TESERO, Italy — Cross-country skiing great Johannes Klaebo won the men’s 10km interval start race on Friday to collect a record-equaling eighth Winter Olympics gold medal.
The Norwegian joins three compatriots on the same tally -- former cross-country skiers Marit Bjoergen and Bjoern Daehlie, and former biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen.
The 29-year-old will have the chance to break the record at the Milan-Cortina Games, with other events still to come.
On Friday, Klaebo clocked 20min 36.2sec to take gold ahead of France’s Mathis Desloges, who was 4.9sec slower. Norwegian Einar Hedegart won bronze.
In addition to his eight golds, Klaebo has a silver and a bronze from the Beijing Winter Games and 15 world championship titles.
Meanwhile, Italian biathlete Rebecca Passler has been cleared to compete in the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics after a successful appeal to the Italian Anti-Doping Agency (NADO) following a failed drugs test last month.
The Italian Winter Sports Federation (FISI) announced Friday that NADO had accepted the athlete’s claim of “unintentional” ingestion or contamination involving letrozole, a prohibited substance.
The 24-year-old has been provisionally suspended since February 2 after her sample showed the presence of the drug, used to treat breast cancer, NADO said.
According to media reports, Passler said she tested positive after eating a chocolate spread with a spoon previously used by her mother, who is being treated for cancer.
“She will rejoin her teammates on the Italian team starting Monday February 16,” FISI said in a statement, adding that it “welcomes the outcome of this appeal.”
