The Men's 30 kilometre pursuit cross-country skiing competition at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second ...

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, was held on 12 February at

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Summary

The pursuit in this format had been skied three times at the

Nordic skiing World Championships The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships is a biennial nordic skiing event organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). The World Championships was started in 1925 for men and opened for women's participation in 1954. World Championship e ...

, and Frenchman

Vincent Vittoz Vincent Vittoz (born 17 July 1975 in Annecy, Haute-Savoie) is a French former cross-country skier, non-commissioned officer and coach. He grew up in the town of La Clusaz in the Northern French Alps and has been competing since 1982. He made hi ...

was the reigning World Champion. A pursuit event similar to this was skied at the 2002 Winter Olympics, where the gold was shared between

Thomas Alsgaard Thomas Alsgaard (born 10 January 1972) is a Norwegian former professional cross-country skier. Alsgaard is regarded by many as the best performer of the freestyle technique (skating) in cross-country skiing and many of today's best skiers have st ...

(retired by 2006) and

Frode Estil Frode Estil (born 31 May 1972 in Lierne, Nord-Trøndelag) is a retired Norwegian cross-country skier. He lives in Meråker with his wife Grete whom he married in the summer of 2001. They have two sons, Bernhard, born in August 2002, and Konrad ...

, but the 2002 event 2002 event was a 20 kilometre pursuit, not 30. The event opened dramatically as Estil fell at the start, causing a mass collision. Then the pack kept together almost until the end, with skiers continually trailing off as they could not keep up with the pace. Eventually, five men came into the finishing straight together, after

Anders Södergren Hans Anders Södergren (born 17 May 1977 in Söderhamn, Hälsingland) is a Swedish cross-country skier who has competed since 1999. He earned a bronze medal in the 4 × 10 km relay at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and also finished 5t ...

of Sweden had tried to pull away on the final lap. However, Södergren could not keep up with the pace, and Russian Yevgeny Dementyev pulled away to defeat Estil and win Russia's first gold medal of the Games.

Results

The pursuit consisted of a 15 kilometre section raced in the classical style, followed by a 15 kilometre portion raced freestyle. In between the sections, each skier took time (approximately 30 seconds) to 'pit', changing their skis.

Martin Tauber Martin Tauber (born 4 November 1976) is an Austrian cross-country skier. He competed in the men's 15 kilometre classical event at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Doping scandal in Turin In April 2007 Tauber was banned by the International Olympic ...

, an Austrian skier, originally placed 17th, but was disqualified after the

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

declared him permanently ineligible for doping-related violations. The race was started at 13:45.Final results
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cross-country skiing at the 2006 Winter Olympics - Men's 30 kilometre pursuit Men's cross-country skiing at the 2006 Winter Olympics Men's pursuit cross-country skiing at the Winter Olympics