15 kilometres (Classical), Women

The pre-season favorites were the two Russian women who had won the last four World Championships – Yelena Välbe (1991, 1993, 1997) and Larisa Lazutina (1995). Välbe had won the 1996-97 distance World Cup, but she was struggling in 1997-98 and would not be a factor in Hakuba in her two individual races, eventually finishing 17th in this event. Through most of the race, Lazutina set the pace, leading at every checkpoint. Nine starters later, her teammate, Olga Danilova, started slowly, but was second at 8.5 km, and then had the fastest finish to win a surprising gold medal, beating Lazutina by 5.6 seconds. Norway’s Anita Moen-Guidon was leading at the 1.8 km split, but fell back to fourth midway through, only to finish strongly and win the bronze medal. Moen-Guidon would return to the Winter Olympics in 2002, competing in the new sprint event, and win another bronze medal. She also won relay silvers in 1994, 1998, and 2002. Four years later, things would not be as good for the Russian gold and silver medalists, as both were disqualified in Salt Lake City for doping, when their tests were positive for darbopoietin, an erythropoietin analogue.