At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec, Czech Republic, twelve cross-country skiing events were held with six for men and six for women. The format of the program was unchanged since the 2005 World Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany. For the men's events, Norway won five of the six events and a total of six medals with Petter Northug winning golds in the pursuit, 50 km and relay events. Ola Vigen Hattestad won two golds in the sprint events (individual and team). The only event the Norwegians did not win was in the 15 km event (Eldar Rønning was the highest finisher at seventh), won by Estonia's Andrus Veerpalu, who became the oldest world champion ever.
Norway won only one medal in the women's event with a silver in the pursuit event by Kristin Størmer Steira. Dario Cologna of Switzerland, the overall World Cup leader entering the championships, won no medals, with a best finish of fourth in the individual sprint event. For the women's events, the biggest winners were Finland's Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, the women's overall World Cup leader entering the championships, and Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk, the women's World Cup leader in the distance event, winning four and three medals respectively with golds in five of the six events (three for Saarinen and two for Kowalczyk). The only event not won by either Saarinen or Kowalczyk was the individual sprint which was won by Italy's Arianna Follis.
Individual sprint silver medalist Kikkan Randall became the first American woman to medal in cross-country skiing at the World Championships and the second American overall to do so (Lindsey Van had won a gold medal in the women's ski jumping individual normal hill event at the championships four days earlier). Cross country World Cup Sprint leader Petra Majdič of Slovenia won no medals, earning her best finish of ninth in the pursuit event. Nine countries won medals at the championships with Finland winning eight, Norway winning seven, and Germany and Italy each winning four medals.
Men's events
Individual sprint freestyle 24 February. - accessed 10 October 2008 Jens Arne Svartedal of Norway was defending champion, but was eliminated in the quarterfinals at these championships. It was the first individual medal for all three finishers.FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 men's individual sprint results. - accessed February 24, 2009.
Medal Athlete Time Gold 3:00.8 Silver + 0.4 Bronze + 1.0
Team sprint classical
25 February. Italy's Renato Pasini and Christian Zorzi were the defending champions. Zorzi did not compete, but Pasini did though he was eliminated in the semifinal round with teammate Fulvio Scola. Hattestad and Kjølstad, the gold and silver medalists in the individual sprint event the day before, teamed up to win the gold medal in the team sprint event while Jauhojärvi and Nousiainen earned their first championship medals. Germany beat Finland in a photo finish.FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 men's team sprint results. - accessed February 25, 2009.
Medal Team Athletes Time Gold Ola Vigen Hattestad 22:48.5 Johan Kjølstad Silver Axel Teichmann + 0.5 Tobias Angerer Bronze Sami Jauhojärvi + 0.5Ville Nousiainen
15 km classical interval start
20 February. A 10 km qualification event took place on the 18th. Norway's Lars Berger was the defending champion, but could not defend his title to his involvement at the 2009 Biathlon World Championships in Pyeongchang, South Korea which was going on at the same time of the Nordic skiing world championships.2009 Biathlon World Championships official website. - accessed 19 February 2009. The top ten finishers in the qualification event advanced to the 15 km event on the 20th.FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 cross country men's 10 km qualification results. - added 18 February 2009. Heikkinen had the fastest time at 5 km while Bauer had the fastest time at 10 km. This was Veerpalu's third medal overall and first since the 2001 championships. The top three qualifiers from the 10 km event finished 66th, 63rd and 65th, respectively.FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 men's 15 km results. - accessed 20 February 2009. Veerpalu is the oldest world champion ever, having turned 38 earlier that month.FIS-Ski.com article on Veerpalu's victory. - accessed 20 February 2009.
10 km qualification results Position Athlete Time 1 31:22.9 2 + 22.4 3 + 34.5
Medal Athlete Time Gold 38:54.4 Silver + 6.3 Bronze + 16.4
15 km + 15 km double pursuit
22 February. Germany's Axel Teichmann was the defending champion and would finish seventh in the event. The top three leaders at the classical part were Södergren, Sweden's Johan Olsson (he finished 16th), and Italy's Pietro Piller Cottrer (he would finish 32nd), while the fastest pit time belonged to Finland's Matti Heikkinen. Mathias Fredriksson of Sweden had the fastest time in the freestyle leg to move from 39th at the end of the classical portion to finish 17th. Northug and Södergren earned their first individual medals at the championships.FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 men's 15 km + 15 km double pursuit results. - accessed February 22, 2009.
Medal Athlete 15 kmclassical time Pit time 15 kmfreestyle time Finish time Gold 38:40.1 (22) 26.2 (5) 36:46.0 (3) 1:15:52.4 Silver 38:34.3 (1) 26.9 (8) 36:54.3 (5) + 3.1 Bronze 38:38.3 (16) 29.0 (tied at 29) 36:56.8 (6) + 11.9
50 km freestyle mass start
1 March. Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset of Norway was the defending champion, but did not participate due to this event being held in freestyle. The lead was different at every interval mark on the official report. At the 12.5 km mark, the three leaders were Austria's Christian Hoffman (he finished 25th), Russia's Alexander Legkov (he would finish 18th), and France's Jean Marc Gaillard (he finished 23rd). By the 20 km mark, the top three were Italy's Pietro Piller Cottrer (who would finish 11th), his teammate Christian Zorzi (would finish 12th), and Russia's Vylegzhanin. The top three at the 27.5 km mark were Zorzi, Switzerland's Curdin Perl (who would finish 27th), and his teammate Remo Fischer (who would finish 19th). With 7.5 km left in the race, the top three were Fischer, Norway's Tord Asle Gjerdalen (who would finish 20th), and 2006 Winter Olympic 50 km gold medalist Giorgio Di Centa of Italy (who would finish fourth). Northug, seventh at the 42.5 km mark, would win his third gold medal at the championships and fourth overall. It was Vylegzhanin's first world championship medal and Angerer's sixth career medal. The top 19 finishers all completed the course in under two hours while the top 22 finishers were separated by no more than 26 seconds at the finish.FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 50 km results. - accessed March 1, 2009. During the event, Angerer had to change skis. - accessed March 1, 2009.
Medal Athlete Time Gold 1:59:38.1 Silver + 0.7 Bronze + 2.0
4 × 10 km relay
27 February. The Norwegian team of Eldar Rønning, Hjelmeset, Berger and Petter Northug were the defending champions and repeated for the fifth straight time with Hofstad taking Berger's spot on the relay team. Germany's Filbrich had the fastest first leg time with the top three positions at the first exchange being Germany, Canada (who would finish fifth), and Estonia (who would finish eighth). Jauhojärvi of Finland has the fastest second and in the classical style to move his country from fifth to second at the second exchange. The leader at the second exchange was Germany with Estonia being third. Italy's Pietro Piller Cottrer had the fastest third leg, moving his team from tenth to fifth (The Italians would finish fourth.) with leaders at the third exchange being Germany, Norway and Finland. France's Emmanuel Jonnier had the fastest anchor time and freestyle technique time to move the French from 12th to ninth. Norway's Northug used his leg to move past Germany to win the gold.FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 men's 4 x 10 km official results. - accessed February 27, 2009.
Medal Team Athletes Time Gold Eldar Rønning 1:41:50.6 Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset Tore Ruud Hofstad Petter Northug Silver Jens Filbrich + 2.6 Tobias Angerer Franz Göring Axel Teichmann Bronze Matti Heikkinen + 43.9 Sami Jauhojärvi Teemu Kattilakoski Ville Nousiainen
Women's events
Individual sprint freestyle
24 February. Norway's Astrid Jacobsen was the defending champion, but did not make past the qualifying round. It was Follis's first gold medal at the championships. Randall became the first American woman to medal in cross country skiing at the championships while Muranen, the 2001 champion under her maiden name Manninen, became the first woman to medal in this event twice in the championships.FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 women's individual sprint results. - accessed February 24, 2009. Fourth-place finisher Natalya Matveyeva of Russia would be banned for doping on 23 December 2009 though she had tested positive at the 2010 Winter Olympic test event at Whistler Olympic Park in Canada which were held a month prior to the world championships."FIS Doping Panel delivers two decisions". FIS 23 December 2009 article accessed 25 December 2009. The results were changed as of 20 March 2010 to show Matveyeva's doping disqualification.
Medal Athlete Time Gold 2:39.3 Silver + 0.6 Bronze + 0.7
Team sprint classical
25 February. Finland's Riitta-Liisa Roponen and Virpi Kuitunen were the defending champions. Kuitunen defended her title with Aino-Kaisa Saarinen. The Finns led at every exchange until the last rounds at the finish to win by 20 seconds.FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 women's team sprint final results. - accessed February 25, 2009. This event was Saarinen's third medal at these championships. Anna Olsson earned her first championship medal while Andersson, Longa and Follis earned their second medals at these championships.
Medal Team Athletes Time Gold Virpi Kuitunen 19:43.7 Aino-Kaisa Saarinen Silver Anna Olsson + 20.0 Lina Andersson Bronze Arianna Follis + 23.8Marianna Longa
10 km individual classical interval start
19 February. A 5 km qualification for this event took place on the 18th. Organizing Committee chair Katerina Neumannová of the Czech Republic is two-time defending champion, but retired after the 2006–07 season.2005 women's 10 km official results. - accessed 17 January 2009. The top ten finishers of the 5 km event advanced to the 10 km event on the 19th.FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 cross country skiing women's 5 km qualifying results. - accessed 18 February 2009. Saarinen won her first individual gold medal as a follow-up to her relay gold medal at the previous championships in Sapporo, leading at all time marks. Longa and Kowalczyk both earned their first medals at the championships. The top three 5 km qualifiers, Smyth, Li and Kashiwabara, finished 51st, 55th, and did not start respectively.FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 women's 10 km results. - accessed 19 February 2009.
5 km qualification results Position Athlete Time 1 17:24.9 2 + 4.7 3 + 10.2
Medal Athlete Time Gold 28:12.8 Silver + 4.2 Bronze + 11.5
Pursuit 7.5 km classical + 7.5 km freestyle
21 February. Russia's Olga Zavyalova was the defending champion though she only finished 34th at this year's championship. The top three after the classical part of the event were Saarinen, Italy's Marianna Longa, and Steira, while the top three during the pit portion were Saarinen, Longa, and Valentina Shevchenko of Ukraine. Kowalczyk and Saarinen switched medal positions from the 10 km event two days earlier.FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 7.5 km + 7.5 km double pursuit results. - accessed 21 February 2009.
Medal Athlete 7.5 kmclassical time Pit time 7.5 km freestyle time Finish time Gold 21:35.8 (4) 26.2 (4) 18:53.2 (1) 40:55.3 Silver 21:34.9 (3) 26.7 (6) 18:55.2 (2) + 1.7 Bronze 21:33.7 (1) 24.5 (1) 19:05.0 (3) + 8.0
30 km freestyle mass start