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TESERO, Italy — Johannes Høsflot Klæbo powered away in the closing stages to win the men’s 50-kilometer cross-country race Saturday, claiming his sixth gold medal to complete the most dominant individual performance in Winter Olympics history.
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The 29-year-old Norwegian now holds the outright lead for gold medals won in a single Games, with six, passing U.S. speedskater Eric Heiden. He won every race he entered, mirroring his achievement at last year’s World Championships in his home city of Trondheim, cementing himself as the greatest cross-country skier in history.
Saturday’s race was another display of Klæbo’s superiority over the field, outlasting Norwegian teammates Emil Iversen and Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget on the final lap to win in 2 hours, 7 minutes and 4 seconds.
Klaebo leads fellow Norwegians Harald Østberg Amundsen and Emil Iversen during Saturday’s race. (Anne-Christine Poujoulat / AFP via Getty Images)
The trio led for virtually the entire race with Nyenget setting the pace, knowing his sprint was not as good as Klæbo’s.
However, Klæbo made the decisive move with five kilometres remaining, first shedding his close friend Iversen, before sprinting past Nyenget on the final hill.
Nyenget took silver and Iversen bronze, ensuring Norway swept the podium.
“It’s hard to find the words,” Klæbo said post-race. “It’s unbelievable. After the world champs last year, we knew that it was possible, but to be able to do it, it’s hard to find the right words (to describe it), and (there were) so many emotions when I’m crossing the finish line.”
An 11-time Olympic champion, Klæbo holds more golds than any other winter athlete, and lies second only to swimmer Michael Phelps (23) within the Olympic movement.
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The only race in which the Norwegian was significantly pushed was last week’s 10km freestyle, a time-trial format which Klæbo has openly said he finds mentally challenging. Those struggles have proved relative, however, as teammate Einar Hedegart faded in the final kilometres to allow Klæbo Olympic gold in a rare event that he had not previously medalled in.
His other gold medals came in the 20km skiathlon, individual sprint, 4×7.5km relay, and team sprint.
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This was Norway’s 18th gold of the Milan Cortina Games, extending their record for a single Winter Olympics. Klæbo is responsible for a third of them.
Gus Schumacher of the U.S. finished 13th, having won a silver medal in the team sprint earlier this week, while Great Britain’s Andrew Musgrave finished an impressive sixth.
Ben Ogden, Schumacher’s U.S. teammate who already has two silver medals from sprint events in these Olympics, withdrew pre-race with a cold, a major impediment in such an aerobic sport.
The final event remaining on the cross-country schedule is Sunday’s women’s 50km race. Sweden’s Frida Karlsson is the overwhelming favourite, but her team have announced she has reported her own cold symptoms. It will also mark the last Olympic race of Jessie Diggins’ career, who is set to retire at the end of the season, and maintains an outside shot at a medal.