Team Sprint (Freestyle), Men

Norway was a heavy favorite, led by Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, who had already won four gold medals in Trentino, and his partner Einar Hedegart, who had won bronze in the 10 km and helped Klæbo win the men’s relay. Norway had won the World Championships in the event in 2019, 2021, 2023, and 2025, all with Klæbo on the team, and had won the two World Cup team sprints in the 2025/26 season.

Qualifying was a shocker as Hedegart stood only 25th after the opening leg, but Klæbo had by far the fastest closing split to bring Norway to second place. What was also shocking was who won the qualifying – the United States. Never a cross-country ski power, they were led by Ben Ogden, who had won silver in Trentino in the sprint behind Klæbo, and he was partnered by Gus Schumacher. Fifteen of the 27 teams advanced to the final round, with Italy placing third and Switzerland fourth.

The final was six legs of the sprint course, three by each of the two team skiiers. What was interesting is that Hedegart and Klæbo never had the fastest split on any of the six legs. The opening leg was led by Italy’s Elia Barp, but Norway moved into first place after the second exchange, as Hedegart started his second effort. They were never headed, remaining in first to take another Norwegian gold medal.

As the skiiers began their third legs, Italy was in second and Sweden in third, but it was in a large group. The United States stood 12th but was less than a second behind Italy. Then Ogden took off and had the fastest split on his leg, handing off to Schumacher, who also skied the fastest final leg, bringing the USA a stunning silver medal.

For Ogden it was his second silver medal of the 2026 Winter Olympics, after the individual sprint. Before 2026 only one American male had won an Olympic medal in cross-country skiing, that being Bill Koch in the 1976 30 kilometres.

Klæbo’s gold medal set multiple Olympic bests. It was his fifth gold medal of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, equalling the mark set at 1980 Lake Placid by Eric Heiden in speed skating. It was also Klæbo’s 10th overall Olympic gold medal, moving him into second place among all Olympians, Winter and Summer, behind only Michael Phelps, who won 23 gold medals between 2000-2016. This moved Klæbo ahead of six Olympians with nine golds – Paavo Nurmi, Larisa Latynina, Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis, Caeleb Dressel, and Katie Ledecky.