Norway's dominance at Winter Games based on tradition, depth and development

Johannes Dale-Skjevdal hit all 20 of his targets in the 15-kilometer mass start race Friday and skied his way to gold — Norway’s 17th, which set a new record for the most won by a nation at a single Winter Olympics. Norway had set the record in 2022 with 16.

Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, a 29-year-old cross-country skier, has won five gold medals at the Milan Cortina Games to take his career tally to a Winter Games record of 10 in just three Olympics. It has helped Norway lead the medal table for days and it should finish atop the standings when the Games wrap up Sunday. More gold could come this weekend, too.

The dominance has raised a familiar question: What makes Norway, a nation of 5.6 million people, such a superpower on the snow at the world’s biggest winter sports event?

Many believe it is a system that has few equals in winter sports.

Katerina Neumannova, a retired Czech Olympic champion, points to Norway’s structure as the foundation of its success. Cross-country skiing is among the country’s most popular sports, with hundreds of clubs and large numbers of kids starting young.

“When you have so many children, so many trainers and so many clubs all around Norway, it’s much easier to find special talent,” Neumannova told The Associated Press.

Norway, she said, has benefitted from the absence of the banned Russian team as well as having a concentration of talented team officials supporting athletes, and even the lack of snow in lower latitudes affecting mainland Europe.

And its depth of public participation, she argued, provides a steady supply of elite competitors.

“Other countries usually have some gaps between generations, but the Norwegian team is very stable,” Neumannova said. “When one athlete ends, younger ones are already coming up.”

Klaebo’s race partner on Wednesday was Einar Hedegart, a 24-year-old Olympic rookie who shared gold in an earlier relay event and won bronze in the 10-kilometer interval start.

A lot Norway’s supremacy stems from tradition as the cradle of Nordic skiing. Most medals came from cross-country and biathlon whiles ki jumper Anna Odine Stroem swept both the normal and large hills, and added a silver in the mixed team event. Jens Luraas Oftebro took both Nordic combined titles.

The medals don’t stop there: Norway won in freestyle skiing, Alpine skiing and completed the speedskating set with a gold, silver and bronze.

Finn Dahl, a superfan who did marketing for the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics at home in Norway, attributed his country's success to a way of life that revolves around snow.

Children, he said, often take trips with their families to the mountains, where skiing is just the normal way of getting around.

“It’s a natural way of sort of moving from one cabin to another,” Dahl said. “It’s a spirit, it is inside you.”

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics