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02/21 07:11 CST Klaebo becomes 1st athlete to win 6 golds at a Winter Games as
Norway sweeps 50km mass start
Klaebo becomes 1st athlete to win 6 golds at a Winter Games as Norway sweeps
50km mass start
By BRIAN MELLEY
Associated Press
TESERO, Italy (AP) --- Norway's Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo completed his historic
gold medal sweep of the men's cross-country skiing events on Saturday by
winning his sixth race and setting the record for the most golds by one athlete
in a single Winter Olympics.
Klaebo's victory in the 50-kilometer mass start race shattered the nearly
50-year record set by American speed skater Eric Heiden, who won five golds in
the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics.
All of Heiden's wins were in individual races and two of Klaebo's have come in
team events, so Heiden's record for individual wins still stands.
Klaebo said he was overwhelmed with emotions crossing the finish line and
couldn't describe how he felt after repeating the feat he accomplished at last
year's world championships in Trondheim, Norway, when he won all six events.
"It's unbelievable," he said. "It still feels really good to race, and I'm
always looking forward to going out there and fighting for the medal."
Klaebo's teammates, Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, took silver, and Emil Iversen,
won bronze in a Norwegian sweep.
"I'm starting to believe maybe he is a machine," Nyenget said of Klaebo, who
sprinted uphill past him at the end to win in his trademark fashion. "It's
close to impossible to beat him in the finish."
The three Norwegians broke out to an early lead and then continued to build the
gap on their chasers.
In the final lap, Nyenget and Klaebo pushed uphill and dropped Iversen. Klaebo
stayed in second waiting to launch his winning move.
As the two reached the final hill, Klaebo literally ran away from Nyenget and
was bound for glory.
As he glided toward the finish, he pointed his fingers toward the sky, took one
stride across the line, toppled over on his right hip and rolled onto his back.
France's Theo Schely finished fourth, nearly three minutes back and Savelii
Korostelev, a Russian competing as an individual neutral athlete, finished
fifth at 3:38.3 back.
The highest-placed U.S. skier was Gus Schumacher, who won a silver in a team
relay, in 13th place.
The win extends Klaebo's record for most career Winter Olympic gold medals to
11 over three Games. The previous record had been eight, which Klaebo broke
Feb. 15.
Klaebo has the second-most Olympic golds overall. U.S. swimming great Michael
Phelps has 23.
The win gave Norway a record 18th gold medal and further increased their lead
in the total medal count in these games to 40 overall.
The country set the record Friday for the most gold medals won by a nation at a
single Winter Olympics when biathlete Johannes Dale-Skjevdal won the
15-kilometer mass start race.
___
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
