Source : ABC NEWS
Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo completed his historic gold medal sweep of the men’s cross-country skiing events by winning his sixth race and setting the record for the most golds by one athlete in a single Winter Olympics.
Klæbo’s victory in the 50-kilometre 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 Klæbo’s have come in team events, so Heiden’s record for individual wins still stands.
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo passed America’s Eric Heiden’s (pictured) record of five gold medals set at the 1980 Games. (Getty Images)
“It feels amazing,” Klæbo said. “To crown everything here with a 50K, it’s unbelievable. In Norway, we say that if you’re gonna become a man, you need to win the 50K and today we did, so it’s a perfect way to end two perfect weeks.”
The solid gold performance matched the feat he accomplished at last year’s world championships in Trondheim, Norway, when he won all six events.
Klæbo’s teammates, Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget, took silver, and Emil Iversen won bronze in a Norwegian sweep.
The three Norwegians had a lead before the halfway mark and continued to build the gap on their chasers.
Four of Klæbo’s golds at these Olympics have come in individual events, meaning he still trails Heiden in that department. (Getty: Lars Baron)
Nyenget drove a fast pace, trying the entire race to shake his compatriot, knowing that if he didn’t, he’d fall victim to Klæbo’s trademark uphill sprint.
Klaebo said he was just trying to hang on and conserve energy for the finish.
Toward the end, Nyenget and Klæbo pushed uphill and dropped Iversen. Klæbo stayed in second waiting to launch his winning move.
As the two reached the final hill, Klæbo ran away from Nyenget.
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo of Norway is the greatest Winter Olympian of all time after winning his 11th career gold medal. (Getty: Lars Baron)
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. He finished in 2:06:44.8.
Nyenget finished 8.9 seconds later and Iversen was 30.7 seconds behind.
“I went hard from the start, so I managed to get rid of everyone else, but the best,” Nyenget said. “So I’m really happy about my performance, but Johannes is the king.”
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 US skier was Gus Schumacher, who won a silver in a team relay, in 13th place.
Five skiers, including Iivo Niskanen of Finland and Harald Oestberg Amundsen of Norway, dropped out of the race and 14 competitors were lapped.
The win extends Klæbo’s record for most career Winter Olympic gold medals to 11 over three Games. The previous record had been eight, which Klæbo broke on February 15.
Only American swimming icon Michael Phelps owns more Olympic gold medals than Klæbo. (Marco Pakoeningrat – Flickr – (CC BY-SA 2.0))
Klæbo has the second-most Olympic golds overall behind only US swimming great Michael Phelps, who 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, also a Winter Olympics record, though the 116 medal events this year is more than in the past.
The country set the record on Friday for the most gold medals won by a nation at a single Winter Olympics when biathlete Johannes Dale-Skjevdal won the 15-kilometre mass start race.
AP
