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Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo completed his historic gold medal sweep of the men’s cross-country skiing events on Saturday by winning his sixth race and set the record for the most golds by one athlete in a single Winter Olympics.
Klæbo’s victory in the 50-kilometre mass start race shattered the nearly 50-year record set by American speed skater Eric Heiden, who won five golds in the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics.
All of Heiden’s wins were in individual races and two of Klæbo’s have come in team events, so Heiden’s record for individual wins still stands.
Klæbo said he was overwhelmed with emotions crossing the finish line and couldn’t describe how he felt after repeating the feat he accomplished at last year’s world championships in Trondheim, Norway, when he won all six events.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “It still feels really good to race, and I’m always looking forward to going out there and fighting for the medal.”
WATCH | Klæbo celebrates another historic win:
Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo wins record 6th gold medal at a single Winter Olympics
Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo swept the cross-country skiing events by winning the men’s 50-kilometre mass start race, as he becomes the first athlete to win six gold medals at a single Winter Games.Teammates in awe
Klæbo’s teammates, Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, took silver, and Emil Iversen, won bronze in a Norwegian sweep.
“I’m starting to believe maybe he is a machine,” Nyenget said of Klæbo, who sprinted uphill past him at the end to win in his trademark fashion. “It’s close to impossible to beat him in the finish.”
The three Norwegians broke out to an early lead and then continued to build the gap on their chasers.
In the final lap, Nyenget and Klæbo pushed uphill and dropped Iversen. Klæbo stayed in second waiting to launch his winning move.
As the two reached the final hill, Klæbo literally ran away from Nyenget and was bound for glory.
As he glided toward the finish, he pointed his fingers toward the sky, took one stride across the line, toppled over on his right hip and rolled onto his back.
France’s Theo Schely finished fourth, nearly three minutes back and Savelii Korostelev, a Russian competing as an individual neutral athlete, finished fifth at 3:38.3 back.
The highest-placed U.S. skier was Gus Schumacher, who won a silver in a team relay, in 13th place.
The win extends Klæbo’s record for most career Winter Olympic gold medals to 11 over three Games. The previous record had been eight, which Klæbo broke Feb. 15.
Klæbo has the second-most Olympic golds overall. U.S. swimming great Michael Phelps has 23.
The win gave Norway a record 18th gold medal and further increased their lead in the total medal count in these games to 40 overall.
The country set the record Friday for the most gold medals won by a nation at a single Winter Olympics when biathlete Johannes Dale-Skjevdal won the 15km mass start race.