Russian cross-country skiers set new Olympic record
Russian athletes have now secured a total of nine cross-country skiing medals in Beijing, a medal haul which surpasses Russia's efforts in the 1998 Nagano Olympics, as well as the country's achievement at the 2018 event in Pyeongchang when it competed under a neutral banner.
In total, the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) team has won three gold, three silver and three bronze in cross-country disciplines – a tally which beats the eight medals won in both 1998 and 2018.
In Nagano, Russia secured five golds, two silvers and a bronze, while in South Korea five years ago, the total for Russian athletes was three silvers and five bronze medals.
The 2022 total, though, which is spread across both the men's and women's events, represents the finest Olympic achievement yet – at least in terms of total medals – made by Russian cross-country skiers at this level of the sport.
Although Norway went one better than the ROC's three gold medals, they claimed just six Olympic medals in total, a sum good for second place in the overall medals table.
Finland and Sweden medaled on five and four occasions respectively.
Alexander Bolshunov proved to be the Olympic hero in the men's category, claiming gold in the 30 kilometer skiathlon as well as by being one of the victorious four-man 4×10 kilometre relay team alongside Aleksey Chervotkin, Denis Spitsov and Sergey Ustiugov.
Bolshunov also won silver in the 15 kilometer classical while Spitsov did the same in the 30 kilometer skiathlon, finishing just behind his compatriot.
Alexander Terentyev, meanwhile, picked up bronze in both the sprint freestyle and team sprint classical, alongside Bolshunov.
In the women's events, the ROC 4×5 kilometre relay team of Yuliya Stupak, Natalya Nepryayeva, Tatiana Sorina and Veronika Stepanova took first place.
Nepryayeva also grabbed silver in the 15 kilometer skiathlon, while she finished in third position alongside Yuliya Stupak in the women's team sprint classical.
Russian Olympic Committee team members have now won a total of 24 medals in Beijing at the time of writing; four golds, eight silvers and 12 bronze. The Games continue until February 20 2022.
