TESERO, Italy — Johannes Klaebo led Norway to victory in the men’s cross-country team sprint on Wednesday to win his fifth gold of the Milan Cortina Games and 10th career Olympic title, while Sweden’s women extended their domination of the sport with another gold.
The U.S. men’s team won silver, their second of these Games to end a 50-year medal drought in cross country skiing, while Italy took bronze. On the women’s side, Switzerland took silver and Germany bronze.
Klaebo’s victory on Wednesday, which he clinched alongside teammate Einar Hedegart, ties him with U.S. speedskater Eric Heiden’s record five golds in a single Winter Games.
He already had surpassed the record for most titles at all Winter Olympics with his win in the men’s relay. He now has the most Olympic gold medals ever behind U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps.
“It’s crazy. It’s hard to find words for it. It feels unreal actually,” Klaebo said.
France was a podium contender ahead of the race but suffered a series of setbacks after three-time silver medalist Mathis Desloges broke his ski poles twice, leaving the team in 12th place.
Norway held a commanding lead for most of the contest, leaving Gus Schumacher from the U.S. and Italian Federico Pellegrino to battle it out for silver.
Schumacher put on a strong chase against Klaebo up a final hill, but ultimately finished 1.37 seconds behind.
“You make a plan for the tactics. The one tactical plan we made today was a bad one, so we had to improvise from there,” Schumacher said after the race while standing with teammate Ben Ogden, who won a silver in the classic sprint earlier in the Games.
Italy’s bronze is the second for Pellegrino, who was third in the men’s relay and said these will be his final Olympics.
For the women, Jonna Sundling and Maja Dahlqvist led Sweden to the country’s fourth gold medal in cross-country skiing at these Olympics, finishing 1.4 seconds ahead.
“We did the race as we wanted. It’s one thing to say you want to do it one way, but it can be very difficult to handle it out there,” said Sundling.
Switzerland took silver in that race, as anchor Nadine Faehndrich surged away from a chasing group in the final lap, while Germany won bronze – the first medal in cross-country skiing during these Games for those countries.
The Americans, led by medal hopeful Jessie Diggins, had to settle for fifth place.
–Reuters, special to Field Level Media
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