Italy Wins the Men's 50K Freestyle in Close Finish

2006 Torino Olympics

Sun, Feb  26, 2006 - By Mike Muha

PRAGELATO, Itally - Italy's Giorgio di Centa gave the host country of the Olympics the gold medal in the 50K Men's Freestyle cross country ski race today. Di Centa won by only 0.8 seconds - the narrowest margin for the 50K in Olympic history.

Eugeni Dementiev from Russia took second place, just edging Austria's Mikhail Botwinov by 0.1 seconds!

Di Centa is the first athlete outside of Scandinavia or the former Soviet Republic to win this event at the Olympic Games.

Americans? Andrew Johnson (Greensboro, VT) was the top American finisher in 34th in the  50K in Pragelato. Andrew received 19 FIS points, his best race ever, at least points-wise. Kris Freeman finished 61st.

• 1. DI CENTA Giorgio 2:06:11.8
• 2. DEMENTIEV Evgenji 2:06:12.6
• 3. BOTVINOV Mikhail 2:06:12.7
• 34. JOHNSON Andrew 2:07:56.3
• 61. FREEMAN Kris 2:15:32.6

FULL RESULTS
MEN'S WORLD CUP POINTS LIST after completion of Olympics