One of the big stories of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milano-Cortina was seeing the Norwegian skier Johannes Høsflot Klæbo making history with a record of more Olympic gold medals won by a single athlete at the Winter Olympic Games, effectively giving him the title of most successful Olympian of all-time.
He achieved the record with his fourth gold medal last week, ninth overall, surpassing his Norwegian compatriots Emil Iversen, Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget, and Einar Hedegart, all of whom won a maximum of eight gold medals in their career.
Klaebo reached the mark, surpassed it, and took it even further on Saturday, February 21, penultimate day of the competition, where he won his final gold medal in 50km mass start cross-country race. The silver and bronze medal were also for Norwegian, Martin Loewstroem Nyenget silver and Emil Iversen bronze.
The incredible success of Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo at the Olympics
In total, Klaebo has won six gold medals in Milano-Cortina, being champion in every event in which he participated this year, becoming the first ever athlete to win six golds at one Winter Games and the first to win all six cross-country events at one Games.
In total, Klaebo has won 12 Olympic medals: six gold in Milano Cortina 2026, two gold, one silver and one bronze in Beijing 2022, and three gold in Pyeongchang 2018.
To put into perspective, if we also count the Summer Olympics, only the swimmer Michael Phelps has won more gold medals than Klaebo, 23.