Johannes Klaebo wins 50km classic to clinch record sixth Milano-Cortina gold

TESORO – Johannes Klaebo led a Norwegian podium sweep in the men’s 50km mass start classic cross-country race on Feb 21 to claim his sixth gold of the Milano-Cortina Games and break the record for most titles at a single Winter Olympics.

Victory on Feb 21 for “King Klaebo”, as fans call him, breaks US speed skater Eric Heiden’s record of five gold medals from the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York.

Klaebo joins two other athletes to have won all of their events at a single Winter Olympics – Heiden in 1980 and Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjorndalen, who won four in Salt Lake City in 2002.

It was the 11th career gold for the 29-year-old, giving him the most Olympic titles behind US swimmer Michael Phelps, who has 23.

“It’s unbelievable. After (winning) 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,” the Norwegian said after the race.

Klaebo was part of a trio of Norwegian skiers that broke away from the pack early in the race as Martin Lowstrom Nyenget pushed the pace and seemed poised to challenge for gold.

Klaebo tore away, however, on the final climb of the competition, charging up the same hill where he has stranded competitors for other races at these Games.

“There are choices to make and we’ve made all the right choices this year. Mentally, I’ve been in a better place than I was last year and I have a lot of fun racing out there now,” he said.

Nyenget won silver, finishing 8.9 seconds behind Klaebo, and the bronze went to Emil Iversen, who held with his teammates for much of the race but ended 30.7sec behind the lead.

“It’s unreal what we have done today. We got away from everybody else and we were the three strongest skiers in the world. I am one of those three,” said Iversen.

Fourth-placed Theo Schely of France finished nearly three minutes behind Klaebo.

While Klaebo closed the race with a comfortable lead, he collapsed at the finish line in an unusual show of exhaustion for the skier who has dominated all six cross-country skiing men’s events at these Games.

Norway’s Harald Ostberg Amundsen and Finland’s Iivo Niskanen, who had been in the front pack early on and were seen as medal contenders, dropped out on an uphill climb around the 37-minute mark of the race with about 15km completed.

Niskanen had been dealing with an illness all week, while Amundsen said a sickness before the Games hurt his performance.

“When I noticed I’m not going skiing for medals today, I figured it’s time to come to my senses so that I don’t kill myself out there,” Niskanen said after dropping from the race.

Olympic medallists Federico Pellegrino of Italy and Ben Ogden of the US also did not race due to illnesses.

In Bormio, French world champions Emily Harrop and Thibault Anselmet won the inaugural Olympic ski mountaineering mixed relay title after leading from the first lap.

Switzerland’s Marianne Fatton and Jon Kistler took the silver 11.86sec behind, with Spanish duo Ana Alonso Rodriguez and Oriol Cardona Coll bagging bronze.

In Anterselva, Oceane Michelon of France stormed through the last lap to win gold in a spine-tingling, nerve-jangling biathlon women’s 12.5km mass start race. Michelon’s compatriot Julia Simon took silver while Czech Tereza Vobornikova rounded off the podium.

REUTERS, AFP