-24:29 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 35 | 12 | Cristiano Rodeghiero | ITA | 1-24:34 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 36 | 61 | Josl Gstrein | AUT | 1-25:04 | 27:13 (NP) | 57:11 (NP) | |||
| 37 | 47 | Marius Mora | FRA | 1-25:06 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 38 | 28 | Stefan Dziedzic |  POL | 1-25:33 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 39 | 38 | Engelbert Hundertpfund | AUT | 1-25:41 | 27:03 (NP) | 58:03 (NP) | |||
| 40 | 30 | Jaroslav Cardal |  TCH | 1-25:44 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 41 | 75 | Karl Bricker | SUI | 1-25:47 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 42 | 37 | René Jeandel | FRA | 1-25:57 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 43 | 10 | Gottlieb Perren | SUI | 1-26:27 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 44 | 83 | André Buffard | FRA | 1-27:18 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 45 | 70 | Hias Noichl | AUT | 1-27:34 | 27:11 (NP) | 59:27 (NP) | |||
| 46 | 5 | Josef Deutschmann | AUT | 1-27:43 | 27:50 (NP) | 59:39 (NP) | |||
| 47 | 3 | Tadeusz Kwapień | POL | 1-27:55 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 48 | 16 | Paul Bouveret | FRA | 1-28:07 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 49 | 51 | András Harangvölgyi |  HUN | 1-28:10 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 50 | 29 | Alberto Tassotti | ITA | 1-28:16 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 51 | 45 | Tone Razinger |  YUG | 1-28:24 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 52 | 78 | Arcangelo Chiocchetti | ITA | 1-28:36 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 53 | 11 | Matevž Kordež | YUG | 1-28:37 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 54 | 63 | Vincenzo Perruchon | ITA | 1-28:50 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 55 | 44 | Jože Knific | YUG | 1-29:01 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 56 | 77 | Anton Pogačnik | YUG | 1-29:08 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 57 | 36 | Imre Beták | HUN | 1-29:24 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| =58 | 8 | Vít Fousek, Sr. | TCH | 1-29:37 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| =58 | 17 | Bohumil Kosour | TCH | 1-29:37 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 60 | 46 | Jaroslav Zajíček | TCH | 1-29:44 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 61 | 31 | Paul Haslwanter | AUT | 1-31:00 | 25:01 (NP) | 1-02:16 (NP) | |||
| 62 | 48 | Józef Daniel Krzeptowski | POL | 1-31:05 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 63 | 80 | Štefan Kovalčík | TCH | 1-31:06 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 64 | 69 | Karl Martitsch | AUT | 1-31:19 | 28:04 (NP) | 1-02:38 (NP) | |||
| 65 | 54 | Wendall Broomhall |  USA | 1-31:40 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 66 | 42 | Don Johnson | USA | 1-32:03 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 67 | 66 | Jaroslav Kadavý | TCH | 1-32:17 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 68 | 19 | Hubert Hammerschmidt | AUT | 1-32:47 | 29:30 (NP) | 1-03:31 (NP) | |||
| 69 | 35 | Alojz Klančnik | YUG | 1-33:02 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 70 | 81 | Stanisław Bukowski | POL | 1-34:17 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 71 | 49 | Walter Jeandel | FRA | 1-34:19 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 72 | 68 | František Šimůnek | TCH | 1-35:21 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 73 | 57 | Tom Dennie |  CAN | 1-35:41 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 74 | 6 | Ralph Townsend, Jr. | USA | 1-37:12 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 75 | 79 | Corey Engen | USA | 1-37:24 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 76 | 74 | Leopold Tajner | POL | 1-38:45 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 77 | 24 | Gordy Wren | USA | 1-40:12 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 78 | 41 | Jaroslav Lukeš | TCH | 1-41:00 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 79 | 2 | Christof Frommelt |  LIE | 1-42:35 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 80 | 43 | Nikola Delev |  BUL | 1-43:29 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 81 | 52 | Bill Irwin | CAN | 1-44:43 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 82 | 40 | Egon Matt | LIE | 1-48:41 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| 83 | 53 | Erwin Jehle | LIE | 1-49:26 | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| AC | 20 | Georgi Doykov | BUL | – | – (–) | – (–) | 1 |