15 kilometres Skiathlon, Women

As in 2006, this event was no longer truly a pursuit. The competitors skied 7½ km using the classical technique, followed by a pit stop to change to shorter skis, and then skied 7½ km freestyle. Following her first gold medal in the Sprint event, Norway’s Marit Bjørgen, a four-time World Champion, was full of confidence and was among the leaders from the start. Charlotte Kalla (SWE), winner of the 10 km event, had an unfortunate fall towards the end of the classical section, and didn’t feature in the race thereafter. By the pit stop, seven skiers had broken away from the main field, led by Aino-Kaisa Saarinen of Finland, who had been third at the 2009 World Championships. The lead group was then whittled down to four as the event came to its climax – Bjørgen, Saarinen, 2009 World Champion Justyna Kowalczyk (POL), and the runner-up at the 2009 Worlds, Kristin Størmer Steira (NOR). Going into the home straight Bjørgen had a comfortable lead, and took her second gold medal of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The contest for the remaining medals was much closer, with Anna Haag (SWE) taking the silver medal less than one second ahead of Kowalczyk, who won the bronze medal by the length of her foot, just defeating Størmer Steira, the official difference being 0.1 seconds. Defending gold medalist Kristina Šmigun-Vähi (EST) started the race, but did not finish. For Størmer Steira, this was her fourth fourth-place finish at the Olympics, after three fourths and a fifth in 2006. She would later win gold in Vancouver with the relay.