Canada finishes Beijing 2022 with record race in women's cross-country mass start
Norway's Therese Johaug wins final individual event of Beijing Games
Norwegian athletes provided the perfect bookends to the Beijing 2022 Olympics.
At a Games where the nation won a record 16 gold medals, the most ever at a single Winter Games, they won the first and final individual gold medals on offer.
On Feb. 5, Norway's Therese Johaug won the women's skiathlon, the first medal of the Games, and on Feb. 19, she won the 30-kilometre freestyle, Beijing's final individual medal, with the men's hockey gold medal game still in progress.
"I was so happy 14 days ago when I got my first one and I should not believe that I would have two more, so its fantastic to end the Olympics with three gold medals," the four-time Olympian said at the end of the race.
While Canada's final medal of 26 came at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre with Justin Kripps' winning four-man bobsleigh bronze, the last Canadian performances were from Dahria Beatty, Cendrine Browne and Katherine Stewart-Jones.
A native of Barrie, Ont., Browne did not pick up cross-country skiing early in life but finished as the best Canadian in the final event of Beijing 2022, crossing the line in 16th place, 6:27.6 behind Johaug's winning time.
Norway's Therese Johaug ends her Olympic career with a GOLD 🥇 in the women's 30km freestyle cross-country skiing competition 👏 <br><br>This is her third gold medal of the Beijing Games and her fourth career Olympic gold medal 🤩 👏 <a href="https://t.co/pJNCiki7Ll">pic.twitter.com/pJNCiki7Ll</a>
—@CBCOlympicsAlthough her time was not enough to reach the podium, Browne's finish set a Canadian Olympic record for the best placing in the 30-kilometre freestyle, beating Lucy Steele's 33rd-place finish at Albertville 1992.
Jessica Diggins of Team USA won the silver medal, her second of the Games, while Kerttu Niskanen skied to bronze, also her second medal of Beijing 2022.
The Canadian athletes now turn their focus from competition to their upcoming World Cup events and the closing ceremony at 7:00 a.m. ET on Saturday, streaming live on CBC Gem, the CBC Sports app and CBC Sports' Beijing 2022 website.
