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| Event type

4 × 10 kilometres Relay, Men

Date18 February 1998 — 10:15
StatusOlympic
LocationSnow Harp, Hakuba
Participants80 from 20 countries
DetailsCourse Length: 10,000 m / 10,000 m
Height Differential: 98 m / 52 m
Maximum Climb: 51 m / 51 m
Total Climbing: 410 m / 354 m

The 1994 ski relay, termed “The Great Race,” was one of the greatest ski races of all time, with Italy leading Norway to the line by only 4/10ths of a second, with Finland third. The three teams were expected to again battle for the medals, as the finish at the 1995 and 1997 World Championships had been Norway, Finland, and Italy, in that order. The opening leg in Nagano was a surprise with Germany leading, and Norway in 10th place, as Erling Jevne hit the wall at eight kilometers. Finland was third and Italy fourth, but fortunately for Norway, the margin was less than 20 seconds to Finland. On the second leg Sture Sivertsen pulled Norway up to second, though still trailing Italy and Fulvio Valbusa by 12 seconds. Norway sent out ski legend Bjørn Dæhlie on the third leg, and he made up ground on Fabio Maj. At the final exchange, Italy led by 0.5 seconds, with Finland in third, though now a full minute behind.

As in Lillehammer the anchor leg battle between Norway and Italy was the stuff of high drama. Thomas Alsgaard was the Norwegian anchor, facing Italy’s Silvio Fauner. As the Italians had done four years before, Alsgaard sat on Fauner’s tail for most of the leg, refusing to take the lead. Then in the stadium he unleashed a sprint 150 metres from the line, to win the gold medal for his team by 2/10ths of a second. Four years later in Salt Lake City, Norway and Italy would again battle to the line, Norway again winning, this time by 3/10ths of a second. In three relay races, over eight years, and 120 kilometres, Norway and Italy would battle to a near skiing death, the cumulative winning margins less than a full second, and Norway leading on total time by 0.1 seconds.

Finland did hang on for the bronze medal, but they were closely challenged by Sweden, which was less than 10 seconds away from the podium. For Bjørn Dæhlie this was his seventh gold medal, a Winter Olympic record.

PosNumberCompetitorsNOCTimeExchange
11NorwayNOR1-40:55.7– (–)Gold
Lead-Off1-1Sture Sivertsen 26:20.026:20.0 (10)
2nd Leg1-2Erling Jevne 25:18.951:38.9 (2)
3rd Leg1-3Bjørn Dæhlie 24:42.31-16:21.2 (2)
Anchor1-4Thomas Alsgaard 24:34.51-40:55.7 (1)
23ItalyITA1-40:55.9– (–)Silver
Lead-Off3-1Marco Albarello 26:04.126:04.1 (4)
2nd Leg3-2Fulvio Valbusa 25:22.251:26.3 (1)
3rd Leg3-3Fabio Maj 24:54.41-16:20.7 (1)
Anchor3-4Silvio Fauner 24:35.21-40:55.9 (2)
32FinlandFIN1-42:15.5– (–)Bronze
Lead-Off2-1Harri Kirvesniemi 26:01.726:01.7 (3)
2nd Leg2-2Mika Myllylä 25:47.551:49.2 (4)
3rd Leg2-3Sami Repo 25:31.01-17:20.2 (3)
Anchor2-4Jari Isometsä 24:55.31-42:15.5 (3)
45SwedenSWE1-42:25.2– (–)
Lead-Off5-1Mathias Fredriksson 26:33.726:33.7 (13)
2nd Leg5-2Niklas Jonsson 26:07.952:41.6 (9)
3rd Leg5-3Per Elofsson 25:25.21-18:06.8 (7)
Anchor5-4Henrik Forsberg 24:18.41-42:25.2 (4)
54Russian FederationRUS1-42:39.5– (–)
Lead-Off4-1Vladimir Legotin 26:19.026:19.0 (9)
2nd Leg4-2Aleksey Prokurorov 25:21.251:40.2 (3)
3rd Leg4-3Sergey Kryanin 26:02.41-17:42.6 (5)
Anchor4-4Sergey Chepikov 24:56.91-42:39.5 (5)
620SwitzerlandSUI1-42:49.2– (–)
Lead-Off20-1Jeremias Wigger 26:20.826:20.8 (11)
2nd Leg20-2Beat Koch 26:12.052:32.8 (8)
3rd Leg20-3Reto Burgermeister 25:31.81-18:04.6 (6)
Anchor20-4Wilhelm Aschwanden 24:44.61-42:49.2 (6)
714JapanJPN1-43:06.7– (–)
Lead-Off14-1Katsuhito Ebisawa 26:11.026:11.0 (5)
2nd Leg14-2Hiroyuki Imai 26:13.952:24.9 (5)
3rd Leg14-3Mitsuo Horigome 25:15.21-17:40.1 (4)
Anchor14-4Kazutoshi Nagahama 25:26.61-43:06.7 (7)
86GermanyGER1-43:16.1– (–)
Lead-Off6-1Andreas Schlütter 25:57.425:57.4 (1)
2nd Leg6-2Jochen Behle 26:48.852:46.2 (10)
3rd Leg6-3René Sommerfeldt 26:01.01-18:47.2 (9)
Anchor6-4Johann Mühlegg 24:28.91-43:16.1 (8)
913AustriaAUT1-43:16.5– (–)
Lead-Off13-1Markus Gandler 26:00.926:00.9 (2)
2nd Leg13-2Alois Stadlober 26:28.552:29.4 (6)
3rd Leg13-3Achim Walcher 25:47.51-18:16.9 (8)
Anchor13-4Christian Hoffmann 24:59.61-43:16.5 (9)
1011EstoniaEST1-44:20.9– (–)
Lead-Off11-1Andrus Veerpalu 26:50.026:50.0 (16)
2nd Leg11-2Raul Olle 26:14.353:04.3 (11)
3rd Leg11-3Elmo Kassin 26:11.11-19:15.4 (11)
Anchor11-4Jaak Mae 25:05.51-44:20.9 (10)
119SlovakiaSVK1-44:31.6– (–)
Lead-Off9-1Ivan Bátory 26:13.426:13.4 (6)
2nd Leg9-2Martin Bajčičák 26:19.152:32.5 (7)
3rd Leg9-3Andrej Páricka 26:28.51-19:01.0 (10)
Anchor9-4Stanislav Ježík 25:30.61-44:31.6 (11)
1216UkraineUKR1-44:33.9– (–)
Lead-Off16-1Hennadiy Nikon 26:40.526:40.5 (15)
2nd Leg16-2Oleksandr Zarovnyi 26:30.953:11.4 (13)
3rd Leg16-3Mykhailo Artiukhov 26:04.31-19:15.7 (12)
Anchor16-4Mykola Popovych 25:18.21-44:33.9 (12)
1317FranceFRA1-45:00.2– (–)
Lead-Off17-1Vincent Vittoz 26:36.426:36.4 (14)
2nd Leg17-2Patrick Remy 26:28.553:04.9 (12)
3rd Leg17-3Hervé Balland 26:11.31-19:16.2 (13)
Anchor17-4Philippe Sanchez 25:44.01-45:00.2 (13)
147BelarusBLR1-45:15.3– (–)
Lead-Off7-1Siarhei Dalidovich 26:14.126:14.1 (7)
2nd Leg7-2Aliaksei Trehubou 27:18.453:32.5 (15)
3rd Leg7-3Aliaksandr Sannikou 26:16.81-19:49.3 (16)
Anchor7-4Viachaslau Plaksunou 25:26.01-45:15.3 (14)
158Czech RepublicCZE1-45:35.4– (–)
Lead-Off8-1Lukáš Bauer 26:17.626:17.6 (8)
2nd Leg8-2Martin Koukal 27:02.653:20.2 (14)
3rd Leg8-3Petr Michl 26:12.21-19:32.4 (15)
Anchor8-4Jiří Magál 26:03.01-45:35.4 (15)
1612KazakhstanKAZ1-46:12.9– (–)
Lead-Off12-1Pavel Ryabinin 26:21.126:21.1 (12)
2nd Leg12-2Vladimir Bortsov 27:16.053:37.1 (16)
3rd Leg12-3Andrey Nevzorov 25:43.91-19:21.0 (14)
Anchor12-4Vitaly Lilichenko 26:51.91-46:12.9 (16)
1715United StatesUSA1-48:16.4– (–)
Lead-Off15-1Marcus Nash 27:19.727:19.7 (17)
2nd Leg15-2John Bauer 27:53.255:12.9 (17)
3rd Leg15-3Patrick Weaver 27:07.91-22:20.8 (17)
Anchor15-4Justin Wadsworth 25:55.61-48:16.4 (17)
1810CanadaCAN1-49:27.4– (–)
Lead-Off10-1Donald Farley 28:15.628:15.6 (19)
2nd Leg10-2Robin McKeever 28:00.356:15.9 (18)
3rd Leg10-3Chris Blanchard 26:20.31-22:36.2 (19)
Anchor10-4Guido Visser 26:51.21-49:27.4 (18)
1918SpainESP1-49:27.9– (–)
Lead-Off18-1Jordi Ribó 27:51.427:51.4 (18)
2nd Leg18-2Diego Ruiz 28:26.056:17.4 (19)
3rd Leg18-3Juan Jesús Gutiérrez 26:18.01-22:35.4 (18)
Anchor18-4Álvaro Gijón 26:52.51-49:27.9 (19)
2019Republic of KoreaKOR1-55:17.1– (–)
Lead-Off19-1Park Byung-Chul 29:05.029:05.0 (20)
2nd Leg19-2Ahn Jin-Soo 29:53.958:58.9 (20)
3rd Leg19-3Shin Doo-Sun 28:15.21-27:14.1 (20)
Anchor19-4Park Byeong-Ju 28:03.01-55:17.1 (20)