Crosscountry-Klaebo cruises to seventh gold in men's classic sprint

TESERO, Italy, Feb 10 : Norway’s Johannes Klaebo won the men's classic cross-country ski sprint for his seventh career Olympic gold medal with ease on Tuesday, while Linn Svahn led a Swedish podium sweep in the women's race at the Milano Cortina Games. 

Ben Ogden took silver in the men's race to give the United States its first men's medal in cross-country skiing since Bill Koch's silver in the 30km at the 1976 Olympics. Norway's Oskar Vike won the bronze. 

Swedish skiers Joanna Sundling and Maja Dahlqvist won silver and bronze, respectively. Svahn's gold is the first Olympic medal for the 26-year-old, and the second for Sweden in cross-country skiing at this Olympics, after compatriot Frida Karlsson won gold in the women's skiathlon. 

Tuesday's race is the second gold medal for Klaebo in this Games and his seventh overall, moving the 29-year-old one step closer to passing compatriots Marit Bjoergen’s and Bjorn Daehlie's record number of golds in the sport. 

Similar to his victorious skiathlon performance, Klaebo exploded away from the pack on his way up one of the race course's many steep hills. He cruised over the finish line 0.87 seconds ahead of Ogden. 

On the women's side, the three Swedish medalists pulled away midway through race, charging uphill after three earlier qualifying rounds to get to the final. U.S. skier Julia Kern also made the final, while teammate Jessie Diggins, the highest ranked female skier in the world and a medal contender, failed to move past the quarterfinals.