Cross-country skiing at the 2006 Winter Olympics – Men's team sprint
The Men's team sprint cross-country skiing competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, was held on 14 February, at Pragelato. This was the first time the team sprint was contested in the Winter Olympics. Each race featured teams of two, with each skier completing 3 laps of a 1325-metre course.[1]
| Men's team sprint at the XX Olympic Winter Games | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Pragelato | |||||||||
| Dates | 14 February | |||||||||
| Competitors | 50 from 25 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 17:02.9 | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Cross-country skiing at the 2006 Winter Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Distance | ||
| 10 km | women | |
| 15 km | men | women |
| 30 km | men | women |
| 50 km | men | |
| 4 × 5 km relay | women | |
| 4 × 10 km relay | men | |
| Sprint | ||
| Individual | men | women |
| Team | men | women |
Norway, with Tore Ruud Hofstad and Tor Arne Hetland, had won the competition at the 2005 Nordic skiing World Championship, the only time it had been skied in the World Championship prior to the Turin games, but that was in free technique. The most recent team sprint event in classic technique had been in Canmore, Canada, on 18 December 2004. Jens Arne Svartedal and Eldar Rønning won that race for Norway's first team.[2] However, despite this good Norwegian record, it was the Sweden's Thobias Fredriksson and Björn Lind who pipped Norway to the title.
Results
Semifinals
Fifteen teams were entered in the two semifinals, with the top five in each advancing to the final.[3]
- Semifinal 1
| Rank | Country | Athletes | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Sweden | Thobias Fredriksson Björn Lind | 17:34.0 | Q |
| 2 |  Czech Republic | Dušan Kožíšek Martin Koukal | 17:34.9 | Q |
| 3 |  Slovakia | Martin Bajčičák Ivan Bátory | 17:36.1 | Q |
| 4 |  Finland | Keijo Kurttila Lauri Pyykönen | 17:39.2 | Q |
| 5 |  Kazakhstan | Nikolay Chebotko Yevgeniy Koschevoy | 17:42.6 | Q |
| 6 |  Japan | Katsuhito Ebisawa Yuichi Onda | 17:46.6 | |
| 7 |  Estonia | Priit Barusk Anti Saarepuu | 18:07.4 | |
| 8 |  Slovenia | Nejc Brodar Joze Mehle | 18:34.4 | |
| 9 |  Ukraine | Ivan Bilosyuk Vitaly Martsyv | 18:50.4 | |
| 10 |  China | Tian Ye Li Geiliang | 18:57.4 | |
| 11 |  Romania | Zsolt Antal Mihai Galiceanu | 18:04.3 | |
| 12 |  Turkey | Sebahattin Oğlago Muhammet Kızılarslan | 19:46.5 | |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Belarus | Sergei Dolidovich Alexander Lasutkin | DNS |
- Semifinal 2
| Rank | Country | Athletes | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Norway | Jens Arne Svartedal Tor Arne Hetland | 17:22.1 | Q |
| 2 |  Russia | Ivan Alypov Vasily Rochev | 17:22.2 | Q |
| 3 |  Germany | Jens Filbrich Andreas Schlütter | 17:22.6 | Q |
| 4 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Italy | Freddy Schwienbacher Giorgio Di Centa | 17:26.2 | Q |
| 5 |  Poland | Maciej Kreczmer Janusz Krężelok | 17:27.1 | Q |
| 6 |  Canada | Devon Kershaw George Grey | 17:31.2 | |
| 7 |  United States | Chris Cook Andrew Newell | 17:54.9 | |
| 8 |  Switzerland | Reto Burgermeister Christoph Eigenmann | 18:00.5 | |
| 9 |  Austria | Johannes Eder Juergen Pinter | 18:12.2 | |
| 10 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} South Korea | Choi Im-Heon Park Byung Joo | 19:40.0 | |
| 11 |  Croatia | Damir Jurčević Denis Klobučar | 19.43.1 | |
 Armenia | Hovhannes Sargsyan Edmond Khachatryan | DNF |
Final
The top three teams separated themselves from the pack fairly easily, with Sweden finishing just 0.6 seconds ahead of Norway to take the gold medal.[3]
| Rank | Country | Athletes | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Sweden | Thobias Fredriksson Björn Lind | 17:02.9 |
 | Norway | Jens Arne Svartedal Tor Arne Hetland | 17:03.5 |
 | Russia | Ivan Alypov Vasily Rochev | 17:05.2 |
| 4 | Germany | Jens Filbrich Andreas Schlütter | 17:14.0 |
| 5 | Finland | Keijo Kurttila Lauri Pyykönen | 17:21.5 |
| 6 | Kazakhstan | Nikolay Chebotko Yevgeniy Koschevoy | 17:25.1 |
| 7 | Poland | Maciej Kreczmer Janusz Krężelok | 17:26.3 |
| 8 | Slovakia | Martin Bajčičák Ivan Bátory | 18:30.9 |
| 9 | Italy | Freddy Schwienbacher Giorgio Di Centa | 18:31.3 |
| 10 | Czech Republic | Dušan Kožíšek Martin Koukal | 18:49.6 |
References
- "Cross Country Skiing at the 2006 Torino Winter Games: Men's Team Sprint". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
- ""Viessmann" Fis World Cross-Country" (PDF). International Ski Federation. 2005-12-18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-01-03. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
- "Torino 2006 Official Report - Cross Country Skiing" (PDF). Torino Organizing Committee. LA84 Foundation. March 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-06-12. Retrieved Jun 17, 2009.