Mathis Desloges wins Olympic silver in 10 km individual: “I dreamed day and night of being this strong”

Mathis Desloges, silver medalist in the individual 10 km free: “I dreamed day and night of being this strong”

Mathis Desloges won the silver medal in Friday’s men’s 10 km freestyle individual race in Val di Fiemme, adding to his earlier Olympic podium. In a post‑race interview he said he prepared this Olympiad in the best possible way and feels in the best shape of his life. “We’ll ride this wave — I’m already thinking about the relay. We want to shine in that race and bring home the greatest medal possible. We have the capacity; it’s going to be crazy. You’ll have to be in front of your TV to encourage us. I believe in it and everyone who lines up will do everything they can to beat the Norwegians and bring back a great medal. I have two medals around my neck but they are both team medals. We’ll do everything to bring home one in the relay. Athletes, coaches, technicians — we’ve never been this strong. We must enjoy this moment.”

On his form and the margin to the winner, he added: “I feel carried by this team, it gives me wings. It shows that when you prepare something, you can be strong. I dreamed day and night of being this strong. Seeing it materialize with a medal is crazy. To be 5 seconds behind the best skier of all time [Johannes Klæbo] is simply insane and I’m really proud of that. It’s so many hours of training, sacrifices and pain. We spend 200 days a year together. Bringing a medal for this team is incredible.”

About Klæbo he said: “He was missing that medal and he got it. For me I was focused on my race and to be only 5 seconds behind gives real hope for what’s next. I admire everything he does for our sport. Now I want to train to beat him one day.”

The race results and the full schedule for the Games are available on L'Équipe’s Milan‑Cortina 2026 coverage. Desloges’s performance raises France’s expectations ahead of the men’s relay event.