4 × 10 kilometres Relay, Men
| Date | 19 February 2006 — 10:00 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Stadio del Trampolino, Pragelato Plan |
| Participants | 64 from 16 countries |
| Details | Course Length: 10,000 m Height Differential: 59 m Maximum Climb: 54 m Total Climbing: 376 m |
Norway had dominated men’s relay competition since the 1992 Winter Olympics, winning all Olympic gold medals except for the classic battle against Italy in 1994, and losing only once at the World Championships since 1991, that in 1999 Austria. Italy had finished second to Norway at the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics, losing by no more than 3/10ths of a second in both races. It desperately wanted to win the gold on its home snow.
Canada’s Devon Kershaw surprisingly led the first leg, with Norway second, and Italy back in fifth. But Canada dropped to 14th on the second leg when Sean Crooks posted the slowest leg of the entire race. At the second exchange, the Czechs led, followed by Russia, then Norway, with Italy still fifth. But Pietro Piller Cottrer then skied the fastest leg of the event for Italy, giving Norway a six-second lead over Sweden at the final hand-off. Italy would win the race they most wanted, by almost 16 seconds over Germany, with Sweden taking the bronze. Norway had a lackluster race, and finished only fifth.
| Pos | Number | Competitors | NOC | Time | Exchange | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Italy |  ITA | 1-43:45.7 | – (–) | Gold | ||
| Lead-Off | 4-1 | Fulvio Valbusa | 25:54.0 | 25:54.0 (5) | ||||
| 2nd Leg | 4-2 | Giorgio Di Centa | 26:50.6 | 52:44.6 (5) | ||||
| 3rd Leg | 4-3 | Pietro Piller Cottrer | 24:59.1 | 1-17:43.7 (1) | ||||
| Anchor | 4-4 | Cristian Zorzi | 26:02.0 | 1-43:45.7 (1) | ||||
| 2 | 2 | Germany |  GER | 1-44:01.4 | – (–) | Silver | ||
| Lead-Off | 2-1 | Andreas Schlütter | 25:53.9 | 25:53.9 (4) | ||||
| 2nd Leg | 2-2 | Jens Filbrich | 26:50.2 | 52:44.1 (4) | ||||
| 3rd Leg | 2-3 | René Sommerfeldt | 25:18.9 | 1-18:03.0 (4) | ||||
| Anchor | 2-4 | Tobias Angerer | 25:58.4 | 1-44:01.4 (2) | ||||
| 3 | 7 | Sweden |  SWE | 1-44:01.7 | – (–) | Bronze | ||
| Lead-Off | 7-1 | Mats Larsson | 25:53.4 | 25:53.4 (3) | ||||
| 2nd Leg | 7-2 | Johan Olsson | 26:55.4 | 52:48.8 (6) | ||||
| 3rd Leg | 7-3 | Anders Södergren | 25:00.5 | 1-17:49.3 (2) | ||||
| Anchor | 7-4 | Mathias Fredriksson | 26:12.4 | 1-44:01.7 (3) | ||||
| 4 | 6 | France |  FRA | 1-44:22.8 | – (–) | |||
| Lead-Off | 6-1 | Christophe Perrillat-Collomb | 26:05.4 | 26:05.4 (12) | ||||
| 2nd Leg | 6-2 | Alexandre Rousselet | 26:46.2 | 52:51.6 (7) | ||||
| 3rd Leg | 6-3 | Emmanuel Jonnier | 25:47.1 | 1-18:38.7 (7) | ||||
| Anchor | 6-4 | Vincent Vittoz | 25:44.1 | 1-44:22.8 (4) | ||||
| 5 | 1 | Norway |  NOR | 1-44:56.3 | – (–) | |||
| Lead-Off | 1-1 | Jens Arne Svartedal | 25:53.0 | 25:53.0 (2) | ||||
| 2nd Leg | 1-2 | Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset | 26:50.8 | 52:43.8 (3) | ||||
| 3rd Leg | 1-3 | Frode Estil | 25:42.8 | 1-18:26.6 (5) | ||||
| Anchor | 1-4 | Tore Ruud Hofstad | 26:29.7 | 1-44:56.3 (5) | ||||
| 6 | 3 | Russian Federation |  RUS | 1-45:09.9 | – (–) | |||
| Lead-Off | 3-1 | Sergey Novikov | 26:03.7 | 26:03.7 (11) | ||||
| 2nd Leg | 3-2 | Vasily Rochev | 26:39.8 | 52:43.5 (2) | ||||
| 3rd Leg | 3-3 | Ivan Alypov | 25:58.2 | 1-18:41.7 (8) | ||||
| Anchor | 3-4 | Yevgeny Dementyev | 26:28.2 | 1-45:09.9 (6) | ||||
| 7 | 15 | Switzerland |  SUI | 1-45:10.9 | – (–) | |||
| Lead-Off | 15-1 | Reto Burgermeister | 26:02.0 | 26:02.0 (8) | ||||
| 2nd Leg | 15-2 | Christian Stebler | 26:50.2 | 52:52.2 (8) | ||||
| 3rd Leg | 15-3 | Toni Livers | 25:46.4 | 1-18:38.6 (6) | ||||
| Anchor | 15-4 | Remo Fischer | 26:32.3 | 1-45:10.9 (7) | ||||
| 8 | 9 | Estonia |  EST | 1-45:23.8 | – (–) | |||
| Lead-Off | 9-1 | Aivar Rehemaa | 26:45.7 | 26:45.7 (14) | ||||
| 2nd Leg | 9-2 | Andrus Veerpalu | 26:39.9 | 53:25.6 (10) | ||||
| 3rd Leg | 9-3 | Jaak Mae | 25:32.0 | 1-18:57.6 (9) | ||||
| Anchor | 9-4 | Kaspar Kokk | 26:26.2 | 1-45:23.8 (8) | ||||
| 9 | 8 | Czech Republic |  CZE | 1-46:03.3 | – (–) | |||
| Lead-Off | 8-1 | Martin Koukal | 26:01.6 | 26:01.6 (7) | ||||
| 2nd Leg | 8-2 | Lukáš Bauer | 26:41.3 | 52:42.9 (1) | ||||
| 3rd Leg | 8-3 | Jiří Magál | 25:19.6 | 1-18:02.5 (3) | ||||
| Anchor | 8-4 | Dušan Kožíšek | 28:00.8 | 1-46:03.3 (9) | ||||
| 10 | 12 | Finland |  FIN | 1-46:36.1 | – (–) | |||
| Lead-Off | 12-1 | Sami Jauhojärvi | 25:56.1 | 25:56.1 (6) | ||||
| 2nd Leg | 12-2 | Tero Similä | 27:28.9 | 53:25.0 (9) | ||||
| 3rd Leg | 12-3 | Olli Ohtonen | 25:53.4 | 1-19:18.4 (10) | ||||
| Anchor | 12-4 | Teemu Kattilakoski | 27:17.7 | 1-46:36.1 (10) | ||||
| 11 | 13 | Canada |  CAN | 1-48:15.9 | – (–) | |||
| Lead-Off | 13-1 | Devon Kershaw | 25:52.3 | 25:52.3 (1) | ||||
| 2nd Leg | 13-2 | Sean Crooks | 29:30.6 | 55:22.9 (14) | ||||
| 3rd Leg | 13-3 | Chris Jeffries | 26:02.3 | 1-21:25.2 (13) | ||||
| Anchor | 13-4 | George Grey | 26:50.7 | 1-48:15.9 (11) | ||||
| 12 | 11 | United States |  USA | 1-48:44.2 | – (–) | |||
| Lead-Off | 11-1 | Kris Freeman | 26:03.1 | 26:03.1 (9) | ||||
| 2nd Leg | 11-2 | Lars Flora | 28:27.8 | 54:30.9 (12) | ||||
| 3rd Leg | 11-3 | Andrew Johnson | 26:44.1 | 1-21:15.0 (12) | ||||
| Anchor | 11-4 | Carl Swenson | 27:29.2 | 1-48:44.2 (12) | ||||
| 13 | 10 | Kazakhstan |  KAZ | 1-49:03.6 | – (–) | |||
| Lead-Off | 10-1 | Andrey Golovko | 26:03.5 | 26:03.5 (10) | ||||
| 2nd Leg | 10-2 | Dmitry Yeryomenko | 27:48.5 | 53:52.0 (11) | ||||
| 3rd Leg | 10-3 | Maksim Odnodvortsev | 26:18.9 | 1-20:10.9 (11) | ||||
| Anchor | 10-4 | Yevgeny Koshevoy | 28:52.7 | 1-49:03.6 (13) | ||||
| 14 | 14 | Ukraine |  UKR | 1-50:01.9 | – (–) | |||
| Lead-Off | 14-1 | Roman Leibiuk | 26:36.7 | 26:36.7 (13) | ||||
| 2nd Leg | 14-2 | Volodymyr Olshanskyi | 28:32.5 | 55:09.2 (13) | ||||
| 3rd Leg | 14-3 | Oleksandr Putsko | 26:28.5 | 1-21:37.7 (14) | ||||
| Anchor | 14-4 | Mykhailo Humeniak | 28:24.2 | 1-50:01.9 (14) | ||||
| 15 | 16 | People's Republic of China |  CHN | 1-50:40.5 | – (–) | |||
| Lead-Off | 16-1 | Xia Wan | 27:27.9 | 27:27.9 (15) | ||||
| 2nd Leg | 16-2 | Li Geliang | 28:46.3 | 56:14.2 (15) | ||||
| 3rd Leg | 16-3 | Zhang Chengye | 26:23.6 | 1-22:37.8 (15) | ||||
| Anchor | 16-4 | Zhang Qing | 28:02.7 | 1-50:40.5 (15) | ||||
| 5 | Austria |  AUT | – | – (–) | 1 | |||
| Lead-Off | 5-1 | Martin Tauber | 28:07.5 | 28:07.5 (AC) | ||||
| 2nd Leg | 5-2 | Jürgen Pinter | 27:59.5 | 56:07.0 (AC) | ||||
| 3rd Leg | 5-3 | Roland Diethart | 26:58.2 | 1-23:05.2 (AC) | ||||
| Anchor | 5-4 | Johannes Eder | – | – (AC) | lapped |