The Women's sprint

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 in the classical technique at the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

was held on 17 February at

Whistler Olympic Park The Whistler Olympic Park is the location of the Nordic events facilities for the 2010 Winter Olympics and is located in the Madeley Creek basin in the Callaghan Valley, west of Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. The facility hosted the Biathlon ...

Whistler, British Columbia Whistler ( Lillooet/Ucwalmícwts: Cwitima, ; Squamish/Sḵwx̱wú7mesh: Sḵwiḵw, ) is a resort municipality in Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, British Columbia, Canada. It is located in the southern Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mounta ...

.Cross-country skiing schedule for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
- Accessed November 3, 2009.

Chandra Crawford Chandra Crawford (born November 19, 1983) is a Canadian cross-country skier who has competed since 2001 at the age of 16. Prior to this, she was a biathlete for five years. She was born in Canmore, Alberta, Canada. Career On February 22, 2006, ...

was the defending

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

champion in this event, though that event was in the freestyle technique.

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 ...

Arianna Follis Arianna Fernanda Follis (born 11 November 1977, in Ivrea, Piedmont) is an Italian cross-country skier who started competing in 1995. Competing in two Winter Olympics, she earned a bronze medal in the 4 × 5 km relay at Turin in 2006. Foll ...

was the defending

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in this event which was also held in freestyle technique. Alena Procházková of

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

won the test event that took place at Olympic venue on 16 January 2009. The last

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

event prior to the 2010 Games in this format took place on 6 February 2010 in

Canmore, Alberta Canmore is a town in Alberta, Canada, located approximately west of Calgary near the southeast boundary of Banff National Park. It is located in the Bow Valley within Alberta's Rocky Mountains. The town shares a border with Kananaskis Country ...

and was won by

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Justyna Kowalczyk Justyna Maria Kowalczyk-Tekieli (born 19 January 1983) is a Polish cross-country skier who has been competing since 2000. Kowalczyk is a double Olympic Champion and a double World Champion. She is also the only skier to win the Tour de Ski four ...

. Follis did not qualify for the event at the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

. Crawford and Procházková were eliminated in the quarterfinals. Kowalczyk won silver. It was Bjørgen's second medal at these

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

and first gold for her. Majdič won her first Olympic medal and the first for

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

in cross-country skiing. During the warm-up she crashed down a bank, into an unprotected deep gorge and landed on ice and rocks, sustaining five broken ribs and a

pneumothorax A pneumothorax is an abnormal collection of air in the pleural space between the lung and the chest wall. Symptoms typically include sudden onset of sharp, one-sided chest pain and shortness of breath. In a minority of cases, a one-way valve ...

. In spite of agonizing pain, she finished third in the sprint a few hours later, winning the first individual Winter Olympic medal for Slovenia in 16 years and its first ever in

cross-country skiing at the Winter Olympics Cross-country skiing has been contested at the Winter Olympic Games since the first Winter Games in 1924 in Chamonix, France. The women's events were first contested at the 1952 Winter Olympics. Summary Events C = classical, F = freestyle, m ...

. She earned the highest praise from other skiers, staff and the media for her amazing braveryReuters
/ref> as she attended the medal giving ceremony with a tube in her chest to relieve pneumothorax.

Results

Qualifying

Qualifying took place at 10:15 PST.

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinals took place at 12:30 PST. ;Quarterfinal 1 ;Quarterfinal 2 ;Quarterfinal 3 ;Quarterfinal 4 ;Quarterfinal 5

Semifinals

Semifinals took place at 13:20 PST. ;Semifinals 1 ;Semifinals 2

Final

Final took place at 13:45 PST.

References

External links

2010 Winter Olympics results: Ladies' Individual Sprint Classic
from https://web.archive.org/web/20100222080013/http://www.vancouver2010.com/ retrieved 2010-02-16. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cross-country skiing at the 2010 Winter Olympics - Women's sprint Women's cross-country skiing at the 2010 Winter Olympics Women's individual sprint cross-country skiing at the Winter Olympics