50 kilometres (Freestyle), Men

Raced in beautiful weather, the men’s marathon was a coronation for Bjørn Dæhlie, who would soon become known as the greatest cross-country skier of all-time. Dæhlie started out fast and led at the first checkpoint at 1.6 km. He would lead at every checkpoint and also posted the fastest intermediate splits at the first five checkpoints, only slowing down near the end when he had the race well in hand, as he led by over 1:23 at the 45.3 km time check. Maurilio De Zolt started slowly, only 21st at 1.6 km, but was in second by 10 km, and would hold onto that position throughout, winning the silver medal, as he had in Calgary four years earlier, with a two-minute margin over bronze medalist Giorgio Vanzetta.

Dæhlie, who was better at freestyle than the classical style, would win this event again in Nagano when it reverted to freestyle. Vanzetta had a very long Olympic career. He first competed in 1980 at Lake Placid and would compete again in two years in Lillehammer. He won three medals in Albertville, bronze in this event and the pursuit, and a silver in the relay. De Zolt also started Olympic skiing at Lake Placid, when he was already 30-years-old. When he was 43-years-old, he would lead off the Italian relay team in 1994 that won the gold medal in what is considered the greatest ever Olympic ski race.