It came down to Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo and Denis Spitsov.
The Norwegian wonder boy won.
Klaebo outskied Spitsov, an Olympic Athlete from Russia, in the final 10 kilometers to capture gold for Norway in the men’s 4x10km relay Sunday at the Alpensia Cross-Country Centre in PyeongChang, South Korea.
More specifically, Klaebo pulled away from Spitsov in the final 1.73 kilometers and had enough time to grab Norway’s flag as he crossed the finish line.
OAR, despite leading for most of the first three legs, took home the silver medal. France came in third for bronze.
At one point during the second leg, OAR built a 40.7-second lead over France and a 41.1-second lead over Norway. Two-time defending gold medalist Sweden was 1 minute and 33.3 seconds back.
Russian skier Alexander Bolshunov skied a strong second 10 kilometers and Alexey Chervotkin built up a 20.4-second lead in the first 1.67 kilometers of the third leg but slowly tired.
Norwegian skier Simen Hegstad Krueger skied a championship third leg.
Krueger caught Bolshunov and eventually passed him, giving Norway the lead at the final handoff. Klaebo did the rest.
Norway, the defending world champion, won its 11th cross-country medal of the PyeongChang Games. It’s the third time Norway has won 11 cross-country medals in a single Winter Olympics.
The gold is Norway’s first in the men’s 4×10 relay since the 2002 Salt Lake Games.
It’s the second gold medal of these Games for Klaebo and Krueger and the second medal for Martin Johnsrud Sundby. Sundby won silver in the skiathlon.
Bolshunov and Spitsov each got their second medals of these Olympics. Bolshunov won bronze in the individual sprint, while Spitsov got bronze in the 15km freestyle.
Sweden failed to threepeat as the gold medalist in the 4x10km relay, finishing in fifth place and 2 minutes, 5.6 seconds behind Norway.
The United States finished in last place, closing over nine minutes behind Norway.
Cross-country skiing has a couple of days off before the women’s team sprint Wednesday.
