10 kilometres, Women

All the medalists in the 10 km at the 1980 Games had now quit skiing at the top level, but the 1976 Olympic Champion, Raisa Smetanina, was still around and had to be counted among the favorites, together with reigning World Champion Berit Aunli, from Norway. Finland’s hopes were on the shoulders of Marja-Liisa Hämälainen, who at the age of 27 had her international breakthrough in the 1983 season as the overall World Cup winner.

At the 5 km mark, Hämälainen had a six second lead over Smetanina, with Norway’s 20-year-old newcomer Anne Jahren in third, 22 seconds behind the leader. At 7.5 km Hämälainen had extended her lead over Smetanina to nine seconds. Norway’s Brit Pettersen, who had won a bronze medal as a member of Norway’s relay team four years earlier at only 18, had moved up to third, closely followed by her teammates Aunli and Jahren. Smetanina, in spite of starting two minutes behind her Finnish rival, could not withstand Hämälainen’s finish and was almost 19 seconds behind at the finish. Pettersen held her bronze position ahead of Aunli and Jahren, a good team result for Norway with all their four skiers among the top seven.