‘Amazing!’ – Klaebo sets record for most golds won at a single Winter Olympics
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, Norway’s king of cross-country skiing, broke the record for the most gold medals won at a single Winter Olympics with his sixth of the Games.
Klaebo led a Norwegian sweep of the podium in the 50km mass start classic, with team-mates Martin Loewstroem Nyenget and Emil Iversen taking silver and bronze respectively.
The 29-year-old finished the brutal distance in two hours six minutes 44.8 seconds, 8.9secs ahead of Nyenget who takes his third medal of the Games.
“It’s been crazy, it’s a dream come true,” Klaebo told BBC Sport.
“I really think this Olympics has been perfect. Being able to crown the Olympics with the 50km was unbelievable.”
Klaebo breaks the previous record of five golds from a single Games, held by American speed skater Eric Heiden since the Lake Placid Olympics of 1980.
It also extends his own record for most Winter Olympic golds to 11, while he becomes the first athlete to win all six cross-country events at one Games.
Only US swimming great Michael Phelps, who won 23 gold medals, has more Olympic titles to his name.
Born in Oslo, Klaebo moved to Trondheim – a haven of cross-country skiing trails – as a young child, a move that has seen him become the greatest to ever do the sport.
No other man, active or retired, comes close to his record of 116 World Cup wins, while he is also a 15-time world champion, winning all six titles at last year’s edition on home snow in Trondheim.
“After the world championships last year, we knew that it was possible, but to be able to do it, it’s hard to find the right words,” he told reporters.
“[There were] so many emotions when I’m crossing the finish line.”
His sixth Olympic gold at Milan-Cortina adds to the titles he had won earlier in the Games in the skiathlon, sprint classic, 10km interval start free, 4×7.5km relay and the team sprint.
Musgrave ‘still young and promising’ at fifth Olympics
Andrew Musgrave made his Olympic debut at Vancouver 2010
Elsewhere in the race, Team GB’s Andrew Musgrave placed sixth, almost four minutes behind Klaebo’s winning time, while team-mate Joe Davies was 16th.
Musgrave, 35, is appearing at his fifth Olympics – but did not rule out a sixth in four years’ time.
“I’m still young and promising,” Musgrave joked to BBC Sport.
“It was a decent Games. I came in good shape, but not quite good enough to fight the Norwegians, they’re just so dominant at the moment.”
It marks the end of a remarkable Olympics for Great Britain’s cross-country team, in which Musgrave and James Clugnet recorded a fifth-place finish in the team sprint event, the nation’s best Olympic result in the sport.
That bettered Musgrave’s sixth in the 10km interval start freestyle, while Anna Pryce recorded a best British women’s result at an Olympics with her 32nd place in the sprint classic.
“We’ve had the best ever women’s Olympic result, best ever men’s Olympic result, best ever team result.
“Joe is still young and up and coming, he’s doing super good, fighting for top 10s, so the whole team is just showing that we work well together, we’ve got a good programme.
“We’ve had limited resources but we can still show that we can do good results.”
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