TESERO, Italy — Friday the thirteenth will likely be remembered as a fortunate day for Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo. Norway’s cross-country snowboarding star gained an eighth gold medal on the Milan Cortina Olympics on Friday, tying the Winter Video games report.
Klaebo, 29, claimed victory within the males’s 10-kilometer interval‑begin race for his third gold on the 2026 Video games.
Will three races nonetheless forward of him, Klaebo shares the report with three different Norwegian athletes who’ve all retired: Marit Bjoergen and Bjoern Daehlie in cross-country snowboarding and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen within the biathlon.
Klaebo once more gained important floor on the ultimate hill and clocked 20 minutes, 36.2 seconds, exhibiting uncommon indicators of fatigue as he collapsed on the end line of the race thought of to be his hardest problem.
He was 4.9 seconds forward of France’s Mathis Desloges and 14 in entrance of his predominant challenger, Einar Hedegart, additionally of Norway, who misplaced momentum on the final hill.
“It is a big day,” Klaebo stated. “This one means lots for certain. … I am misplaced for phrases.”
The Norwegian stated he was pleased along with his techniques, racing the primary half of the course with a managed tempo, saving vitality for a burst up the final hill and residential stretch.
“It was actually arduous on the market right this moment, so I am very proud,” he stated.
Over on the French camp, athletes and workforce officers celebrated as if they’d gained the race, linking arms and dancing on the snow after underdog Desloges gained his second silver medal in his first Olympics.
“I skilled extremely arduous for these races,” Desloges stated. “I advised individuals I used to be at this stage, and now we’re delivering.”
The 23-year-old Frenchman, like many different high racers within the interval begin, was largely unaware of his place in the course of the race.
“I do not actually take note of what’s being shouted from the sidelines,” he stated. “Truthfully, I do not take heed to them. I simply concentrate on my race. I do know what I’ve to do, and I give it all the pieces.”
On a blue-sky day in northern Italy, with the racetrack surrounded by the snow-capped Dolomite mountains, temperatures hovered round 40 levels Fahrenheit. A couple of racers selected to compete sporting solely their race bibs.
Organizers had handled the course with salt Thursday to harden the floor however left it untouched Friday — a choice that favored Klaebo, who began early among the many seeded skiers.
Celebrations had been led by Norwegian followers as nationwide flags — crimson with a blue cross outlined in white — had been draped over athletes and the railing on the spectators’ space. Klaebo’s grandfather, Kare Hoesflot, who helped launch his profession, traveled to northern Italy to look at the race, whereas messages of congratulations poured in from again house, the place cross-country snowboarding is a prime-time sport.
“One other present of energy from Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo. What a efficiency in a thriller of a race! Congratulations on gold quantity three in these Olympics!” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere wrote on social media.
