Klaebo becomes 1st athlete to win 6 golds at a Winter Games as Norway sweeps 50km mass start

TESERO, Italy (AP) — Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo completed his historic gold medal sweep of the men’s cross-country skiing events on Saturday by winning his sixth race and setting the record for the most golds by one athlete in a single Winter Olympics.

Klaebo’s victory in the 50-kilometer 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 Klaebo’s have come in team events, so Heiden’s record for individual wins still stands.

“It feels amazing,” Klaebo said. “To crown everything here with a 50K, it’s unbelievable. In Norway, we say that if you’re gonna become a man, you need to win the 50K and today we did, so it’s a perfect way to end two perfect weeks.”

The solid gold performance matched the feat he accomplished at last year's world championships in Trondheim, Norway, when he won all six events.

Klaebo’s teammates, Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, took silver, and Emil Iversen, won bronze in a Norwegian sweep.

The three Norwegians had a lead before the halfway mark and continued to build the gap on their chasers.

Nyenget drove a fast pace, trying the entire race to shake his compatriot, knowing that if he didn't he'd fall victim to Klaebo's trademark uphill sprint.

Klaebo said he was just trying to hang on and conserve energy for the finish.

Toward the end, Nyenget and Klaebo pushed uphill and dropped Iversen. Klaebo stayed in second waiting to launch his winning move.

As the two reached the final hill, Klaebo ran away from Nyenget.

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. He finished in 2:06:44.8.

Nyenget finished 8.9 seconds later and Iversen was 30.7 seconds behind.

“I went hard from the start, so I managed to get rid of everyone else, but the best," Nyenget said. “So I’m really happy about my performance, but Johannes is the king.”

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.

Five skiers, including Iivo Niskanen of Finland and Harald Oestberg Amundsen of Norway, dropped out of the race and 14 competitors were lapped.

The win extends Klaebo's record for most career Winter Olympic gold medals to 11 over three Games. The previous record had been eight, which Klaebo broke Feb. 15.

Klaebo 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, also a Winter Olympics record, though the 116 medal events this year is more than in the past.

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 15-kilometer mass start race.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Silver medalist Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, gold medalist Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo and bronze medalist Emil Iversen, all three of Norway, pose on the podium of the cross country skiing men's 50km mass start Classic at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Silver medalist Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, gold medalist Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo and bronze medalist Emil Iversen, all three of Norway, pose on the podium of the cross country skiing men's 50km mass start Classic at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, of Norway, crosses the finish line to win the silver medal, behind Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, also of Norway, in the cross country skiing men's 50km mass start Classic at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Silver medalist Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, gold medalist Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo and bronze medalist Emil Iversen, all three of Norway, pose after the cross country skiing men's 50km mass start Classic at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. . (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, of Norway, from left, Emil Iversen, of Norway, and Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, of Norway, compete in the cross country skiing men's 50km mass start Classic at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, of Norway, right, leads at the start of the cross country skiing men's 50km mass start Classic at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Theo Schely, of France, competes in the cross country skiing men's 50km mass start Classic at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, from left, Martin Loewstroem Nyenget and Emil Iversen, all three of Norway, compete in the cross country skiing men's 50km mass start Classic at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, from left, Emil Iversen and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, all three of Norway, compete in the cross country skiing men's 50km mass start Classic at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Kelly Pannek was so determined to carve out a future in hockey while still at college, the forward made the conscious decision to sacrifice offense to focus on her shutdown skills.

The choice led to Pannek becoming a U.S. national team fixture as a three-time Olympian, beginning in 2018, and establish herself as one of women's hockey's best defensive forwards.

Some eight years later, Pannek discovered she hasn’t lost her scoring touch in closing her third PWHL season with Minnesota.

In a league featuring proven offensive stars in Hilary Knight and Marie-Philip Poulin, and teammates Taylor Heise and Kendall Coyne Schofield, Pannek topped them all as the two-time defending Walter Cup champion Frost open the playoffs at Montreal on Saturday.

Pannek led the PWHL with 16 goals and a league-record 33 points, and was one assist from completing what would have been rare hockey triple crown — for men or women.

“I think more than anything, it’s reassuring and confidence-building to know that I used to be someone who was often relied on to provide offense for teams, and I still am that player,” Pannek said by phone this week. “I just needed to kind of re-find it, I guess.”

Her 33 points in 30 games this year surpassed her total production in her first two seasons, when she combined for seven goals and 27 points in 54 games.

And the offensive output didn’t hinder Pannek’s defensive play.

She finished sixth in the PWHL with a plus-13 plus-minus rating. She also won 341 of 575 faceoffs for a 59.3% success rate, third among players with 200 or more attempts.

“I don’t want to say no, because I think she’s a great player,” Frost coach Ken Klee said when asked whether he expected this much production from Pannek.

“From the beginning of the year, she seemed different. Our very first coach’s meeting, we had her in the office, and she just seemed lighter, she seemed more energetic," Klee added. “I really think she just said, ‘Hey, I’m going to play free, and if it's time to play offense, I'm going to play offense.' She's just really taken a next step.”

There are several reasons behind Pannek flipping the offensive switch.

An offseason roster shake-up caused by Minnesota losing talent in the expansion process led to Pannek realizing she was going to have to contribute more offensively.

Another factor was Pannek growing in confidence while turning 30 in December.

In her early Team USA days, Pannek stuck to defense and shied away from opening up on offense in fear of making mistakes that could cost her ice time or even her roster spot.

In the PWHL, Pannek came to realize she had more job security and, with it, the leeway to make a mistake or two over a 30-game season, as opposed to the pressure that comes with competing in two-week international tournaments where miscues are magnified.

“There’s a lot of implications with points and stuff on the line, but you also accept that you’re going to make mistakes, and goals are going to go in and it’s not life or death,” Pannek said of PWHL play. “I’ll still be on the team if I have a bad game and if I have a great game. ... So I think a lot of it was a little bit of a mentality shift.”

She's had far more good games than bad, and called this season “invigorating.”

Former U.S. star Meghan Duggan is not surprised by Pannek’s development: “She always had it in her, but it just started to come out as of late.”

What stood out to Duggan was the maturity and reliability Pannek brought to the ice even as a 22-year-old.

“Kelly Pannek is a player I would choose 10 times out of 10 to go into the biggest game with right by my side, because I know what she’s going to bring: stability, predictability, high character,” said Duggan, now the New Jersey Devils' player development director. “Kelly to me is the type of player that you win championships with, and she's done that multiple times.”

Pannek was a two-way star during her four college seasons at Minnesota, where she won two national titles and finished with 72 goals and 186 points in 157 career games. At the Olympics, she won gold in 2018 and 2026, along with a silver in 2022.

“I’ve changed as a player over these last almost eight years, but also my role has changed,” Pannek said. “I pride myself on being someone who can do any role up and down the lineup.”

Today, her sole focus is on the upcoming playoffs.

“Whatever it takes," Pannek said. “If I have zero points the rest of the playoffs and we win — it’s all about the winning.”

AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey

Minnesota Frost's Kelly Pannek (12) celebrates with teammates after her goal against the Vancouver Goldeneyes during the third period of a PWHL hockey game in Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)