50 kilometres Mass Start, Classical, Men

The 50 km race belonged to Finland’s Iivo Niskanen, who won the hardest cross-country race of the Games, after a long solo run. Until PyeongChang, Niskanen was better known for his achievements in short distance races. At Sochi 2014, he took gold in the team sprint, and at the 2017 World Championships, won the 15 km classical style title. His two firsts in the World Cup also came over 15 km.

Niskanen ran the race from the lead position, increasing the pace from km 19. The leading group of 15 athletes was reduced to just seven at km 21: in addition to Niskanen Kazakhstan’s Aleksey Poltoranin, the Norwegians Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Niklas Dyrhaug, the Swiss 15 km winner Dario Cologna, Aleksandr Bolshunov, Olympic Athlete from Russia, and Canada’s Alex Harvey. At the 25 km mark, it was just Niskanen and Poltoranin with Bolshunov in third, 11 seconds behind. When Poltoranin pulled away a few kilometers later, the Finn looked like a sure winner, but the decision when to change his skies now became a tactical and decisive factor. Already with new skies, Bolshunov came back and closed the gap on Niskanen, which had increased to 25 seconds at one stage. By the time Niskanen had changed his skies at 42 km, Bolshunov had increased his lead to 14 seconds. But now it was Niskanen’s turn to chase and close in on Bolshunov. Niskanen’s tactics turned out to be the better one: With fresh skies and obviously the greater stamina, he started his final attack with just 1 km to go as Bolshunov could do nothing to counter the Finn’s attack. Niskanen celebrated the biggest individual success of his career, when he crossed the finish line after 2-08:22.1. The time, which was the slowest in the 50 km since the introduction of the separate techniques, and the mass start, in this event more than 30 years ago, and reflected the demands of the course. A disappointed Bolshunov came second 18.7 seconds behind the winner.

The bronze medal went to another Olympic Athlete from Russia. Even though he was 27-years-of-age, Andrey Larkov was competing in his first Olympics and secured third place 2:37.5 behind Niskanen. Larkov took his time and appeared in the top three for the first time after the 47 km mark. Poltoranin, who ran a lonely race for many kilometers and looked like a sure medalist until km 45, collapsed to eventually finish 15th. Harvey, the reigning world champion, and Sundby, in 2016 the last World Cup winner of a 50 km race in the classical style, finished were in the chasing group throughout the race, but finally saw Larkov pull away for his medal, while they went home without a 50 km Mass Start medal.