NORDIC SKIING

If Lake Placid doesn't get a major snowfall soon, the cross-country courses will be abbreviated to 25 kilometers of gentle terrain under man-made snow. Distances will stay the same—the racers will go round and round—but the steeper ups and downs will be limited. Nevertheless, the best racers should still win. Finland's Juha Mieto and Norway's Oddvar Bra are in top form, as ever, facing only one mystery: because the Soviets never compete internationally before an Olympics, nobody knows what they're up to—although normally their women's team is unbeatable. America's Bill Koch seeks an upset in the 15-K, in which he beat Mieto once this season. In the jumps, Austria, East Germany and Finland hold hot hands, but Jim Denney of the U.S. could be our ace in the sky.

SKI JUMPING

70-METER

JOCHEN DANNEBERG East Germany
HANSJÖRG SUMI Switzerland
JIM DENNEY U.S.A.

90-METER

HUBERT NEUPER Austria
PENTTI KOKKONEN Finland
HARALD DUSCHEK East Germany

NORDIC COMBINED

UWE DOTZAUER East Germany
ULRICH WEHLING East Germany
URBAN HETTICH West Germany

BIATHLON

10 KILOMETERS

FRANK ULLRICH East Germany
TERJE KROGSTAD Norway
YVON MOUGEL France

20 KILOMETERS

KLAUS SIEBERT East Germany
ODD LIRHUS Norway
ALEXANDR TIKHONOV U.S.S.R.

4-X-7.5-KILOMETER RELAY

EAST GERMANY
U.S.S.R.
NORWAY

CROSS-COUNTRY

MEN

15 KILOMETERS

JUHA MIETO Finland
ODDVAR BRA Norway
NIKOLAI BAZHUKOV U.S.S.R

30 KILOMETERS

ODDVAR BRA Norway
THOMAS WASSBERG Sweden
SERGEI SAVELYEV U.S.S.R.

50 KILOMETERS

YEVGENY BELYAYEV U.S.S.R.
SVEN-AKE LUNDBÄCK Sweden
ODDVAR BRA Norway

4-x-10-KILOMETER RELAY

NORWAY
U.S.S.R.
SWEDEN

WOMEN

5 KILOMETERS

RAISA SMETANIA U.S.S.R.
GALINA KULAKOVA U.S.S.R.
HILKKA RIIHIVUORI Finland

10 KILOMETERS

GALINA KULAKOVA U.S.S.R.
ZINAIDA AMOSOVA U.S.S.R.
KVETA JERIOVA Czechoslovakia

4-x-5-KILOMETER RELAY

U.S.S.R.
EAST GERMANY
NORWAY

PHOTO

Going for gold at 15 kilometers, Juha Mieto of Finland races boldly—and always bare-handed.

ILLUSTRATION