MILAN, Italy — Norwegian cross-country skier Johannes Klaebo won a ground-breaking sixth gold at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Saturday, while heavy snow forced China’s freestyle skiing superstar Eileen Gu to wait for her elusive first title in Italy.
Klaebo’s victory in the men’s 50-km mass start event saw him clinch his 11th Winter Olympics gold medal, extending the record he set earlier in these Games.
The 29-year-old also became the first athlete to win all six cross-country skiing races in one Games.
The only athlete in Winter or Summer Games history with more Olympic titles is American swimmer Michael Phelps, who won 23 golds.
Gu had been aiming to win a gold of her own at these Games on Saturday, having taken two silvers so far in Italy.
But heavy snowfall forced organizers to postpone the women’s freeski halfpipe final.
The event at Livigno Snow Park, high in the Italian Alps, has been pushed back to 0940 GMT on Sunday, the final day of competition, with better weather forecast.
Gu arrived at the Games targeting a clean sweep of golds in her three events after winning two golds and a silver at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, where she was the host nation’s darling.
But she came up just short in the slopestyle and big air competitions in Livigno.
“Thank God this is my last event,” the 22-year-old US-born athlete said after qualifying earlier in the week. “I’m exhausted, I just want to go home to bed.”
A host of other gold medals were up for grabs on the final full day of action.
Emily Harrop and Thibault Anselmet combined to win gold for France in the mixed relay event of ski mountaineering in Bormio.
Ski mountaineering is making its Olympic debut at the Milan-Cortina Games and while the “skimo” sprints offered a condensed version of the sport, the mixed relay proved to be a true lung-busting race.