| Men's 50 kilometre freestyle at the XX Olympic Winter Games |
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| Venue | Pragelato | |||||||||
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| Dates | February 26 | |||||||||
| Competitors | 82 from 32 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 2:06:11.8 | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
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| «2002 | 2010» | |||||||||
| Cross-country skiing at the 2006 Winter Olympics |
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| Distance | ||||
| 10 km | women | |||
| 15 km | men | women | ||
| 30 km | men | women | ||
| 50 km | men | |||
| 4 x 5 km relay | women | |||
| 4 x 10 km relay | men | |||
| Sprint | ||||
| Individual | men | women | ||
| Team | men | women | ||
The Men's 50 kilometre freestyle cross-country skiing competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, was held on 26 February, at Pragelato. This was the final day of the Games, and the top three finishers were presented their medals as part of the Closing Ceremony.
The 50 kilometre had previously been skied only once as a mass start event at the World Championships, in 2005, with Frode Estil of Norway winning. However, that was in the classical style. The last 50 kilometre freestyle race at a World Championship was in 2003, and Martin Koukal of the Czech Republic won that event. Mikhail Ivanov was defending Olympic champion on 50 kilometre, but that event was held in classical technique with individual start.
With a pack of 10–15 skiers coming together towards the finish, Giorgio Di Centa won Italy's second gold medal in cross-country skiing. This was the closest Olympic 50 km ever (0.8 seconds), eclipsing the 4.9 seconds that separated Thomas Wassberg from Gunde Svan (both from Sweden) at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo.
A photograph of Di Centa in action during this event would be used as the pictogram for the cross-country skiing events at the following Olympics.
The race was a 'mass start', with all 79 skiers starting at the same time. 13 skiers failed to finish the race, while 3 were originally entered, but did not start.[1]