SARAJEVO, Yugoslavia -- Nikolai Zimiatov of the Soviet Union, using a visor which he borrowed from an American TV commentator to keep swirling snow out of his eyes, successfully defended his Olympic 30-kilometer championship Friday by winning the gold medal in one hour, 28 minutes and 56.3 seconds.
Bill Koch of Eugene, Ore., the silver medalist in this event at the 1976 Olympics and a bronze medalist at the 1982 World Championships, tied Canada's Pierre Harvey for 21st place, the best American finish.
Koch, who is coming back from a recurrent bout of sinus problems, said he was pleased with his race, calling it 'certainly my best this season. It's been a slow year for me and, especially with these conditions, this easily was my best race.
'I know a lot of people are going to be disappointed about no American medal, but I gave it my best and we've got three more races.'
Dan Simoneau, also of Eugene, was 29th, Jim Galanes of Brattleboro, Vt., was 36th, and Kevin Brochman of Stillwater, Okla., was 48th.
Zimiatov, a triple gold medalist four years ago at the Lake Placid Olympics, led from start to finish despite the driving wind and a snowstorm which has pelted the course for more than a day, dropping more than a foot of snow.
Soviet skiers took three of the top four places with Alexander Zavialov, the defending World Cup king, taking the silver medal in 1:29.23.3 and Vladimir Sakhnov placing fourth.
Gunde Swan of Sweden earned the bronze, finishing third with a time of 1:29.35.7 and Finland's Aki Kaervonen rounded out the top five.
Zimiatov, 28, said he was surprised by the weather but not by his performance. 'It was a very tough course because of the snow. I did not expect it to be this bad,' he said through an interpreter. 'The hardest part was the last kilometer because I was tired and the snow was getting heavy.'
Zimiatov said he had learned during the middle of the race that, skiing from the last spot in the 72-man field, he was gaining time on everyone, so he felt he had a strong shot at winning the gold medal. In addition to taking the 30-km gold at Lake Placid, the lithe runner won the l5-km race and anchored the winning relay.
He explained that after his dominating performance at Lake Placid, he was sick for two years but began training more than a year ago with an eye toward another strong Olympic showing.
'I was concentrating on being ready for Sarajevo,' he said.
Officials had debated shortly before the race whether to run it or postpone it because of the storm which arrived 24 hours earlier, shortly after the women's 10-km race. When the five-member jury elected to go ahead, it sent skiers and coaches scrambling to complete wax testing and try to arrange something to combat the driving snow.
Zavialov's wife, a member of the Soviet women's team, approached Jack Turner, the expert commentator for ABC-TV on cross-country skiing, and asked where she could get a visor like his for her husband. Turner tried to point her toward two sources, but when she came up empty, he untaped his own from his ski hat and gave it to her.
Later, he asked with a grin, 'Does this mean my visor won a gold medal?'
Swan, who won his last two races a year ago and won one of the two World Cup races this season (Zimiatov won the other), agreed that the race got tougher at the end.
'I did my best and I thought I had a chance for the silver, but it was not to be,' the Swede said.
Zimiatov, Zavialov, Swan and Sakhnov were 1-2-3-4 at every checkpoint. Zimiatov had a 17-second lead at the seven-km mark, led by 20 seconds halfway through the race and by 45 seconds at 22 kilometers. Svan and Zavialov made their run at him over the last quarter of the race, but it was too little, too late.
Koch started slowly and skied into the race. He was 29th at seven kilometers but moved up to 21st by the midpoint and stayed there while Harvey caught up with him during the last kilometer.
The victory boosts Zimiatov into second place in the World Cup standings with 52 points. Swan climbed into the top spot with 62 points.
