The women's 50 kilometre classical competition in cross-country skiing at the 2026 Winter Olympics was held on 22 February, at the Cross country and biathlon center Fabio Canal in Tesero. This was the first time women's 50 kilometre, of any style, had been contested at the Olympics. The distance replaced the women's 30 kilometre, contested previously.
Ebba Andersson of Sweden won the event which became her first Olympic gold medal, after getting silver medals at all distance events at these Olympics. Heidi Weng of Norway won the silver medal, and Nadja Kälin of Switzerland won bronze.
Background The 2022 champion, Therese Johaug, retired from competitions. The 2022 silver medalist, Jessie Diggins, and the bronze medalist, Kerttu Niskanen, qualified for the event. Diggins was leading both overall and distance standings of the FIS Cross-Country World Cup before the Olympics. Frida Karlsson was the 2025 world champion in the 50 km freestyle. This was the last women's event in the cross-country skiing at the 2026 Olympics.
Karlsson, who had won the 10 kilometre freestyle and 20 kilometre skiathlon golds previously at these Olympics, had to withdraw from the 50 km race due to a cold. Team sprint gold medalist Jonna Sundling also had to refrain from participating due to a cold, and sprint gold medalist Linn Svahn had previously left after falling ill.
Summary Ebba Andersson won gold with a two-minute margin to silver medalist Heidi Weng. Andersson fell once at the ski exchange, but quickly recovered. Bronze medalist Nadja Kälin finished 6:41 minutes after Andersson.Sweden's Andersson claims decisive victory in cross-country 50km classic race Reuters. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
Qualification
Results The race was started at 10:00.
Rank Bib Name Country Time Deficit 3 Ebba Andersson 2:16:28.2 6 Heidi Weng 2:18:43.5 +2:15.3 13 Nadja Kälin 2:23:09.7 +6:41.5 4 9 Kristin Austgulen Fosnæs 2:23:12.1 +6:43.9 5 1 Jessie Diggins 2:23:14.6 +6:46.4 6 4 Teresa Stadlober 2:23:23.9 +6:55.7 7 8 Kerttu Niskanen 2:23:27.2 +6:59.0 8 21 Eliza Rucka-Michałek 2:23:47.6 +7:19.4 9 12 Katharina Hennig Dotzler 2:25:16.4 +8:48.2 10 15 Emma Ribom 2:25:18.6 +8:50.4 11 18 Patrīcija Eiduka 2:25:42.1 +9:13.9 12 31 Cloé Pagnier 2:27:52.1 +11:23.9 13 30 Keidy Kaasiku 2:28:54.3 +12:26.1 14 2 Karoline Simpson-Larsen 2:29:30.3 +13:02.1 15 19 Rosie Brennan 2:29:30.8 +13:02.6 16 23 Anna Comarella 2:31:01.4 +14:33.2 17 32 Jasmine Drolet 2:31:34.1 +15:05.9 18 34 Sandra Schützová 2:31:38.8 +15:10.6 19 35 Hailey Swirbul 2:32:09.7 +15:41.5 20 25 Kaidy Kaasiku 2:33:32.0 +17:03.8 21 16 Krista Pärmäkoski 2:33:38.5 +17:10.3 22 37 Sophia Tsu Velicer 2:34:01.5 +17:33.3 23 27 Masae Tsuchiya 2:34:23.9 +17:55.7 24 28 Barbora Havlíčková 2:34:32.5 +18:04.3 25 26 Sonjaa Schmidt 2:34:44.7 +18:16.5 26 29 Kendall Kramer 2:35:00.4 +18:32.2 27 20 Katherine Stewart-Jones 2:36:35.1 +20:06.9 28 38 Amelia Wells 2:36:47.9 +20:19.7 29 24 Rosie Fordham 2:38:30.6 +22:02.4 30 36 Teesi Tuul 2:39:07.5 +22:39.3 31 39 Nadezhda Stepashkina 2:40:22.6 +23:54.4 32 33 Justine Gaillard 2:45:17.7 +28:49.5 33 41 Chi Chunxue 34 44 Neža Žerjav 35 40 Anna Melnik 36 42 Dinigeer Yilamujiang 37 43 Wang Yundi 38 45 He Kaile 5 Astrid Øyre Slind 11 Johanna Matintalo 14 Dariya Nepryaeva 7 Frida Karlsson 10 Jonna Sundling 17 Katherine Sauerbrey 22 Julie Pierrel
References