30 kilometres (Freestyle), Women

Yelena Välbe had won this event at the 1995 and 1997 World Championships, and won the 1996-97 distance World Cup. But her skiing in the 1997-98 was somewhat ordinary and she would not be a major factor, eventually finishing fifth, still her best individual finish in Hakuba. With her struggling, the race was fairly open. The leader at every checkpoint as she skied was Russian Yuliya Chepalova, who started 28th. Six starters later, Stefania Belmondo, runner-up at the 1997 World Championships, and 1997 Holmenkollen champion in the event, took the lead at the 11.3 and 22.3 km time checks. But Chepalova would finish faster and win a surprising gold medal.

Chepalova would later develop into a solid skier, but she had only been on the Russian national team since 1996, and was mostly unknown internationally. She would return in 2002 at Salt Lake City and win a gold medal in the new sprint event. Belmondo had won this event at the 1992 Winter Olympics, the 1993 World Championships, and 1997 Holmenkollen Ski Festival. Through 2009, she is the only woman to win that triple crown in the women’s long-distance event.