Maloney Westgaard survives 'suffering' with impressive finish in Olympic 50km

Norway's Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo notches a fifth gold of Milano-Cortina Games as Irishman finishes 23rd

Sat, 21 Feb, 2026 - 14:43

Examiner Staff

Ireland's Winter Olympics odyssey wrapped up with another impressive performance on Saturday afternoon as cross-country skier Thomas Maloney Westgaard finished 23rd in the punishing 50km mass start classic in Predazzo.

Norway dominated what is one of the most prestigious events in cross-country skiing, filling the podium with Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo in gold, Martin Loewstroem Nyenget in silver, and Emil Iversen in bronze. The trio set a fast pace from the start, lap by lap putting distance into the remainder of the field. It was Klaebo's sixth gold of a remarkable Games.

“That was brutal, full suffering out there," said Maloney Westgaard. "I mean, the speed was all out from the start. It was, again, a ridiculous pace. It felt like we were only doing 10K. It was like a 10K pace, but it seemed like the front trio kept it for like 50, there was no rest and we were falling like flies there at the end. It's how it should be.”

Whilst not being a personal best result, the performance and finish position is impressive considering the past few months where the skier with Galway roots struggled to find his form.

Starting in bib 32, the Irishman known for his pacing, made his way into the top group in the opening lap of the 50km race, which was 7 laps of a 7166m circuit. With a tough pace being set at the front of the race, the field splintered with a determined Maloney Westgard finding his form and digging in throughout, climbing places each lap, to cruise over the line 23rd overall.

With this being his preferred event, and one where he has achieved significant results over the past number of years, due to various conditions, the three-time Olympian finally managed to compete in the full 50km distance at the Olympic Games — a feat that is all the sweeter, considering a poor run of form over the past number of months.

“It’s my first Olympic 50K, I was sick in Pyeongchang, and it was reduced to 30K in Beijing due to the cold," he added. "So finally I got to suffer for real, and yeah, I'll take this result. It's been a tough season. I came to the Olympics doubting a bit about where I was. So yeah, it’s my next best Olympic results ever.

“Before the season I was struggling and I was very sceptical. I struggled a lot with my shape. A month ago I didn't train at all, and I had to let all the guys go after one minute into the interval. So, it's good to take this. I've for sure dreamed a bit more before the season, but getting here with so many doubts and uncertainties, I'm happy with this.”

Maloney Westgaard took confidence from his Skiathlon results in the opening days of the Games: “With the skiathlon, I felt like it was a positive result, getting to these games with little training and getting that result, I felt like, ‘okay, let's do this’. I felt like it can only go one way from here.

“And as it is with the 50K, it's almost like life. It goes up and down. You have periods where you feel good, you have periods where you feel done and you think you're almost not able to finish it. Yeah. But when I summarise it, it was a good one.”

Finishing the race, the Irish man spoke with the Team Ireland coach, Hans Kristian Stadheim: “He is proud. He's happy. He knows the struggle I've been through this season. Going to the pre-camp in Seefeld three weeks ago, I couldn't keep up at all with the boys, so I was going along with the girls on the first intervals there, and we kind of doubted how this was going, for sure.

“But yeah, I progressed since then, and he is really happy to see that I managed to put a race like this together when this is the highlight of the season and it's the best race for me this season. And yeah, I have to take this result, when I look back on how the season has been.”

Despite the distance between the villages, the clusters and the four Team Ireland athletes, Thomas Maloney Westgaard took strength and energy from the performances of his teammates at these Games.

“It's been fantastic. I actually will say that this has perhaps been the best ever Winter Olympics by Team Ireland. I mean, Cormac has done really acceptable results in Alpine skiing and Ben Lynch yesterday, it's a massive, massive result," he said. "It's up there among the best results ever in Winter Olympics. And today as well. I feel like I'm doing a really respectable results in the history of the winter sports, and Winter Olympics with Team Ireland.

“And I don't think people perhaps understand how hard we work towards these games and actually what kind of performance we all are putting together. And I mean, we are not Eddie the Eagles out here. We are actually determined and we have ambitions.

“I would clearly say that with these games that it's really, really impressive results. And, looking back at these games, it's up there and I think we should be proud as a team of what we have achieved. It's been touching to see how good the others have performed, so I'm really, really proud of representing this team and seeing how professional the athletes have been.”