2026 Olympic Cross-Country Skiing: Biggest stories from Milan Cortina, highlights, replays, medal results, top athletes, new records

The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics will be synonymous with Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo’s historic six gold medals, similar to how the 2008 Beijing Olympics are with Michael Phelps' eight gold medals.

There were six men’s cross-country events at these Olympics — the skiathlon, 4x7.5km relay, 10km free, sprint classic, team sprint free, and 50km mass start — and Klaebo won them all. He leaves Italy as the winningest athlete in the history of the Winter Olympic Games.

At the beginning, his Olympic quest seemed ambitious. But each time Klaebo started a race, his skiing and strategy surpassed expectations. From viral uphill sprints, to flipping the script on races he has historically struggled with, to confidently skiing past the finish line, he did it six times over.

As Klaebo became the cross-country skiing G.O.A.T, the men of Team USA stunned with not one, but two silver medal performances to end the men’s 50-year medal drought. On the women’s side, the most-decorated U.S. female cross-country skier, Jessie Diggins, gave one last run in the pain zone for a bronze before she retired.

Below are all the winners and stories from the 12 cross-country skiing events at the Milan Cortina Winter Games:

**Milan Cortina Olympics:**
**Cross-County Skiing Medal Table**
Country	Gold- Silver- Bronze	Total
Norway	7-2-5	14
Sweden	5-4-1	10
France	0-3-0	3
USA	0-2-1	3
Switzerland	0-1-1	2
Italy	0-0-2	2
Finland	0-0-1	1
Germany	0-0-1	1

“King Klaebo” dominates men's cross-country skiing

This was a historic Winter Olympics for Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, who dominated the men's cross-country skiing events by winning all six gold medals on offer.

With those victories, Klaebo became the first athlete to win six gold medals at single Winter Olympics. His 11 career gold medals are the most of any Winter Olympian ever. Only Michael Phelps (23 gold medals) has more.

Men’s Skiathlon

🥇 Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, Norway
🥈 Mathis Desloges, France
🥉 Martin Loewstroem Nyenget of Norway

RECAP: Norway's Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo wins sixth career gold medal, first in skiathlon

RESULTS
FULL REPLAY

Men’s 10km Free

🥇 Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, Norway
🥈 Mathis Desloges, France
🥉 Einar Hedegart, Norway

RECAP: 'King Klaebo' climbs to summit of Winter Olympics, ties all-time gold medal record

RESULTS
FULL REPLAY

Men’s 4x7.5km Relay

🥇 Team Norway
🥈 Team France
🥉 Team Italy

RECAP: 'King Klaebo' crowned Winter Olympics royalty with nine gold medals as Norway wins relay

RESULTS
FULL REPLAY

Men’s 50km Mass Start Classic

🥇 Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, Norway
🥈 Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, Norway
🥉 Emil Iversen, Norway

RECAP: Klaebo endures 50km, achieves historic 6-for-6 gold medal Games

RESULTS
FULL REPLAY

U.S. men end 50-year medal drought

In the build-up to the Olympics, the men’s U.S. team was moving toward the podium. But from the outside, the silver medals won at these Games were unexpected.

Using his experience in the race format, Ben Ogden sprinted his way to silver in the men’s sprint classic. It was the first time in 50 years, since Bill Koch won silver in the 30km classic, that a U.S. man had won a cross-country skiing medal.

That momentum poured over into the men’s team sprint, where Ogden teamed up with longtime friend Gus Schumacher to earn another silver medal. At that point in the Games, Schumacher's performance had him in the middle of the pack, so commentators were shocked when he towed behind the legendary Klaebo.

The takeaway from the men’s cross-country team: Watch out in 2030.

Men’s Sprint Classic

🥇 Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, Norway
🥈 Ben Ogden, USA
🥉 Oskar Opstad Vike, Norway

RECAP: Ben Ogden ends 50-year cross-country medal drought for U.S. men; Klaebo gold in sprint

RESULTS
FULL REPLAY

Men’s Team Sprint Free

🥇 Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, Einar Hedegart, Norway
🥈 Ben Ogden, Gus Schumacher, USA
🥉 Elia Barp, Federico Pellegrino, Italy

RECAP: Klaebo catapults to 10th gold medal; U.S. men climb to first-ever silver in cross-country skiing team sprint free

RESULTS
FULL REPLAY

Diggins battles to bronze while injured

What a final Winter Olympics for Jessie Diggins, who has forever left a mark on U.S. cross-country skiing.

In the skiathlon, which kicked off the women’s cross-country events, she crashed and tumbled to fall out of contention for a medal. Just days later, she raced again in the sprint classic, revealing to reporters she had bruised her ribs in that race. In true Diggins fashion, she made an epic comeback skiing through pain and perseverance to claim an individual bronze in the women’s 10km free.

In her last two races, Diggins showed the world how to retire with glitter and grit. She had one last run with her friend Julia Kern in the team sprint, the event in which Diggins won the first U.S. gold medal in cross-country skiing alongside Kikkan Randall in 2018. For her Olympic finale, Diggins finished 5th in the first-ever women’s 50km race contested at the Winter Olympics.

Women’s 10km Free

🥇 Frida Karlsson, Sweden
🥈 Ebba Andersson, Sweden
🥉 Jessie Diggins, USA

RECAP: Jessie Diggins' dramatic dash earns bronze for U.S. in women's 10km free

RESULTS
FULL REPLAY

Sweden dominates women's cross-country podiums

The Swedish women were serious contenders at the Milan Cortina Games, winning gold in five out of six woman’s cross-country events. Linn Svahn, Jonna Sundling, and Maja Dahlqvist swept the podium in the women’s sprint classic with unbeatable strength and speed. At least one Swedish skier was on the podium in every single women's event.

In the women’s 4x7.5km relay, the team rallied to silver with the skiing prowess of Jonna Sundling after Ebba Andersson tumbled twice on the slushy course. Andersson too redeemed herself by winning gold in the 50km race that closed out the cross-country events in Italy.