# Cross-country skiing at the 1972 Winter Olympics – Men's 30 kilometre

The men's 30 kilometre cross-country skiing competition at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, was held on Friday 4 February at the Makomanai Cross Country Events Site.
Each skier started at half a minute intervals, skiing the entire 30 kilometre course. Vyacheslav Vedenin of the Soviet Union was the 1970 World champion and Franco Nones of Italy was the defending Olympic champion from the 1968 Olympics in Grenoble, France.

## Results

Sources:
| Rank | Bib | Name | Country | Time | Deficit |
| | 54 | Vyacheslav Vedenin | Soviet Union | 1:36:31.15 | – |
| | 60 | Pål Tyldum | Norway | 1:37:25.30 | +54.15 |
| | 36 | Johs Harviken | Norway | 1:37:32.44 | +1:01.29 |
| 4 | 35 | Gunnar Larsson | Sweden | 1:37:33.72 | +1:02.57 |
| 5 | 57 | Walter Demel | West Germany | 1:37:45.53 | +1:14.38 |
| 6 | 18 | Fyodor Simashov | Soviet Union | 1:38:22.50 | +1:51.35 |
| 7 | 12 | Alois Kälin | Switzerland | 1:38:40.72 | +2:09.57 |
| 8 | 53 | Gert-Dietmar Klause | East Germany | 1:39:15.54 | +2:44.39 |
| 9 | 58 | Stanislav Henych | Czechoslovakia | 1:39:24.29 | +2:53.14 |
| 10 | 45 | Gerhard Gehring | West Germany | 1:39:44.47 | +3:13.32 |
| 11 | 27 | Lars-Göran Åslund | Sweden | 1:39:45.29 | +3:14.14 |
| 12 | 24 | Axel Lesser | East Germany | 1:39:49.24 | +3:18.09 |
| 13 | 52 | Sven-Åke Lundbäck | Sweden | 1:39:54.35 | +3:23.20 |
| 14 | 44 | Eduard Hauser | Switzerland | 1:40:14.98 | +3:43.83 |
| 15 | 2 | Yury Skobov | Soviet Union | 1:40:18.70 | +3:47.55 |
| 16 | 43 | Vladimir Dolganov | Soviet Union | 1:40:48.85 | +4:17.70 |
| 17 | 50 | Alfred Kälin | Switzerland | 1:41:35.34 | +5:04.19 |
| 18 | 8 | Gerd Heßler | East Germany | 1:41:37.47 | +5:06.32 |
| 19 | 15 | Eero Mäntyranta | Finland | 1:41:40.51 | +5:09.36 |
| 20 | 38 | Elviro Blanc | Italy | 1:41:44.32 | +5:13.17 |
| 21 | 19 | Magne Myrmo | Norway | 1:42:23.40 | +5:52.25 |
| 22 | 13 | Teuvo Hatunen | Finland | 1:42:27.18 | +5:56.03 |
| 23 | 49 | Kunio Shibata | Japan | 1:42:30.83 | +5:59.68 |
| 24 | 48 | Ulrico Kostner | Italy | 1:42:44.06 | +6:12.91 |
| 25 | 41 | Jean-Paul Vandel | France | 1:42:45.88 | +6:14.73 |
| 26 | 47 | Mike Elliott | United States | 1:43:15.03 | +6:43.88 |
| 27 | 37 | Eberhard Klessen | East Germany | 1:43:15.99 | +6:44.84 |
| 28 | 7 | Thomas Magnusson | Sweden | 1:43:26.02 | +6:54.87 |
| 29 | 39 | Jan Staszel | Poland | 1:43:35.68 | +7:04.53 |
| 30 | 23 | Mike Gallagher | United States | 1:43:39.41 | +7:08.26 |
| 31 | 6 | Ole Ellefsæter | Norway | 1:44:25.21 | +7:54.06 |
| 32 | 9 | Renzo Chiocchetti | Italy | 1:44:35.03 | +8:03.88 |
| 33 | 55 | Herbert Wachter | Austria | 1:44:45.67 | +8:14.52 |
| 34 | 40 | Ján Fajstavr | Czechoslovakia | 1:44:49.45 | +8:18.30 |
| 35 | 29 | Hartmut Döpp | West Germany | 1:44:51.05 | +8:19.90 |
| 36 | 14 | Attilio Lombard | Italy | 1:45:03.72 | +8:32.57 |
| 37 | 32 | Hideo Tanifuji | Japan | 1:45:37.13 | +9:05.98 |
| 38 | 10 | Edgar Eckert | West Germany | 1:45:38.51 | +9:07.36 |
| 39 | 26 | Petar Pankov | Bulgaria | 1:45:50.66 | +9:19.51 |
| 40 | 30 | Ján Michalko | Czechoslovakia | 1:46:19.36 | +9:48.21 |
| 41 | 21 | Werner Geeser | Switzerland | 1:46:20.36 | +9:49.21 |
| 42 | 11 | Bob Gray | United States | 1:46:38.31 | +10:07.16 |
| 43 | 46 | Malcolm Hunter | Canada | 1:46:51.47 | +10:20.32 |
| 44 | 3 | Seiji Kudo | Japan | 1:47:00.40 | +10:29.25 |
| 45 | 56 | Daniel Cerisey | France | 1:47:03.01 | +10:31.86 |
| 46 | 42 | Ventseslav Stoyanov | Bulgaria | 1:47:11.68 | +10:40.53 |
| 47 | 22 | Tomio Okamura | Japan | 1:47:50.22 | +11:19.07 |
| 48 | 34 | Heinrich Wallner | Austria | 1:48:05.42 | +11:34.27 |
| 49 | 1 | Gilbert Faure | France | 1:48:12.19 | +11:41.04 |
| 50 | 20 | Jan Omholt-Jensen | Canada | 1:51:14.04 | +14:42.89 |
| 51 | 17 | Danzangiin Narantungalag | Mongolia | 1:51:29.88 | +14:58.73 |
| 52 | 4 | Namsrain Sandagdorj | Mongolia | 1:52:14.67 | +15:43.52 |
| 53 | 59 | Clark Matis | United States | 1:52:18.52 | +15:47.37 |
| 54 | 31 | Keith Oliver | Great Britain | 1:54:10.60 | +17:39.45 |
| 55 | 25 | Terence Palliser | Great Britain | 1:54:39.41 | +18:08.26 |
| | 16 | Josef Hauser | Austria | DNF | |
| | 28 | Roland Jeannerod | France | DNF | |
| | 33 | Raimo Lehtinen | Finland | DNF | |
| | 51 | Osmo Karjalainen | Finland | DNF | |
| | 5 | Ján Ilavský | Czechoslovakia | DNS | |