Day four of the Milano Cortina Games, and one question is starting to feel a little rhetorical: how do you stop Johannes Høsflot Klæbo? Short answer – you don’t. You just race for second and hope he smiles at you on the way past.
On Tuesday, the Norwegian cross-country phenomenon did what he has been doing all week: made world-class athletes look as if they were chasing a mirage. Technique? Flawless. Tactics? Ruthless. Power, speed and a hill-climbing gear that seems to defy physics? Check, check and check. Klæbo cruised through the sprint classic rounds, detonated the field on the final climb and skied away with his second gold of these Games and his seventh gold overall, putting him just one shy of the all-time Winter Olympic record.
