Cross-country skiing at the 2010 Winter Olympics – Women's sprint
The Women's sprint cross-country skiing competition in the classical technique at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada was held on 17 February at Whistler Olympic Park in Whistler, British Columbia.
Canada's Chandra Crawford was the defending Olympic champion in this event, though that event was in the freestyle technique. Italy's Arianna Follis was the defending world champion in this event which was also held in freestyle technique. Alena Procházková of Slovakia won the test event that took place at Olympic venue on 16 January 2009. The last World Cup event prior to the 2010 Games in this format took place on 6 February 2010 in Canmore, Alberta and was won by Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk.
Follis did not qualify for the event at the Winter Olympics. Crawford and Procházková were eliminated in the quarterfinals. Kowalczyk won silver. It was Bjørgen's second medal at these Olympics and first gold for her. Majdič won her first Olympic medal and the first for Slovenia in cross-country skiing. During the warm-up she crashed down a bank, into an unprotected deep gorge and landed on ice and rocks, sustaining five broken ribs and a pneumothorax. In spite of agonizing pain, she finished third in the sprint a few hours later, winning the first individual Winter Olympic medal for Slovenia in 16 years and its first ever in cross-country skiing at the Winter Olympics. She earned the highest praise from other skiers, staff and the media for her amazing bravery as she attended the medal giving ceremony with a tube in her chest to relieve pneumothorax.
Results
Qualifying
Qualifying took place at 10:15 PST.| Rank | Bib | Athlete | Country | Time | Deficit | Note |
| 1 | 2 | Marit Bjørgen | 3:38.05 | +0.00 | Q | |
| 2 | 18 | Aino-Kaisa Saarinen | 3:38.82 | +0.77 | Q | |
| 3 | 23 | Anna Olsson | 3:41.95 | +3.90 | Q | |
| 4 | 12 | Magda Genuin | 3:42.18 | +4.13 | Q | |
| 5 | 17 | Justyna Kowalczyk | 3:43.35 | +5.30 | Q | |
| 6 | 21 | Virpi Kuitunen | 3:43.72 | +5.67 | Q | |
| 7 | 7 | Katja Višnar | 3:44.10 | +6.05 | Q | |
| 8 | 13 | Celine Brun-Lie | 3:44.71 | +6.66 | Q | |
| 9 | 22 | Nicole Fessel | 3:44.79 | +6.74 | Q | |
| 10 | 24 | Kikkan Randall | 3:44.97 | +6.92 | Q | |
| 11 | 25 | Astrid Jacobsen | 3:45.01 | +6.96 | Q | |
| 12 | 1 | Kateřina Smutná | 3:45.03 | +6.98 | Q | |
| 13 | 8 | Magdalena Pajala | 3:45.50 | +7.45 | Q | |
| 14 | 5 | Natalya Korostelyova | 3:45.56 | +7.51 | Q | |
| 15 | 20 | Pirjo Muranen | 3:46.04 | +7.99 | Q | |
| 16 | 6 | Alena Procházková | 3:46.16 | +8.11 | Q | |
| 17 | 27 | Daria Gaiazova | 3:46.97 | +8.92 | Q | |
| 18 | 47 | Chandra Crawford | 3:47.25 | +9.20 | Q | |
| 19 | 3 | Petra Majdič | 3:47.84 | +9.79 | Q | |
| 20 | 10 | Kirsi Perälä | 3:48.08 | +10.03 | Q | |
| 21 | 4 | Vesna Fabjan | 3:48.40 | +10.35 | Q | |
| 22 | 26 | Madoka Natsumi | 3:48.48 | +10.43 | Q | |
| 23 | 31 | Aurore Cuinet | 3:48.52 | +10.47 | Q | |
| 24 | 38 | Katrin Zeller | 3:48.63 | +10.58 | Q | |
| 25 | 19 | Ida Ingemarsdotter | 3:49.11 | +11.06 | Q | |
| 26 | 16 | Yevgeniya Shapovalova | 3:49.52 | +11.47 | Q | |
| 27 | 14 | Hanna Falk | 3:49.94 | +11.89 | Q | |
| 28 | 30 | Maiken Caspersen Falla | 3:50.23 | +12.18 | Q | |
| 29 | 33 | Hanna Kolb | 3:50.29 | +12.24 | Q | |
| 30 | 40 | Doris Trachsel | 3:50.85 | +12.80 | Q | |
| 31 | 28 | Kaija Udras | 3:51.05 | +13.00 | ||
| 32 | 15 | Oxana Jatskaja | 3:51.27 | +13.22 | ||
| 33 | 37 | Eva Nývltová | 3:51.37 | +13.32 | ||
| 34 | 43 | Sara Renner | 3:51.79 | +13.74 | ||
| 35 | 9 | Elena Turysheva | 3:51.99 | +13.94 | ||
| 36 | 35 | Elena Kolomina | 3:52.12 | +14.07 | ||
| 37 | 34 | Triin Ojaste | 3:52.31 | +14.26 | ||
| 38 | 50 | Holly Brooks | 3:52.51 | +14.46 | ||
| 39 | 29 | Karin Moroder | 3:53.74 | +15.69 | ||
| 40 | 11 | Olga Rocheva | 3:53.87 | +15.82 | ||
| 41 | 39 | Perianne Jones | 3:54.27 | +16.22 | ||
| 42 | 45 | Nastassia Dubarezava | 3:56.87 | +18.82 | ||
| 43 | 32 | Elisa Brocard | 3:58.27 | +20.22 | ||
| 44 | 52 | Monika Gyorgy | 3:58.32 | +20.27 | ||
| 45 | 46 | Elena Antonova | 4:01.35 | +23.30 | ||
| 46 | 36 | Olga Vasiljonok | 4:01.73 | +23.68 | ||
| 47 | 49 | Katherine Calder | 4:03.11 | +25.06 | ||
| 48 | 48 | Marina Matrossova | 4:03.14 | +25.09 | ||
| 49 | 41 | Irina Terentjeva | 4:04.47 | +26.42 | ||
| 50 | 44 | Esther Bottomley | 4:05.12 | +27.07 | ||
| 51 | 42 | Man Dandan | 4:08.55 | +30.50 | ||
| 52 | 51 | Nina Broznić | 4:15.31 | +37.26 | ||
| 53 | 53 | Kelime Çetinkaya | 4:22.32 | +44.27 | ||
| 54 | 54 | Olga Reshetkova | 4:32.96 | +54.91 |
Quarterfinals
Quarterfinals took place at 12:30 PST.;Quarterfinal 1
| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Country | Time | Deficit | Note |
| 1 | 1 | Marit Bjørgen | 3:35.4 | +0.0 | Q | |
| 2 | 11 | Astrid Jacobsen | 3:39.0 | +3.6 | Q | |
| 3 | 10 | Kikkan Randall | 3:39.4 | +4.0 | LL | |
| 4 | 20 | Kirsi Perälä | 3:39.7 | +4.3 | ||
| 5 | 21 | Vesna Fabjan | 3:43.7 | +8.3 | ||
| 6 | 30 | Doris Trachsel | 3:44.7 | +9.3 |
;Quarterfinal 2
| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Country | Time | Deficit | Note |
| 1 | 4 | Magda Genuin | 3:41.9 | +0.0 | Q | |
| 2 | 14 | Natalya Korostelyova | 3:42.9 | +1.0 | Q | |
| 3 | 24 | Katrin Zeller | 3:43.0 | +1.1 | ||
| 4 | 7 | Katja Višnar | 3:43.5 | +1.6 | ||
| 5 | 17 | Daria Gaiazova | 3:44.4 | +2.5 | ||
| 6 | 27 | Hanna Falk | 4:22.5 | +40.6 |
;Quarterfinal 3
| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Country | Time | Deficit | Note |
| 1 | 5 | Justyna Kowalczyk | 3:38.8 | +0.0 | Q | |
| 2 | 6 | Virpi Kuitunen | 3:39.9 | +1.1 | Q | |
| 3 | 25 | Ida Ingemarsdotter | 3:40.0 | +1.2 | ||
| 4 | 16 | Alena Procházková | 3:40.1 | +1.3 | ||
| 5 | 15 | Pirjo Muranen | 3:41.7 | +2.9 | ||
| 6 | 26 | Yevgeniya Shapovalova | 3:43.2 | +4.4 |
;Quarterfinal 4
| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Country | Time | Deficit | Note |
| 1 | 19 | Petra Majdič | 3:40.2 | +0.0 | Q | |
| 2 | 12 | Kateřina Smutná | 3:40.5 | +0.3 | Q | |
| 3 | 2 | Aino-Kaisa Saarinen | 3:40.7 | +0.5 | ||
| 4 | 9 | Nicole Fessel | 3:41.2 | +1.0 | ||
| 5 | 29 | Hanna Kolb | 3:41.6 | +1.4 | ||
| 6 | 22 | Madoka Natsumi | 3:42.6 | +2.4 |
;Quarterfinal 5
| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Country | Time | Deficit | Note |
| 1 | 3 | Anna Olsson | 3:36.5 | +0.0 | Q | |
| 2 | 13 | Magdalena Pajala | 3:37.7 | +1.2 | Q | |
| 3 | 8 | Celine Brun-Lie | 3:39.7 | +3.2 | LL | |
| 4 | 28 | Maiken Caspersen Falla | 3:41.6 | +5.1 | ||
| 5 | 23 | Aurore Cuinet | 3:48.7 | +12.2 | ||
| 6 | 18 | Chandra Crawford | 3:50.0 | +13.5 |
Semifinals
Semifinals took place at 13:20 PST.;Semifinals 1
| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Country | Time | Deficit | Note |
| 1 | 1 | Marit Bjørgen | 3:39.3 | +0.0 | Q | |
| 2 | 4 | Magda Genuin | 3:42.2 | +2.9 | Q | |
| 3 | 11 | Astrid Jacobsen | 3:44.2 | +4.9 | ||
| 4 | 10 | Kikkan Randall | 3:45.9 | +6.6 | ||
| 5 | 6 | Virpi Kuitunen | 3:46.4 | +7.1 | ||
| 6 | 14 | Natalya Korostelyova | 3:48.1 | +8.8 |
;Semifinals 2
| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Country | Time | Deficit | Note |
| 1 | 5 | Justyna Kowalczyk | 3:38.0 | +0.0 | Q | |
| 2 | 3 | Anna Olsson | 3:38.7 | +0.7 | Q | |
| 3 | 8 | Celine Brun-Lie | 3:40.1 | +2.1 | LL | |
| 4 | 19 | Petra Majdič | 3:41.2 | +3.2 | LL | |
| 5 | 13 | Magdalena Pajala | 3:45.0 | +7.0 | ||
| 6 | 12 | Kateřina Smutná | 3:45.1 | +7.1 |
Final
Final took place at 13:45 PST.| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Country | Time | Deficit | Note |
| 1 | Marit Bjørgen | 3:39.2 | +0.0 | |||
| 5 | Justyna Kowalczyk | 3:40.3 | +1.1 | |||
| 19 | Petra Majdič | 3:41.0 | +1.8 | |||
| 4 | 3 | Anna Olsson | 3:41.7 | +2.5 | ||
| 5 | 4 | Magda Genuin | 3:49.1 | +9.9 | ||
| 6 | 8 | Celine Brun-Lie | 3:51.5 | +12.3 |