Already at the end of the second lap, things were starting to look worrying for Sweden's starter Johan Häggström. It soon became clear that the skis were not up to par. Häggström did what he could, but without sufficient grip, the task was too much for him.
When he handed over to Calle Halfvarsson, he was last of the ten teams that started the Olympic relay, 38 seconds behind the leaders. All thoughts of medals were basically gone.
For Häggström, there was no question that it was not the ski choice that was the problem.
"I feel pretty confident about the pair of skis I chose today. They're the ones I've raced on the most this winter. So they should be good if you hit the other one well," Häggström told HBO.
“Having huge problems”
Halfvarsson, who made his first Olympic start in Val di Fiemme, could do nothing about the hopeless situation. The veteran continued to lose ground and halfway through the race the gap to the second-last team was 14 seconds. Distance to the medal fight? A minute and a half.
"It wasn't very inspiring to go out as the last man. I thought about opening up hard and trying to get in on someone. But no, I have huge problems with the material today," Halfvarsson said.
For Swedish television viewers, the relay was an almost unique experience, as hardly a single frame was dedicated to the blue-and-yellow skaters. William Poromaa and Edvin Anger continued to fight in no-man's land, but it was no use. At the last changeover the gap to the leaders was 2 minutes 26 seconds. When Anger crossed the finish line as the last skater, Norway had already celebrated gold for almost three and a half minutes (+3 minutes 29 seconds).
Ninth Olympic gold medal
Already on the second stretch, Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget made what turned out to be the decisive gold rush, and handed over to Einar Hedegart with a ten-second lead over Finland.
Relay debutant Hedegart also did well and handed off to one of the greatest skiers of all time, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, with a lead of twelve seconds over France, who had then taken over second place from the Finns.
Klæbo was able to win his fourth Olympic gold medal in Val di Fiemme without any threat.
No cross-country skier has managed to do that in the same Games before.
And no Winter Olympian has as many Olympic gold medals overall. With his ninth Olympic title, he has now surpassed compatriots Ole Einar Bjørndalen, Marit Bjørgen and Bjørn Dæhlie, who have eight each.
France took silver, and veteran Federico Pellegrino sprinted Italy to bronze.
