Norway's Johannes Høsflot Klæbo Has Chance to Stand Alone as Most Golden Winter Olympian

Cross country legend notches his eighth Olympic gold medal.

Cross country legend Johannes Klaebo notched his eighth Olympic gold medal on Friday morning. | Michel Cottin/Agence Zoom/Getty Images

Stop us if you've heard this one before. Norway's Johannes Høsflot Klæbo outclassed his competition to capture a gold medal on Friday morning at the Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium.

This time the unstoppable force displayed his remarkable talent in the men's 10km freestyle. Mathis Desloges of France won silver and Klaebo's Norweigan teammate, Einar Hedegart, took bronze.

It's becoming routine at this point but the inevitability should not take away from what is beginning to feel like unmatched history.

The gold is Klæbo's eighth of a storied Olympic career. And he's not done. Friday's triumph marked the third victory for the skier at the Milan Cortina Games with three more opportunities to add to that record-tying total.

Klæbo is currently tied with three other champions from Norway—Marit Bjørgen, Ole Einar Bjørndalen and Bjørn Dæhlie. He could soon stand alone and has an honest chance to move his gold total into double-digits to create what could be an unbreakable mark.

He will go for sole possession of the record as he competes in the team relay on Sunday and has another chance in the team sprint free next Wednesday. His final Olympic event is the men's 50km classic on Saturday, Feb. 21.

If that weren't enough, Klæbo has already provided one of the most viral videos of these Games with an unbelievably impressive ascent made uphill on skis quicker than most could run.

Sub-six-minute mile pace uphill on skis: #WinterOlympics SPEED. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/trof9rs4zf

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) February 10, 2026

Most Winter Olympics Gold Medals

Athlete	Country	Sport	Gold Medals
Johannes Klaebo	Norway	Cross country	8
Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Norway	Biathalon	8
Marit Bjørgen	Norway	Cross country	8
Bjørn Dæhlie	Norway	Cross country	8
Tobias Arlt	Germany	Luge	7
Tobias Wendl	Germany	Luge	7
Ireen Wüst	Netherlands	Speed skating	6
Lyubov Yegorova	Russia	Cross country	6

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