The men’s team sprint competition in cross-country skiing at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 16 February, at the Kuyangshu Nordic Center and Biathlon Center in Zhangjiakou. Erik Valnes and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo of Norway won the event. Iivo Niskanen and Joni Mäki of Finland won the silver medal, and Alexander Bolshunov and Alexander Terentyev, representing the Russian Olympic Committee, bronze.
Summary The defending champions are Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, with Klaebo qualifying for these games. The silver medalists, Alexander Bolshunov and Denis Spitsov, as well as the bronze medalists, Maurice Manificat and Richard Jouve, qualified as well. The overall leader of the 2021–22 FIS Cross-Country World Cup before the Olympics, as well as the sprint leader, was Klæbo. Thomas Helland Larsen and Even Northug won the only team sprint event of the season. Erik Valnes and Klæbo are the 2021 World Champions in team sprint. The Russian duo of Bolshunov and Alexander Terentyev are also highly touted.
In the final, the first four legs all teams skied together, with only Austria being behind and out of medal contention. At the fifth interchange, Norway, Finland and the Russian Olympic Committee teams were separated by less than a second, and the fourth team, Sweden, were 8 seconds behind. Norway's Valnes, ROC's Bolshunov and Finland's Iivo Niskanen, the 15 km classical champion from these Olympics, gave their respective teammates a head start into the final leg. Unsurpisingly, these three teams became the medalists. Klæbo, who earlier became the individual sprint champion at these Olympics ahead of Terentyev and Joni Mäki, who were third and fourth in that competition, was the fastest of the three, and Norway won gold. Behind him, Mäki edged ahead of Terentyev to claim the silver medal for Finland.
Qualification
Results Semifinals Rank Heat Bib Country Athletes Time Notes 1 1 1 Erik ValnesJohannes Høsflot Klæbo 20:17.28 Q 2 1 3 Hugo LapalusRichard Jouve 20:17.36 Q 3 1 2 Iivo NiskanenJoni Mäki 20:17.81 Q 4 1 7 Antoine CyrGraham Ritchie 20:18.71 Q 5 1 11 Henri RoosMartin Himma 20:24.29 6 1 9 Aliaksandr VoranauYahor Shpuntau 20:34.07 7 1 5 Luděk ŠellerMichal Novák 20:36.70 8 1 8 Vili ČrvMiha Šimenc 20:43.03 9 1 6 Paul PepeneRaul Popa 21:03.35 10 1 4 James ClugnetAndrew Young 21:15.27 11 1 12 Phillip BellinghamSeve de Campo 21:17.35 12 1 13 Modestas VaičiulisTautvydas Strolia 22:17.79 13 1 10 Kim Min-wooJeong Jong-won 22:56.16 1 2 15 Francesco De FabianiFederico Pellegrino 20:06.99 Q 2 2 16 William PoromaaOskar Svensson 20:07.57 Q 3 2 17 Jonas BaumannJovian Hediger 20:07.67 Q 4 2 21 Michael FöttingerBenjamin Moser 20:07.78 Q 5 2 14 Alexander BolshunovAlexander Terentyev 20:07.85 LL 6 2 19 Ben OgdenJC Schoonmaker 20:11.42 LL 7 2 20 Wang QiangShang Jincai 20:12.40 8 2 23 Maciej StaręgaKamil Bury 20:19.87 9 2 24 Oleksiy KrasovskyRuslan Perekhoda 20:48.40 10 2 25 Snorri EinarssonIsak Stianson Pedersen 21:05.66 11 2 22 Raimo VīgantsRoberts Slotiņš 21:06.82 12 2 18 Albert KuchlerJanosch Brugger 21:20.39
Final Rank Bib Country Athletes Time Deficit 1 Erik ValnesJohannes Høsflot Klæbo 19:22.99 — 2 Iivo NiskanenJoni Mäki 19:25.45 +2.46 14 Alexander BolshunovAlexander Terentyev 19:27.28 +4.29 4 16 William PoromaaOskar Svensson 19:38.05 +15.06 5 7 Antoine CyrGraham Ritchie 19:45.30 +22.31 6 15 Francesco De FabianiFederico Pellegrino 19:48.42 +25.43 7 3 Hugo LapalusRichard Jouve 19:58.37 +35.38 8 17 Jonas BaumannJovian Hediger 20:04.35 +41.36 9 19 Ben OgdenJC Schoonmaker 20:28.07 10 21 Michael FöttingerBenjamin Moser 21:15.00
References