50 kilometres, Men

Ivar Formo, a 24-year old engineering student from Oslo, was the only Norwegian who had done as expected so far in the Olympic cross-country tracks around Seefeld. He was full of self confidence before the last event, the 50 km race, organized the day before the closing of the Games. With defending Olympic champion Pål Tyldum also on the team Norway hoped for revenge, but they feared the Soviet skiers, and also the reigning World Champion, East German Gerhard Grimmer, who was counted as a major contender for the gold.

At 10 km, the 24-year old Soviet Vasily Rochev, bronze medalist in 15 km at the 1974 World Championship, had taken the lead, 13 seconds ahead of Sven-Åke Lundbäck from Sweden, 1972 Olympic Champion in the 15 km. At the halfway point, the amazing American Bill Koch, skiing his first ever 50 km in competition, had advanced from fourth to the top of the leaderboard, 8 seconds ahead of East Germany’s Gert-Dietmar Klause. Formo followed in third place, while Rochev had dropped down to fourth. Now Formo started his move. At the 40 km intermediate mark, he was in the lead, 32 seconds ahead of Klause. Rochev was now in third, still in contention for a medal, but he was closely followed by the steadily advancing Swede Benny Södergren, the youngster Koch and World Champion Grimmer. Over the last 10 km, Rochev and Koch faded badly, losing five minutes more to the leaders and dropped down to 12th and 13th place in the final results. Formo ran a perfect calculated race, finished fastest of all and restored Norwegian cross-country pride with a gold medal, Norway being the first nation to win the 50 km at three consecutive Winter Olympics. Klause was a clear second, and Södergren’s well paced finish earned Sweden their only Nordic skiing medal at the 1976 winter Olympics. The best Soviet skier, Ivan Garanin had advanced steadily over the last part of the race and ended as fourth, a minute too late to secure a medal.