15 kilometres (Classical), Men

Iivo Niskanen demonstrated his exceptional dominance in classic skiing by claiming the men’s individual 15km gold. In a superior manner, he secured the gold medal at the Guyangshu ski and biathlon center in Zhangjiakou, ahead of Aleksandr Bolshunov (ROC), with the Norwegian Johannes Høsflot Klæbo taking bronze.

Niskanen, whose sister Kerttu missed out on gold in a heartbeat final against Therese Johaug the previous day, never left any doubts about his victory. Each of the three intermediate times saw him in first place. At the finish line, he was 23.2 seconds ahead of Bolshunov and, after the team sprint in 2014 and the 50-kilometer race in 2018, won Olympic gold for the third time.

Bolshunov was in second place at the halfway mark, 11.4 seconds slower than Niskanen. Klæbo was 37.5 seconds behind at the finish, having come back from 20th place at the first intermediate time. After his poor showing in the skiathlon (40th), the 2018 three-time Olympic champion was much stronger and was happy about taking bronze. Known for his prowess in sprint competitions, he showed that he could contend in distance events as well.

Ilya Semikov (ROC) and Pål Golberg (Norway), were amongst the top three for part of the race, but eventually fell back to ninth and 11th place respectively