Daehlie in Seventh Heaven

Bjorn Daehlie’s chance at Olympic history rested with his Norwegian teammate and rival, Thomas Alsgaard--the same man who had denied Daehlie a record seventh gold medal by surging past him in a race last week.

Wednesday, Alsgaard helped put Daehlie in the record books.

Alsgaard got his right ski across the line two-tenths of a second ahead of Italy’s lunging Silvio Fauner, giving Norway the gold medal Wednesday in the 40-kilometer cross-country relay and making Daehlie the winningest Winter Olympian.

“I was not thinking about it so much, but it means something to me,” Daehlie said of the record. “I will appreciate it in a few years when I look back on a fantastic career. But I was not concentrating on it here.”

Daehlie, who overcame a 12.6-second deficit in the third leg, has seven gold medals and 11 overall. His gold-medal total moved him past two athletes and his total medals broke the record he shared with Raisa Smetanina, a cross-country skier from the former Soviet Union.

It also was Daehlie’s third medal and second gold of the Nagano Games. He won the 10-kilometer and was beaten by 1.1 seconds by Alsgaard in the 15-kilometer pursuit.

Daehlie and Alsgaard live on the same street in Nannestad, and Daehlie liked having his neighbor around Wednesday: “Thinking of the relay, I am glad I have this guy next to me on the same team.”

He was even more glad Wednesday.

Alsgaard and Italy’s Silvio Fauner were stride for stride all the way to the line, but Alsgaard stuck out his leg as Fauner made a dive for the finish. Replays showed the Norwegian’s right leg barely got there first, and Fauner’s bid ended with him sprawled dejected in the snow.

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MEDALISTS

Cross-Country Skiing

MEN’S 4X10-K Relay

Gold: Norway

Silver: Italy

Bronze: Finland