# Cross-country skiing at the 1976 Winter Olympics – Men's 50 kilometre

The men's 50 kilometre cross-country skiing competition at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, was held on Saturday 14 February at Seefeld. Gerhard Grimmer of East Germany was the 1974 World champion and Pål Tyldum of Norway was the defending champion from the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo, Japan.
Each skier started at half a minute intervals, skiing the entire 50 kilometre course. Of the 59 athletes who started the race, 15 did not finish. Ivar Formo of Norway took his first and only Olympic gold medal.

## Results

Sources:
| Rank | Bib | Name | Country | Time | Deficit |
| | 42 | Ivar Formo | Norway | 2:37:30.05 | – |
| | 37 | Gert-Dietmar Klause | East Germany | 2:38:13.21 | +43.16 |
| | 34 | Benny Södergren | Sweden | 2:39:39.21 | +2:09.16 |
| 4 | 50 | Ivan Garanin | Soviet Union | 2:40:38.94 | +3:08.89 |
| 5 | 24 | Gerhard Grimmer | East Germany | 2:41:15.46 | +3:45.41 |
| 6 | 46 | Per Knut Aaland | Norway | 2:41:18.06 | +3:48.01 |
| 7 | 16 | Pål Tyldum | Norway | 2:42:21.86 | +4:51.81 |
| 8 | 6 | Tommy Limby | Sweden | 2:42:43.58 | +5:13.53 |
| 9 | 44 | Juhani Repo | Finland | 2:42:54.89 | +5:24.84 |
| 10 | 21 | Arto Koivisto | Finland | 2:43:44.79 | +6:14.74 |
| 11 | 26 | Jean-Paul Pierrat | France | 2:44:03.31 | +6:33.26 |
| 12 | 22 | Vasily Rochev | Soviet Union | 2:44:31.23 | +7:01.18 |
| 13 | 23 | Bill Koch | United States | 2:44:34.69 | +7:04.64 |
| 14 | 15 | Milan Jarý | Czechoslovakia | 2:44:51.16 | +7:21.11 |
| 15 | 41 | Jiří Beran | Czechoslovakia | 2:44:51.80 | +7:21.75 |
| 16 | 49 | Sven-Åke Lundbäck | Sweden | 2:45:04.82 | +7:34.77 |
| 17 | 55 | Ján Fajstavr | Czechoslovakia | 2:45:19.91 | +7:49.86 |
| 18 | 18 | Franz Renggli | Switzerland | 2:45:25.24 | +7:55.19 |
| 19 | 25 | Matti Kuosko | Sweden | 2:45:33.41 | +8:03.36 |
| 20 | 5 | Heinz Gähler | Switzerland | 2:45:51.64 | +8:21.59 |
| 21 | 45 | Sergey Savelyev | Soviet Union | 2:46:01.36 | +8:31.31 |
| 22 | 20 | Hans Skinstad | Canada | 2:46:11.83 | +8:41.78 |
| 23 | 33 | Georg Zipfel | West Germany | 2:46:20.30 | +8:50.25 |
| 24 | 17 | Herbert Wachter | Austria | 2:46:40.25 | +9:10.20 |
| 25 | 4 | Walter Demel | West Germany | 2:46:55.95 | +9:25.90 |
| 26 | 38 | Werner Vogel | Austria | 2:47:05.63 | +9:35.58 |
| 27 | 51 | Pertti Teurajärvi | Finland | 2:47:25.60 | +9:55.55 |
| 28 | 57 | Gerd Heßler | East Germany | 2:47:34.90 | +10:04.85 |
| 29 | 3 | Jean-Paul Vandel | France | 2:47:45.20 | +10:15.15 |
| 30 | 27 | Stanislav Henych | Czechoslovakia | 2:48:00.27 | +10:30.22 |
| 31 | 32 | Venanz Egger | Switzerland | 2:48:30.70 | +11:00.65 |
| 32 | 58 | Christian Pfeuti | Switzerland | 2:49:50.90 | +12:20.85 |
| 33 | 7 | Dieter Meinel | East Germany | 2:49:52.42 | +12:22.37 |
| 34 | 8 | Juha Mieto | Finland | 2:50:03.61 | +12:33.56 |
| 35 | 12 | Reinhold Feichter | Austria | 2:50:53.00 | +13:22.95 |
| 36 | 54 | Stan Dunklee | United States | 2:51:26.28 | +13:56.23 |
| 37 | 39 | Edward Day | Canada | 2:51:58.75 | +14:28.70 |
| 38 | 10 | Yevgeny Belyayev | Soviet Union | 2:54:00.55 | +16:30.50 |
| 39 | 29 | Lyubomir Toskov | Bulgaria | 2:55:11.11 | +17:41.06 |
| 40 | 1 | Petar Pankov | Bulgaria | 2:57:07.93 | +19:37.88 |
| 41 | 52 | Ernie Lennie | Canada | 3:01:01.57 | +23:31.52 |
| 42 | 2 | Halldór Matthíasson | Iceland | 3:02:51.17 | +25:21.12 |
| 43 | 48 | Heinrich Wallner | Austria | 3:03:58.19 | +26:28.14 |
| 44 | 13 | Maksi Jelenc | Yugoslavia | 3:05:05.94 | +27:35.89 |
| | 9 | Tonio Biondini | Italy | DNF | |
| | 11 | Tim Caldwell | United States | DNF | |
| | 14 | Bert Bullock | Canada | DNF | |
| | 19 | Jerzy Koryciak | Poland | DNF | |
| | 28 | Georg Kandlinger | West Germany | DNF | |
| | 30 | Ulrico Costner | Italy | DNF | |
| | 31 | Oddvar Brå | Norway | DNF | |
| | 35 | Jan Staszel | Poland | DNF | |
| | 36 | Roland Jeannerod | France | DNF | |
| | 40 | Chris Haines | United States | DNF | |
| | 43 | Roberto Primus | Italy | DNF | |
| | 47 | Pierre Salvi | France | DNF | |
| | 53 | Wiesław Gębal | Poland | DNF | |
| | 56 | Frank Betz | West Germany | DNF | |
| | 59 | Carlo Favre | Italy | DNF | |