Arsi Ruuskanen disappointed — Johannes Høsflot Klæbo overcame his stumbling block and joined the legends

Norway's superstar Johannes Høsflot Klæbo has won the Olympic 10 km freestyle time trial, taking his third gold of these Games and the eighth Olympic gold of his career. Only two cross-country skiers before him — Marit Björgen and Bjørn Dæhlie — have reached eight Olympic golds.

The race had been seen as one of Klæbo's weaker distances going into the Games. Yle's expert Aino-Kaisa Saarinen had even suggested that on this course Klæbo might not be able to drop his rivals with a final sprint. Despite that, Klæbo delivered the victory and cemented his place among the sport's all-time greats.

There had been anticipation of a duel between Klæbo and his compatriot Einar Hedegart. Hedegart, who switched from biathlon to cross-country and has been one of the season's breakthrough athletes in skating technique, had won both World Cup 10 km free races in December. Hedegart led Klæbo by 0.7 seconds with only one kilometre to go, but faded on the final downhill and finished third, 14.0 seconds behind Klæbo.

France's Mathis Desloges skied a strong race and took silver, 4.9 seconds behind Klæbo. Desloges had already won silver in Sunday's combined event and was in contention throughout this race.

Results (top finishers)

• Johannes H. Klæbo (NOR) — 20:36.2 (gold)
• Mathis Desloges (FRA) — +4.9 (silver)
• Einar Hedegart (NOR) — +14.0 (bronze)

Finnish disappointment: Ruuskanen struggled

Finnish expectations were highest for Arsi Ruuskanen, who had been the fifth-fastest in the free portion of Sunday’s combination event. On Friday, however, Ruuskanen could not find his best form and ended up 18th, 1:14.0 behind the winner.

Ruuskanen was already 12.8 seconds down at the first 1.8 km intermediate and the gap grew steadily. In a Yle Sport interview he described the race bluntly:

“Really bad. If I had been in better shape I could have done well. There’s no point in making excuses — today was awful. Probably the worst race of the season.”

He said nothing worked during the race: the climbing legs weren’t there, he couldn’t get speed on the hilltops and even his technique felt off.

Birthday skier fell but continued

The second-best Finn was 23-year-old Niko Anttola, celebrating his birthday, who fell in the Zorzi descent. He estimated he lost almost ten seconds in the fall but still finished 25th, 1:26.1 back.

Anttola said he was puzzled at the poor sensations: “I don’t know. It felt OK and I tried to go full gas all the time. I don’t know why it didn’t move faster.”

Sprinters on the distance

Sprint specialists Emil Liekari and Joni Mäki also took part, finishing 47th and 48th respectively. Liekari was 2:13.2 behind the winner and Mäki 2:18.9. Liekari admitted the 10 km free is not his specialty but was proud to race the distance at the Olympics; Mäki called his effort a training-style race and said he began to feel the heat already on the first lap.

The event was part of the Milano–Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games programme.