The 2010 Olympic Cross Country Skiing took place in Vancouver, British Columbia at the Whistler Olympic Park. The Olympic cross country skiing competition occurs every four years at the location of the Winter Olympics. The 2010 events take place from February 15 through February 28. The first events are the women's 10 kilometer individual and the men's 15 kilometer individual.http://www.nbcolympics.com/cross-country-skiing/resultsandschedules/index.html Other skiing events include the individual sprint classic, team sprint free, relays and mass start.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross-country-skiing/additional-information/about-the-sport_145886Km.html Top female athletes to watch include Kikkan Randall of the United States, Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland, Petra Madjic of Slovenia and Kristin Stormer of Norway. Top men include Pietro Piller Cottrer of Italy, Ola Vigen Hattestad of Norway and Giorgio di Centa of Italy.http://www.nbcolympics.com/cross-country-skiing/athletes/index.html

Cross country skiing made its Olympic debut in 1924 in Chamonix, France. There were two events, the 18 and 50 kilometer races, for men and none for women. Cross country skiing for women began at the 1952 Winter Olympics at Oslo, Norway. Men and women both compete in six different cross country events. Individual start competitors start every 30 seconds and mass start competitors start simultaneously.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross-country-skiing/additional-information/about-the-sport_145886Km.html Legendary cross country skiiers include Bjohn Daehlie, Tamara Tikhonova, Veikko Hakulinen, Sixten Jernberg and Stefania Belmondo.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross-country-skiing/athletes/legendary-athletes/

Winners

February 15

The ladies' 10 kilometer free took place at 10:00 am. Seventy eight skiers participated and finished. The gold medal was won by Charlotte Kalla of Sweden with a time of 24:58.4. Starting at 10:08 am and finishing six seconds behind for the silver medal was Kristina Smigun-Vaehi of Estonia. Winning the bronze medal 15.9 seconds behind Kalla was Marit Bjoergen of Norway. Just finishing out of the medals was Anna Haag of Sweden and Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross-country-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-10-km-free_ccw010101rY.html

The men's 15 kilometer free took place at 12:30 pm. Ninety-five skiers started and finished the race. The only competitor that did not finish was Benjamin Koons of New Zealand. Dario Cologna of Switzerland won the gold by 24.6 seconds with a time of 33:36.3. Pietro Piller Cottrer of Italy won the silver with a time of 34:00.9. Lukas Bauer of the Czech Republic held of Marcus Hellner of Sweden by 1.5 seconds to win the bronze.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross-country-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-15-km-free_ccm015101zp.html

February 17

The ladies' individual sprint classic was held at 10:15 am. Fifty-four skiers competed and thirty qualified for the next round. Marit Bjoergen of Norway finished first, 0.77 seconds ahead of Aino-Kaisa Saarinen of Finland. Magda Genuin of Italy fiished fourth and Justyna Kowalczyk was fifth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross-country-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-individual-sprint-classic-qualification_ccw601901Sg.html

The men's individual sprint classic was held at 10:40 am. Sxity-two skiers competed and thirty qualified for the next round. Alexander Panzhinskiy of Russia finished first. Emil Joensson of Sweden finished 1.44 seconds behind Panzhinskiy and .42 seconds ahead of Ola Vigne Hattestad of Norway. Nikita Keiukov of Russia was fourth and Johan Kjoelstad of Norway was fifth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross-country-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-individual-sprint-classic-qualification_ccm601901PD.html

The ladies' individual sprint quarterfinals were held at 12:30 pm. Thirty skiers competed in five heats of six, and a total of twelve advanced to the semifinal round. Marit Bjoergen and Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen of Norway advanced from the first heat. Magda Genuin of Italy and Natalia Korosteleva of Russia advanced from the second heat. Justyna Kowalczyk and Vipri Kuitunen of Finland advanced from the third heat. Six other skiers qualified for the semifinals held later in the day.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross-country-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-individual-sprint-classic-quarterfinals_ccw601300Xd.html

The men's individual spring quarterfinals were held at 12:58 pm. Thirty skiers competed in five heats of six, and a total of twelve advanced to the semifinals. Alexander Panzhinskiy, Emil Joensson, Ola Vigne Hattestad, NIktia Keiukov and Johan Kjoelstad all advanced, along with seven other skiers.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross-country-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-individual-sprint-classic-semifinals_ccm601200Nl.html

The ladies' individual spring semifinals were held at 1:26 pm. Twelve skiers competed for six spots in the final round. Justyna Kowalczyk had the top time of 3:38. Anna Olsson of Sweden finished second just 0.7 seconds behind. Marit Bjoergen, Petra Madjic, Magda Genuin and Celine Brun-Lie of Norway also advanced.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross-country-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-individual-sprint-classic-finals_ccw601100Wb.html

The men's individual spring semifinals were held at 1:38 pm. Twelve skiers competed for six spots in the final round. Alexander Panzhinskiy had the top time of 3:34.3. Oeystein Pettersen of Nowary was just 0.1 seconds behind Panzhinskiy and Nikita Keiukov finished 0.3 seconds behind. Petter Northug of Norway, Ola Vigne Hattestad and Alexey Poltaranin of Kazahkstan, also advanced to the final round.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross-country-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-individual-sprint-classic-finals_ccm601100qS.html

The ladies' individual spring finals were held at 1:52 pm. Marit Bjoergen won the gold with a time of 3:39.2. She won by 1.1 seconds over Justyna Kowalczyk, who claimed the silver medal. Petra Madjic won the bronze by 0.7 seconds over Anna Olsson. Magda Genuin finished fifth and Celine Brun-Lie finished sixth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross-country-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-individual-sprint-classic-finals_ccw601100Wb.html

The men's individual spring finals were held at 2:02 pm. Nikita Keiukov won the gold in a photo finish over Alexander Panzhinskiy, who took the silver. Petter Northug won the bronze. Ola Vigne Hattestad finished fourth, Alexey Poltaranin finished fifth and Oeystein Petterson finished sixth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross-country-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-individual-sprint-classic-finals_ccm601100qS.html

February 19

The ladies' 15 km pursuit was held at 1:00 pm. Sixity-six of the sixty-eight scheduled competitors started and sixty-two finished. Marit Bjoergen won the gold with a pit stop time of 25.8 seconds and finish time of 39:58.1. That was her third medal of this year's Olympics and second gold. Anna Haag of Sweden edged Justyna Kowalcyzk for the silver by 0.4 seconds with a time of 40:07. Kowalcyzk won the bronze by just 0.1 seconds over Kristin Stoermer Steira of Norway. For Kowalcyzk, that was her second medal of this year's Olympicshttp://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross-country-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-15-km-pursuit-(7.5classic-7.5free)_ccw815101ET.html

February 20

The men's 30 km pursuit was held at 1:30 pm. Sixty-four competitors started, fifty-three finished and three were lapped. Marcus Hellner of Sweden won the gold with a total time of 1:15:11.4. He won by 2.1 seconds over Tobias Angerer of Germany, who won the silver medal. Johan Olsson of Sweden finished with a time of 1:15:14.2 to win the bronze. Alexander Legkov of Russia finished fourth and Ivan Babikov of Canada finished fifth.http://www.nbcolympics.com/cross-country-skiing/resultsandschedules/event=CCM830000/phase=CCM830101/index.html

February 22

The ladies' team sprint free semifinals were held at 10:45 am. There were two heats of nine teams. France, Italy and Germany qualified for the next round from heat one. Sweden, Norway and the United States qualified from heat two. Lucky losers which qualified for the final round were Poland, Canada, Finland and Russia.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross-country-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-team-sprint-free-final_ccw461101yr.html

The men's team sprint free semifinals were held at 11:35 am. There were two heats of eleven teams. Russia, Norway and Germany advanced to the finals from heat one. Czech Republic, United States and France advanced from heat two. Canada, Finland, Khazakhstan and Italy were lucky losers which also advanced to the finals.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross-country-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-team-sprint-free-semifinal_ccm461200FE.html

The ladies' team sprint free finals were held at 1:00 pm. The team of Edi Sachenbacher-Stehle from Germany won the gold with a time of 18:03.7. The team of Anna Haag and Charlotte Kalla of Sweden won the silver with a time of 18:04.3. The team of Natalia Korosteleva and Irina Khazova of Russia won the bronze with a time of 18:07.7.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross-country-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-team-sprint-free-final_ccw461101yr.html

The men's team sprint free finals were held at 1:29 pm. The team of Peter Northug and Oeystein Petterson of Norway won the gold with a time of 19:01.00. The team of Axel Teichmann and Tim Tscharnke of Germany won the silver with a time of 19:02.3. The team of Alexey Petukhov and Nikolay Morilov of Russia won the bronze with a time of 19:02.5.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross-country-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-team-sprint-free-final_ccm461101Si.html

February 24

The men's 4 x 10 km relay was held at 11:15 am. Fourteen teams participated. Finland lead after the first leg but fell to seventh after the second leg and finished fifth. Sweden finished the first leg in third but lead after the second leg and never relinquished the lead to win the gold medal. Norway finished the first leg in fifth but battled back to win the silver medal. The Czech Republic was ninth after the first leg and came on strong to win the silver medal. France finished fourth and Germany finished sixth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross-country-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-4x10-km-relay-classic-free_ccm410101pw.html

February 25

The ladies' 4 x 5 km relay was held at 11:00 am. Sixteen teams of four skiers participated. The Norway team of Vibeke W Skofterud, Kristen Stoermer Steira, Marit Bjoergen and Therese Johaug, ranked third after the second leg but finished first to win the gold. The German team of Katrin Zeller, Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle, Miriam Gossner and Claudia Nystad moved from third to second to win the silver. The Finland team of Pirjo Muranen, Virpi Kuitunen, Riitta-Liisa Ropoen and Aino-Kaisa Saarinen won the bronze.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross-country-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-4x5-km-relay-classic-free_ccw405101AF.html

February 27

The finals of the ladies' 30 km mass start was held at 11:45 am. Fifty three skiers started, two did not start and five did not finish. Justyna Kowalczyk won the gold with a time of 1:30:33.7. Marit Bjoergen finished just 0.3 seconds behind Kowalczyk to win the silver medal. Aino-Kaisa Saarinen won the bronze with a time of 1:31:38.7.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross-country-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-30-km--mass-start-classic_ccw730101Uo.html

February 28

The finals of the men's 50 km mass start was held at 9:30 am. Fifty-five skiers were scheduled to compete, two did not start and five did not finish. Petter Northug of Norway won the gold with a time of 2:05:35.5. He edged Axel Teichmann of Germany, who finished just 0.3 seconds behind to win the silver medal. Johan Olsson of Sweden was just 0.7 seconds behind Teichmann to win the bronze. Tobias Angerer of Germany and Devon Kershaw of Canada finished fourth and fifth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross-country-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-50-km--mass-start-classic_ccm750101Ij.html