Klaebo ties Winter Games gold record

TESERO, Italy, Feb. 13 – Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won the men’s 10km freestyle cross-country race at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Friday to earn his eighth career gold medal and tie the Winter Games record, Reuters reported.

Mathis Desloges of France took silver and Norway’s Einar Hedegart won bronze, with Desloges finishing 4.9 seconds behind Klaebo and Hedegart 14 seconds back, according to NBC Olympics.

Record-tying moment

Klaebo, 29, now shares the all-time Winter Olympic gold mark with fellow Norwegians Marit Bjoergen, Bjorn Daehlie and biathlete Ole Einar Bjorndalen, and Friday’s win was his third gold of these Games, the AP reported.

It was his first Olympic title in a 10km interval-start skate race, and he said the victory felt special after years without a major win at that distance in freestyle technique, NBC Olympics wrote.

Conditions and tactics

Warm temperatures around 6 degrees Celsius (about 43 Fahrenheit) softened the track and made early start times valuable as conditions deteriorated, Reuters reported.

Organizers opted not to salt the course Friday, a choice that favored seeded skiers who went off earlier and helped Klaebo’s controlled, fast finish up the final climb, the AP noted.

What it means

Hedegart, a biathlete who shifted to cross-country and was considered a top challenger, said he felt dizzy over the last two kilometers as he faded to bronze, according to Channel News Asia.

Klaebo still has three races remaining in Milan Cortina, giving him a chance to move past the record he now shares, the AP reported.

BBC Sport’s live coverage highlighted Klaebo’s record-equalling eighth gold as one of the headline results on day seven of the Games, BBC wrote.

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