India’s Stanzin Lundup, representing the Indian Army, completed the men’s 10km interval start freestyle cross-country skiing event at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics on Friday, finishing 104th out of 113 competitors.
Competing at the Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium, Lundup clocked 28 minutes, 26.7 seconds (28:26.7), trailing gold medalist Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo of Norway by 7 minutes, 50.5 seconds.
Klaebo claimed his eighth Winter Olympic gold with a time of 20:36.2, equalling the record held by compatriots Ole Einar Bjorndalen and Bjorn Daehlie, as well as Marit Bjorgen. France’s Mathis Desloges (20:41.1) won silver, while Norway’s Einar Hedegart (20:50.2) secured bronze.
The men’s 10km interval start freestyle is a time-trial event, where athletes start 30 seconds apart and race against the clock over a course with uphill, downhill, and flat sections. The skier with the fastest time is declared the winner. Lundup started 111th among the 113 competitors.
The 27-year-old marks India’s fifth cross-country skier at the Winter Olympics. Previous Indian representatives include Bahadur Gurung Gupta (78th, 2006), Tashi Lundup (83rd, 2010), and Nadeem Iqbal (85th) and Jagdish Singh (99th) in 2014 and 2018, respectively.
Lundup earned India’s quota spot through his performance at last year’s FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Norway and was selected by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for the Milano Cortina Games.
India’s campaign at the 2026 Winter Olympics concludes on Monday, with Mohammad Arif Khan competing in the men’s slalom alpine skiing event. This will be Arif Khan’s second Winter Games appearance, having previously represented India in slalom and giant slalom at Beijing 2022.
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