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| Event type

15 kilometres (Classical), Women

Date 8 February 1998 — 9:00
StatusOlympic
LocationSnow Harp, Hakuba
Participants65 from 24 countries
DetailsCourse Length: 15,000 m
Height Differential: 113 m
Intermediate 1: 1.8 km
Intermediate 2: 8.5 km
Maximum Climb: 67 m
Total Climbing: 572 m

The pre-season favorites were the two Russian women who had won the last four World Championships – Yelena Välbe (1991, 1993, 1997) and Larisa Lazutina (1995). Välbe had won the 1996-97 distance World Cup, but she was struggling in 1997-98 and would not be a factor in Hakuba in her two individual races, eventually finishing 17th in this event. Through most of the race, Lazutina set the pace, leading at every checkpoint. Nine starters later, her teammate, Olga Danilova, started slowly, but was second at 8.5 km, and then had the fastest finish to win a surprising gold medal, beating Lazutina by 5.6 seconds. Norway’s Anita Moen-Guidon was leading at the 1.8 km split, but fell back to fourth midway through, only to finish strongly and win the bronze medal. Moen-Guidon would return to the Winter Olympics in 2002, competing in the new sprint event, and win another bronze medal. She also won relay silvers in 1994, 1998, and 2002. Four years later, things would not be as good for the Russian gold and silver medalists, as both were disqualified in Salt Lake City for doping, when their tests were positive for darbopoietin, an erythropoietin analogue.

PosNumberCompetitorNOCTime
129Olga DanilovaRUS46:55.4Gold
220Larisa LazutinaRUS47:01.0Silver
331Anita Moen-GuidonNOR47:52.6Bronze
423Iryna Taranenko-TereliaUKR48:10.2
533Marit MikkelsplassNOR48:12.5
=616Trude Dybendahl-HartzNOR48:19.0
=621Bente MartinsenNOR48:19.0
826Stefania BelmondoITA48:57.7
919Kateřina NeumannováCZE49:01.9
1050Jaroslava BukvajováSVK49:02.0
1117Valentyna ShevchenkoUKR49:12.9
1239Tuulikki PyykkönenFIN49:13.5
1353Katrin ŠmigunEST49:18.9
1434Gabriella ParuzziITA49:20.7
1544Alena SinkevichBLR49:20.8
1627Svetlana NageykinaRUS49:22.5
1718Yelena VälbeRUS49:25.9
1822Satu SalonenFIN49:27.6
1925Antonina OrdinaSWE50:12.6
204Svetlana DeshevykhKAZ50:28.0
2149Constanze BlumGER50:30.3
2230Sylvia HoneggerSUI50:31.9
239Maryna PestriakovaUKR50:45.6
2410Sumiko YokoyamaJPN50:55.3
252Karin SäterkvistSWE51:02.6
2624Renate RoiderAUT51:07.0
2767Antonella ConfortolaITA51:07.6
281Sigrid WilleGER51:19.3
297Jana ŠaldováCZE51:33.8
3056Karin MoroderITA51:36.1
3164Milla JauhoFIN51:38.6
3215Oksana YatskayaKAZ51:39.7
335Bernadetta PiotrowskaPOL51:40.7
3445Kumiko YokoyamaJPN51:48.7
3538Elin EkSWE51:51.0
3666Manuela HenkelGER51:53.4
3755Fumiko AokiJPN51:53.7
3840Anke SchulzeGER51:54.0
3948Sviatlana KamotskayaBLR51:59.0
406Õnne KurgEST52:08.3
418Kati SundqvistFIN52:14.1
4211Katsiaryna AntoniukBLR52:24.5
4368Iryna SkripnikBLR52:26.2
4457Iveta FortováCZE52:26.3
4537Annick PierrelFRA52:30.1
4662Cristel VahtraEST52:32.7
4714Kerrin PettyUSA52:45.3
4835Suzanne KingUSA52:58.9
4947Svetlana ShishkinaKAZ53:13.7
5052Dorota KwaśnyPOL53:42.6
5143Luan ZhengrongCHN53:48.4
5212Nina KemppelUSA53:57.2
5358Laura WilsonUSA54:10.4
5469Emiko SatoJPN54:11.1
5513Guo DonglingCHN54:50.6
5642Monica LăzăruțROU55:18.2
5761Yelena AntonovaKAZ55:34.0
5860Eliza SurdykaPOL55:37.5
593Milaine ThériaultCAN55:38.2
6028Beckie ScottCAN55:43.7
6165Ināra RudkoLAT56:07.8
6259Marie-Odile RaymondCAN56:53.3
6354Irina NikulchinaBUL57:07.2
6451Kazimiera StrolienėLTU58:48.3
DQ46Olena HaiasovaUKR
DNS32Maria TheurlAUT
DNS41Jaime FortierCAN
DNS36Natascia LeonardiSUI
DNS63Anette FanqvistSWE