10 kilometres (Classical), Men

Bjørn Dæhlie was the defending champion, had won the 1997 World Championship at this distance, and had won the 1996-97 sprint World Cup. Already with eight Olympic medals and five golds, to describe him as the favorite was an understatement. The race was held in a steady rain, which made conditions difficult for the skiers. But the Norwegian waxers set up five pairs of skis for Dæhlie who tested them shortly before starting and then chose the best pair.

Dæhlie started fast and had the lead at both of the time checks, with Kazakhstan’s Vladimir Smirnov in second at 6.5 km. Both slowed down in the final kilometers but Dæhlie had done enough to stay ahead, and won the gold medal by eight seconds. The silver medal went to the surprising Austrian Markus Gandler. Gandler had been skiing internationally since the late 1980s but had won little. He started slowly in this race, but had the fastest finishing split from 6.5 km to the line to place second.

This race also saw the appearance of the first black African in cross-country skiing, Philip Boit of Kenya. Boit was last of the 92 finishers, almost eight minutes behind 91st place, Gjoko Dineski of Macedonia. But when he finished, waiting at the line for his arrival was Bjørn Dæhlie, who embraced him after his finish. After 1998 this race was not held at the 2002 or 2006 Winter Olympics, replaced by the 15 km.