All hail Klæbo, the King of Winter, and the rest of the best of the Milano-Cortina Olympics

Veteran sportswriter Richard Deitsch takes an international view of the Olympics.

As he launched up the final hill with his herringbone-style uphill running technique, leaving countryman Martin Nyenget in the dust as if Nyenget was a Honda Civic stuck in snow, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo climbed forcefully to history. If you were up early Saturday morning you could share in the rare collective experience of athletic greatness. The King kicked for gold on the incline —and it was over. 

When Klæbo crossed the finish line first in the men’s 50-kilometre mass start classic, the Norwegian had separated himself from every other Winter Olympian in history. Klæbo is the first Winter athlete to win six gold medals at the same Games. 

Here is some perspective on that: Only eight other athletes in history have won six Winter Olympics gold medals overall. The 29-year-old Klæbo has 11 career Olympic gold medals and is second only to swimmer Michael Phelps (23) as far as Olympic golds. If you are in the same conversation with Phelps, you are Zeus.

The Olympics are close to concluding and with Klæbo in mind, today’s column will honour the greatness I’ve witnessed over the past two weeks. Let’s award some medals. 

Norway's Johannes Høsflot Klæbo wins record 6th gold medal at a single Winter Olympics

Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych’s story was a mirror on the Olympics — it reflected the eternal deception of how sports and politics do not intersect. (This deception continues as the International Olympic Committee slowly brings Russia back into the fold.) 

Heraskevych, a medal contender at the Milano-Cortina Games, was not allowed to participate in the competition after refusing a last-minute plea from the IOC to not race