10/10 kilometres Pursuit, Men

This event was changed in 2002 as the short-distance classical event no longer was used as the first section of the event. Rather the event was skied in two sections on the same day, with classical skied first, followed by the freestyle pursuit, both sections now over 10 km. In the morning the leader of the classical ski was Spain’s Johann Mühlegg, who had changed citizenship from Germany to ski for the Spanish team in 1999. He led Norway’s Frode Estil by 13.2 seconds with Anders Aukland in third, another 7.2 back. In the afternoon, Mühlegg won the event easily, winning by almost 30 seconds, with Estil and his teammate Thomas Alsgaard dead-heating in what appeared to be a tie for second. Alsgaard had been only 15th after the classical section, but had the fastest time in the freestyle to catch Estil. Apparently in fourth place was Sweden’s Per Elofsson, the 2001 World Champion, and World Cup champion in 2000-01 and 2001-02.

But nine days later all the standings changed. Mühlegg failed a doping test after the 50 km race, and was stripped of his gold medal in that event. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) then ruled in 2003 that he could also be retroactively stripped of his gold medals in the pursuit and 30 km. Thus, Mühlegg was disqualified from this race, and Estil and Alsgaard declared co-champions, with Elofsson moving up to the bronze medal. But that did not happen quickly, as the medals were not re-distributed until 22 months after the race.