Norway breaks record for most gold medals won in a single Winter Olympics

The Norwegian team broke theirs gold medal record in a single Winter Olympics when Johannes Dale-Skjevdal reached his 20 goals in the 15-kilometre mass start biathlon race and skied his way to gold. It was Norway’s 17th gold medal in the Milan Cortina Winter Games.

Norway set the previous record at the 2022 Beijing Olympics with 16 gold medals.

Dale-Skjevdal had taken the lead after the first clean-shot standing bout and completed the five laps on freshly compacted snow amid gusty winds in 39 minutes and 17.1 seconds. His teammate, Sturla Holm Laegreid, only missed one goal and finished 10.5 seconds behind to take silver, his fifth medal in these Olympic Games.

Philipp Horn of Germany only missed one shot on his final shot and left the field in third place, but Quentin Fillon Maillet of France, who missed four that day, chased Horn and passed him up a big hill, taking him to the finish line to win bronze, 25.6 seconds behind Dale-Skjevdal.

Fillon Maillet, who was on the gold medal-winning team in the mixed relay and men’s relay, also won gold in the sprint.

Only the top 30 biathletes compete in the mass start race, based on World Cup ranking and Olympic performance. They ski five 3-kilometer loops, shooting twice in a prone position and twice while standing.

Currently, Norway leads the medal table with 37, including 17 gold. Team USA is in second place with 27 medals (9 gold) and host Italy rounds out the top three with 27 medals.

The Norwegian Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo is the one who has won the most gold medals at the Milan Cortina Games. The 29-year-old came into the games with five gold medals and added five more to his tally. He is now the second most decorated gold medalist in Olympic history after American Michael Phelps.