Norwegian cross-country skier Johannes Klaebo wins eighth gold, ties record for Winter Olympic titles

TESERO – Norwegian cross-country skier Johannes Klaebo won the men’s 10km freestyle interval race on Feb 13 to earn his eighth Olympic title and equal the record for the most gold medals at the Winter Games.

Mathis Desloges of France won silver, his second of these Olympics, while Norway’s Einar Hedegart won the bronze.

The victory was the 29-year-old’s third of these Games and tied the Norwegian skier with three of his compatriots – fellow cross-country skiers Marit Bjorgen and Bjorn Daehlie and biathlete Ole Einar Bjorndalen – on eight gold medals overall.

“Today is one of the toughest races we’ve done, and everyone was completely exhausted when we crossed the finish line,” said Klaebo, who won his first three Olympic golds at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and two more at the 2022 Beijing Games.

“For me, today was really hard. I tried to open with control and at the end there it was really hard. This is my first time winning a 10k in interval style skating.”

Hedegart, a biathlete who switched his focus to cross-country skiing and was considered one of Klaebo’s biggest challengers, came close to taking victory, but lost steam on a climb in the final section of the race.

He ended up third, 14 seconds behind the winner, with Desloges 4.9 seconds adrift. “I’ve never experienced this kind of dizziness. I was so dizzy the last two kilometres and I had nothing left in the tank, so it was just pain and suffering,” Hedegart said.

“In the last 200m, I didn’t know if I was going to make it to the finish line, and even though it was only downhill I was so scared that I would pass out.”

While others still hope for a chance to beat Klaebo, some say he may be untouchable at these Olympics. “He’s going to take all six golds at the Olympics, I’m 99 per cent sure about that,” said Andrew Musgrave of Britain, who finished sixth.

Skiers faced another day of warm weather, with temperatures hitting over 6 deg C, prompting some to forgo their tops and wear only a race bib. Those starting earlier had an advantage as conditions deteriorated over the course of the race, causing several skiers to crash when going downhill.

Course officials decided against salting the track to make the snow more compact, as they had done the previous day for the women’s 10km freestyle event. 

In Livigno, Josie Baff of Australia secured the gold in the women’s snowboard cross ahead of Czech Eva Adamczykova, who took silver on Feb 13. The bronze went to Michela Moioli of Italy. 

After fighting through the qualifying rounds on the 1.1km course, Baff sat in second place through much of the final race before surging into the lead by the midway point. The 23-year-old claimed her first Olympic medal in front of Australian fans who cheered and waved inflated kangaroos on the side of the mountain.

She jumped up and down on the podium and waved to the crowd. Adamczykova added to her medal collection after winning gold at Sochi 2014 and bronze at Pyeongchang 2018. Moioli, who took gold in Pyeongchang, kissed her medal and wiped away tears.

Meanwhile, Quentin Fillon Maillet of France hit all 10 of his shots and blazed through the final lap to win gold in the men’s 10km sprint on Feb 13 in a time of 22 minutes 53.1 seconds.

Norway’s Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen powered through the last stretch to snatch the silver from compatriot Sturla Holm Laegreid, who had to be content with his second bronze of the Games following his third place in the men’s 20km individual race.

In overnight action, Dutch skaters doubled up in the short track on Feb 12 as Xandra Velzeboer took the women’s 500m gold and compatriot Jens van ’t Wout snatched the men’s 1,000m crown in a tight finish.

Velzeboer, who had set a world record in the semi-finals, denied reigning champion Arianna Fontana a hat-trick in the event, as the Italian had to settle for silver. Canadian Courtney Sarault came third.

Van ’t Wout pipped China’s Sun Long and South Korean Rim Jong-un, who finished second and third respectively.

In Livigno, US snowboarding superstar Chloe Kim said she was proud of her “baby” after South Korean teenager Choi Ga-on dethroned her as Olympic women’s halfpipe champion. Japan’s Mitsuki Ono took bronze.

Meanwhile, Germany maintained their grip on the Olympic luge team relay when they took gold for the fourth Games in a row since it was introduced in 2014.

The top seeds were clear winners ahead of Austria and Italy, who won both doubles golds on Feb 11.
AFP, REUTERS