Early career and the breakthrough 2008–09 season In 2006, Dario Cologna won a bronze medal at the 10 km classic event in the
Junior World Championships in
Kranj, Slovenia. Cologna debuted in the
FIS Cross-Country World Cup in
Kuusamo in November 2006 and took his first points in
Falun in March 2007. During the
2007–08 season, Cologna finished in the top ten four times and placed 37th overall. In December 2008, Cologna took his first World Cup podium finish with second place in the 30-kilometre competition in
La Clusaz. On 27 December, he won his first World Cup race as he finished first on the 15 km classic pursuit on stage two of the
2008–09 Tour de Ski. He went on to win the Tour in January 2009, finishing the final event almost a minute ahead of runner-up
Petter Northug. Cologna also won the overall
2008–09 World Cup with more than 100 points in front of the runner-up after placing first twice and another three times on the podium.
2010 and 2014 Olympics He finished the
2009–10 FIS Cross-Country World Cup fourth, winning a race and taking two other podiums. He also came in third in the
2009–10 Tour de Ski. In the
Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, he won the
gold medal in the
men's 15km freestyle event. Cologna is the first
Swiss to win a cross-country skiing gold medal at the
Winter Olympics. Cologna won the
2010–11 FIS Cross-Country World Cup with more than 300 points ahead of
Petter Northug, who came second. This season he won four races and took six other podiums, winning the
2010–11 Tour de Ski with 27 seconds ahead of Northug. During the
2011–12 FIS Cross-Country World Cup season, Cologna won eight races and took twelve additional podium positions; his 20 podiums are, as of the 2018–19 season, still a record for most podiums in a season. On 8 January 2012, Cologna took his third Tour de Ski overall win in
Val di Fiemme, winning the
2011–12 Tour de Ski. He finished more than a minute ahead of everyone else, with
Marcus Hellner being second and Petter Northug third. With this performance, Cologna won his third
Tour de Ski overall win, being the only male athlete ever to have done so. He also snatched the yellow jersey becoming world no. 1 in the
2011–12 FIS Cross-Country World Cup as of 8 January 2012. At the
World Championships 2013 in Val di Fiemme Cologna won
the 30 km pursuit. He won the
30 km skiathlon at the
Sochi Olympics. Later in the games he successfully defended his title from the
Vancouver Olympics in the
15 km race, this time in classic technique.
2017–18 season: Fourth Tour de Ski and third consecutive Olympic 15 km Cologna won his fourth Tour de Ski title by winning the
2017–18 edition. He won two of the six stages of the Tour, both in
Lenzerheide, and won the overall standings with a margin of one minute and 26.5 seconds to second-placed
Martin Johnsrud Sundby. With 4 Tour de Ski wins, he is second only to
Johannes Klaebo in total number of wins for men. At the
PyeongChang Olympics, Cologna won the
15 kilometre freestyle. He became the first cross-country skier to win three consecutive 15 km Olympic events. On 10 March 2018, he became the first Swiss to win the prestigious
Holmenkollen 50 km. He was awarded the
Holmenkollen Medal in 2021. ==Cross-country skiing results==