# Cross-country skiing at the 2006 Winter Olympics – Women's sprint

The Women's sprint cross-country skiing competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy was held on 22 February, at Pragelato.
Emilie Öhrstig was the defending World Champion, but she won in the classical style, and the last free style sprint in the World Championships (in 2003) was won by Marit Bjørgen. Yuliya Chepalova is defending Olympic champion. The most recent freestyle sprint event in the World Cup, however, was won by the Russian Alyona Sidko at 30 December 2005.

## Results
### Qualifying

Sixty-six skiers completed the 1.1 kilometre course in the qualifying portion of the event, with the top thirty advancing to the quarterfinals.
| Rank | Name | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Beckie Scott | Canada | 2:12.45 | Q |
| 2 | Arianna Follis | Italy | 2:12.90 | Q |
| 3 | Lina Andersson | Sweden | 2:13.29 | Q |
| 4 | Claudia Künzel | Germany | 2:13.64 | Q |
| 5 | Alyona Sidko | Russia | 2:14.54 | Q |
| 6 | Petra Majdič | Slovenia | 2:14.62 | Q |
| 7 | Virpi Kuitunen | Finland | 2:14.83 | Q |
| 8 | Chandra Crawford | Canada | 2:15.06 | Q |
| 9 | Sara Renner | Canada | 2:15.37 | Q |
| 10 | Kikkan Randall | United States | 2:15.63 | Q |
| 11 | Aino-Kaisa Saarinen | Finland | 2:15.75 | Q |
| 12 | Anna Dahlberg | Sweden | 2:15.91 | Q |
| 13 | Ella Gjømle | Norway | 2:16.02 | Q |
| 14 | Manuela Henkel | Germany | 2:16.04 | Q |
| 15 | Madoka Natsumi | Japan | 2:16.30 | Q |
| 16 | Viktoria Lopatina | Belarus | 2:16.36 | Q |
| 17 | Marit Bjørgen | Norway | 2:16.38 | Q |
| 18 | Magda Genuin | Italy | 2:16.41 | Q |
| 19 | Britta Norgren | Sweden | 2:16.43 | Q |
| 20 | Olga Rocheva | Russia | 2:16.43 | Q |
| 21 | Emelie Öhrstig | Sweden | 2:16.75 | Q |
| 22 | Yuliya Chepalova | Russia | 2:16.90 | Q |
| 23 | Hilde G. Pedersen | Norway | 2:17.17 | Q |
| 24 | Kati Venäläinen | Finland | 2:17.29 | Q |
| 25 | Natalya Matveyeva | Russia | 2:17.73 | Q |
| 26 | Laurence Rochat | Switzerland | 2:17.73 | Q |
| 27 | Alena Procházková | Slovakia | 2:17.75 | Q |
| 28 | Nobuko Fukuda | Japan | 2:17.82 | Q |
| 29 | Olga Vasiljonok | Belarus | 2:18.12 | Q |
| 30 | Stefanie Böhler | Germany | 2:18.14 | Q |
| 31 | Nicole Fessel | Germany | 2:18.35 | |
| 32 | Seraina Mischol | Switzerland | 2:18.83 | |
| 33 | Barbara Moriggl | Italy | 2:19.12 | |
| 34 | Aurélie Perrillat | France | 2:19.28 | |
| 35 | Wendy Kay Wagner | United States | 2:19.71 | |
| 36 | Vita Yakymchuk | Ukraine | 2:19.92 | |
| 37 | Irina Terentjeva | Lithuania | 2:20.08 | |
| 38 | Elena Kolomina | Kazakhstan | 2:20.28 | |
| 38 | Lindsey Williams | United States | 2:20.28 | |
| 40 | Vesna Fabjan | Slovenia | 2:20.34 | |
| 41 | Tatjana Mannima | Estonia | 2:20.44 | |
| 42 | Elina Hietamäki | Finland | 2:20.49 | |
| 43 | Maryna Malets-Lisohor | Ukraine | 2:20.79 | |
| 44 | Justyna Kowalczyk | Poland | 2:21.19 | |
| 45 | Natalya Isachenko | Kazakhstan | 2:21.22 | |
| 46 | Oxana Yatskaya | Kazakhstan | 2:22.12 | |
| 47 | Émilie Vina | France | 2:22.42 | |
| 48 | Kaili Sirge | Estonia | 2:22.42 | |
| 49 | Amanda Ammar | Canada | 2:22.78 | |
| 50 | Eva Nývltová | Czech Republic | 2:22.86 | |
| 51 | Ekaterina Rudakova Bulauka | Belarus | 2:23.19 | |
| 52 | Esther Bottomley | Australia | 2:23.55 | |
| 53 | Katarína Garajová | Slovakia | 2:23.98 | |
| 54 | Piret Pormeister | Estonia | 2:24.67 | |
| 55 | Élodie Bourgeois Pin | France | 2:24.77 | |
| 56 | Man Dandan | China | 2:25.16 | |
| 57 | Song Bo | China | 2:27.07 | |
| 58 | Maja Kezele | Croatia | 2:27.16 | |
| 59 | Mónika György | Romania | 2:27.53 | |
| 60 | Daria Starostina | Kazakhstan | 2:27.58 | |
| 61 | Jia Yuping | China | 2:30.03 | |
| 62 | Elena Gorohova | Moldova | 2:31.61 | |
| 63 | Kelime Aydin | Turkey | 2:33.33 | |
| 64 | Lee Chae-won | South Korea | 2:35.47 | |
| 65 | Liu Liming | China | 2:35.76 | |
| 66 | Panagiota Tsakiri | Greece | 2:43.28 | |

### Quarterfinals

There were five quarterfinal races, each with six skiers. The top two in each heat advanced to the semifinals.

#### Quarterfinal 1

| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Result | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Beckie Scott (CAN) | 2:16.6 | Q |
| 2 | 10 | Kikkan Randall (USA) | 2:17.8 | Q |
| 3 | 20 | Olga Rocheva (RUS) | 2:18.4 | |
| 4 | 30 | Stefanie Boehler (GER) | 2:18.5 | |
| 5 | 21 | Emelie Öhrstig (SWE) | 2:19.9 | |
| 6 | 11 | Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (FIN) | 2:20.7 | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Result | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Claudia Künzel (GER) | 2:15.5 | Q |
| 2 | 7 | Virpi Kuitunen (FIN) | 2:16.2 | Q |
| 3 | 14 | Manuela Henkel (GER) | 2:16.4 | |
| 4 | 17 | Marit Bjørgen (NOR) | 2:16.8 | |
| 5 | 27 | Alena Procházková (SVK) | 2:17.9 | |
| 6 | 24 | Kati Venäläinen (FIN) | 2:18.1 | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Result | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Alyona Sidko (RUS) | 2:17.7 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | Petra Majdič (SLO) | 2:17.7 | Q |
| 3 | 26 | Laurence Rochat (SUI) | 2:18.9 | |
| 4 | 15 | Madoka Natsumi (JPN) | 2:19.9 | |
| 5 | 16 | Viktoria Lopatina (BLR) | 2:24.8 | |
| 6 | 25 | Natalya Matveyeva (RUS) | 2:31.4 | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Result | Notes |
| 1 | 12 | Anna Dahlberg (SWE) | 2:14.3 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Arianna Follis (ITA) | 2:14.7 | Q |
| 3 | 19 | Britta Norgren (SWE) | 2:15.0 | |
| 4 | 9 | Sara Renner (CAN) | 2:15.6 | |
| 5 | 29 | Olga Vasiljonok (BLR) | 2:16.6 | |
| 6 | 22 | Yuliya Chepalova (RUS) | 2:16.6 | |

#### Quarterfinal 5

| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Result | Notes |
| 1 | 8 | Chandra Crawford (CAN) | 2:14.2 | Q |
| 2 | 13 | Ella Gjømle (NOR) | 2:15.7 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Lina Andersson (SWE) | 2:16.0 | |
| 4 | 18 | Magda Genuin (ITA) | 2:17.9 | |
| 5 | 28 | Nobuko Fukuda (JPN) | 2:18.2 | |
| 6 | 23 | Hilde G. Pedersen (NOR) | 2:19.1 | |

### Semifinals

There were two semifinal races, each with five skiers. The top two in each semifinal advanced to the A Final, to compete for the top four places, while the third and fourth-placed finishers advanced to the B Final, for places five through eight.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Result | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Claudia Künzel (GER) | 2:15.5 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | Beckie Scott (CAN) | 2:15.8 | Q |
| 3 | 7 | Virpi Kuitunen (FIN) | 2:16.3 | |
| 4 | 6 | Petra Majdič (SLO) | 2:18.7 | |
| 5 | 10 | Kikkan Randall (USA) | 2:19.1 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Result | Notes |
| 1 | 8 | Chandra Crawford (CAN) | 2:13.4 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Alyona Sidko (RUS) | 2:15.1 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Arianna Follis (ITA) | 2:16.2 | |
| 4 | 13 | Ella Gjømle (NOR) | 2:16.4 | |
| 5 | 12 | Anna Dahlberg (SWE) | 2:18.9 | |

### Finals

Chandra Crawford finished 0.7 seconds ahead of Claudia Künzel to win the Olympic gold medal in the women's cross-country sprint.

#### Final A

| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Result |
| | 8 | Chandra Crawford (CAN) | 2:12.3 |
| | 4 | Claudia Künzel (GER) | 2:13.0 |
| | 5 | Alyona Sidko (RUS) | 2:13.2 |
| 4 | 1 | Beckie Scott (CAN) | 2:14.7 |

#### Final B

| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Result |
| 5 | 7 | Virpi Kuitunen (FIN) | 2:18.1 |
| 6 | 13 | Ella Gjømle (NOR) | 2:18.2 |
| 7 | 2 | Arianna Follis (ITA) | 2:20.3 |
| 8 | 6 | Petra Majdič (SLO) | 2:21.5 |