10 kilometres (Freestyle), Men

With gold medals already at Milano-Cortina in the sprint and the skiathlon, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo was an overwhelming favorite for gold in the 10 kilometre mass start. He had won this race at the 2025 World Championships, but it was not as easy as expected. Klæbo was only in 12th place at the first checkpoint, and his teammate Einar Hedegart led at the second and third checkpoints, although Johannes had moved into second by then. But Hedegart had little left for the last kilometre and would fall back to third. Klæbo won fairly easily in the final metres, leading France’s fast-closing [Mathis Desloges] by almost five seconds, as Desloges took silver, with the fastest final kilometre at 2:02.5. With Harald Amundsen and Martin Nyenget finishing fourth and fifth, Norway had the 1-3-4-5 finishers.

The gold medal was the third for Klæbo at Milano-Cortina but, more importantly, it was his eighth Olympic gold medal, equalling the record for the Winter Olympics held jointly by three other Norwegians – cross-country skiiers Marit Bjørgen and Bjørn Dæhlie and biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen. It was also Klæbo’s 10th Olympic medal in total.

Desloges would end the 2026 Winter Olympics with three silver medals, all by finishing behind Klæbo, while Hedegart would win two gold medals in Trentino, both accompanied by Klæbo, in the team sprint and the men’s relay.