1996–97 FIS Cross-Country World Cup

The 1996–97 FIS Cross-Country World Cup was the 16th official World Cup season in cross-country skiing for men and women. The season began in Kiruna, Sweden, on 23 November 1996 and finished in Holmenkollen, Oslo, Norway, on 15 March 1997. Bjørn Dæhlie of Norway won the overall men's cup,^[1] and Yelena Välbe of Russia won the women's.^[2] Both skiers won their fifth overall World Cup.

1996–97 FIS Cross-Country World Cup
Discipline	Men	Women
Overall	Bjørn Dæhlie (5th title)	Yelena Välbe (5th title)
Long Distance	Mika Myllylä	Yelena Välbe
Sprint	Bjørn Dæhlie	Stefania Belmondo
Nations Cup	Norway	Russia
Nations Cup Overall	Norway
Competition
Locations	11 venues	11 venues
Individual	15 events	15 events
Relay/Team	6 events	7 events
←1995–96 1997–98→

Calendar

Men

C – Classic / F – Freestyle

WC	Date	Place	Discipline	Winner	Second	Third	Ref.
1	23 November 1996	Kiruna	10 km F	Bjørn Dæhlie	Jari Isometsä	Kristen Skjeldal	[3]
2	7 December 1996	Davos	10 km C	Mika Myllylä	Erling Jevne	Fulvio Valbusa	[4]
3	14 December 1996	Brusson	15 km F	Bjørn Dæhlie	Fulvio Valbusa	Kristen Skjeldal	[5]
4	18 December 1996	Oberstdorf	30 km C	Bjørn Dæhlie	Erling Jevne	Sture Sivertsen	[6]
5	4 January 1997	Kavgolovo	30 km F	Mika Myllylä	Fulvio Valbusa	Maurizio Pozzi	[7]
6	11 January 1997	Hakuba	10 km C	Silvio Fauner	Erling Jevne	Jari Isometsä	[8]
7	12 January 1997	Hakuba	15 km F Pursuit	Silvio Fauner	Giorgio Di Centa	Jari Isometsä	[9]
8	19 January 1997	Lahti	30 km C	Vladimir Smirnov	Mika Myllylä	Henrik Forsberg	[10]
FIS Nordic World Ski Championships (21 February–2 March)
9	21 February 1997	Trondheim	30 km F	Alexey Prokurorov	Bjørn Dæhlie	Thomas Alsgaard	[11]
10	24 February 1997	Trondheim	10 km C	Bjørn Dæhlie	Alexey Prokurorov	Mika Myllylä	[12]
11	25 February 1997	Trondheim	15 km F Pursuit	Bjørn Dæhlie	Mika Myllylä	Alexey Prokurorov	[13]
12	2 March 1997	Trondheim	50 km C	Mika Myllylä	Erling Jevne	Bjørn Dæhlie	[14]
13	8 March 1997	Falun	15 km C	Bjørn Dæhlie	Sture Sivertsen	Erling Jevne	[15]
14	11 March 1997	Sunne	Sprint F	Bjørn Dæhlie	Tore Bjonviken	Mathias Fredriksson	[16]
15	15 March 1997	Oslo	50 km F	Pietro Piller Cottrer	Tor Arne Hetland	Bjørn Dæhlie	[17]

Note: Until FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1999, World Championship races are part of the World Cup. Hence results from those races are included in the World Cup overall.

Women

C – Classic / F – Freestyle

WC	Date	Place	Discipline	Winner	Second	Third	Ref.
1	23 November 1996	Kiruna	5 km F	Yelena Välbe	Stefania Belmondo	Nina Gavrylyuk	[18]
2	7 December 1996	Davos	10 km C	Stefania Belmondo	Yelena Välbe	Nina Gavrylyuk	[19]
3	14 December 1996	Brusson	15 km F	Stefania Belmondo	Yelena Välbe	Nina Gavrylyuk	[20]
4	18 December 1996	Oberstdorf	10 km C	Trude Dybendahl	Bente Martinsen	Anita Moen	[21]
5	5 January 1997	Kavgolovo	15 km F	Yelena Välbe	Larisa Lazutina	Lyubov Yegorova	[22]
6	11 January 1997	Hakuba	5 km C	Stefania Belmondo	Kateřina Neumannová	Yelena Välbe	[23]
7	12 January 1997	Hakuba	10 km F Pursuit	Stefania Belmondo	Kateřina Neumannová	Yelena Välbe	[24][25]
8	18 January 1997	Lahti	15 km C	Marit Mikkelsplass	Yelena Välbe	Stefania Belmondo	[26]
FIS Nordic World Ski Championships (21 February–2 March)
9	21 February 1997	Trondheim	15 km F	Yelena Välbe	Stefania Belmondo	Kateřina Neumannová	[27]
10	23 February 1997	Trondheim	5 km C	Yelena Välbe	Stefania Belmondo	Olga Danilova	[28]
11	24 February 1997	Trondheim	10 km F Pursuit	Yelena Välbe	Stefania Belmondo	Nina Gavrylyuk	[29]
12	1 March 1997	Trondheim	30 km C	Yelena Välbe	Stefania Belmondo	Marit Mikkelsplass	[30]
13	8 March 1997	Falun	5 km F	Yelena Välbe	Stefania Belmondo	Kateřina Neumannová	[31]
14	11 March 1997	Sunne	Sprint F	Trude Dybendahl	Yelena Välbe	Bente Martinsen	[32]
15	15 March 1997	Oslo	30 km F	Stefania Belmondo	Yelena Välbe	Elin Nilsen	[33]

Note: Until FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1999, World Championship races are part of the World Cup. Hence results from those races are included in the World Cup overall.

Men's team

WC	Date	Place	Discipline	Winner	Second	Third	Ref.
1	24 November 1996	Kiruna	4 × 10 km relay C	Finland I Sami Repo Harri Kirvesniemi Mika Myllylä Jari Isometsä	Italy I Fabio Maj Silvio Fauner Sergio Piller Fulvio Valbusa	Norway I Kristen Skjeldal Anders Eide Vegard Ulvang Bjørn Dæhlie	[34]
2	8 December 1996	Davos	4 × 10 km relay C	Finland I Jari Isometsä Sami Repo Harri Kirvesniemi Mika Myllylä	Sweden Mathias Fredriksson Anders Bergström Niklas Jonsson Henrik Forsberg	Norway I Kristen Skjeldal Vegard Ulvang Anders Eide Sture Sivertsen	[35]
3	15 December 1996	Brusson	4 × 10 km relay F	Norway Egil Kristiansen Anders Eide Kristen Skjeldal Bjørn Dæhlie	Italy Maurizio Pozzi Fulvio Valbusa Gaudenzio Godioz Silvio Fauner	Sweden Mathias Fredriksson Anders Bergström Niklas Jonsson Torgny Mogren	[36]
4	18 January 1997	Lahti	Team Sprint F	Italy Maurizio Pozzi Giorgio Di Centa	Finland I Ari Palolahti Jari Räsänen	Sweden Magnus Ingesson Håkan Nordbäck	[37]
5	28 February 1997	Trondheim	4 × 10 km relay C/F	Norway Sture Sivertsen Erling Jevne Bjørn Dæhlie Thomas Alsgaard	Finland Harri Kirvesniemi Mika Myllylä Jari Räsänen Jari Isometsä	Italy Giorgio Di Centa Silvio Fauner Pietro Piller Cottrer Fulvio Valbusa	[38]
6	9 March 1997	Falun	4 × 10 km relay C/F	Norway I Sture Sivertsen Erling Jevne Kristen Skjeldal Bjørn Dæhlie	Norway II Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset Øyvind Skaanes Krister Sørgård Thomas Alsgaard	Sweden I Mathias Fredriksson Henrik Forsberg Torgny Mogren Anders Bergström	[39]

Women's team

WC	Date	Place	Discipline	Winner	Second	Third	Ref.
1	24 November 1996	Kiruna	4 × 5 km relay C	Russia I Nina Gavrylyuk Larisa Lazutina Lyubov Yegorova Yelena Välbe	Norway I Trude Dybendahl Marit Mikkelsplass Anita Moen Bente Martinsen	Russia II Svetlana Nageykina Olga Zavyalova Yuliya Chepalova Olga Danilova	[40]
2	8 December 1996	Davos	4 × 5 km relay C	Norway I Bente Martinsen Anita Moen Marit Mikkelsplass Trude Dybendahl	Russia I Nina Gavrylyuk Larisa Lazutina Lyubov Yegorova Yelena Välbe	Russia II Natalya Baranova-Masalkina Svetlana Nageykina Yuliya Chepalova Olga Danilova	[41]
3	15 December 1996	Brusson	4 × 5 km relay F	Russia I Nina Gavrylyuk Olga Danilova Lyubov Yegorova Yelena Välbe	Russia II Olga Zavyalova Svetlana Nageykina Larisa Lazutina Yuliya Chepalova	Italy Gabriella Paruzzi Sabina Valbusa Guidina Dal Sasso Stefania Belmondo	[42]
4	18 January 1997	Lahti	Team Sprint F	Italy I Sabina Valbusa Stefania Belmondo	Russia I Nina Gavrylyuk Yelena Välbe	Norway I Anita Moen Trude Dybendahl	[43]
5	28 February 1997	Trondheim	4 × 5 km relay C/F	Russia Olga Danilova Larisa Lazutina Nina Gavrylyuk Yelena Välbe	Norway Bente Martinsen Marit Mikkelsplass Elin Nilsen Trude Dybendahl	Finland Riikka Sirviö Tuulikki Pyykkönen Kati Pulkkinen Satu Salonen	[44]
6	9 March 1997	Falun	4 × 5 km relay C/F	Russia I Olga Danilova Larisa Lazutina Nina Gavrylyuk Yelena Välbe	Norway Bente Martinsen Trude Dybendahl Elin Nilsen Maj Helen Sorkmo	Finland Tuulikki Pyykkönen Riikka Sirviö Kati Pulkkinen Satu Salonen	[45]
7	16 March 1997	Oslo	4 × 5 km relay F	Russia I Olga Danilova Nina Gavrylyuk Svetlana Nageykina Yelena Välbe	Norway I Anita Moen Elin Nilsen Marit Mikkelsplass Trude Dybendahl	Italy Gabriella Paruzzi Lara Peyrot Sabina Valbusa Stefania Belmondo	[46]

Men's standings

Overall Rank after all 15 events Points 1 Bjørn Dæhlie 845 2 Mika Myllylä 580 3 Fulvio Valbusa 523 4 Erling Jevne 488 5 Silvio Fauner 447 6 Jari Isometsä 363 7 Kristen Skjeldal 351 8 Sture Sivertsen 345 9 Vladimir Smirnov 309 10 Alexey Prokurorov 290

Long Distance Rank after all events Points 1 Mika Myllylä 235 2 Bjørn Dæhlie 210 3 Vladimir Smirnov 193 4 Pietro Piller Cottrer 124 5 Erling Jevne 116 6 Mathias Fredriksson 106 7 Fulvio Valbusa 102 8 Sture Sivertsen 100 9 Alexey Prokurorov 93 10 Maurizio Pozzi 82

Sprint Rank after all events Points 1 Bjørn Dæhlie 448 2 Fulvio Valbusa 335 3 Silvio Fauner 320 4 Erling Jevne 256 5 Kristen Skjeldal 241 6 Jari Isometsä 238 7 Mika Myllylä 165 8 Sture Sivertsen 155 9 Sami Repo 140 10 Henrik Forsberg 137

Women's standings

Overall Rank after all 15 events Points 1 Yelena Välbe 940 2 Stefania Belmondo 909 3 Kateřina Neumannová 525 4 Nina Gavrylyuk 518 5 Olga Danilova 414 6 Bente Martinsen 391 7 Marit Mikkelsplass 367 8 Larisa Lazutina 366 9 Trude Dybendahl 334 10 Lyubov Yegorova 271

Long Distance Rank after all events Points 1 Yelena Välbe 340 2 Stefania Belmondo 280 3 Nina Gavrylyuk 205 4 Marit Mikkelsplass 167 5 Olga Danilova 162 6 Larisa Lazutina 136 7 Elin Nilsen 109 8 Kateřina Neumannová 99 9 Lyubov Yegorova 96 10 Bente Martinsen 95

Sprint Rank after all events Points 1 Stefania Belmondo 489 2 Yelena Välbe 472 3 Kateřina Neumannová 321 4 Bente Martinsen 232 5 Trude Dybendahl 225 6 Nina Gavrylyuk 203 7 Fumiko Aoki 162 8 Olga Danilova 142 9 Lyubov Yegorova 135 10 Larisa Lazutina 130

Achievements

Victories in this World Cup (all-time number of victories as of 1996/97 season in parentheses)

Men  Bjørn Dæhlie (NOR), 7 (37) first places  Mika Myllylä (FIN), 3 (3) first places  Silvio Fauner (ITA), 2 (3) first places  Vladimir Smirnov (KAZ), 1 (29) first place  Alexey Prokurorov (RUS), 1 (8) first place  Pietro Piller Cottrer (ITA), 1 (1) first place

Women  Yelena Välbe (RUS), 7 (44) first places  Stefania Belmondo (ITA), 5 (15) first places  Trude Dybendahl (NOR), 2 (6) first places  Marit Mikkelsplass (NOR), 1 (1) first place