Beijing 2022 cross-country skiing wrap-up – top stories, moments and records

Cross-country skiing remains the main driving force behind Norway's success at the Olympic Winter Games. Their standards are so high in the sport, that their eight medals at Beijing 2022 might look like an underwhelming result compared to the 14 of PyeongChang 2018.

One of the athletes that provided a stiff challenge to Norway at Beijing 2022 was ROC's Alexander Bolshunov. He won a medal in all five events he entered - three gold, a silver and a bronze. Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo was just behind, with four medals, but the Norwegian star had some issues in the distance events. Finland's Iivo Niskanen also performed excellently, with three medals, one of each colour.

The women's events also included several multi-medallists, such as ROC's Natalia Nepryaeva, Sweden's Jonna Sundling and Maja Dahlqvist, Norway's Therese Johaug, USA's Jessie Diggins Finland's Kerttu Niskanen and Germany's Victoria Carl and Katharina Hennig.

Read on to relive Beijing 2022's top moments in cross-country skiing, a sport that tests the limits of each and every participant.

A somewhat surprising development of Beijing 2022 was the performance of the female German team, who won medals in both team events. In the women's team sprint, they delivered one of the most exciting finishes the sport has witnessed, finishing ahead of Sweden and ROC behind by less than a second.

The most incredible part of the story is that the skier who ended the race, Victoria Carl, was not supposed to be on the team. She replaced Katherine Sauerbrey, who withdrew from the event.

"That we have a gold medal at the end, it's unbelievable and special. I think it's very important for us, especially after the silver medal in the (women's 4 x 5km) relay, it's very important for