| Cross Country Skiing At The 2006 Winter Olympics |
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The Cross-country Skiing events at the ''' 2006 Winter Olympics ''' feature 12 Medal winning events which run from February 11 2006 to 26 February 2006 at Pragelato in Turin . MEDAL TABLE BY COUNTRY MEN'S EVENTS 30 km (15 km + 15 km) pursuit The 30 km pursuit was the first of the men's events, and was held on 12 February 2006 , after the women's. The event began with a 15 km Mass Start in the classical style; the skiers then changed skis while the clock was still running, and proceed to complete the 15 km course once again, this time in Free Style . The pursuit in this format had been skied three times at the Nordic Skiing World Championships , and the Frenchman Vincent Vittoz was the reigning World Champion. A pursuit event similar to this was skied at the 2002 Winter Olympics, where the gold was shared between Thomas Alsgaard (now retired) and Frode Estil , but the distance was 20 km, not 30. The event opened dramatically as Estil fell at the start, causing a mass collision. Then the pack kept together almost until the end, with skiers continually trailing off as they could not keep up with the pace. Eventually, five men came in to the finishing straight together, after Anders Södergren of Sweden had tried to pull away on the final lap. However, Södergren could not keep up with the pace, and Russian Eugeni Dementiev pulled away to defeat the defending Olympic champion Estil and win Russia's first gold medal of the Games. Team sprint, classical style This competition will take place on s, and have never before appeared at the Olympics. Norway, with Tore Ruud Hofstad and Tor Arne Hetland , won the competition at the 2005 Nordic skiing World Championship, the only time it has been skied in the World Championship, but that was in free technique. The most recent team sprint event in classic technique was held in Canmore , Canada on 18 December 2004 . Jens Arne Svartedal and Eldar Rønning won that race for Norway's first team {Link without Title} . No further team sprints will be held before the Olympics. 15 km Classical interval start This event will take place in the won the first in November, while Vassili Rotchev of Russia won in Estonia in January. Another 15 km event in the classical style will be held before the Olympics, at Davos , Switzerland on 5 February 2006 . 4 × 10 km Relay This event is scheduled to take place on 19 February . In the relay, each NOC selects four skiers in a particular order to compete for their team, and the skiers complete the 10 km course in that order. All the athletes who are to complete the first leg will start at the same time; however, once the first skier has completed the 10 km course, he immediately changes over with the next skier, who then completes the next leg of the relay. The first two skiers ski in classical style, the last two in free style, and the team whose last skier completes the 10 km course first is the winning team. The last relay in the World Cup was held at Beitostølen , Norway on 20 November 2005 , and Germany 's team of Andreas Schlütter , Axel Teichmann , Jens Filbrich and Tobias Angerer won the competition. Defending World Champions are Norway, with Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset , Frode Estil , Lars Berger and Tore Ruud Hofstad , and Norway are also Olympic champion, with Anders Aukland , Estil, Kristen Skjeldal and Thomas Alsgaard winning gold at the 2002 Olympics. At Nagano in 1998, the Norwegians beat the Italians by under one tenth of a second, and in 1994 at Lillehammer the Italians beat the Norwegians by less than one tenth of a second, in fact in the last three olympics the winning team beat the silver medalists by a cumulative time of just under one tenth of a second, so this match-up is considered extremely prestigious in both nations. One further relay event was held before the Olympics, at Val Di Fiemme on 15 January 2006 , which was won by an Italian team consisting of Giorgio Di Centa , Valerio Checchi , Pietro Piller Cottrer and Cristian Zorzi . Four teams finished within 2.6 seconds of the Italian winners. 1.35 km Sprint This event will take place on is defending Olympic champion. Swede Björn Lind won the most recent World Cup event, at Nové Město Na Moravě , Czech Republic on 30 December 2005 , and there will be one more World Cup sprint in free style before the Olympics, at Davos, Switzerland on 4 February 2006 . The silver medal of Roddy Darragon was France's first Cross-country skiing medal in the history of the Olympics. 50 km Freestyle Mass Start This is the final event of the Olympic games for the cross-country skiers, and takes place on event at the World Championships, in 2005, which Frode Estil of Norway won. However, that was in the classical style. The last 50 km in free style at a World Championship was in 2003, and Martin Koukal of the Czech Republic won that event. Mikhail Ivanov is defending Olympic champion on 50 km, but that event was held in classical technique with individual start. 50 kilometre Mass Start s have never been held in the World Cup, but the last 50 kilometre free style event (with individual start) in the World Cup was held on 28 February 2004 in Oslo , Norway and was won by Rene Sommerfeldt . WOMEN'S EVENTS 15 km (7.5 km + 7.5 km) pursuit This event was held on 2006 Team sprint, classical style This event will be held on and Marit Bjørgen won for Norway. This event has never before been at the Olympics. The last classical style team sprint in the World Cup was held in Canmore on 18 December 2005 and won by Germany , with Manuela Henkel and Viola Bauer . No further World Cup team sprints are planned before the Olympics. 10 km Classical interval start This event was held on won at Kuusamo, Finland in November, and Hilde Gjermundshaug Pedersen at Otepää, Estonia in January. Bente Skari won the Olympic gold in 2002, but will not defend her status, having retired after the 2003 World Championship. One week before the Olympics, the Swiss town of Davos will host the last 10 km before the World Cup. Šmigun won her second gold of the Olympics, winning 21 seconds ahead of Marit Bjørgen , and two more Norwegians followed Estonia's Smigun wins second gold . 4 × 5 km Relay This event is scheduled for won. Germany are defending Olympic champions, however, with Claudia Künzel , Manuela Henkel , Viola Bauer and Evi Sachenbacher . 1.1 km Sprint This will be held on 22 February , the same day as the men's events, and the elimination stages of the women's sprint will be held just before the corresponding elimination stage of the men's sprint. The competition will be staged in a similar way to the men's event, however. Emilie Öhrstig is defending World Champion, but she won in the classical style, and the last free style sprint in the World Championships (in 2003) was won by Marit Bjørgen. Julia Tchepalova is defending Olympic champion. The most recent free style sprint event in the World Cup, however, was won by the Russian Alena Sidko at 30 December 2005 . On February 22 , 2006 , Canada's Chandra Crawford captured the gold medal in the 1.1-kilometre sprint in her Olympic debut. Teammate Beckie Scott finished fourth. 30 km Freestyle Mass Start This event was held on 24 February , the last of the women's cross country events at the 2006 Olympics. The rules were similar to the men's 50 km free style, and once again there has been no 30 km free style Mass Start s in the World Championships nor in World Cups before. at the Olympics, but the last 30 km (a classical individual start event) was won by Gabriella Paruzzi of Italy. Veteran Kateřina Neumannová won her second medal at the Torino Olympics. Newcommer Justyna Kowalczyk won the first ever Olympic medal in cross-country skiing for Poland, for either men or women. QUALIFICATION An NOC may enter 28 qualified athletes over the Nordic skiing events with a maximum of 20 athletes for Cross-country disciplines. A maximum of four athletes may participate in a single individual event, and one team in each relay race. REFERENCES
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