30 kilometres, Men

This event, new on the Olympic program in 1956, had been dominated internationally by Finnish, Soviet and Swedish skiers after being added to the World Championships program from 1954. The defending champion Veikko Hakulinen, was still among the favorites, now aged 35. Sweden’s Sixten Jernberg, silver medalist from 1956 and third in the World Championships 1958, was highly favored among the experts.

Jernberg, having a late starting number and therefore able to control his rivals, was in the lead after 10 km, 22 seconds ahead of his countryman Rolf Rämgård. He was closely followed by two Soviet skiers, the 23-year old newcomer Gennady Vaganov and the more merited Nikolay Anikin, a member of the Soviet gold winning relay team in 1956. Hakulinen, apparently not in his best shape, was in fifth place, already 1:20 behind the leader. At 20 km, Jernberg was in the lead, still 22 seconds ahead of Rämgård, but the Swedish pair had increased the gap to the two Soviet skiers, who were now almost a minute behind the leader. Hakulinen had dropped to sixth place, 2.20 behind. At the final stage of the race, Jernberg was able to cling to his lead ahead of fast finishing Rämgård, only 13 seconds behind at the finishing line. Anikin secured the bronze medal, almost one and a half minute behind the two Swedes.

Rolf Rämgård finished his cross country skiing career after the 1962 season, aged only 27. He later became a Member of the Swedish Parliament Riksdagen, and served also as Minister of Sport in the Swedish Governement.