Cross-Country - Men's Sprint Free - 2014 Winter Olympics

 Ola Vigen Hattestad

Gold Medal

Norway

 Ola Vigen Hattestad (born 19 April 1982) is a Norwegian cross country skier who has competed since 2002. Competing in two Winter Olympics, he earned his best finish of fourth in the individual sprint event at Vancouver in 2010.

Hattestad has 11 individual World Cup victories, all in the sprint events. He also won the 2007–08 and 2008–09 World Cup in the sprint discipline and finished third in the overall 2008–2009 world cup.

Hattestad won two gold medals at the 2009 world championships, earning them in the individual and team sprint events. Having ranked sixth in the qualifying round, Hattestad progressed through the quarter finals and semi finals by winning each round, eventually taking the title ahead of fellow Norwegian Johan Kjølstad. The subsequent day, the two of them teamed up for the team sprint and won another gold medal.

He was initialy not qualified for the Norwegian team at the Sochi Olympics, but this changed before the opening individual sprint, where he emerged victorious after the fastest prologue, and winning the quarterfinal, semifinal and final.

 Andrew Newell

18th Place

U.S.A.

Andrew "Andy" Newell (born November 30, 1984) is an American cross-country skier who has been competing on the international level since 2001.

His best individual finish at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships was fifth in the sprint at the 2007 championships in Sapporo. Newell's best individual finish at the Winter Olympics was 16th in the sprint at Turin in 2006. In March, 2006, Newell won a bronze medal in a World Cup sprint race in Changchun, China. The medal was the first in just over 20 years for an American Nordic skier. Newell has a total of twenty one individual sprint victories at various levels since 2001, including his first National Championship in January, 2007, at Houghton, MI.

Results in 2007–2008 season include: 2008 US National Sprint Champion, 4th place World Cup Kuusamo Finland, 2nd place World Cup Lahti Finland.

Andrew Newell was born in Bennington, Vermont. He attended the Stratton Mountain School for several years, where his career as a ski racer began to flourish. After completing his High School degree and some post-grad work at Stratton, Newell went on to join the US Ski Team, which he still competes for today.

He also does cinematography as a hobby, and is the owner of a film company called 'X Ski Films.' Newell is known as one of the most talented persons on cross-country skis, as he demonstrates as a star in his own films. Among Newell's most noteworthy accomplishments in the XSki world are huge backflips on his skinny skis, 720's, and a radar-clocking (by the Vermont State Police) of over 50 mph.

It was announced on 19 January 2010 that Newell had qualified for the 2010 Winter Olympics where he earned his best finish of ninth in the team sprint.

He is represented by Arluck Promotions, a sports agency based in South Beach.