Michael Phelps finally has company in the double-digit Olympic gold medal club.
On Wednesday, Norwegian skier Johannes Høsflot Klæbo won his 10th career Olympic gold medal in the men’s cross-country team sprint during the 2026 Winter Games in Italy, joining Phelps as the only two athletes in history to have 10 or more gold medals. Phelps won 23 Olympic gold medals during his illustrious career.
In the team sprint final, Klæbo and teammate Einar Hedegart crossed the line in a time of 18:28.9, 1.4 seconds clear of the American duo of Ben Ogden and Gus Schumacher.
“It’s obviously very satisfying to make this happen,” Klæbo said, according to The Associated Press. “The team sprint is one of the most fun events, but also one of the hardest.”
The victory marks the third consecutive in the event for Klæbo, who has claimed gold with three different pairs at the last three Olympics.
The 29-year-old is now a perfect five-for-five in gold medals at these Games, having also won the men’s 10km freestyle, 20km skiathlon, 4×7.5km relay and the individual sprint.
🥇Einar HEDEGART and Johannes Hoesflot KLAEBO 🔥 🔥 🔥
The duo claim another historic #Gold medal for Norway in the cross-country skiing men’s team sprint free 👏
It’s a 10th #Gold medal in Klaebo’s legendary Olympic career!@FISCrossCountry | #MedalAlert | #Samsung |… pic.twitter.com/WFUllFFsUF
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) February 18, 2026
He made his Olympic debut at the 2018 Games in PyeongChang, earning three golds in the men’s individual sprint and 4x10km relay in addition to the team sprint. At the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, he added two more golds in the individual and team sprint events.
In addition to his 10 golds, Klæbo owns one silver and one bronze medal from the Olympics, both coming in Beijing (silver in 4x10km relay and bronze in 15km classic).
Klæbo’s 10th gold medal moves him past American swimmers Mark Spitz, Katie Ledecky, Caeleb Dressel, Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, Finnish track and field athlete Paavo Nurmi, and American track and field athlete Carl Lewis, who all own nine golds, into sole possession of 2nd all-time in Olympic gold medals.
Phelps’ dominance is really put on display with Klæbo becoming just the second athlete ever to win 10 Olympic golds, and Phelps has more than double that number at 23. He also won eight in a single edition of the Games, which alone is a number only seven athletes have surpassed.
Phelps’ 10th gold medal came in the men’s 200 butterfly final at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing—when his goggles famously filled up with water. Less than an hour later, he won his 11th gold on the U.S. men’s 4×200 free relay.
After winning six golds at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and then eight in Beijing, Phelps won four golds at the 2012 Games in London and then wrapped his career with five golds at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
All-Time Olympic Gold Medal Rankings
| Rank | Athlete | Sport | Years | Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Michael Phelps (USA) | Swimming | 2004–2016 | Summer | 23 | 3 | 2 | 28 |
| 2 | Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (NOR) | Cross-country skiing | 2018–2026 | Winter | 10 | 1 | 1 | 12 |
| 3 | Larisa Latynina (USSR) | Gymnastics | 1956–1964 | Summer | 9 | 5 | 4 | 18 |
| 4 | Katie Ledecky (USA) | Swimming | 2012–2024 | Summer | 9 | 4 | 1 | 14 |
| 5 | Paavo Nurmi (FIN) | Athletics | 1920–1928 | Summer | 9 | 3 | 0 | 12 |
| 6 | Mark Spitz (USA) | Swimming | 1968–1972 | Summer | 9 | 1 | 1 | 11 |
| 7 | Caeleb Dressel (USA) | Swimming | 2016–2024 | Summer | 9 | 1 | 0 | 10 |
| Carl Lewis (USA) | Athletics | 1984–1996 | Summer | 9 | 1 | 0 | 10 | |
| 9 | Isabell Werth (GER) | Equestrian | 1992–2024 | Summer | 8 | 6 | 0 | 14 |
| 10 | Marit Bjørgen (NOR) | Cross-country skiing | 2002–2018 | Winter | 8 | 4 | 3 | 15 |
Klæbo will have one more medal opportunity on Saturday, when the men’s 50km classical competition takes place. He withdrew from the event at the 2022 Olympics due to a stomach bug, but comes in as the reigning world champion.
If he manages to win a sixth gold, he would join Phelps (2004, 2008), Spitz (1972), East German swimmer Kristin Otto (1988) and Belarusian gymnast Vitaly Scherbo (1992) as the only athletes to do so at a single edition.
There’s a really good article on Hosflot in the New York Times. He is 100% dedicated to cross-country, to the point that he shuts out human contact because he’s afraid of catching a cold before a major competition.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7018986/2026/02/04/winter-olympics-johannes-klaebo-cross-country-skiing/
Hi
Dude might be the fittest person on earth
Seems like swimmers and cross country skiers are able to pile up gold medals in the double digits.
If you play water polo, or a team sport, you can only get 1 gold per Olympic Games. Which limits the amount of medals you get, especially if you come from a country that isn’t dominant at that sport.
water polo is actually one of the easier paths to an Olympic medal.
You have people who absolute dominated their sport like Mijain Lopez or Rinner but they can never reach so many medals (also mijain is probably the most dominant athlete ever considering all sports)
Lopez isn’t even debatably even the most dominant in his sport. Karelin lost two matches his whole career: 1987 Russian Nationals, and the 2000 Olympics to Rulon Gardner. That’s it. Lopez has 5 Olympic golds, but he also lost three World titles before he stopped going after getting a third straight silver in 2015. Karelin has 3 Olympic golds and a silver, but also 10 World titles.
Unfortunately for Klaebo cross country skiing is one of the rare sport with less exposure to a casual sport fan than swimming. I trained cross country for two years back when I was 13-14 in Poland and it is a wonderful but tough sport.
He is very famous in Norway
Was he also concerned about the CEO-less USA Swimming in summer 2025?
Damn my dude is cooking!
Also under appreciated how many medals both Caeleb and Katie have. Incredibly impressive list of athlete’s all around
he is apparently living the life of a silent monk in UTAH, and has been dead last in competitions till age 17. Amazing dominance in a sport that has the best athletes with superhuman skills. (like pain tolerance for Jesse Diggins)