5 kilometres, Classical, Women

Finland’s Marjo Matikainen was favored, having won the 1987 World Championship, the last two seasonal World Cups, and she was leading the 1987-88 World Cup chase. She trailed at the 3.1 km checkpoint, where the leader was her teammate, Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi-Hämäläinen, who was the defending champion and had won all three individual gold medals in Sarajevo. But Kirvesniemi-Hämäläinen struggled in the final two kilometers, posting only the sixth fastest finishing split, and Matikainen won a narrow victory over Soviet Tamara Tikhonova, who was one second behind Matikainen at 3.1 km and could not make up the deficit. The fastest finisher was Norway’s Inger Helene Nybråten, but she had started poorly, only equal eleventh at the first time check, and would finish sixth. This was Matikainen’s final season. She retired to study engineering and would later, in 1999, be elected to the European Parliament. The bronze medal went to Vida Vencienė, who had already won gold in Calgary in the 10 km.