30 kilometres, Men

The defending Olympic champion Eero Mäntyranta had dominated the 30 km event in major championships for several years, winning gold at the World Championships in 1962 and 1966. He was highly favored before the first cross country event in the 1968 Games, the 30 km race. But the first intermediate times at 10 km produced some surprises. Franco Nones, a 27-year old Italian skier who had placed 6th at the distance at the 1966 World Championships, had built up a substantial lead, 22 seconds ahead of another surprise, Soviet Union’s Vladimir Voronkov, aged only 23 and originating from the Chuvash Republic in the Volga region. Mäntyranta was in third position another 7 seconds behind Voronkov, closely followed by Norwegian Odd Martinsen and Kalevi Laurila, who was second behind Mäntyranta at the 1966 Worlds.

Over the next 10 km of the race, Mäntyranta made a gallant try to catch the leading Italian, and moved up to second position at 20 km, only 4 seconds behind Nones. Martinsen had advanced to third, but was still over a half minute behind the leader. But Mäntyranta had apparently made his move too early. He faded badly over the last 10 km and lost over a minute to Nones, who secured the first cross country Olympic gold medal for a skier coming from outside the Nordic countries or Soviet Union. Martinsen passed Mäntyranta in the fight for silver, and the defending champion had to settle for the bronze medal. Another fast finishing Italian, Giulio De Florian, bronze medalist at the distance in the World Championships 1962, advanced from 8th to 5th position during the last stages of the race, finishing only two seconds behind Voronkov in 4th place. Norwegian Gjermund Eggen, the king of the 1966 World Championships in Oslo with three gold medals, was a great disappointment, placing a modest 34th in what would be his only Olympic appearance. Three weeks after the 1968 Olympics he outclassed his rivals in Falun, Sweden, winning the 30 km race 1:18 ahead of his closest rival.