Cross-country skiing at the 2002 Winter Olympics – Women's sprint
# Cross-country skiing at the 2002 Winter Olympics – Women's sprint

The Women's sprint cross-country skiing competition at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, United States, was held on 19 February at Soldier Hollow.

Fifty-eight skiers competed in the qualifying round, of which the 16 fastest competitors advanced to the final rounds. The 16 competitors who advanced from the qualification were divided into 4 quarterfinal heats of 4 skiers each. The two best competitors in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinal. The two best competitors in each semifinal advanced to the A Final competing for gold, silver, bronze and fourth place. The two lowest ranked competitors in the semifinal were placed in the B Final, competing for ranks from 5th to 8th position.

## Results

    Q — qualified for next round

### Qualifying

58 competitors started the qualification race.

| Rank | Bib | Athlete | Country | Time | Deficit | Note |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 10 | Kateřina Neumannová | Czech Republic | 3:12.76 | | Q |
| 2 | 13 | Yuliya Chepalova | Russia | 3:13.03 | +0.27 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Evi Sachenbacher | Germany | 3:13.81 | +1.05 | Q |
| 4 | 16 | Anita Moen | Norway | 3:14.13 | +1.37 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Beckie Scott | Canada | 3:14.62 | +1.86 | Q |
| 6 | 19 | Elina Pienimäki | Finland | 3:14.79 | +2.03 | Q |
| 7 | 18 | Andreja Mali | Slovenia | 3:15.75 | +2.99 | Q |
| 8 | 4 | Gabriella Paruzzi | Italy | 3:16.11 | +3.35 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | Claudia Künzel | Germany | 3:16.41 | +3.65 | Q |
| 10 | 7 | Manuela Henkel | Germany | 3:16.89 | +4.13 | Q |
| 11 | 9 | Maj Helen Sorkmo | Norway | 3:17.10 | +4.34 | Q |
| 12 | 27 | Yelena Burukhina | Russia | 3:17.26 | +4.50 | Q |
| 13 | 23 | Anke Reschwamm Schulze | Germany | 3:17.45 | +4.69 | Q |
| 14 | 26 | Sara Renner | Canada | 3:18.07 | +5.31 | Q |
| 15 | 5 | Lyubov Yegorova | Russia | 3:18.46 | +5.70 | Q |
| 16 | 30 | Madoka Natsumi | Japan | 3:18.78 | +6.02 | Q |
| 17 | 21 | Sabina Valbusa | Italy | 3:19.22 | +6.46 | |
| 18 | 15 | Kati Sundqvist | Finland | 3:19.23 | +6.47 | |
| 19 | 20 | Hilde Gjermundshaug Pedersen | Norway | 3:19.79 | +7.03 | |
| 20 | 1 | Nina Gavrylyuk | Russia | 3:20.02 | +7.26 | |
| 21 | 12 | Vibeke Skofterud | Norway | 3:20.21 | +7.45 | |
| 22 | 8 | Magda Genuin | Italy | 3:20.28 | +7.52 | |
| 23 | 25 | Kaisa Varis | Finland | 3:20.52 | +7.76 | |
| 24 | 35 | Viktoria Lopatina | Belarus | 3:20.59 | +7.83 | |
| 25 | 14 | Kristina Šmigun | Estonia | 3:20.94 | +8.18 | |
| 26 | 11 | Karin Moroder | Italy | 3:21.92 | +9.16 | |
| 27 | 24 | Andrea Huber | Switzerland | 3:22.18 | +9.42 | |
| 28 | 17 | Lina Andersson | Sweden | 3:22.65 | +9.89 | |
| 29 | 32 | Iryna Terelya | Ukraine | 3:23.47 | +10.71 | |
| 30 | 51 | Jaime Fortier | Canada | 3:23.98 | +11.22 | |
| 31 | 29 | Milaine Thériault | Canada | 3:24.41 | +11.65 | |
| 32 | 33 | Natasa Lacen | Slovenia | 3:24.90 | +12.14 | |
| 33 | 22 | Anna Dahlberg | Sweden | 3:25.32 | +12.56 | |
| 34 | 31 | Teja Gregorin | Slovenia | 3:25.64 | +12.88 | |
| 35 | 34 | Elin Ek | Sweden | 3:25.93 | +13.17 | |
| 36 | 28 | Riitta-Liisa Lassila | Finland | 3:27.16 | +14.40 | |
| 37 | 44 | Anna-Carin Olofsson | Sweden | 3:28.07 | +15.31 | |
| 38 | 39 | Tessa Benoit | United States | 3:28.35 | +15.59 | |
| 39 | 38 | Nobuko Fukuda | Japan | 3:28.38 | +15.62 | |
| 40 | 49 | Hou Yuxia | China | 3:28.71 | +15.95 | |
| 41 | 40 | Vita Yakymchuk | Ukraine | 3:28.94 | +16.18 | |
| 42 | 36 | Helena Balatková | Czech Republic | 3:29.23 | +16.47 | |
| 43 | 53 | Ilona Bublová | Czech Republic | 3:29.35 | +16.59 | |
| 44 | 41 | Kikkan Randall | United States | 3:30.27 | +17.51 | |
| 45 | 43 | Nataliya Sviridova-Kalinovskaya | Belarus | 3:31.83 | +19.07 | |
| 46 | 42 | Aelin Peterson | United States | 3:34.05 | +21.29 | |
| 47 | 47 | Tomomi Otaka | Japan | 3:34.14 | +21.38 | |
| 48 | 48 | Irina Terentjeva | Lithuania | 3:34.18 | +21.42 | |
| 48 | 45 | Kristina Joder | United States | 3:34.18 | +21.42 | |
| 50 | 46 | Luan Zhengrong | China | 3:35.21 | +22.45 | |
| 51 | 37 | Natalya Isachenko | Kazakhstan | 3:39.09 | +26.33 | |
| 52 | 52 | Lee Chun-ja | South Korea | 3:41.06 | +28.30 | |
| 53 | 55 | Daria Starostina | Kazakhstan | 3:41.69 | +28.93 | |
| 54 | 50 | Zsofia Gottschall | Hungary | 3:42.98 | +30.22 | |
| 55 | 56 | Elena Gorohova | Moldova | 3:43.82 | +31.06 | |
| 56 | 58 | Kelime Çetinkaya | Turkey | 4:00.50 | +47.74 | |
| 57 | 57 | Katerina Balkaba | Greece | 4:06.99 | +54.23 | |
| 58 | 54 | Margarit Nikolyan | Armenia | 4:13.5 | +1:00.79 | |

### Quarterfinals

The 16 competitors who advanced to the final rounds received new bibs which indicated their ranking in the qualification.

**Quarterfinal 1**

| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Country | Time | Deficit | Note |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 9 | Claudia Künzel | Germany | 3:15.1 | — | Q |
| 2 | 8 | Gabriella Paruzzi | Italy | 3:16.2 | +1.1 | Q |
| 3 | 16 | Madoka Natsumi | Japan | 3:17.5 | +2.4 | |
| 4 | 1 | Kateřina Neumannová | Czech Republic | 3:18.9 | +3.8 | |

**Quarterfinal 2**

| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Country | Time | Deficit | Note |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 5 | Beckie Scott | Canada | 3:15.8 | — | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Anita Moen | Norway | 3:15.9 | +0.1 | Q |
| 3 | 13 | Anke Reschwam Schulze | Germany | 3:15.9 | +0.1 | |
| 4 | 12 | Yelena Burukhina | Russia | 3:19.3 | +3.5 | |

**Quarterfinal 3**

| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Country | Time | Deficit | Note |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 7 | Andreja Mali | Slovenia | 3:14.8 | — | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Yuliya Chepalova | Russia | 3:14.9 | +0.1 | Q |
| 3 | 15 | Lyubov Yegorova | Russia | 3:16.0 | +1.2 | |
| 4 | 10 | Manuela Henkel | Germany | 3:16.3 | +1.5 | |

**Quarterfinal 4**

| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Country | Time | Deficit | Note |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 3 | Evi Sachenbacher | Germany | 3:40.2 | — | Q |
| 2 | 14 | Sara Renner | Canada | 3:42.4 | +2.2 | Q |
| 3 | 11 | Maj Helen Sorkmo | Norway | 3:44.2 | +4.0 | ADV |
| 4 | 6 | Elina Pienimäki | Finland | 4:01.5 | +21.3 | |

### Semifinals

**Semifinal 1**

| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Country | Time | Deficit | Note |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 4 | Anita Moen | Norway | 3:23.8 | — | QA |
| 2 | 9 | Claudia Künzel | Germany | 3:24.5 | +0.7 | QA |
| 3 | 8 | Gabriella Paruzzi | Italy | 3:25.3 | +1.5 | QB |
| 4 | 5 | Beckie Scott | Canada | 3:25.4 | +1.6 | QB |

**Semifinal 2**

| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Country | Time | Deficit | Note |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 2 | Yuliya Chepalova | Russia | 3:18.2 | — | QA |
| 2 | 3 | Evi Sachenbacher | Germany | 3:18.5 | +0.3 | QA |
| 3 | 11 | Maj Helen Sorkmo | Norway | 3:19.4 | +1.2 | QB |
| 4 | 7 | Andreja Mali | Slovenia | 3:19.8 | +1.6 | QB |
| 5 | 14 | Sara Renner | Canada | 3:20.0 | +1.8 | |

### Finals

**Final B**

| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Country | Time | Deficit |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 5 | 5 | Beckie Scott | Canada | 3:24.9 | — |
| 6 | 11 | Maj Helen Sorkmo | Norway | 3:25.5 | +0.6 |
| 7 | 7 | Andreja Mali | Slovenia | 3:25.9 | +1.0 |
| 8 | 8 | Gabriella Paruzzi | Italy | 3:26.1 | +1.2 |

**Final A**

| Rank | Seed | Athlete | Country | Time | Deficit |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | 2 | Yuliya Chepalova | Russia | 3:10.6 | — |
| | 3 | Evi Sachenbacher | Germany | 3:12.2 | +1.6 |
| | 4 | Anita Moen | Norway | 3:12.7 | +2.1 |
| 4 | 9 | Claudia Künzel | Germany | 3:13.3 | +2.7 |
