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| Event type

30 kilometres, Men

Date27 January 1956 — 9:00
StatusOlympic
LocationStadio della Neve, Cortina d'Ampezzo
Participants54 from 18 countries
DetailsCourse Length: ?
Height Differential: 250 m
Intermediate 1: 10.0 km
Intermediate 2: 20.0 km
Maximum Climb: 150 m
Total Climbing: 805 m

The 30 km. event was new to the Olympic program, and was organized the day after the Opening Ceremony. The event was first held at the FIS World Championship program at Falun, Sweden in 1954, and at that championship the Soviet skiers made their first international appearance. A 23-year-old skier from Arkhangelsk, Vladimir Kuzin, won ahead of the 1952 50 km. Olympic champion, Veikko Hakulinen. These two were the hottest favorites for an Olympic gold in this new event. Kuzin was definitively the king of cross-country skiing at Falun in 1954, also winning the 50 km. and winning a third gold medal as a member of the gold medal winning Soviet team in the relay.

Under difficult snow conditions, the rising Swedish star Sixten Jernberg, who placed fourth at the distance in Falun two years before, was in front after 10 km., six seconds faster than Hakulinen. The four Soviet skiers were all among the first seven. At 20 km. Hakulinen had taken the lead eight seconds ahead of Jernberg. Pavel Kolchin, a 26-year-old Soviet skier from Dynamo Moskva, was third, followed by his three teammates. Hakulinen, starting last of the favorites, increased his lead over the last 10 km. and won his second Olympic gold medal, 24 seconds ahead of Jernberg. Kolchin took the bronze medal, only one second ahead of another Soviet skier, Anatoly Shelyukin. Kuzin was the fastest finisher of the Soviet skiers and advanced to fifth place, but was over two minutes behind Hakulinen. The Norwegians had a bad day. Their best skier, the 1952 18 km. Olympic Champion Hallgeir Brenden, was a distant 14th, over five minutes behind the winner. Kolchin’s bronze was historic, as it was the first Nordic skiing medal won by a nation other than Finland, Norway, or Sweden.

PosNumberCompetitorNOCTime
152Veikko HakulinenFIN1-44:06Gold
248Sixten JernbergSWE1-44:30Silver
318Pavel KolchinURS1-45:45Bronze
47Anatoly ShelyukhinURS1-45:46
545Vladimir KuzinURS1-46:09
623Fyodor TerentyevURS1-46:43
726Per-Erik LarssonSWE1-46:51
83Lennart LarssonSWE1-46:56
931Olavi LatsaFIN1-47:30
1025Ilja MatoušTCH1-48:12
1117Gunnar SamuelssonSWE1-48:23
1243Tadeusz KwapieńPOL1-49:09
1333Federico DeflorianITA1-49:16
1450Hallgeir BrendenNOR1-49:29
1535Martin StokkenNOR1-49:38
1619Josef ProkešTCH1-50:49
175Oddmund JensenNOR1-51:04
1847Jaroslav CardalTCH1-51:05
1914Per OlsenNOR1-51:15
206Kalevi HämäläinenFIN1-51:38
2116August KiuruFIN1-51:56
2257René MandrillonFRA1-52:18
2337Józef RubiśPOL1-53:57
242Arrigo DelladioITA1-54:27
2538Marcel HugueninSUI1-54:36
2612Camillo ZanolliITA1-54:42
2742Fritz KocherSUI1-55:18
2846Tatsuo MiyaoJPN1-55:40
2920Stanisław BukowskiPOL1-56:26
3054Hermann MöchelGER1-56:34
3140Manole AldescuROU1-57:42
329Matevž KordežYUG1-57:48
3339Erich LindenlaubGER1-58:30
3410André HugueninSUI1-58:40
3522Paul RomandFRA1-59:02
3632Constantin EnacheROU1-59:52
3758Clarence ServoldCAN2-00:01
3856Mack MillerUSA2-00:38
3955Jón KristjánssonISL2-00:52
4011Werner MoringGER2-00:55
418Armand GenoudSUI2-01:05
4227Zdravko HlebanjaYUG2-01:47
4341Hristo DonchevBUL2-02:10
4436Zaharin GrivevBUL2-03:21
=4515Štefan RobačYUG2-03:55
=4528Andrew MorganGBR2-03:55
4721John MooreGBR2-08:58
4834Oddur PéturssonISL2-10:16
4951Jimmie SpencerGBR2-10:32
5024Buck LevyUSA2-10:56
514Tom CairneyGBR2-13:41
DQ30Charles BinauxFRA
DQ44Ottavio CompagnoniITA
DQ53Janez PavčičYUG