Cross-country skiing at the 2006 Winter Olympics – Women's 15 kilometre pursuit


The Women's 15 kilometre pursuit cross-country skiing competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy was held on 12 February, at Pragelato.
Julija Tchepalova was the reigning World Champion in the event, while Canadian Beckie Scott won the 10 km pursuit at the 2002 Olympics. However, neither were in the medals here; Kristina Šmigun and Kateřina Neumannová were neck-and-neck coming into the stadium, but Šmigun was the quickest through the last straight and won by 1.9 seconds. Russia's Yevgeniya Medvedeva-Arbuzova took bronze.
In 2014, the Estonian Olympic Committee was notified by the IOC that one of Šmigun's samples from the 2006 Turin Games had been retested with a positive result. On 24 October 2016, the World Anti-Doping Agency Athletes' Commission stated that Šmigun faces a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing before the end of October. If Šmigun were to be stripped of her gold, Kateřina Neumannová of Czech Republic could be elevated to gold in the 15 km pursuit event.

Results

The pursuit consisted of a 7.5 kilometre section raced in the classical style, followed by a 7.5 kilometre portion raced freestyle. In between, the sections, each skier took time to 'pit', changing their skis.
RankNameCountryTime
Kristina Šmigun42:48.7
Kateřina Neumannová42:50.6
Yevgeniya Medvedeva-Arbuzova43:03.2
4Kristin Størmer Steira43:06.8
5Gabriella Paruzzi43:18.9
6Beckie Scott43:20.6
7Olga Zavyalova43:23.7
8Justyna Kowalczyk43:25.6
9Yuliya Chepalova43:39.5
10Hilde G. Pedersen43:40.5
11Petra Majdič43:41.7
12Svetlana Malahova-Shishkina44:00.0
13Riitta-Liisa Lassila44:06.1
14Valentina Shevchenko44:13.6
15Britta Norgren44:18.0
16Sara Renner44:30.9
17Sabina Valbusa44:44.7
18Claudia Künzel44:48.1
19Kristin Mürer Stemland44:59.2
20Karine Philippot45:06.5
21Wang Chunli45:09.6
22Antonella Confortola45:11.9
23Ivana Janečková45:33.5
24Natascia Leonardi Cortesi45:34.3
25Elena Kolomina45:44.1
26Vita Jakimchuk45:48.1
27Li Hongxue45:56.4
28Stefanie Böhler45:56.9
29Helena Erbenová45:57.0
30Sumiko Yokoyama45:58.6
31Elin Ek46:02.7
32Liu Yuanyuan46:18.5
33Elina Hietamäki46:20.5
34Kirsi Välimaa46:25.6
35Masako Ishida46:37.7
36Arianna Follis46:40.9
37Yelena Burukhina46:42.9
38Chizuru Soneta46:45.5
39Maja Benedicic46:51.1
40Kateryna Grygorenko46:55.2
41Oxana Jatskaja46:57.0
42Clare-Louise Brumley47:03.1
43Alena Sannikova47:05.6
44Ludmila Korolik Shablouskaya47:07.2
45Tatjana Zavalij47:18.7
46Alena Procházková47:45.2
47Anna-Karin Strömstedt47:51.3
48Rebecca Dussault47:53.7
49Ekaterina Rudakova Bulauka48:09.2
50Yevgeniya Voloshenko48:17.2
51Olga Vasiljonok48:20.4
52Manuela Henkel48:21.8
53Irina Terentjeva48:33.7
54Milaine Thériault48:38.9
55Lindsey Weier48:45.0
56Abby Larson48:47.5
57Lee Chae-Won49:01.2
58Xu Yinghui49:47.3
59Mónika György50:15.3
60Chandra Crawford50:35.4
61Laia Aubert Torrents50:41.3
62Lindsay Williams50:49.7
63Laura Orgué51:16.5
64Maja Kezele51:36.3
Marit BjørgenDNF
Kelime AydinDNF
Branka KuzeljevićDNF