30 kilometres Mass Start, Freestyle, Women
| Date | 24 February 2006 — 11:30 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Stadio del Trampolino, Pragelato Plan |
| Participants | 61 from 22 countries |
| Venue details | Course Length: 30,000 m Height Differential: 76 m Intermediate 1: 10.0 km Intermediate 2: 20.0 km Maximum Climb: 54 m Total Climbing: 1,086 m |
The 2005 World Champion was Marit Bjørgen, who had dominated the World Cup standings since 2004, but she elected not to race this event, leaving it wide open. The leaders through the first two checkpoints were Russian Yuliya Chepalova and Ukrainian Valentyna Shevchenko, closely followed by Czech skier Kateřina Neumannová. But in the final 10 km they were joined by Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk, who was a major surprise, having only moved up from the junior ranks in 2005. Shevchenko would fall back, eventually finishing seventh. The other three battled to the line in a remarkably close finish, Neumannová winning the gold medal by 1.4 seconds over Chepalova, with Kowalczyk another 0.7 seconds back. Kowalczyk’s bronze medal was the first ever for Polish women in Olympic cross-country skiing. Although she was not well known prior to Torino, she would soon be, winning the pursuit and 30 km at the 2009 World Championships.
| Pos | Nr | Skier | NOC | Time | Int 1 (Pos) | Int 2 (Pos) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Kateřina Neumannová |  CZE | 1-22:25.4 | 26:51.7 (3) | 54:51.5 (3) | Gold | ||
| 2 | 1 | Yuliya Chepalova |  RUS | 1-22:26.8 | 26:51.3 (=1) | 54:51.3 (2) | Silver | ||
| 3 | 19 | Justyna Kowalczyk |  POL | 1-22:27.5 | 26:54.7 (10) | 54:52.9 (8) | Bronze | ||
| 4 | 14 | Kristin Størmer Steira |  NOR | 1-22:40.8 | 26:52.2 (5) | 54:52.4 (6) | |||
| 5 | 18 | Gabriella Paruzzi |  ITA | 1-23:00.8 | 26:51.8 (4) | 54:52.0 (=4) | |||
| 6 | 5 | Claudia Nystad |  GER | 1-23:02.1 | 26:55.0 (11) | 54:53.4 (10) | |||
| 7 | 6 | Valentyna Shevchenko |  UKR | 1-23:07.9 | 26:51.3 (=1) | 54:51.1 (1) | |||
| 8 | 7 | Kristina Šmigun |  EST | 1-23:22.5 | 26:53.6 (8) | 54:52.0 (=4) | |||
| 9 | 22 | Olga Zavyalova | RUS | 1-23:28.5 | 26:53.2 (7) | 54:53.0 (9) | |||
| 10 | 12 | Sabina Valbusa | ITA | 1-23:37.6 | 26:52.7 (6) | 54:52.5 (7) | |||
| 11 | 10 | Karine Philippot |  FRA | 1-24:06.1 | 26:54.1 (9) | 54:59.6 (11) | |||
| 12 | 21 | Arianna Follis | ITA | 1-24:46.1 | 26:56.5 (14) | 55:00.2 (12) | |||
| 13 | 3 | Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle | GER | 1-25:15.8 | 26:55.6 (12) | 56:00.5 (16) | |||
| 14 | 8 | Petra Majdič |  SLO | 1-25:22.5 | 26:56.1 (13) | 55:58.7 (15) | |||
| 15 | 23 | Oksana Yatskaya |  KAZ | 1-25:30.5 | 27:00.5 (17) | 56:01.8 (18) | |||
| 16 | 25 | Natascia Leonardi Cortesi |  SUI | 1-25:32.0 | 26:57.2 (15) | 56:02.3 (19) | |||
| 17 | 13 | Aino-Kaisa Saarinen |  FIN | 1-25:41.8 | 27:11.5 (23) | 56:01.3 (17) | |||
| 18 | 9 | Olga Rocheva | RUS | 1-25:45.0 | 26:59.8 (16) | 56:09.6 (21) | |||
| 19 | 27 | Yelena Kolomina | KAZ | 1-26:06.4 | 27:10.8 (22) | 56:02.9 (20) | |||
| 20 | 16 | Stefanie Böhler | GER | 1-26:19.2 | 27:23.4 (27) | 56:53.7 (25) | |||
| 21 | 17 | Yevgeniya Medvedeva | RUS | 1-26:28.1 | 27:05.5 (19) | 55:52.1 (13) | |||
| 22 | 47 | Vita Yakymchuk | UKR | 1-26:32.2 | 27:06.1 (20) | 55:57.9 (14) | |||
| 23 | 20 | Riitta-Liisa Roponen | FIN | 1-26:55.4 | 27:15.0 (26) | 56:52.7 (24) | |||
| 24 | 15 | Kristin Mürer Stemland | NOR | 1-27:05.9 | 27:12.0 (24) | 56:52.2 (23) | |||
| 25 | 41 | Chizuru Soneta |  JPN | 1-27:25.8 | 27:35.3 (28) | 56:55.1 (26) | |||
| 26 | 37 | Liudmila Karolik |  BLR | 1-27:44.4 | 27:36.5 (29) | 57:09.7 (28) | |||
| 27 | 40 | Iva Janečková | CZE | 1-27:55.7 | 27:39.6 (31) | 57:30.0 (29) | |||
| 28 | 33 | Britta Norgren |  SWE | 1-28:21.9 | 27:38.2 (30) | 57:42.9 (31) | |||
| 29 | 30 | Ella Gjømle | NOR | 1-28:28.2 | 28:02.5 (36) | 58:26.2 (35) | |||
| 30 | 26 | Anna-Karin Strömstedt | SWE | 1-28:29.4 | 27:55.4 (33) | 58:25.6 (34) | |||
| 31 | 29 | Kamila Rajdlová | CZE | 1-28:38.6 | 28:02.0 (35) | 58:25.1 (33) | |||
| 32 | 52 | Sarah Konrad |  USA | 1-28:39.2 | 28:03.4 (37) | 58:26.9 (36) | |||
| 33 | 39 | Li Hongxue |  CHN | 1-28:49.8 | 27:57.9 (34) | 58:01.8 (32) | |||
| 34 | 42 | Volha Vasilionak | BLR | 1-29:22.8 | 28:20.5 (39) | 58:53.1 (39) | |||
| 35 | 36 | Alena Sannikova | BLR | 1-29:30.4 | 28:12.7 (38) | 58:58.3 (40) | |||
| 36 | 43 | Élodie Bourgeois-Pin | FRA | 1-29:37.6 | 28:21.0 (40) | 58:52.6 (38) | |||
| 37 | 31 | Sumiko Yokoyama | JPN | 1-29:41.3 | 27:14.6 (25) | 57:37.7 (30) | |||
| 38 | 53 | Nataliya Isachenko | KAZ | 1-30:04.3 | 28:39.4 (46) | 59:03.2 (42) | |||
| 39 | 38 | Helena Erbenová | CZE | 1-30:20.6 | 28:35.9 (45) | 59:03.7 (43) | |||
| 40 | 11 | Svetlana Malakhova | KAZ | 1-30:41.5 | 27:40.3 (32) | 58:27.6 (37) | |||
| 41 | 48 | Tatjana Mannima | EST | 1-30:42.1 | 29:04.5 (50) | 1-00:05.1 (47) | |||
| 42 | 51 | Kateryna Hryhorenko | UKR | 1-31:36.9 | 28:29.0 (43) | 58:59.0 (41) | |||
| 43 | 59 | Rebecca Dussault | USA | 1-31:43.3 | 28:22.1 (42) | 59:19.1 (44) | |||
| 44 | 60 | Viktoryia Lopatina | BLR | 1-31:47.3 | 29:00.3 (48) | 1-00:16.9 (48) | |||
| 45 | 55 | Liu Yuanyuan | CHN | 1-32:00.9 | 28:50.4 (47) | 1-00:03.0 (46) | |||
| 46 | 56 | Huo Li | CHN | 1-32:28.8 | 29:27.5 (54) | 1-00:41.3 (50) | |||
| 47 | 50 | Abby Larson | USA | 1-32:51.9 | 29:04.1 (49) | 1-00:23.3 (49) | |||
| 48 | 34 | Nicole Fessel | GER | 1-34:06.2 | 28:21.5 (41) | 59:19.7 (45) | |||
| 49 | 54 | Kelime Aydın |  TUR | 1-34:07.2 | 29:15.6 (51) | 1-01:17.4 (51) | |||
| 50 | 62 | Monika Gyorgy |  ROU | 1-35:25.4 | 29:19.4 (52) | 1-01:17.9 (52) | |||
| AC | 4 | Virpi Kuitunen | FIN | – | 27:01.9 (18) | 56:12.7 (22) | |||
| AC | 32 | Antonella Confortola | ITA | – | 27:10.4 (21) | 56:55.6 (27) | |||
| AC | 46 | Lee Chae-Won |  KOR | – | 29:57.1 (55) | 1-02:28.9 (53) | |||
| AC | 57 | Man Dandan | CHN | – | 31:15.0 (57) | 1-05:40.8 (54) | |||
| AC | 28 | Kati Venäläinen | FIN | – | 28:35.4 (44) | – (–) | |||
| AC | 44 | Maja Benedičič | SLO | – | 29:20.0 (53) | – (–) | |||
| AC | 49 | Kaili Sirge | EST | – | 29:57.7 (56) | – (–) | |||
| AC | 58 | Lindsey Weier | USA | – | 31:19.6 (58) | – (–) | |||
| AC | 61 | Maryna Malets | UKR | – | 32:29.3 (59) | – (–) | |||
| AC | 24 | Lina Andersson | SWE | – | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| AC | 35 | Irina Terentjeva |  LTU | – | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| DNS | 45 | Milaine Thériault |  CAN | – | – (–) | – (–) |