Norway's Cross-Country Sweep

Norway dominated the cross-country skiing events as only Norway can, winning 7 of 12 gold medals in the discipline and closing the Games with a record 18 gold medals overall -- their highest total ever, breaking their own previous record of 16 set at Beijing 2022. Johannes Hosflot Klaebo claimed his first Olympic 50km title as part of a six-gold haul across the freestyle, skiathlon, classical, sprint, team sprint, and relay events -- the most gold medals ever won by any athlete at a single Winter Olympics. Sports commentators spent the Games asking: is Norwegian cross-country dominance a sporting dynasty or simply the natural order of things?