Dario Cologna era l'atteso protagonista nella 50km a stile classico, che avrebbe potuto regalare a se stesso la quinta medaglia olimpica (la prima su questa distanza) e alla Svizzera la 16a a questi Giochi di PyeongChang per battere definitivamente il record di Calgary 1988. E protagonista lo è stato, ma solo per i primi 20km di gara, dopodiché il distacco è progressivamente aumentato sino agli oltre quattro minuti conclusivi; e la causa sarebbe da ascrivere a un errore di materiale al primo cambio sci. Si è piazzato nono a 4'21"1.
La vittoria è andata al finlandese Iivo Niskanen che dopo 2h08'22"1 ha battuto di 18"7 il russo Alexander Bolshunov, che ha pagato a caro prezzo il fatto di non aver sostituito per la seconda volta gli sci, correndo gli ultimi 10km con il secondo paio. Per il nordico si tratta del secondo oro a cinque cerchi dopo quello nella staffetta sprint di Sochi. Il bronzo è andato all'altro rappresentante degli OAR Andrey Larkov (+2'37"5).
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