Russia has triumphed in the 50 km freestyle mass start race. Alexander Legkov, Maxim Vylegzhanin and Ilia Chernousov swept the entire set of medals of the Olympic mass start. In the final meters they broke away from the main contenders and snatched victory from the overall leader, Norwegian Martin Johnsrud Sundby.
Alexander Legkov finished the race with a final time of 1 hour, 46 minutes, 55.2 seconds and won the title of Olympic champion.
Maxim Vylegzhanin won the silver medal, crossing the finish line 0.7 seconds after Legkov. Ilia Chernousov secured the bronze medal with time 0.8 seconds behind the leader.
Thus, the Russian skiers strengthened Russia's lead in the medal count: right now Russia has 12 gold medals, 11 silver and 9 bronze, an all-time record for the country in the number of gold medals as well as the total number of medals.