Martin Bjoergen took home her 13th career medal, tying her with Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen for the most Winter Games medals ever.
Marit Bjoergen crossed the finish line, thrust her ski poles in the air and was promptly mobbed by teammates.
Bjoergen helped the Norwegian women win the 4×5-kilometer cross-country relay on Saturday to take home her 13th career medal, tying her with Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen for the most Winter Games medals ever.
“She is an absolute legend,” American rival Jessica Diggins said of Bjoergen. “It’s really, really cool to see her race every single time. She just skis with absolute control.”
Bjoerndalen is at the Winter Games helping out his wife Darya Domracheva, who won a silver medal for Belarus on Saturday night. He said he’s cheering for Bjoergen break the record.
“For sure, I want to see her win,” Bjoerndalen said. “It will be really amazing. The career that Marit has had is really amazing. She is really strong. She has been doing it for so long and still today she was amazing on the relay, so it’s great that she has two more chances to break it.”
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At 37 years, 333 days old, Bjoergen became the second-oldest Olympic champion in the event behind only Raisa Smetanina, who was 39 years, 354 days old when she claimed gold in 1992.
Surprisingly, the Swedes did not use Charlotte Kalla as their anchor after she erased a 25-second deficit on the last leg at the 2014 Sochi Games to pull out a dramatic gold medal for Sweden. Instead, Kalla took the second leg, where she still made up 24 seconds to put the Swedes back in the mix.
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The US women’s team was hoping for its first medal, but Sophie Caldwell left the Americans in 11th place and more than a minute behind after the first leg. The rest of the team could not make up the deficit and the Americans finished a distant fifth.
“This is our best Olympic relay finish ever and probably the most excitement we’ve ever had,” American skier Kikkan Randall said.
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