Elia Barp and Federico Pellegrino bronze, Italy flies to 25 medals
Twenty-fifth medal for Italy at the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. It’ came in the men’s team sprint: bronze was won by Elia Barp and Federico Pellegrino, who finished 3″3 behind Norway. Silver went to the United States with Gus Schumacher and Ben Ogden. Barp performed fractions of the highest level, while Pellegrino, while paying something in the second stint, managed to change pace in the final after the last change, securing third place in 18’32″2. Another podium that embellishes an already extraordinary edition of the Games for the Azzurri colors.
Discussion aside for Johannes Klaebo, simply unstoppable. The Norwegian star, paired with Einar Hedegart, took his fifth gold out of five races held: after the skiathlon (10 km classic + 10 km free), the individual sprint in classic technique, the 10 km interval in free technique, the relay and now the team sprint in free technique. All that is missing is the 50 km, the queen race that will close the program: one last piece to complete a total masterpiece.
Klaebo has thus overtaken by number of Olympic titles authentic legends of world sports: from Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina (9 golds between 1956 and 1964) to swimmer Katie Ledecky (9), from Finland’s Paavo Nurmi (9 in athletics between 1920 and 1928) to swimmer Mark Spitz (9 between 1968 and 1972), to Caeleb Dressel and Carl Lewis. Ahead of him is only Michael Phelps, unreachable, however, at 23. Not even with two more perfect Games would the hook-up come.
In the meantime, the specialized magazine Forbes has revealed that the highest-paid athlete at the Olympics in Milan Cortina is the famous Chinese skier Eileen Gu, who reportedly put $23 million in her pocket in the last 12 months thanks to marketing moves. To this must be added about $100,000 in prize money in skiing.
Although the $55,000 Gu grossed in December for winning a halfpipe event in the newly formed Snow League represents a leap forward from the roughly $20,000 she received for winning the World Cup, the vast majority of her earnings come from sponsorships, including Chinese brands Anta, Bosideng, Mengniu Dairy and Luckin Coffee.
