Men's 50K With the oldest 2 competitors in the race, it wasn't going looking bright for the team's chances, but the 50k is a race of attrition and experience will help more than youthful enthusiasm. Thus, the 10th place in the team listings was commendable and tied for the highest since the 1987 competition.

Ray Sharp was the leader of the US chances for the first half of the race, hitting midway in the 2:03:00 range. But shortly thereafter, the wall came fast and hard. Philip Dunn, walking more evenly paced splits, passed Ray and continued on to place first among Americans and 42nd overall in a time of 4:16:06. Ray continued on knowing full well that a team score could depend on his finishing. Theron Kissinger also covered the distance more conservatively and passed Ray, but the final lap found a reversal of their places as those two completed the scoring, giving the USA 10th. The races' senior competitor, Mark Green, also dealt with injury issues but was able to finish.

Dave McGovern, not fully recovered from hamstring problems, found that problem worsening and a hip problem as well, and was unable to finish.

Trond Nymark's silver was a real blue-collar medal. Never in the thick of things at the start as the Russians and Chinese battled it out, the Norwegian scored a national record with a smart start and steady pace. In contrast, 21 year old Victor Kayankin, dominant winner of the Russian winter 35K and among those pushing the pack early on, met with the disproval of the judges while in 4th. That DQ, plus a drop out left the Eastern European squad with the minimum number of scorers on the course, much to the consternation of last year's World Champion Sergey Kirdyapkin. In a real example of "doing it for the team", Kirdyapkin finished in a time 4:. In the top dozen early on, he gradually slowed but one trip through "pit" was told that his finish was imperative for a team total. He had bouts of stopping to stretch as well as kilometers as slow as 8+ minutes as the finish line slowly got closer.

Ray Sharp unlapped himself and put 200 meters on the champion as he struggled through the final 600 meters of the race; that gave Russia a 4th place team standing.

Commentary provided by Steve Viatones

See the early pack.

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