TESERO, Italy (AP) — Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo used a trademark burst of speed late in the race to pull away for a sixth Olympic gold by winning the men's skiathlon Sunday at the Milan Cortina Games.
His latest win puts the 29-year-old Norwegian just two gold medals away from equaling the Winter Olympic record, and he still has five more chances to add to his haul in Italy.
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Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, of Norway, and Harald Oestberg Amundsen, also of Norway, right, compete in the cross country skiing men's 10km + 10km skiathlon at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, of Norway, and Harald Oestberg Amundsen, also of Norway, left, compete in during the cross country skiing men's 10km + 10km skiathlon at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, of Norway, poses after winning the gold medal in the cross country skiing men's 10km + 10km skiathlon at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, of Norway, poses after winning the gold medal in the cross country skiing men's 10km + 10km skiathlon at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, of Norway, approaches the finish line to win the gold medal in the cross country skiing men's 10km + 10km skiathlon at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, of Norway, and Harald Oestberg Amundsen, also of Norway, right, compete in the cross country skiing men's 10km + 10km skiathlon at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, of Norway, and Harald Oestberg Amundsen, also of Norway, left, compete in during the cross country skiing men's 10km + 10km skiathlon at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, of Norway, competes in the cross country skiing men's 10km + 10km skiathlon at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Klaebo was in the lead pack throughout and then shifted into another gear just before coming into the stadium for the final time, quickly leaving his four remaining rivals in his wake. He could cruise to the line after that to finish in a time of 46 minutes, 11 seconds, ahead of Mathis Desloges of France and Norwegian teammate Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, who were 2.0 seconds and 2.1 seconds behind.
Desloges escaped disqualification earlier in the race after skiing through the cones to cut a corner. Judges cleared him after reviewing the incident.
After leaving the rest of the pack behind, Klaebo eased up in the final meters and waved to the crowd and traveling Norway supporters before crossing the finish line at the Tesero cross-country stadium in northern Italy.
He carries the massive expectations of his cross-country mad home nation at these games after a clean sweep of all six events at last year's world championships.
“(There were) a lot of nerves before this race. And I really felt like I wanted to do well here," Klaebo said. "And my body feels good. We had good skis. And it was an amazing day.”
Klaebo won three golds at the 2018 Olympics and added two more four years ago in Beijing, but all five came in either sprint of relay events.
“It’s my first (gold) on distance race so it for sure means a lot,” he said. “I just wanted to try to stay in the pack and have some energy left for the last uphill.”
Three other Norwegians, Marit Bjoergen, Bjoern Daehlie (both cross-country skiing) and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen (biathlon) share the Winter Olympic record of eight golds.
Race challengers Edvin Anger of Sweden and Norway's Harald Oestberg Amundsen suffered falls on the icy course.
Klaebo entered as the clear favorite in the 20 kilometer skiathlon, which splits the race between classic and freestyle techniques, with athletes switching skis midway. This year marks the first Olympic Games where both men and women race an equal 20 kilometer distance, with men reducing the distance from 30 kilometers. Sweden's Friday Karlsson won the women's race on Saturday. Nyenget made the podium despite taking a knock from Savelli Korostelev of Russia who finished fourth, 3.6 seconds behind the leader, and later apologized. “I didn’t see him. I was a little surprised about it. I’m so sorry,” said Korostelev, who is competing as an independent due to a team ban on Russia.
On a good day for France, outsider Hugo Lapalus place fifth, 4.3 seconds behind the winner. Nyenget, who led the pack at the front for much of the race, said he felt great to to recover from the collision. “It’s tough to latch back onto a group of the world’s best skiers. On the plus side, I felt really strong today,” he said. “I’m a little relieved to get a medal. The course was rock hard and a little icy," Nyenget said, adding that there wasn't much to do about his star teammate.
“He’s pretty good at skiing,” he said.
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, of Norway, poses after winning the gold medal in the cross country skiing men's 10km + 10km skiathlon at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, of Norway, poses after winning the gold medal in the cross country skiing men's 10km + 10km skiathlon at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, of Norway, approaches the finish line to win the gold medal in the cross country skiing men's 10km + 10km skiathlon at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, of Norway, and Harald Oestberg Amundsen, also of Norway, right, compete in the cross country skiing men's 10km + 10km skiathlon at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, of Norway, and Harald Oestberg Amundsen, also of Norway, left, compete in during the cross country skiing men's 10km + 10km skiathlon at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, of Norway, competes in the cross country skiing men's 10km + 10km skiathlon at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The stated purpose of Israel President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australia is to support the Jewish community still reeling from an antisemitic attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach that left 15 dead. But his critics warn his presence undermines rather than repairs social cohesion frayed by the far away war in Gaza.
Protest rallies are expected to follow the president, who performs a largely ceremonial role as head of state, as he travels to Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra over four days starting Monday. Some critics demand he be arrested in Australia on suspicion of inciting genocide in Gaza.
He is the first Israeli head of state to visit Australia since Reuven Rivlin in 2020. Herzog’s father, Chaim Herzog, also visited Australia as Israel’s president in 1986.
Here’s what to know:
Within hours of two gunmen allegedly inspired by the Islamic State group launching their attack in Sydney on Dec. 14 last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, posting on social media “your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on the antisemitic fire.”
Netanyahu had been outraged by Australia’s decision four months earlier to join France, Britain and Canada in recognizing a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu has repeatedly sought to link widespread calls for a Palestinian state, and criticism of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, to growing incidents of antisemitism worldwide.
Albanese has accused Netanyahu of being “in denial” over the humanitarian consequences of war in Gaza. Netanyahu has branded the Australian a “weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews.”
Australian Jews have appealed to both leaders to restore “diplomatic norms” to a bilateral relationship that had been friendly for decades.
Albanese has made clear his government’s invitation to Herzog to make that state visit was the idea of Jewish leaders.
“President Herzog is coming particularly to engage with members of the Jewish community who are grieving the loss of 15 innocent lives,” Albanese said.
“People should recognize the solemn nature of the engagement that President Herzog will have with the community of Bondi in particular, and bear that in mind by the way that they respond over coming weeks,” he added.
Sydney-based Jewish leader Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said his community “warmly anticipates” Herzog’s arrival.
“His visit will lift the spirits of a pained community and we hope will lead to a much-needed recalibration of bilateral relations between two historic allies,” Ryvchin said.
“President Herzog is a patriot and a person of dignity and compassion and holds an office that is above party politics. He is a person who has sadly had to comfort families, police and first responders after terrorist attacks many times, and will know how to reassure and fortify our community in its darkest time,” he added.
Ryvchin is one of the Australian Jewish leaders who have accused Albanese’s center-left Labor Party government of not doing enough to curb an increase in antisemitism in Sydney and Melbourne, where 85% of Australia’s Jewish population live, since the Israel-Hamas war began in 2023.
Herzog, a former head of Israel’s centrist Labor Party, now holds a job meant to serve as a unifier and moral compass for all Israelis. A onetime rival of Netanyahu, he has good working relations with the prime minister.
Ahead of his visit, Herzog told The Associated Press that the “primary reason” for the trip was to stand with Australia’s Jewish community as the representative of all Israelis.
“From thousands of miles away in Israel, we feel the deep pain of our Jewish Australian sisters and brothers. I am coming to show them our love and support at this devastating time,” he said.
But Herzog also said the visit is an opportunity “to reinvigorate relations” between Israel and Australia.
“There is a long history of partnership between our two nations and deeply held shared values,” he said, adding that the visit “offers a chance to reignite the longstanding bipartisan support for ties between Israel and Australia.”
“I hope to be able to communicate this message of goodwill and friendship to the Australian people, and dispel many of the lies and misinformation spread about Israel over the last two years,” he said.
“This is one of the most divisive figures in the world. Bringing him to Australia will undermine social cohesion, it will not rebuild it. It will increase division, it will not bring about national unity,” Australian human rights lawyer Chris Sidoti said. Sidoti described the invitation as a ”crazy idea.”
Sidoti was one of three experts appointed by the U.N.’s Human Rights Council to an inquiry that reported in September last year that Herzog, Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had incited the commission of genocide in Gaza.
The findings carry no legal consequence and Israel has rejected genocide allegations against the country as antisemitic “blood libel.” Sidoti and other lawyers say Australian police could potentially arrest Herzog on suspicion of inciting genocide, which is a crime under Australian law as well as international law. Australian Federal Police have declined to comment.
A lawmaker in Albanese’s government, Ed Husic, said he was “very uncomfortable” with Herzog’s visit. Husic, a Muslim and vocal critic of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, said he was “concerned that a figure like that doesn’t necessarily enhance social cohesion.”
Some state government lawmakers from Albanese’s Labor Party have said they will join a protest in downtown Sydney on Monday planned by the Palestine Action Group activist organization.
"We need to send a clear message to our government and to the world … we are fundamentally opposed to this tour, which is designed to normalize genocide,” protest organizer Josh Lees said.
In response to the Bondi shooting, the New South Wales state parliament rushed through legislation increasing police powers to arrest protesters in the aftermath of a declared terrorist attack.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said a heightened police response in Sydney during Herzog's visit was necessary to ensure safety.
“We will have thousands of mourners and thousands of protesters as well as a visiting head of state all in the same city at the same time. And we've got a responsibility to keep people safe in those circumstances,” Minns said.
“Every international city anywhere in the world would apply exactly the same geographical restrictions so that the two groups don't meet and as a result there's not a major confrontation,” Minns added.
Associated Press writer Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed.
Israel's President Isaac Herzog speaks during his visit to Bondi Beach where the Dec. 2025 shooting took place, in Sydney, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Israel's President Isaac Herzog, left, speaks during his visit to Bondi Beach where the Dec. 2025 shooting took place, in Sydney, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Israel's President Isaac Herzog, right, and his wife Michal Herzog, second right, visit Bondi Beach, where a mass shooting took place in Dec. 2025, in Sydney, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
FILE - Israel's President Isaac Herzog gestures as he speaks at an event called 'In conversation with Isaac Herzog' at Chatham House in London, Sept. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, Pool, File)
