Medals update: Norway win gold in Beijing 2022 cross-country skiing men’s team sprint classic
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo broke away on the final lap to give Norway gold in the men's team sprint classic with Finland storming through for the silver ahead of the ROC who claimed bronze.
Cross-Country Skiing
Superstar cross-country skier, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo stormed into the lead when it mattered in a tactically perfect race winning gold alongside teammate Erik Valnes in the men's cross-country skiing sprint classic. The pair finished in a time of 19:22.99 at the Zhangjiakou National Cross-Country Skiing Centre on Wednesday (16 February) after Klaebo took the lead in the final throes of the race.
The duo out-thought and out-paced Finland's Iivo Niskanen and Joni Maki who were delighted to claim silver in a time of 19:25.45. Niskanen would have been doubly pleased to have grabbed a medal after sister Kerttu Niskanen missed out on a medal earlier in the day in the women's event, coming fourth.
A tired-looking ROC claimed bronze despite Alexander Bolshunov pushing hard on each of his laps, to try and break free but Norway were wise to it with Bolshunov’s compatriot Alexander Terentev unable to keep the break when it came to his turn. The twosome finished third in a time of 19:27.28.
"I'm really proud, it's special to do this together as a team," said Klaebo post race. "We won the team sprint in 2018, and doing it in a different way now, different style, with a different person, it's special."
Valnes stated: "Of course it's special for me, it's my first medal in the Olympics. As Johannes said, it's always special when we are a team together. I'm really happy right now."
Finland's silver medallist, Maki said: "It was nice to get it and, well, it's quite easy with the world's best classic skier (Niskanen). I'm happy with this medal."
"It was great, a great race for us," said Niskanen. "We were wondering about (whether we would get) a medal, with the big Russians at the end. It was a strong finish from Joni. Our team is really happy about the silver medal. It is almost like a victory for us."
Meanwhile, ROC's Terentev said of his bronze medal: "We are 30% happy with this result. Everything could have turned out a lot better but it turned out as it did."