Cross Country Skiing at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games:

The sprint event was new to the Olympic Program in 2002, having first been contested at the 2001 World Championships. It consisted of approximately a 1,500 metre course, with a qualifying round in which the 16 fastest skiers advanced to match racing. Match racing began with four quarter-finals of four racers each, with the top two races in each heat advancing in each round, to get to a final of four racers. The favorites were Italy’s Cristian Zorzi, the leader in the event in the 2001-02 World Cup season and runner-up at the 2001 World Championships, and Norwegian Tor-Arne Hetland, the 2001 World Champion, who had twice finished second to Zorzi in the current World Cup chase. Both qualified easily for match racing, with Zorzi second and Hetland sixth, as the qualifying leader was Norway’s Håvard Bjerkeli. Bjerkeli finished last in his quarter-final, but Zorzi and Hetland both advanced. In the semis, they were matched together, with Zorzi narrowly winning, as both recorded 2:59.9. The final was a close race between the two and Germany’s Peter Schlickenrieder. Hetland sat on their tails for most of the race, but sprinted ahead 100 metres from the line to win the gold medal, Schlickenrieder edging Zorzi for the silver. Zorzi’s nickname was Zorro and he wore a Zorro outfit on the podium for the medal ceremony.