Norway entered the Opening Ceremony with high hopes.
Klaebo Winter Champion Supreme
by Philip Barker
It was appropriate that the last gold medal of Milano Cortina 2026 should be awarded to Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo.
He led Norway to a clean sweep of medals in the 50 kilometres cross-country mass start which not only confirmed Norway’s status as the most successful nation of the Games but gave Klaebo his sixth Olympic gold at the same Games.
Previously, American speedskater Eric Heiden had held the record with five golds at the 1980 Lake Placid Games.
“It’s a lot of sacrifices, but on the other hand, when you’re starting to feel that it’s sacrifices, I think it’s time to find something else to do.” Klaebo said.Klaebo’s first gold had come in the 20km skiathlon on the first day of cross-country competition.
He had been in the pack for much of the race but made his surge at the beginning of the final loop to draw away from his rivals and achieved a winning margin of two seconds.
Two days later he won sprint gold by a margin of +0.87 seconds over silver medallist Ben Ogden of the USA.
Many of his rivals had viewed the 10km interval freestyle race as the best opportunity to defeat Klaebo but once again he proved invincible.
Mathis Desloges of France took silver, 4.9 seconds behind Klaebo.
“It’s been like a dream to be just five seconds behind the best skier in the world of all time,” he told Reuters news agency.
The 4×7.5 km relay provided a further opportunity for gold.
Team mate Einar Hedegart jokingly suggested an ideal Norwegian quartet for the race. “I think his honest opinion is to pick Johannes on the first leg, Johannes on the second leg, Johannes on the third leg and Johannes on the fourth leg.”
Sure enough, it was Johannes who brought Hedegart, Emil Iversen and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget home to gold.
This broke the record for Winter Olympic gold medals in a career, held by Klaebo’s Norwegian compatriots Bjorn Daehli and Marit Bjørgen in cross-country and biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen.
Klaebo was still not finished. He combined with Hedegart to take the men’s team sprint.
He had thus become the first Winter Games athlete to reach double figures in gold.
The grand finale came in the marathon 50km mass start by a margin of 17.4 seconds over Norwegian teammates Nyenget and Iversen though for much of the race, the trio were locked together.
Klaebo now has 11 Olympic gold medals, more than anyone else Summer or Winter. Only one man has a superior record, one Michael Phelps.
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