The Women's 15 kilometre pursuit

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

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 t ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

was held on 12 February, at

Pragelato Pragelato (also ''Pragelà''; Vivaro-Alpine: ''Prajalats'', French: Prajalats) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about west of Turin, in the upper Val Chisone. The name ''Prag ...

Yuliya Chepalova Yulia Anatolyevna Chepalova (russian: Ю́лия Анато́льевна Чепа́лова; born 23 December 1976 in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russian SFSR) is a former Russian cross-country skier. Early and current personal life Daughter of a cros ...

was the reigning World Champion in the event, while Canadian

Beckie Scott Rebecca "Beckie" Scott, (born August 1, 1974) is a Canadian retired cross-country skier. She is Chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Athlete Committee, and served as an International Olympic Committee member by virtue of being elected ...

won the 10 km pursuit at the 2002 Olympics. However, neither were in the medals here;

Kristina Šmigun Kristina may refer to: Places *the Swedish name of Ristiina, a town in Finland People *the Swedish name of Christina of Sweden * Kristina (born 1987), Slovak singer *Kristina Adolphson (born 1937), Swedish actress *Kristina Apgar (born 1985), Amer ...

and

Kateřina Neumannová Kateřina Neumannová () (born 15 February 1973) is a Czech retired cross-country skier. She won an Olympic gold medal in the 2006 Winter Olympics, in the 30 km freestyle event. She is one of five cross country skiers to have competed at s ...

were neck-and-neck coming into the stadium, but Šmigun was the quickest through the last straight and won by 1.9 seconds. Russia's

Yevgeniya Medvedeva-Arbuzova Yevgeniya Vladimirovna Medvedeva (russian: Евге́ния Влади́мировна Медве́дева-Арбу́зова; born 4 July 1976 in Kondopoga, Karelian ASSR) is a Russian cross-country skier who has competed since ...

took bronze. In 2014, the Estonian Olympic Committee was notified by the IOC that one of Šmigun's samples from the 2006 Turin Games had been retested with a positive result. On 24 October 2016, the

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; french: Agence mondiale antidopage, AMA) is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's key ...

Athletes' Commission stated that Šmigun faces a

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its co ...

hearing before the end of October. If Šmigun were to be stripped of her gold, Kateřina Neumannová of Czech Republic could be elevated to gold in the 15 km pursuit event.

Results

The pursuit consisted of a 7.5 kilometre section raced in the classical style, followed by a 7.5 kilometre portion raced freestyle. In between, the sections, each skier took time (approximately 30 seconds) to 'pit', changing their skis.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cross-country skiing at the 2006 Winter Olympics - Women's 15 kilometre pursuit Women's cross-country skiing at the 2006 Winter Olympics Women's pursuit cross-country skiing at the Winter Olympics