Cross-country skiing at the 2006 Winter Olympics – Men's 50 kilometre freestyle


The Men's 50 kilometre freestyle cross-country skiing competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, was held on 26 February, at Pragelato. This was the final day of the Games, and the top three finishers were presented their medals as part of the Closing Ceremony.
This is the first time in Olympic history that the 50 kilometre race is run as a mass start, where all skiers start at the same time, and the winner of the race is the first to cross the finish line. This is unlike the individual start, where skiers start one by one at 30-second intervals, and the winner is the skier whoever runs the distance the fastest.
The 50 kilometre had previously been skied only once as a mass start event at the World Championships, in 2005, with Frode Estil of Norway winning. However, that was in the classical style. The last 50 kilometre freestyle race at a World Championship was in 2003, and Martin Koukal of the Czech Republic won that event. Mikhail Ivanov of Russia was defending Olympic champion on 50 kilometre, but that event was held in classical technique with individual start. The last Olympic mass start race in 2002, won by Christian Hoffmann of Austria, was a shorter 30 kilometre event.
With a pack of 10–15 skiers coming together towards the finish, Giorgio Di Centa won Italy's second gold medal in cross-country skiing. This was the closest Olympic 50 km ever, eclipsing the 4.9 seconds that separated Thomas Wassberg from Gunde Svan at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo.
A photograph of Di Centa in action during this event would be used as the pictogram for the cross-country skiing events at the following Olympics.

Results

The race was a 'mass start', with all 79 skiers starting at the same time. 13 skiers failed to finish the race, while 3 were originally entered, but did not start.
RankNameCountryTime
Giorgio Di Centa2:06:11.8
Yevgeny Dementyev2:06:12.6
Mikhail Botwinov2:06:12.7
4Emmanuel Jonnier2:06:13.5
5Pietro Piller Cottrer2:06:14.0
6Anders Södergren2:06:14.1
7Martin Koukal2:06:14.9
8Jiří Magál2:06:15.1
9Vincent Vittoz2:06:16.4
10Mathias Fredriksson2:06:17.1
11Jean-Marc Gaillard2:06:19.9
12Sergei Dolidovich2:06:22.4
13Maxim Odnodvortsev2:06:23.4
14Martin Bajčičák2:06:24.9
15Tord Asle Gjerdalen2:06:26.2
16Lukáš Bauer2:06:29.0
17Jens Filbrich2:06:31.1
18Nikolai Pankratov2:06:33.9
19Fabio Santus2:06:38.2
20Alexander Legkov2:06:39.7
21Remo Fischer2:06:40.9
22Juan Jesus Guiterrez2:06:43.3
23Diego Ruiz2:06:51.6
24Tobias Angerer2:07:00.3
25Johan Olsson2:07:00.9
26Alexandre Rousselet2:07:01.5
27Milan Šperl2:07:01.9
28Frode Estil2:07:06.1
29Andrey Golovko2:07:19.6
30Fulvio Valbusa2:07:22.5
31Nejc Brodar2:07:24.5
32Toni Livers2:07:25.4
33Tor Arne Hetland2:07:36.2
34Andrew Johnson2:07:56.3
35Aivar Rehemaa2:08:00.8
36René Sommerfeldt2:08:03.0
37Denis Krivushkin2:08:05.3
38Ivan Babikov2:08:07.9
39Markus Hasler2:08:29.0
40Alexander Lasutkin2:08:40.4
41Jan Egil Andresen2:08:43.7
42Vicente Vilarrubla2:09:03.1
43Teemu Kattilakoski2:09:26.2
44George Grey2:09:38.4
45Michal Malak2:09:38.7
46Zsolt Antal2:10:06.7
47Ivan Bátory2:10:32.2
48Li Geilang2:10:36.9
49Katsuhito Ebisawa2:10:39.6
50Christian Stebler2:11:13.0
51Jörgen Brink2:11:19.2
52Olli Ohtonen2:11:54.7
53Qiung Zhang2:12:13.0
54Andrey Kondroschev2:13:24.2
55Joze Mehle2:13:37.1
56Mikhail Gumenyak2:13:44.6
57Dan Roycroft2:13:47.5
58Chris Jeffries2:13:49.5
59Shunsuke Komamura2:14:08.8
60Oļegs Maļuhins2:15:10.6
61Kris Freeman2:15:32.6
62Vladimir Olschanski2:16:14.7
63Ren Long2:16:15.0
Carl SwensonDNF
Ville NousiainenDNF
Nobu NaruseDNF
James SouthamDNF
Olexandr PutskoDNF
Xia WanDNF
Aleksej NovoselkijDNF
Jung Eui MyungDNF
Sabahattin OglagoDNF
Francesc SoulieDNF
Valts EiduksDNF
Intars SpalvinsDNF
Aleksandar MilenkovicDNF
Olegs AndrejevsDNF
Oliver KraasDNF
Noureddine BentoumiDNF
Mihai GaliceanuDNS
Edmond KhachatryanDNS
Hovhannes SargsyanDNS