# Cross-country skiing at the 1972 Winter Olympics – Men's 15 kilometre

The men's 15 kilometre cross-country skiing competition at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, was held on Monday 7 February at the Makomanai Cross Country Events Site.
Each skier started at half a minute intervals, skiing the entire 15 kilometre course. Lars-Göran Åslund of Sweden was the 1970 World champion and Harald Grønningen of Norway was the defending Olympic champion from the 1968 Olympics in Grenoble, France.

## Results

Sources:
| Rank | Bib | Name | Country | Time | Deficit |
| | 54 | Sven-Åke Lundbäck | Sweden | 45:28.24 | – |
| | 52 | Fyodor Simashov | Soviet Union | 46:00.84 | +32.60 |
| | 34 | Ivar Formo | Norway | 46:02.68 | +34.44 |
| 4 | 57 | Juha Mieto | Finland | 46:02.74 | +34.50 |
| 5 | 23 | Yury Skobov | Soviet Union | 46:04.59 | +36.35 |
| 6 | 35 | Axel Lesser | East Germany | 46:17.01 | +48.77 |
| 7 | 61 | Walter Demel | West Germany | 46:17.36 | +49.12 |
| 8 | 37 | Gunnar Larsson | Sweden | 46:23.29 | +55.05 |
| 9 | 9 | Oddvar Brå | Norway | 46:25.88 | +57.64 |
| 10 | 38 | Osmo Karjalainen | Finland | 46:27.51 | +59.27 |
| 11 | 59 | Eduard Hauser | Switzerland | 46:30.53 | +1:02.29 |
| 12 | 12 | Vladimir Voronkov | Soviet Union | 46:33.43 | +1:05.19 |
| 13 | 63 | Gert-Dietmar Klause | East Germany | 46:34.40 | +1:06.16 |
| 14 | 28 | Albert Giger | Switzerland | 46:38.36 | +1:10.12 |
| 15 | 46 | Johs Harviken | Norway | 46:46.36 | +1:18.12 |
| 16 | 42 | Valery Tarakanov | Soviet Union | 46:48.32 | +1:20.08 |
| 17 | 41 | Alois Kälin | Switzerland | 46:50.31 | +1:22.07 |
| 18 | 29 | Lars-Göran Åslund | Sweden | 46:56.23 | +1:27.99 |
| 19 | 58 | Magne Myrmo | Norway | 47:02.55 | +1:34.31 |
| 20 | 15 | Tord Backman | Sweden | 47:22.97 | +1:54.73 |
| 21 | 56 | Stanislav Henych | Czechoslovakia | 47:25.81 | +1:57.57 |
| 22 | 36 | Gerhard Gehring | West Germany | 47:33.78 | +2:05.54 |
| 23 | 24 | Juhani Repo | Finland | 47:56.16 | +2:27.92 |
| 24 | 53 | Carlo Favre | Italy | 47:59.07 | +2:30.83 |
| 25 | 49 | Gerd Heßler | East Germany | 48:04.15 | +2:35.91 |
| 26 | 3 | Rainer Groß | East Germany | 48:05.86 | +2:37.62 |
| 27 | 47 | Tonio Biondini | Italy | 48:10.09 | +2:41.85 |
| 28 | 22 | Franco Stella | Italy | 48:17.14 | +2:48.90 |
| 29 | 39 | Ján Fajstavr | Czechoslovakia | 48:18.22 | +2:49.98 |
| 30 | 21 | Ján Michalko | Czechoslovakia | 48:31.64 | +3:03.40 |
| 31 | 55 | Roland Jeannerod | France | 48:32.42 | +3:04.18 |
| 32 | 14 | Hartmut Döpp | West Germany | 48:46.08 | +3:17.84 |
| 33 | 50 | Jan Staszel | Poland | 48:46.72 | +3:18.48 |
| 34 | 16 | Hansüli Kreuzer | Switzerland | 48:55.37 | +3:27.13 |
| 35 | 8 | Manne Liimatainen | Finland | 48:59.90 | +3:31.66 |
| 36 | 27 | Franz Betz | West Germany | 49:00.41 | +3:32.17 |
| 37 | 19 | Hideo Tanifuji | Japan | 49:06.97 | +3:38.73 |
| 38 | 30 | Heinrich Wallner | Austria | 49:17.97 | +3:49.73 |
| 39 | 44 | Jean-Paul Vandel | France | 49:22.89 | +3:54.65 |
| 40 | 17 | Franco Nones | Italy | 49:35.43 | +4:07.19 |
| 41 | 60 | Kunio Shibata | Japan | 49:38.95 | +4:10.71 |
| 42 | 51 | Herbert Wachter | Austria | 49:44.13 | +4:15.89 |
| 43 | 40 | Akiyoshi Matsuoka | Japan | 49:50.72 | +4:22.48 |
| 44 | 26 | Everett Dunklee | United States | 49:52.20 | +4:23.96 |
| 45 | 43 | Malcolm Hunter | Canada | 49:54.08 | +4:25.84 |
| 46 | 33 | Daniel Cerisey | France | 50:05.88 | +4:37.64 |
| 47 | 25 | Petar Pankov | Bulgaria | 50:06.74 | +4:38.50 |
| 48 | 4 | Gérard Granclement | France | 50:07.11 | +4:38.87 |
| 49 | 62 | Fred Kelly | Canada | 50:07.22 | +4:38.98 |
| 50 | 32 | Roger Allen | Canada | 50:41.31 | +5:13.07 |
| 51 | 6 | Motoharu Matsumura | Japan | 50:43.76 | +5:15.52 |
| 52 | 11 | Jarl Omholt-Jensen | Canada | 50:52.14 | +5:23.90 |
| 53 | 2 | Ventseslav Stoyanov | Bulgaria | 50:54.98 | +5:26.74 |
| 54 | 45 | Tim Caldwell | United States | 51:17.92 | +5:49.68 |
| 55 | 13 | Ronny Yeager | United States | 51:36.54 | +6:08.30 |
| 56 | 20 | Danzangiin Narantungalag | Mongolia | 52:06.18 | +6:37.94 |
| 57 | 1 | Namsrain Sandagdorj | Mongolia | 52:48.54 | +7:20.30 |
| 58 | 64 | Larry Martin | United States | 53:13.91 | +7:45.67 |
| 59 | 48 | Terence Palliser | Great Britain | 54:11.98 | +8:43.74 |
| 60 | 31 | Peter Strong | Great Britain | 54:41.99 | +9:13.75 |
| 61 | 5 | Harry Tobin | Great Britain | 56:05.05 | +10:36.81 |
| 62 | 18 | Liang Reng-guey | Republic of China | 1:03:35.66 | +18:07.42 |
| | 7 | Josef Hauser | Austria | DNF | |
| | 10 | Ján Ilavský | Czechoslovakia | DNS | |