“I’m starting to believe maybe he is a machine.” Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget was not alone in his assumption on the final weekend of an Olympics that has belonged to Johannes Høsflot Klæbo. Nyenget had as good a view as anyone of his fellow Norwegian’s sixth gold medal of the Games in the 50km mass start.
It was not until the final uphill slope that Klæbo landed the killer blow. Nyenget had stayed with him until then and admirably fended off a couple of attacks on the final lap of the 7.2km course. It was inevitable, though, that when push came to shove, Klæbo would find another gear. “It’s close to impossible to beat him in the finish,” said Nyenget, who could only laugh as crossed the line for silver and Emil Iversen completed a Norway one-two-three.
Nobody had won six gold medals at a Winter Olympics before this. Over the course of 14 days, across six events, he has skied 93.5km cross-country. But not for the first time, having swept all six events at last year’s world championships. His puffing competitors lined up to label him the greatest of all time in Tesero. “Johannes could probably have gone backwards faster than me up the last hill,” said Great Britain’s Andrew Musgrave. And he finished sixth.
Marit Bjørgen, the legendary Norwegian cross-country skier who tops the all-time Winter Olympic medal table with 15, only ever managed three golds in one Games. Klæbo can not be blamed for losing count of his tally – “Is it 14 or something?” – he is actually still two away from Bjørgen.
Norway leave the mountain sides of Tesero with 13 cross-country medals in total. Only France can match that sort of dominance on a sport with 13 of their own in the biathlon, the 23-year-old Océane Michelon leaving it late to claim the women’s mass start title on Saturday. “If you are not at the finish line it’s not finished,” she said after she burst past Tereza Vobornikova of the Czech Republic in the closing stages. France’s Julia Simon surged to silver.
If you combine speed skating and short track, the Netherlands have put together a campaign like no other in these Games. Jorrit Bergsma, at 40, had such a lead on the final straight of the men’s mass start that he cranked himself out of his crouched racing position to wave to the crowd and punch the air as he crossed the finish. He skates with the No 13 on his helmet. “One week ago I won a bronze medal on Friday the 13th,” he said. “And today I win with No 13. It is like magic for me.”
Jordan Stolz, who was racing to become the first American man in 32 years to win three golds in one Games, got left behind in the pack after Bergsma launched an early assault. His coach, Bob Corby, was not best pleased. “The stupidest race I’ve ever seen in my life,” he said. “The whole peloton decided: ‘Well, let’s race for the bronze medal.’ So dumb.” Marijke Groenewoud followed Bergsma’s victory with the Netherlands’ 20th medal in speed skating/short track – and a 10th gold.
Heated Rivalries: Canada’s curlers have last laugh
Canada’s run to the men’s curling final has not been short on controversy. It has simmered down a bit since their sweary altercation with Sweden after being accused of cheating in the round robin but they became the team spectators loved to hate. The likes of Brad Jacobs and Marc Kennedy kept their cool in Saturday’s final against Great Britain, the skip delivering the final stone on a decisive three-point ninth end. Jacobs led the team the last time Canada won gold in 2014, also against Team GB.
As it stands
‘King Klæbo’ has contributed a third of Norway’s record gold haul. By himself, he would break into the medal table’s top 10.
1 🇳🇴 Norway 🥇 18 🥈 11 🥉 11 – Total: 40
2 🇺🇸 United States 🥇 11 🥈 12 🥉 9 – Total: 32
3 🇳🇱 Netherlands 🥇 10 🥈 7 🥉 3 – Total: 20
4 🇮🇹 Italy 🥇 10 🥈 6 🥉 14 – Total: 30
5 🇫🇷 France 🥇 8 🥈 9 🥉 6 – Total: 23
– – –
11 🇨🇦 Canada 🥇 5 🥈 6 🥉 9 – Total: 20
14 🇦🇺 Australia 🥇 3 🥈 2 🥉 1 – Total: 6
15 🇬🇧 Great Britain 🥇 3 🥈 1 🥉 0 – Total: 4
Picture of the day
Further reading from the Guardian
What to look out for today
Times are all in local time in Milan and Cortina. For Sydney it is +10 hours, for London it is -1 hour, for New York it is -6 hours and San Francisco it is -9 hours.
Bobsleigh – 10am, 12.15pm🏅: It’s a German lockout on the podium after the first two heats. Can Britain’s Brad Hall muscle in during the final two heats?
Cross-country skiing – 10am🏅: A gruelling finish to the programme with the women’s 50km mass start classic, lasting over two hours.
Freestyle skiing – 10.40am🏅: Postponed from Saturday due to bad weather, the women’s freeski halfpipe final sees GB’s Zoe Atkin go for gold against the defending champion Eileen Gu.
Curling – 11.05am🏅: Switzerland take on Sweden in the women’s gold-medal match from Cortina. Canada won bronze on Saturday.
Ice hockey – 2.10pm🏅: Canada and USA do battle in a blockbuster men’s final in Milan on the final afternoon of the Games. The Americans are searching for their first gold since the ‘Miracle on Ice’ in 1980.
Closing ceremony – 8.30pm 🏟️: The Games come to an end with a spectacular ceremony from Verona’s Roman amphitheatre where the baton will be passed to the French Alps, the host region for the 2030 Olympics.
The last word
Dreams do come true. It will take some time for me to realise what has happened – an emotional Federico Tomasoni of Italy looks to the sky after winning silver in the men’s ski cross. He races with a sun on his helmet in tribute to Matilde Lorenzi, who he was in a relationship with at the time of her death aged 19 in October 2024. Lorenzi, who represented Italy at the junior world ski championships, died of her injuries after a crash on the slopes in South Tyrol. Tomasoni’s family launched the ‘Matildina4Safety’ project to promote safety in skiing. “You will always be my sun,” he wrote at the time of her death.
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