Joahnnes Hoesflot Klaebo and Einar Hedegart won a massive gold medal for Norway on Wednesday at Milan Cortina 2026 as the Team USA men trailed shortly behind to earn the country's first-ever medal in the event. 

Klaebo earned his incredible fifth gold medal of the Milan Cortina Winter Games, and his tenth medal overall as Norway crossed in 18 minutes, 28 seconds. Americans Gus Schumacher and Ben Ogden chased down silver just 1.4 seconds behind and Italians Elia Barp and Federico Pellegrino placed 3rd, 3.3 seconds behind. 

“It’s insane," Ogden said about taking his second silver medal in Italy. "Man, we proved today and all week we are here to stay and the USA guys are in good form, so it was awesome."

In the women’s event, the Swedes skied to success with a time of 20 minutes, 29 seconds. Team Switzerland claimed silver and Germany captured bronze. The United States Jessie Diggins and Julia Kern raced to 5th, 11.54 seconds behind Sweden.

In a stunning finish, the Team USA men claimed their second silver medal of the games after not winning a cross-country skiing medal for 50 years. 

The men were on fire from the start. Schumacher and Ogden had the quickest qualifying time ahead of the commanding Norwegian team. 

In the first lap of the finals, the 15 skiers were caught in a group that Klaebo tried to ski out off and the U.S. fell to 13th. At the end of the third exchange, Schumacher climbed the team back to 7th and tucked into a nice position. Meanwhile, Pellegrino, who is one of the fastest in the field, hung around in the top of the pack.

In the last leg of the race, Ogden moved the team from 12th to chasing Norway and Italy at the front. When he was done with the surge, he tagged Schumacher in second. From there, Schumacher was on Klaebo's heels and made the legend work to stay out front. In true Klaebo fashion, he created his gap on the uphill, where he is unmatched thanks to unflinching precision.

"Then in the last lap, everyone was at full speed," Klaebo said. "It could’ve been a harder race but for me it was perfect, and I had some power left at the end." 

From the back of the pack to the front, Schumacher matched Klaebo with an energy to keep the U.S. in silver medal position. For Italy, Pellegrino carved out a lead on the outside and blew past Sweden for bronze on home snow. 

“I had to show up today and believe I could do it, look at Klaebo’s butt and lock in and follow that to the finish line. I did it and I’m really proud of it," Schumacher said. 

FULL RESULTS

🥇 Norway
🥈 United States
🥉 Italy

In Diggins last team sprint event at the Olympics, she and Kern skied their way to a 5th-place finish. 

In the first leg of the race, Diggins pulled the U.S. from 7th position to 1st. At the end exchange, a bunched-up group was hard for the skiers to navigate and avoid trouble. From the traffic, Diggins led in front as Sweden's Jonna Sundling matched her pace with composure. 

Sundling was able to create an advantage for the Swedes, while Diggins kept the U.S. in the mix. As the race went on the Swedish gap winded with Maja Dahlqvist at the helm and Kern leading the U.S. chase. 

In the final leg of the race, Sweden led by a margin of about 10 seconds, while the fight for silver and bronze began between Finland, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, and the U.S. Switzerland's Nadine Faehndrich powered from behind to push Finland out and followed Dahlqvist to silver. In the home stretch, Germany's Coletta Rydzek pushed past the U.S. and used all her power to get past Norway to bronze. 

“I tried to do my race, to focus on myself and go as fast as I could," Faehndrich said after the race. "I was always looking in front of me to try to get in the fight for the gold. I left all I had on the track.”

Sweden has won gold in four of five the women's cross-country events at Milan Cortina. This was Switzerland and Germany's first cross-country medal at these games.  For the U.S., this finish was equivalent to the finish in Beijing 2022 when the race was in classic technique. 

"It was really important, because Maja and I did this event at Beijing 2022 and were second, so to win this race was incredible," Sundling said. "It felt really nice and safe to be skiing with Maja. It was really fun."

In an unexpected moment during the women’s qualifications, a dog appeared on the course to run across the finish line with two skiers. The announcers called it a “canine calamity” and aired the dog’s photo finish. 

FULL RESULTS

🥇 Sweden
🥈 Switzerland
🥉 Germany