30 kilometres (Freestyle), Women

The 2005 World Champion was Marit Bjørgen, who had dominated the World Cup standings since 2004, but she elected not to race this event, leaving it wide open. The leaders through the first two checkpoints were Russian Yuliya Chepalova and Ukrainian Valentyna Shevchenko, closely followed by Czech skier Kateřina Neumannová. But in the final 10 km they were joined by Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk, who was a major surprise, having only moved up from the junior ranks in 2005. Shevchenko would fall back, eventually finishing seventh. The other three battled to the line in a remarkably close finish, Neumannová winning the gold medal by 1.4 seconds over Chepalova, with Kowalczyk another 0.7 seconds back. Kowalczyk’s bronze medal was the first ever for Polish women in Olympic cross-country skiing. Although she was not well known prior to Torino, she would soon be, winning the pursuit and 30 km at the 2009 World Championships.