Klaebo becomes first athlete to win six golds at Winter Games

Johannes Hoesflot klaebo set a new Winter Games benchmark on Saturday, capturing his sixth gold medal at a single Olympic Winter Games with a victory in the men’s 50 kilometre cross country mass start classical. The win, posted in a time of two hours, six minutes, 44. 8 seconds, also gives him the record for the most total medals by an athlete at a single Winter Games and raises his career Olympic haul to 13.

Klaebo sets six-gold record

The decisive result came in the marathon-format 50 km mass start classical, where he finished in 2: 06: 44. 8. Martin Lowstrom Nyenget of Norway took silver and Emil Iversen of Norway earned bronze, completing a Norwegian sweep of the podium in that event.

Events that produced the six golds

The six gold medals were earned across sprint and distance events at the same Games. His victories include the men’s 10 kilometre freestyle, the 20 kilometre skiathlon, the individual sprint, the team sprint (alongside Einar Hedegart) and the men’s 4×7. 5 km relay (with Iverson, Nyenget and Hedegart), in addition to the 50 km mass start classical.

Record context and career totals

The six golds are a single-Games Winter Olympic record for most gold medals, and the six total medals at this Games also set the mark for most medals by one athlete at a single Winter Games. Klaebo now has 13 Olympic medals overall: three golds from the 2018 Games and four medals from the 2022 Games (two gold, one silver and one bronze).

How this ranks among multi-medal performances

For historical comparison, one Winter Games athlete previously won five golds in a single Winter Olympics. On the Summer Games side, one athlete won eight golds at a single edition, and at least one competitor recorded eight medals at a single Summer Games on multiple occasions; another athlete from earlier Games also posted eight medals in one edition. Those figures help underline the scale of the new Winter Games single-Games mark.

Key takeaways:

• Klaebo set two records at these Games: most golds and most total medals by one athlete at a single Winter Games.
• His 50 km time was 2: 06: 44. 8, and Norway swept the podium in that event.
• His Olympic medal count now stands at 13, built across three Winter Games.

The new records change the single-Games ledger for Winter Olympic achievement and further distinguish his multi-Games consistency. The sequence of wins across sprint and distance formats underlines the breadth of his performance at these Games.