Winter Olympic Sports

Cross-country Skiing

History

Gold Medal Skiing has been around northern European countries and Northern Asia for about 10,000 years. Archaeologists discovered cave paintings and ski pieces in parts of Russia and China dating back to this time. People from these regions also use skiing for transportation and fun.

Gold Medal In later years in these countries, skis would be used by the military, farmers, and for hunting wild animals because it was the fastest kind of transportation. By the late 1800s, people were skiing for fun when competitions like cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, and ski jumping started.

Equipment Used

Silver Medal Skis, poles, binding (they hold the boot to the ski), goggles, racing suits, and sometimes racers will use different kinds of waxes on the bottoms of their skis to help them glide over the snow better.

Silver Medal In the past, skis had a solid piece of wood like ash or hickory, but now they have a wooden core surrounded by layers of fiberglass with titanium (a kind of metal) edges.

Rules

Bronze Medal Cross-country skis are different from alpine skis. They are longer, thinner, and lighter.

Bronze Medal There are two different types of ski styles that the athletes use: Freestyle (uses a side-to-side motion) & Classical (moves skis forward in parallel).

Bronze Medal Classic: Men and women will race individually only using the classical style, and the athlete with the fastest time wins. Each athlete only races one time.

Bronze Medal Skiathlon: Women and men race individually and will use both skiing styles. The athletes will start the race using the classical style, and then halfway through the race, they will change their skis and switch to freestyle skiing to finish the race. Each athlete only races one time.

Bronze Medal Sprint: Women and men race individually using only the freestyle ski style, and the fastest time wins. This event has multiple rounds, with the fastest times advancing. The men’s track is 1.4 km (.87 mi) long and 1.2 km (.75 mi) for women.

Bronze Medal Mass Start: All women and all men athletes (during their category) will start the race together in the longest race of the cross country events. Athletes will race around a track instead of open country for this race. During the 2022 Olympics, athletes will use freestyle, but in the 2018 games, the racers will use the classical style. Each skier will only race once, and the fastest time wins.

Bronze Medal Relay: Men and women will race in a 4-person team, each racing part of the course using both skiing styles. The first two athletes will race in the classical style, and the last two will use the freestyle. Each team only races once.

12 events in this category

Women

10 km Classic (Added to the Oslo (Norway) Winter Olympics in 1952)

(2022 Beijing gold medal winner of the 10 km Classic (Norway) Therese Johaug)
7.5 km + 7.5 km Skiathlon (Added to the Albertville (France) Winter Olympics in 1992)

(2022 Beijing gold medal winner of the 7.5 + 7.5 Skiathlon (Norway) Therese Johaug)
30 km Mass Start Free (Added to the Sarajevo (Yugoslavia) Winter Olympics in 1984)

(2022 Beijing gold medal winner of the 30 km Mass Start Free (Norway) Therese Johaug)
Sprint Free (Added to the Salt Lake City (USA) Winter Olympics in 2002)

(2006 Turin gold medal winner of the Sprint Free (Canada) Chandra Crawford)
4 x 5 Relay (Added to the Cortina d’Ampezzo (Italy) Winter Olympics in 1956)

(2014 Sochi gold medal winners of the 4×5 Relay (Sweden) Ida Ingemarsdotter, Emma Wikén, Anna Haag, and Charlotte Kalla)

Men

15 km Classic (Added to the first official Winter Olympics in Chamonix (France) in 1924)

(2010 Vancouver gold medal winner 15 km Classic (Switzerland) Dario Cologna)
15 km & 15 km Skiathlon (Added to the Albertville (France) Winter Olympics in 1992)

(2014 Sochi gold medal winner 15 km + 15 km Skiathlon (Switzerland) Dario Cologna)
50 km Mass Start Free (Added to the first official Winter Olympics in Chamonix (France) in 1924)

(2014 Sochi gold medal winner 50 km Mass Start Free (Russian Federation) Alexander Legkov)
Sprint Free (Added to the Salt Lake City (USA) Winter Olympics in 2002)

(2010 Vancouver gold medal winner Sprint Free (Russian Federation) Nikita Kriukov)
Team Sprint Classic (Added to the Torino(Italy) Winter Olympics in 2006)

(2010 Vancouver gold medal winners Team Sprint Classic (Norway) Petter Northug & Øystein Pettersen)
4 x 10 Relay (Added to the first official Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1936)

(2022 Beijing gold medal winners 4×10 Relay (Russian Olympic Committee) Alexander Bolshunov, Alexey Chervotkin, Denis Spitsov, and Sergey Ustiugov)