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From the FasterSkier archive — posts syndicated from athletes’ and coaches’ own blogs between 2004 and 2012, kept online as published. Current coverage is at fasterskier.com.

Tag: Johannes Høsflot Klæbo

  • All in the Timing: Inside Chicco Pelle’s Last Dance in Lake Placid

    All in the Timing: Inside Chicco Pelle’s Last Dance in Lake Placid

    This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.

    LAKE PLACID, New York (March 21) — As the snow settled on Lake Placid and clouds began to dissipate over Mt. Van Hoevenberg, a growing sense that something momentous could happen permeated the crowd assembling for the last Sprint of the 2025-26 World Cup.

    That something unusual would happen was assured. With the Sprint Globe already secured to Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, the golden-haired juggernaut would not be on the starting line – opting instead to rest his legs, and head, in hopes of defending his 12-point lead over Harald Østberg Amundsen in the Distance standings. By default, then, someone other than Klæbo would stand atop Saturday’s podium – a rare occurrence in a season where the Norwegian had already won 8 of 11 Sprints in commanding fashion. (Two wins evaded Klæbo due to falls; the third because he did not start in Oberhof).

    Who would take his place? Ben Ogden, the Northeast’s homegrown favorite and the Sprint silver medalist in Milano-Cortina? Gus Schumacher, Ogden’s partner in the Olympic Team Sprint? France’s embattled specialist, Lucas Chanavat, who appeared on track to rival Klæbo during the 2023-24 season, who had seized the opportunity – and the win – after Johannes’ bobble in Davos last December? Ansgar Evensen (NOR), who had done the same in Drammen?

    Or, perhaps, it would be Federico Pellegrino (ITA) – the 35-year-old elder statesman of the league; making his 344th (and penultimate) World Cup start, eyeing an 18th and final Sprint victory?

    Johannes Hoesflot Klæbo (NOR) and Federico Pellegrino (ITA) after the finish of the Finals in Davos, 2022. Pellegrino bested Klæbo on the eve of the birth of his first child. (Photo: Nordic Focus)

    It states the obvious to say that success in cross-country skiing is a matter of timing, and for “Chicco Pelle’s” 15 seasons, the timing had been just shy of right. The formative and final years of Pellegrino’s career were defined by the dominance of skiers other than he. Pellegrino made his World Cup debut in Drammen in March 2010, finishing 49th. The winner that day was Emil Joensson (SWE); runner-up was Petter Northug (NOR), then on his way to his first of two Overall Globes. These were the halcyon days in which Dario Cologna (CHE) descended from his Alpine fastness to rack up World Cup and Tour de Ski titles; when Northug, Joensson and Marcus Hellner (SWE) traded sprint victories and taunts in a bitter intra-Scandinavian rivalry. Pellegrino was 12th in his first World Championships Sprint (Oslo, 2011) and 11th at his first Olympic Sprint (Sochi, 2014).

    While notching his debut victory in December, 2014 in the Davos Freestyle Sprint, Chicco’s break came in the 2015-16 season. He won 5 of 13 sprint races, becoming the first non-Scandinavian male to win the Sprint Globe. As Pellegrino hit his stride, Northug’s star was showing its first flickerings ahead of a dramatic waning, Joensson had entered the twilight of his career, and although Sergey Ustiugov (RUS) was approaching his own prime, the factious cast of World Cup sprinters was looking for a new leading man.

    That man would not be Chicco. An upstart dramatist from Trondheim, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, had arrived to script skiing’s long, and mind-bogglingly successful, next chapter. After making his debut in Drammen in 2016, Klæbo outscored Pellegrino in the 2016-17 Sprint standings, taking his first of 8 (and counting) Sprint Globes. The two went head to head at the 2017 World Championships in Lahti, Finland, where Pellegrino surged from behind to claim his first World Title ahead of a legendary lineup, including Ustiugov, Klæbo, and Northug, but this maiden gold would also be his last. In Pyeongchang the next year, the Olympic gold went to Klæbo; Chicco brought home silver.

    The wins did keep coming for Chicco, including a tear of three consecutive Sprint victories and his second Sprint Globe in 2020-21. And, though they admittedly came in greater abundance to Klæbo (who, it should be noted, did not start in those races, or the 2020-21 Tour de Ski), it is rather glib to assert that Chicco’s career had slid “in[to] the shadow of” the Norwegian. Pellegrino bested Klæbo in Dresden and Lahti in the spring of 2018; in Lillehammer that winter; and in Davos in 2022. He was near-omnipresent on Sprint podiums and won his second Olympic silver in Beijing in 2022; moreover, he was among the very few men who could disrupt Klæbo’s dominance in the discipline, and the clear favorite when Johannes was absent.

    But Pellegrino’s win in Davos in December 2022 marked the beginning of a long, and perhaps self-inflicted, World Cup drought. Chicco declared his intention to focus on distance races ahead of Milano-Cortina, and did indeed record four such podiums in classic, skate, and skiathlon formats, alongside a welter of Sprint podiums – including an ecstatic World Championships silver in Trondheim in 2025, and Olympic bronzes on home soil in the Team Sprint (alongside Elia Barp) and in the 4 x 7.5 k Relay (which he described as “the proudest day of [his] life!”) this February.

    Elia Barp welcomes Federico Pellegrino to a bronze-medal finish in the Olympic Team Sprint in Milano-Cortina, February 18th, 2026.
    (Photo: Vanzetta/Barbieri/NordicFocus)

    Outright wins, however, were not forthcoming. By the time March 21, 2026 arrived in Lake Placid, it had become Pellegrino’s last, best chance to secure one more Sprint victory.

    Anticipation and emotions ran high. While Pellegrino had been impervious to the crowd in Friday’s 10 k Classic – earbuds deadening the world beyond his blue racing cap during warmups, and his face a deaf mask of exertion during the race – their excitement overwhelmed him on Saturday. During his first warmup lap, he skated calmly up the course’s A-Climb through a chorus of “CHI-CCO, CHI-CCO, CHI-CCO.” On his second, the frenzied chant began again, and the gravity of the impending race dragged him to a halt. His skis splayed wide against the pitch; he buried face in his hands. “The energies I got in the Final were coming from the warmup lap, where I stopped in the middle of the climb, crying,” Pellegrino told me at the finish line. “I think the public deserved this kind of show, and I deserved to finish my career, with a Sprint skate like this.”

    Pellegrino embraces the crowd ahead of Sprint qualifying in Lake Placid. “The energies I got in the Final were coming from the warmup lap, where I stopped in the middle of the climb, crying.”
    (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus.)

    To reach that final finish line, however, was a perilous journey.

    After qualifying second, Pellegrino sidestepped two falls (the first from Jules Chappaz (FRA); the second from Elias Keck (GER)) in his Quarterfinal, moving from sixth to first in the course’s final descent and level hairpin. In Semifinal 1, he attempted to close on Lucas Chanavat (FRA) and Anton Grahn (SWE) through the crest of the A-Climb but couldn’t get by; pushed to the outside on the level hairpin, he was out-lunged by Lars Heggen (NOR) in the final meters, finishing third by 0.03.

    While the Lucky Loser spot was Chicco’s to lose heading into Semifinal 2, Erik Johansson (SWE), Harald Amundsen (NOR), and Even Northug (NOR) lost time playing for a slipstream position as they approached the top of the A-Climb. Pellegrino was on to the final by a comfortable margin.

    Lars Heggen (NOR) outlunges Federico Pellegrino (ITA) by 0.03 in Semifinal 1. Federico moved on to the Final as a Lucky Loser. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)

    Once more around the track, and the day could be his. After being fourth out of the gate, he attacked from the outside on the B-Climb; breaking into an aggressive V-2 and taking Chanavat and Heggen by surprise, he moved into second behind Grahn. The pace increased again at the base of the A-Climb, but where Grahn and Chanavat’s broad frames moved up the hill in sweeping, powerful strokes, Pellegrino leapt into a furious V-1.

    The move was decisive. To the adulation of the crowd, he opened a decisive gap through the crest of the climb. His lead only grew through the final descent into the level hairpin, but Chicco was taking no chances. While Grahn and Heggen grappled for second behind him, Pellegrino hammered to the line, threw his arms wide and his head back, roaring with the crowd.

    An 18th victory and 46th career podium, clinched.

    Federico Pellegrino secures his 18th and final World Cup victory. Lake Placid, March 21, 2026. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)

    What had happened in the Semifinal, when this triumphant last dance had nearly evaded him by three hundredths of a second? And what had changed for the Final?

    “I could not do what I did in the Final, because the energies of the other athletes were still quite big,” Chicco admitted our post-race interview. “About the last downhill, I was not the same as the others. I am not, I know, but I have some different qualities, and if I could get quite good gap in the top of the uphill, then I knew that I could keep it until I end. This is what I did. This is how I loved to win all along my career – not wait until the last meter, but trying before.”

    “Sometimes it happened, mostly before Klæbo came,” he laughed. “But today I was there, and I studied the best tactics in the end . . . the public here in Lake Placid deserves this kind of show, and I think we are all happy now.”

    And, this was nothing short of “the best way” to end his journey. “I could not do different. In the end, the last four years have been strange. I didn’t focus so much on sprinting; I tried to discover my body in different fields. Sometimes I got really great feelings and performances, but then, to come back here . . . and to win in that way, I could not do more.”

    Pellegrino after his final win. “I think the public deserved this kind of show, and I deserved to finish my career, with a Sprint skate like this.” (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)
    One more podium for Federico Pellegrino, alongside Lars Heggen (NOR) and Anton Grahn (SWE). (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus.)

    In 15 seasons, Pellegrino proved himself to be far more than a runner-up to those Swedish and Norwegian titans who loomed large over his early and later years. He had taken the Sprint Globe from the Scandinavians for the first time; outsprinted Klæbo, Ustiugov, and Northug in Lahti; perpetually challenged – and occasionally beaten – the greatest athlete in the history of the sport; and secured Olympic medals on home soil, alongside a team of up-and-coming Italians ready and eager to fill his boots. “I’m really happy that he finished his career with probably one of the best weekends for him so far,” Elia Barp (ITA) told me on Sunday. “I’m very happy for him; I’m very happy for the team. I think we have proved that we are ready to race without him – not only me, but a few other young guys are ready to try to take victories next year . . . [He showed] that it is important to keep fighting and try to be a good overaller as he was in the last years. And, now we know that it’s possible; everyone is human as us, and we can do that.”

    To Chicco’s fans, that determination – to grapple with giants; to reinvent himself; to seize the final, perfect timing and a final, perfect victory – defined his career. But for Pellegrino himself, “the biggest memories will not stay about the races, but much more about the hugs I got from the teammates, from the coaches, even outside of Italy, from my family, from the people that love me – and not only when things went well; even when things were not going so well. I think this is something that sport teaches us; that in the end, it’s only a cross-country ski race, and life is different. That’s it. The hugs are something I will remember for my entire life.”

    Pellegrino, the most popular man at Zig Zag’s on Saturday, March 21. (Photo: Lily Den Hartog)

    At Zig Zag’s Pub on Saturday night, Pellegrino told this reporter’s associate that his win vindicated his decision to retire. On Sunday, soaked with rain and champagne and tears after his last World Cup race, he reaffirmed it:

    “That’s it. I tried to enjoy today as well . . . I tried to give my best, as always, and it was good after the finish line; under the rain, it was special. But with the teammates and coaches and waxers celebrating this moment, it was good for me.”

    “Now, I really need to stay with my family. They deserve this, and I need to give them a lot of time.”

     

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    “Grazie Papao!!” Team Italy was waiting at the finish of the 20 k Skate with champagne and a tribute to Pellegrino’s children and wife, Greta Laurent (ITA, ret.). (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)
  • No One Lives Here,” They Said. Then 10,000 Plus Fans Showed Up in Lake Placid

    No One Lives Here,” They Said. Then 10,000 Plus Fans Showed Up in Lake Placid

    This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.

    Jessie Diggins during the quarterfinals of the Freestyle Sprint on Saturday in Lake Placid, New York, USA. (Photo: Voisin / FasterSkier)

    Lake Placid, N.Y. — The French coaches had questions. Two days before racing began at Mount Van Hoevenberg, they were standing in Saranac Lake — 55 degrees, windy, woods in every direction — wondering who exactly was going to show up to watch cross-country skiing in the middle of the Adirondacks.

    By Saturday, an estimated — rumored to be fair — 14,000 people had answered.

    Today, as Jessie Diggins lines up for the 20-kilometer mass start freestyle, the final race of her career, this corner of upstate New York will try to top itself one more time.

    Screaming fans, chainsaws, flags, signs, and glitter all over the course in Lake Placid, New York, USA. (Photo: Voisin / FasterSkier)
    A Weekend That Kept Building

    The first sign that Lake Placid was going to be different came Friday, and it wasn’t entirely smooth. With an initial estimate of 10,000 fans on Friday, the transportation system to and from Van Hoevenberg buckled under the demand. Some fans waited over two hours to get to the venue.

    Diggins finished fifth and clinched her fourth career overall Crystal Globe — her third in a row. She told reporters afterward that the crowd was so loud she couldn’t hear herself breathe. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo returned to win the men’s 10k, leading a Norwegian sweep of the top five.

    ORDA adjusted to the shuttle demand on the fly, pulling in school buses from across the region to shuttle people up the mountain, and by the time Saturday got started, things felt even bigger at the venue. The sprint course was packed — 14,000 fans by some estimates — as Sweden’s Linn Svahn dominated the women’s sprint and Maja Dahlqvist locked up the sprint Crystal Globe. And Federico Pellegrino, in his own final World Cup sprint, scripted the perfect ending with a masterful win — a retirement farewell that carried echoes of what’s coming today for Diggins.

    US Head Coach, Matt Whitcomb, after the races yesterday in Lake Placid was really happy because the standout performance was not one of his athletes, but instead the North American ski community that showed up in droves and created an electric atmosphere. (Photo: Voisin / FasterSkier)
    “Only Holmenkollen and Minneapolis”

    U.S. Ski Team head coach Matt Whitcomb has been on the World Cup circuit for years. He said the only events throughout his career that have ever rivaled the atmosphere here this weekend in Lake Placid are the Holmenkollen in Oslo — the sport’s grand prix if you will — and Minneapolis two years ago.

    That’s the company Lake Placid is keeping. And for those who were in Minneapolis, the comparison lands. Diggins said earlier this week that Minneapolis was the most special day of her career.

    “It was the most I’ve ever cried,” she said at Wednesday’s press conference. “I got to race in front of some of my grandparents who haven’t been able to travel overseas. They got to see me race for the very first time in a World Cup. And having so many friends and family and getting to share the thing that I love doing with them — that is the most incredible thing ever.”

    She paused, then added: “I think this weekend’s probably going to join that.”

    College skiers from all over the Northeast came in force to the trailside in Lake Placid, New York, for the races this weekend. (Photo: Voisin / FasterSkier)
    The Scene on the Ground

    What the numbers don’t capture is the texture. Young kids running around the venue in their NNF fan bibs — the ones with athletes’ faces printed on them — clutching Sharpies, hoping to meet their heroes. Fans who drove and flew from Vermont, from Alaska, from Minnesota, who planned vacations around this weekend months ago. The school buses that became part of the story, ferrying the faithful up the mountain road when the original plan couldn’t hold.

    This is what U.S. cross-country skiing looks like when it gets the stage. Not a packed NFL stadium or a sellout basketball arena — but thousands of people standing in the woods, screaming themselves hoarse for athletes from every country, because they love this sport and they know how rare these weekends are.

    The fans — especial the college skiers — made it sound like the race was happening in Davos, Switzerland with the chainsaws out on course. (Photo: Voisin / FasterSkier)
    One More Race

    Diggins has spent this weekend doing exactly what she said she would — being present, soaking it in, putting on a show. She clinched the Crystal Globe on Friday. She raced the sprint on Saturday. And now there’s one more.

    At Wednesday’s press conference, she talked about the way her mindset around suffering has evolved — how she’s learned to see the pain cave not as something to dread but as confirmation that she’s doing what she came to do.

    “This is what 100 percent feels like,” she said. “And sometimes this is what it looks like, and it’s some ugly scene, but that’s okay. It just has to be all heart and all effort, and that’s what I have to give in that moment.”

    She also made one thing clear about the team she’s leaving behind: “The team is going to be just fine without me. And I feel like that’s how I know I did my job.”

    Then, with a smile: “I’m excited to be a fan on the other side of the fence and get to cheer for them.”

    Today, in just ten minutes, Jessie Diggins will clip into her bindings for the last time as a World Cup racer. The 20-kilometer Mass Start Freestyle.

    And based on everything this weekend has shown us, “no one” will be watching.

     

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    When the sun finally came out the crowd got especially excited. (Photo: Voisin / FasterSkier)
  • Klaebo Is Coming to Lake Placid

    Klaebo Is Coming to Lake Placid

    This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) took all six gold medals awarded in men’s cross-country skiing at the Olympics last month. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo made the call late Tuesday night… he’s racing.

    According to the Scandinavian press, Klaebo departed Oslo’s Gardermoen airport at 6:25 Wednesday morning, beginning a roughly 20-hour journey to Lake Placid, where he’ll arrive about a day and a half before Friday’s 10-kilometer classic interval start. The Norwegian Ski Federation confirmed the news in a press release on Wednesday morning.

    “I can see this isn’t going to be an optimal buildup, both with the long travel and not being able to adjust to the time difference,” Klaebo said. “But I want to be part of the World Cup finale in the USA.”

    The decision came after Klaebo did a training session on Tuesday morning in Trondheim and responded well. National team doctor Ove Feragen gave him the green light.

    Ben Ogden (USA) checks on Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) after their crash eliminated them from the race in Drammen, Norway. (Photo: Nordnes/NordicFocus)

    “After the fall during the sprint in Drammen, and some quiet days at home, Johannes has gradually resumed training and normal activity,” Feragen said. “He has responded well to this, without any recurring symptoms after the fall. After observation and further examinations, we have concluded that he is fit to compete.”

    Klaebo has been sidelined since March 12, when American Ben Ogden fell across the Norwegian’s skis during Classic Sprint semifinals in Drammen, Norway. The resulting crash sent Klaebo’s head into the hard-packed snow. He was diagnosed with a mild concussion, withdrew from the Holmenkollen 50k, and scrapped a planned media tour in New York City that included sit-downs with CNN, NBC, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal.

    Now the question shifts from whether Klaebo will race to how much he’ll race. He’s not committing to the full program.

    Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), (l-r) share the Skiathlon podium in Falun, Sweden, on March 1st, 2026. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus.)

    “My expectations for performance are not sky-high,” Klaebo said. “I’ll do my best despite a poor buildup and potential jet lag. Whether I race one, two, or three events in Lake Placid, I’ll decide once I get to the USA and get skis on my feet.”

    The stakes are real despite the measured tone. Klaebo has already clinched the overall World Cup — his sixth, tying Bjoern Daehlie — and the sprint globe. But he trails Harald Oestberg Amundsen by three points in the distance standings after missing the Holmenkollen 50k. Two distance events remain: Friday’s 10 k Classic and Sunday’s 20k Freestyle Mass Start. A clean sweep of the overall, sprint, and distance globes would be a first in Klaebo’s career.

    “For cross-country skiing, it’s especially important to have World Cups in the USA,” Klaebo said. “I’ve been looking forward to this finale for a long time.”

    Racing begins Friday at Mt. Van Hoevenberg. Klaebo will be on the start line — jet lag and all.

     

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    Ben Ogden (USA) and Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), along with Oskar Opstad Vike (NOR), (l-r) on the Olympic sprint podium last month.  It should be made clear that Ogden and Klaebo have a strong respect for one another, to say the least. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
  • What to Do in Lake Placid When You’re Not Watching World Cup Racing

    What to Do in Lake Placid When You’re Not Watching World Cup Racing

    You’ve got your tickets. You know the race schedule. You’re making the trip to Mt. Van Hoevenberg for the first World Cup finals ever held on American soil. But the racing doesn’t fill every hour of the day, and Lake Placid is the kind of town that rewards a little wandering. Over the last 15 years, my family and I have spent a lot of time in Lake Placid, and here’s what we’d suggest for filling in the gaps — whether you’re traveling solo, with a crew, or with kids in tow.

    Fuel up

    Start the morning at Big Mountain Deli & Crêperie on Main Street. They’ve got 46 sandwiches named after Adirondack high peaks, plus breakfast burritos, crepes, and all the espresso drinks you need to survive a cold morning in the stadium. A word of advice: order online in advance. The line moves faster if your food is already being made. Note that they’re closed on Wednesdays, so plan accordingly if you’re arriving midweek.

    If you’d rather sit down and take your time, The Breakfast Club is just up the street and serves a proper breakfast and lunch with views of Mirror Lake. The portions are generous, the pancakes are legit, and if you’ve got kids, the hot cocoa is a guaranteed win. They open at 8 a.m. daily and close at 1, so don’t dawdle.

    Lunch and dinner

    For a real meal, Lisa G’s is our pick. It’s a short drive from Main Street on Sentinel Road, with a menu that leans American but doesn’t phone it in — think elevated pub food with creative wings, excellent fish and chips, and a solid beer list. They serve lunch on Fridays through Sundays starting at 11:30, and dinner Thursday through Monday. Closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so keep that in mind for early-week arrivals.

    For something more upscale, the Mirror Lake Inn is one of the classic Adirondack properties — a lakefront resort with a polished dining room and views to match. And if you want something a bit more casual but still special, check out The Cottage, also on the Mirror Lake Inn grounds. It’s a cozy spot right on the water where you can grab dinner or a drink in an old gondola. It’s open Tuesday through Sunday — closed Mondays.

    If you’re looking for a spot that can handle a crowd, Dancing Bears at the High Peaks Resort is worth a look. It’s at the far end of Main Street and has plenty of space — which matters on a weekend like this one, when every restaurant in town is going to be slammed. We’re fans of the food here, especially the salmon. It’s a reliable pick when other spots have a 45-minute wait.

    Breweries

    Lake Placid has two breweries worth your time, and both serve food if you’re looking to make a full stop of it.

    Lake Placid Pub & Brewery has been an institution on Mirror Lake Drive for years. The beer list is deep, the vibe is pub-casual with college banners lining the walls, and the upstairs bar is a solid spot to post up after a day at the races. They’re open daily from 11:30 a.m. (noon on Sundays) and stay open late — midnight on weeknights, 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. If you can only try one drink, ask about the Smoked Berry Old Fashioned.

    Big Slide Brewery & Public House is out on Cascade Road, about a five-minute drive from downtown and right near the Olympic Jumping Complex — which makes it an obvious stop if you’re heading to the Skirious Problems live recording Saturday evening. The beer ranges from fruit-forward lighter options to solid IPAs and porters, and the food holds its own. The burgers are good, the pizza is legit, and the buffalo wings have a bit of a cult following. They’ve also got outdoor seating with fire pits and Adirondack chairs if the weather cooperates. Open daily from 11:30 a.m. (10 a.m. on Sundays).

    Catch some NCAA March Madness

    The World Cup finals land smack in the middle of the NCAA basketball tournament, and if you need a screen and a cold beer between race sessions, Lake Placid has you covered. Wiseguys Sports Bar & Grill on School Street is the classic move — TVs everywhere, good wings, no pretense. They’re open Wednesday through Sunday. Players Waterfront Eatery on Main Street is another solid option with screens and lakeside seating if the weather cooperates.

    Stroll and Explore Main Street

    Don’t underestimate a good Main Street stroll. Lake Placid’s downtown is walkable and full of shops worth ducking into.

    Saratoga Olive Oil Company is one of those places you walk into out of curiosity and end up spending way longer than you planned. They’ve got dozens of flavored olive oils and balsamic vinegars you can taste — some combinations will surprise you, and it’s a genuinely fun challenge for your taste buds. Great for picking up a gift or just entertaining yourself for half an hour.

    The Maple Shop is exactly what it sounds like — a deep dive into maple syrup and all things maple. But it’s more interesting than you might expect. They carry different varieties and grades, and tasting your way through the range is a quick education in how much variation there is in something most people think of as one flavor.

    Adirondack Popcorn Co rounds out the Main Street tasting tour. They specialize in creative popcorn flavors — some classic, some funky — and it’s the kind of snack you can grab and take with you to the races or back to wherever you’re staying.

    Get Outside

    You’re in the Adirondacks. Get some fresh air.

    Though having recently CLOSED at the end of the 2026 season, Olympic Speed Skating Oval is open for public skating and is one of the few outdoor refrigerated ovals in the country. If the oval’s schedule doesn’t line up with yours, Mirror Lake itself often has a maintained skating area — check conditions locally when you arrive.

    Get out on the Ironman Lake Placid course on Mirror Lake Drive — hopefully it won’t be raining — like IMLP Champion Trevor Foley. (Photo: Voisin / FasterSkier)

    For our money, no trip to Lake Placid is complete without a walk or jog around Mirror Lake. The loop is about 2.7 miles on a paved path, it’s flat and accessible, and the residential architecture along the shoreline is worth the trip on its own — beautiful old Adirondack homes mixed in with classic lake houses, all set against the mountains. It’s a perfect way to shake out your legs before or after a day in the stadium.

    If you’re looking for something a bit more rugged, there are dozens of short hikes in the area, but be warned: this time of year, trail conditions are unpredictable. You might hit packed snow, mud, ice, or all three in the span of a quarter mile. Bring traction devices if you have them, and dress for the mess. Cobble Hill is a nice short option with a rewarding view at the top — nothing too long or steep, but enough to feel like you earned it.

    Need to get out for a Nordic Ski

    If you’re itching to actually ski while you’re up here, your options may be limited. Mt. Van Hoevenberg’s trails will almost certainly be closed to the public during the World Cup weekend. But if you’re willing to make the drive, the Paul Smith’s College VIC in Paul Smiths — about 30 minutes north of Lake Placid — is a strong option. We checked in with Paul Smith’s head Nordic coach Matt Dougherty, who had his team out on the trails Wednesday morning for biathlon practice. “It was actually fantastic,” Dougherty told FasterSkier. “Conditions will reflect the temperatures — normal spring skiing.” Most trails are open and being groomed daily with the college’s PB 100, though a few trails that got washed out last week are closed for the season. The VIC maintains over 25 miles of trails, including more than 10 kilometers of FIS-homologated courses and 25 kilometers of skate skiing. The system benefits from heavier snowfall than other parts of the region, which tends to keep trails skiable even when conditions elsewhere are lean. Trail conditions are updated on their Nordic Pulse page. The VIC’s winter season runs through April 1.

    Saturday Evening at the Jumps

    After the sprint finals wrap up on Saturday, head over to the Olympic Jumping Complex on Cascade Road for a live recording of the Skirious Problems podcast at 6:00 p.m. Hosts Mika Vermeulen and James Clugnet will be joined by Ben Ogden, Frida Karlsson, and Federico Pellegrino. It’s free, but organizers are suggesting it may already have sold out — check the World Cup Finals event page for the link. After that, the Palace Theatre downtown is screening Threshold at 7:00 p.m.

    Family-friendly fun

    The Lake Placid Toboggan Chute on Mirror Lake is one of those only-in-Lake-Placid experiences — a 30-foot wooden tower that launches you and a toboggan out across the frozen lake. Warmer spring temperatures have caused the chute’s closing for this season, but it’s typically open Friday evening and Saturday and Sunday during the day. Lines can build, but it’s worth the wait.

    If you’re already out at Mt. Van Hoevenberg, the Hi Notch Indoor Climbing center is right inside the Mountain Pass Lodge. It will be CLOSED during the FIS World Cup finals, but other days you’ll find a 30-foot top rope wall with over 1,500 square feet of climbing space, plus bouldering and traverse walls. All gear is provided, and instructors are on hand during daytime sessions. It could be busy this weekend, given the crowds, but it’s a great option for families or anyone who needs to burn off some energy between races.

    If you’ve got a free morning or want a half-day excursion, the Wild Center in Tupper Lake is about 45 minutes west and worth every mile. It’s a natural history museum with live animals, hands-on exhibits, and the Wild Walk — a series of treetop bridges with panoramic views of the Adirondacks. It’s open Friday through Sunday, so you could pair it with a race day or build it into your travel schedule. Just know you’ll have to choose between the Wild Center and a morning at Van Hoevenberg if you’re trying to do both.

    Closer to town, the Palace Theatre on Main Street is a beautifully maintained old single-screen movie house — a perfect way to wind down after a long day in the cold. And if your group wants something more active, Lake Placid Lanes (also known as Big Z’s) has bowling, arcade games, shuffleboard, darts, and a full bar. Reservations are recommended, especially on weekends — this place fills up.

    Lake Placid has been hosting the world’s best winter athletes since 1932. The town knows how to do this. Get out there and enjoy it.

  • Klaebo’s Lake Placid Decision Day Is Today

    Klaebo’s Lake Placid Decision Day Is Today

    This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription.

    Fans from across the United States who will be in Lake Placid are anxiously hoping Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) is well enough to travel and race in Lake Placid this weekend. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo has been included in Norway’s 22-athlete squad for this week’s World Cup finals at Mt. Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid, N.Y., BUT the six-time Olympic gold medalist’s participation hinges on a decision being made today.

    Klaebo, 29, suffered a mild concussion in a dramatic crash during the sprint semifinals at last Thursday’s World Cup in Drammen. American sprinter Ben Ogden lost his footing on the icy course and fell across Klaebo’s skis, sending the Norwegian backward and slamming the back of his head into the hard-packed snow. Klaebo lay on the ground for several minutes before being helped off course and transported to a hospital for evaluation.

    The Norwegian Ski Federation confirmed the concussion diagnosis on Friday, and Klaebo withdrew from Saturday’s 50-kilometer race at Holmenkollen.

    “He shall make an evaluation together with the national team doctor on Tuesday and would potentially travel on Wednesday,” Klaebo’s manager, Lasse Gimnes, told Norwegian broadcaster NRK on Monday. If cleared by national team doctor Ove Feragen, Klaebo would travel to New York on Wednesday — arriving just two days before Friday’s 10-kilometer classic interval start.

    The crash also disrupted a planned trip to New York City for media appearances with CNN, NBC, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal — a reflection of the enormous international attention Klaebo has drawn since his record-setting six-gold performance at the Milano Cortina Olympics. Those in-person interviews have been scrapped, though some may shift to virtual formats.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) poses with the FIS Crystal Globes he won last season at World Cup Finals in Lahti, Finland. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)
    The distance globe is on a knife’s edge

    The distance cup title is the central subplot heading into the finals. Before Holmenkollen, Klaebo held a 128-point lead in the distance standings. But with the Norwegian watching from home on Saturday, Amundsen’s 131-point haul vaulted him into the distance lead: Amundsen now sits at 939 points, three ahead of Klaebo’s 936. Martin Loewstroem Nyenget climbed to 914 in third. Just two distance events remain — Friday’s 10-kilometer classic interval start and Sunday’s 20-kilometer freestyle mass start. If Klaebo can travel and race, the margin is thin enough that a single strong result could flip the standings again. If the concussion keeps him out, the distance globe almost certainly goes to Amundsen.

    Klaebo has already clinched both the overall World Cup — his sixth, tying Bjoern Daehlie’s all-time record — and the sprint globe.

    Norway’s men’s squad: Harald Oestberg Amundsen, Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, Einar Hedegart, Andreas Fjorden Ree, Mattis Stenshagen, Emil Iversen, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, Lars Heggen, Even Northug, Ansgar Evensen, and Even Solem Michelsen.

    Jessie Diggins soaks in all the energy from the home crowd during her warmup in Minneapolis — the last time the World Cup was on American snow. (Photo: Leann Bentley/USST)
    Diggins’s farewell, and notable absences

    The Lake Placid finals will serve as the final competitive races for Jessie Diggins, the most decorated cross-country skier in U.S. history. The women’s overall cup and distance cup are both decided, with Diggins winning with a comfortable margin over Sweden’s Moa Ilar in second. The three-time Olympic medalist and three-time overall World Cup champion announced before the season that this would be her last, and a farewell on home snow in front of an American crowd at the first-ever U.S.-hosted World Cup finals is about as fitting a send-off as anyone could script.

    Klaebo is not the only notable question mark heading into the weekend. Norway’s Kristine Stavaas Skistad and Mathilde Myhrvold have opted to skip the finals to prepare for part two of Norwegian nationals in Harstad next week. Sweden’s Ebba Andersson has also pulled out.

    Norway’s women’s squad for Lake Placid includes Astrid Oeyre Slind, Heidi Weng, Kristin Austgulen Fosnaes, Karoline Simpson-Larsen, Nora Sanness, Karoline Groetting, Julie Bjervig Drivenes, Tiril Udnes Weng, Julie Myhre, Lotta Udnes Weng, and Milla Grosberghaugen Andreassen.

    The men’s freestyle mass start gets started at the US National Championships in Lake Placid, NY, 1/8/26. (Photo: Nancie Battaglia)
    A historic venue

    The Lake Placid finals mark the first Cross-Country World Cup finals ever held in the United States and the return of World Cup racing to Lake Placid for the first time since 1979. Racing kicks off Friday at Mt. Van Hoevenberg with the 10-kilometer classic interval start, followed by a freestyle sprint on Saturday and a 20-kilometer freestyle mass start on Sunday.

    This is a developing story. FasterSkier will update when Klæbo’s decision is announced.

     

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  • Ben Ogden’s Olympic Silver, 50 Years After Bill Koch — A Trailside Reflection

    Ben Ogden’s Olympic Silver, 50 Years After Bill Koch — A Trailside Reflection

    This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription.

    Ben Ogden (USA) celebrates as he crosses the finish line with an Olympic silver medal, the first medal for the U.S. men in the sport in fifty years. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    This essay by Jim Galanes was written on the evening of the Olympic Men’s Classic Sprint in Val di Fiemme, when Ben Ogden won silver to become the first American man in 50 years to medal in an Olympic cross-country skiing event. It was drafted from the race course that same night and is being published now, several weeks later, as a reflection from someone who has witnessed multiple generations of American skiing.

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

    A friend texted and reminded me as we were standing on the course for the sprint race, in Val di Fiemme, that it had been 50 years and five days since Bill Koch won his silver medal in Seefeld, Austria, at the 1976 Olympics.

    I was at those Games as a Nordic Combined skier, 20 years old learning the sport,  I was trail side 4-5 kilometers from the finish cheering Bill on. In fact, I got so caught up in the moment that I nearly missed my own ski jumping training window and had to hustle back to squeeze in my final practice jumps before competition. Bill’s performance mattered, not just for the result, but for what it signaled about what American skiers could do on the world stage.

    Fast forward five decades (and five days), and I found myself in a remarkably similar position, but as a spectator, back on course, watching Ben Ogden put together what I believe was the most complete race of his career , tactically, psychologically, and physiologically,  on the same Val di Fiemme tracks that have tested athletes for the past 30 years.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) and Ben Ogden (USA), (l-r) crest the final climb before descending into the finish during the semifinals. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)

    Let’s be clear. Racing against Johannes Høsflot Klaebo is a different challenge altogether. He is, quite simply, the dominant sprinter of this era. Everyone knows that. But if there is someone willing to challenge him, to pressure him early rather than concede, Ben is one of the few with the courage and competitive instinct to do it.

    Ben has always been an aggressive racer. We’ve all seen the pattern before, going out hard,  sometimes, too hard in qualification or early rounds, only to lose just enough capacity to not be a factor when it matters most. That’s not an athletic flaw. It’s the learning curve of a young athlete figuring out how to apply fitness in international competition.

    This time was different.

    With an early start in qualification, Ben laid down a fast, aggressive time that held up until Klaebo edged it. What stood out wasn’t just the speed; it was the control, the discipline, and the focus. Ben skied the lower sections with restraint, clearly managing energy so he could handle the Zorzi climb effectively and carry speed over the top. From our vantage point near the finish, you could see those who had overcooked that climb and the early sections of the course. Those athletes crested without momentum, struggled to accelerate on the descent, and had difficulty navigating the soft, wet corner into the finishing straight.

    Ben didn’t have that problem.

    We couldn’t see the full climb directly, but the stadium screen told the story. He attacked decisively, created separation, and more importantly, did it without being frantic or over his limits. Still, the coach in me wondered whether that effort would cost him later. History makes me cautious.

    As the rounds progressed, it was obvious the conditions were deteriorating. The snow got slower each heat. Times drifted up significantly, and the race began to perhaps reward athletes with deeper aerobic reserves and better efficiency rather than pure power. In softer conditions, maintaining effective kick can become a limiter. Some athletes compensated with excessive upper-body work. Ben, by contrast, maintained clean mechanics and consistent pressure and pace through the race

    In the semifinal, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) was first across the line, while Ben Ogden (USA) was outlunged by Lauri Vuorinen (FIN) and needed a lucky loser spot to advance to the finals. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    In the semifinal, we positioned ourselves on the first uphill. Klaebo and Ogden came through side by side. Partway up, Klaebo glanced over, the kind of look experienced racers give when they recognize a real contender, as if to say OK-lets go. The front group, Klaebo, Ogden, and Vuorinen, quickly separated from the field. No one could break it open on the final climb, and it came down to the finishing sprint, where Ben placed third and advanced as a lucky loser out of the faster semifinal.

    Not dramatic. Just composed. Exactly what he had to do.

    By the final, the track had slowed even more. Once again, Ben committed from the gun, but not recklessly. On the Zorzi climb, he and Klaebo distanced the rest of the field, turning the race into a two-man contest for gold and silver. Over the final roller, Klaebo made the decisive move, a couple of double poles, as he has done here numerous times, and created the separation he needed. Ben held second convincingly ahead of a very strong Norwegian contingent.

    Here’s my takeaway.

    Ben has adjusted tactically. But this wasn’t just better tactics. This was the performance of an athlete who arrived. The fitness is there. The psychological composure is there. The tactical judgment has caught up to his physiology. At the end of the race he was spent as he should have been. That wasn’t miscalculation; that was full commitment.

    Ben Ogden (USA) celebrates on the podium with his Olympic silver medal. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    Fifty years ago, Bill Koch’s medal showed that an American could belong at the front of international cross-country skiing. Performances like this suggest we are entering another period where that idea is no longer an exception.

    On the men’s side, athletes like Ogden, Gus Schumacher, Ketterson,  Wonders, McMullen, and Schoonmaker, the talent is real. The depth of talent is unquestionable. The question is no longer whether they can compete. The question, as always in endurance sport, is whether they can improve their consistency of their performance, continue to build, stay healthy, and keep progressing.

    That part never gets easier. We can do it if we can continue to support and improve the club programs that have developed these athletes.

    Jim Galanes, Peter Davis, and Peter’s granddaughter. (Photo: Joyce Allgier)

    As a side note, this is the first Olympics I have been to since 1994, more than 30 years. It has sort of been like old home week, bumping into friends who had just skied in the World Masters in Sampada, Italy. Spending an hour with Rick Kapala in the food court line while discussing many of what we both see we need to work on to the keep the sport progressing. Connecting briefly with former Olympians Judy Rabinowitz, Trina Hosmer, and her husband Dave, old ski and bike riding friends from Stowe. On the last day, I was also able to meet with Peter “Giant” Davis and his wife, Nancy, on the side of the trail. Peter was an athlete on the US Ski Team in the 70’s, a coach at Telemark Academy, and later at the Lyndon Nordic Ski Center. The first residential programs for junior cross-country skiers in the country.

    Gus Schumacher fans. (Photo: Joyce Allgier)

    We also enjoyed meeting some of Gus Schumacher’s friends, family, parents, and others. It is fun to see so many old soldiers of the sport still around and enjoying the time watching U.S. skiers compete on the world stage. It was great to see and know so many other US ski fans who were there that I did not get to see personally. Most of all, having a young APU skier who I had never met come up and thank me for founding the APU program that is giving her the opportunity to pursue her dreams. The success we are seeing today and what we need to do in the future is built upon an understanding of what we have done in the past and a clear vision of what we need to do in the future to move forward.

    Picture of Vermonter Bill Koch celebrating his winning the FIS Overall WC crown with a very happy coach, the late Mike Gallagher. A very special moment. (Photo and caption courtesy of Peter Graves)

    A clear vision of the future should require an understanding of where we have come from, and what we have done in the past. It is interesting that some of those who have been influential in the past are still engaged in the sport. Maybe a curse of old age, or maybe relevant, that we see the past as a building block for the future. As I look back in my lifetime in the sport, understanding where we are today would not have been possible without the likes of John Caldwell, Sven Wiik, two of the earliest coaches in the sport who helped create coaching for aspiring athletes. Athletes, like Gray, Gallagher, Rockwell and Elliot who laid the foundation in international competition and inspired my generation. The Southern Vermont quad of Koch, Caldwell, Galanes and Dunklee took the next steps, along with women like Spencer, Owen, and Rabinowitz. The next generation of athletes like Kemppel, Bauer, Freeman, and Randall, who, despite a multitude of challenges and inadequate support from the US Ski Team, produced some excellent results.

    In 1996 I established Gold 2002 program in Anchorage, later I brought into APU to become APU Nordic Ski Center. I established this program to create a better (a different) or alternative pathway that would provide athletes with full-time coaching and a base level of support to keep athletes skiing after college or have an alternative pathway to the NCAA route. Many more of these so-called pro teams followed in the coming years. We now have strong club programs in every region of the country. Those programs have been critically important to the success we have enjoyed over the last decade or so. We need to support and help those programs to continue to improve and expand so we can have even more athletes ready to perform when they step on the World Cup and Olympic stage. Perhaps the biggest hurdle these days. It is possible that we just need to find the best pathway to make the next steps in developing athletes.

     

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    Ben Ogden (USA), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), and Oskar Opstad Vike (NOR), (l-r) share the 2026 Olympic Winter Games Classic Sprint podium in Tesero, Italy. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

     

     

     

  • After son’s fourth straight gold in Italy, Klæbo’s father says “we’re just having fun”

    After son’s fourth straight gold in Italy, Klæbo’s father says “we’re just having fun”

    This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers who have helped put our Nat Herz on the ground at the Olympics. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription.

    Johannes Klæbo stands with his father, Haakon, during a water break on a rollerski workout in Utah in 2023. (Nathaniel Herz/FasterSkier)

    PREDAZZO, ITALY — Johannes Høsflot Klæbo is four for four — and officially the most golden Winter Olympian in history.

    By anchoring Norway’s relay team to first place Sunday, Klæbo claimed his ninth Winter Olympic gold — moving him out of a tie, with two other Norwegian cross-country skiers and a Norwegian biathlete, for the most ever.

    At a news conference afterward, Klæbo said he’d been drained by the effort it took to win Friday’s 10-kilometer individual start skate race — the first time he’d ever won an event in that discipline.

    The next day, he said, “the only thing I did was lay in the bed and play on my PlayStation.” But by the time he woke up Sunday morning and checked his heart rate, he said, “it looked pretty good.”

    [Read more: That guy rollerskiing around Utah by himself: Yeah, it’s 5-time Olympic champ Johannes Klæbo]

    After Sunday’s relay win over France and Italy, Klæbo is now poised to win the last two cross-country events at the Games, both of which — a team sprint, and a 50-kilometer mass start race in the classical technique — favor him.

    At the news conference, he said he’s still taking it one day at a time. “We’ll see where we end up at the end,” he said. “But it feels, so far, so good.”

    In search of some more revealing answers, we went looking for Klæbo’s father.

    Haakon Klæbo, for the past week, has been a ubiquitous presence at the Olympic cross-country ski venue, watching races with the masses alongside the race trails with friends and family. We found him walking alone behind the stadium — where he was happy to answer a few questions before others broke in.

    Nathaniel Herz: Are the Olympics a platform where Johannes is starting to go from a Norwegian to a global star, with these viral videos of him running up the last hill in the sprint race?

    Haakon Klæbo: Yeah, it looks like at least it is. It is a huge interest in him. Olympics is really big in the U.S. But I also think that more U.S. citizens are learning how much time he spent there. He’s linked with (Utah physiotherapist) Megan (Stowe). She is really the one that has made his strength program, which is — it’s not that it’s secret, but if you look into it, he’s doing a lot of core strength. This is a program that he also follows at home (in Norway).

    NH: How nervous were you for the 10-kilometer skate race two days ago?

    HK: I was really nervous for the 10 k, and I knew that it was his weak point, or Achilles, in a way. We have to remember that he has never won a 10 k skate before, never — and this is in his whole career. I think that he has been in good enough shape, but this has been something in his head — and something that if you do not accomplish, it starts to become even more problematic.

    Devon Kershaw, a retired Canadian World Championships gold medalist in cross-country skiing, who’s working as an expert TV commentator at the Olympics, walks up: Congratulations.

    Herz, to Klæbo: You know this guy?

    HK: No.

    NH: This is Devon Kershaw.

    DK. Congratulations, it’s been quite the show.

    HK: Oh! Yeah — it is a little unbelievable, because you don’t expect it. And we had these crazy days in (the World Championships in) Trondheim last year, in which were hoping for like two or three (medals). (Klæbo won gold in all six events.)

    And now, with four.

    NH: Do you think going through this whole Trondheim experience last year is making this a lot easier for him now?

    HK: Yeah. He had been training for that since he heard Trondheim would host the World Championships, and he has been the front figure. They used him (in their marketing materials), saying, ‘Born and raised.’ He’s standing there, like 18 years old — he had one pair of Leki ski poles at that time. He was wearing a suit that he had borrowed from a friend that was on the team. He was like, ‘This is my dream.’ And then he managed to do it. So, I think he was really stressed for it.

    This season, it has just been fun. We’ve been together with (teammate and friend) Emil (Iversen). Me and him and Emil have been traveling around  — it’s like being there with two boys playing around. So, I think he’s really much more relaxed. And you can see, also — I think he is even stronger, here, if you look at his sprint.

    [Podcast: Johannes Høsflot Klæbo has a lot to say. We listened.]

    DK: I agree with you, 100%. Everyone made such a big deal of it, but winning the individual start skate. That’s the biggest thing to me, as a fan and a person that raced his whole life. I’m getting goosebumps thinking about what I saw two days ago. When you win that, then you’re really the king.

    HK: And I said to Nathaniel that I think that he has been strong enough to do it for years. But it has been something up here (points to his head). He’s never won it.

    NH: Do you think that’s his best accomplishment ever?

    HK: Yeah, I think it is. And he was really tired after — he has been working really, really hard. I was afraid for this relay today — that he wouldn’t be able to run, because I think he put so much into the 10k. So much energy spent.

    Johannes Høsflot Klæbo celebrates one of his four Olympic gold medals in Italy. (Davide Barbieri/NordicFocus)

    NH: Was he at a disadvantage being first, in this individual time-trial style race, of all these Norwegian guys? That meant that he wouldn’t get as much information on the course from his coaches about how his times compared to the others.

    HK: Actually, his best races from skate individual start are when he is just doing his own thing — just making his own pace, and doing what he’s good at. You could see that for the others, it was a disadvantage. I think, for (rival-teammate) Einar (Hedegart), it was trying to push on Johannes’ time (that was the problem). If you look at the two of them, racing, they’re pretty similar in taking it a little slow in the first two kilometers. Then starting to get faster and faster and faster, and having a crazy second half. 

    I think that that was what made Einar lose the silver. He pushed too hard — and he got burned and he lost 20 seconds in the last 1,000 meters.

    NH : Will you be very stressed about the 50 kilometer race, the last event? Or do you feel like, once you get to the 50 k, so much has already been done that you can relax a little.

    HK: The 10 k was what I was really afraid of. And now, I don’t know — we’re just here here enjoying and having fun. And then, everything can happen. And even if he is getting sick tomorrow, we’ve had four gold medals, and you’re the best Winter Olympian — and still, you can race for another Olympics. I think if you ask him, his dream Olympics would be to do a 50 k in Soldier Hollow (in Utah) — which is his home.

    A middle aged fan carrying a Finland flag breaks in, screaming: “Klæbo! Klæbo! Number one!” The fan demands a photo, then ushers Klæbo away.

     

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  • The Devon Kershaw Show: Klaebo, Hedegart and the rest gun for 10 k gold

    The Devon Kershaw Show: Klaebo, Hedegart and the rest gun for 10 k gold

    This episode was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers.  If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription.  

    We’re back for the second day in a row with a recap of a lights-out 10-kilometer freestyle race. It was a good one. Devon and Nat are here with the deets.

    It’s been surprisingly light on the hate mail recently. Reach Devon at devon[at]fasterskier.com and Nat at nat[at]fasterskier.com.

    A reminder: This is a homegrown podcast done by a crew working long hours and late nights. We’re also paying real money to be here in Italy. If you can, support the show and FasterSkier’s ongoing coverage with a voluntary membership. We’re also offering a bonus during the Olympics: a WhatsApp group with notes on Nat’s experiences in Italy, the food he’s eating, interview transcripts and more.

    Send nat[at]northernjournal[dot]com a confirmation of your voluntary membership and the number he should use for WhatsApp and we’ll get you signed up. You can also Venmo him directly at @nat-herz if a membership isn’t for you. We’re suggesting a minimum of $10, but we also won’t turn anyone away who wants to join because of an inability to pay.

    Help Support Our Olympic Coverage!

    FasterSkier will have our own Nat Herz on the ground at the Olympics, which, to be honest, is a very big financial lift for us. If you value the thoughtful work and access FasterSkier provides at championships like this one, please consider becoming a Voluntary Subscriber. Your support directly fuels the work we do to cover the people, places, and moments that make our sport special.

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  • Einar Hedegart has only been a ‘cross-country skier’ since November. On Friday, he could dethrone the sport’s Olympic king.

    Einar Hedegart has only been a ‘cross-country skier’ since November. On Friday, he could dethrone the sport’s Olympic king.

    This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers who have helped put our Nat Herz on the ground at the Olympics. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription.

    Einar Hedegart poses for a photo after training at the Olympic cross-country ski venue in the Dolomites in Northern Italy. (Nathaniel Herz/FasterSkier)

    PREDAZZO, ITALY — Johannes Høsflot Klæbo is, almost without question, the greatest cross-country skier who’s ever lived.

    The Norwegian athlete has won gold in eight consecutive championship races spread across two seasons — including the first two events at this year’s Olympics, in Italy. It’s quite possible he could walk away from the Games with gold in all six events.

    His biggest threat comes from a guy who’s been a cross-country skier for less than three months.

    Norwegian Einar Hedegart has beaten Klæbo all three times they’ve raced each other this winter. He’s won five of the six cross-country events he’s entered since the season began in November.


    Johannes Høsflot Klæbo celebrates a gold medal at the Olympics in Italy. (Davide Barbieri/NordicFocus)

    November is when, at least according to Hedegart, he finally accepted the label of cross-country skier. Before that, he’d still been, at least partially, a biathlete — the Olympic discipline that combines cross-country skiing with precision shooting.

    In biathlon, Hedegart was a fast skier, but not always a reliable shooter. Last season, he jumped into a World Cup race against cross-country skiing’s best competitors, and finished a surprising second place.

    That result set off a chain of events that have led him to Italy on Norway’s Olympic cross-country team, with a specific focus on the 10-kilometer freestyle event. That’s where, on Friday, he’s expected to challenge Klæbo for Olympic gold.

    “We’re looking forward to Friday,” Emil Hosøy, the coach of Hedegart’s club team in Norway, said in a phone interview this week. “It will be a hard competition.”

    In a brief interview Tuesday after training with a teammate at the Olympic venue in the Dolomites, Hedegart said he’s prepared for the showdown.

    “Everything has gone according to plan,” he said.

    Biathlon vs. cross-country

    Hedegart’s meteoric rise has enlivened a long-running, colorful debate between cross-country skiers and biathletes over which discipline is superior, and who’s faster. Biathletes have periodically crossed over and notched competitive results, though it doesn’t happen often.

    Swedish cross-country star William Poromaa sparked a furor in Scandinavia two years ago by joking that biathlon, with its stops for target shooting, was for athletes who need a rest between ski sessions.

    Hedegart is the latest test case — showing that on today’s racing circuits, elite biathletes can be, at a minimum, competitive with the best cross-country skiers.

    “I think a lot of cross-country skiers underestimate the level biathlon is at, and the amount of training we are doing,” Hedegart told two cross-country Olympians on their podcast, Skirious Problems. “You guys have to give us some credit, please.”

    Hedegart, 24, is from a little north of Trondheim, a city in central Norway that’s produced some of the world’s best cross-country skiers, including Klæbo.

    As a kid, he watched cross-country skiing on television, because the Norwegian superstar Petter Northug Jr. came from his area. But Hedegart’s focus was biathlon, and he showed promise early — winning medals at the World Junior Championships and, in 2023, reaching the top 30 in the World Cup, the sport’s highest level of competition.

    Einar Hedegart competes in a cross-country World Cup race in Switzerland (Federica Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    Hedegart would also, from time to time, enter elite cross-country races. Some of those decisions were happenstance — one because he didn’t have a partner for a biathlon relay on the same day, and another that he entered on a whim after a registration deadline.

    But in both of those cases, he won.

    His results earned him an entry into a cross-country World Cup race in Oslo last year, where he placed second — prompting questions from Scandinavian pundits about whether Hedegart was focused on the right sport.

    So, over the summer, Hedegart hedged his bets: He switched from training with biathlon teams to training with a cross-country ski team — albeit one that would allow him to keep shooting his rifle and compete in biathlon.

    “All the way from May to November, I was 50-50,” Hedegart said. “I brought my gun to every camp and shot a lot.”

    At the start of this winter, Hedegart entered two sets of races over two weekends — biathlon and cross-country — to help decide how he would spend the rest of the season.

    In biathlon, he shot poorly. In one race, he missed eight of 20 shots; only one athlete out of 59 competitors missed more.

    The cross-country race, meanwhile, he won by a big margin — besting not just Norway’s top skiers but other top talents from France and Austria. That was the day things changed, Hedegart said.

    “I’m a cross-country skier this winter season,” he said.

    Klæbo, whose championship winning streak is at risk, has taken notice of Hedegart’s rise, which resulted in him being named to Norway’s Olympic cross-country team early in the winter.

    “It’s impressive, what he has done,” Klæbo said. “I’m going to try to give him a good match.”

    The best skater of all time?

    Both Klæbo and Hedegart himself credit Hedegart’s success this season to a unique aspect of his training.

    Cross-country skiing, both on the World Cup circuit and at the Olympics, features events in two techniques — the traditional forward striding and poling known as classical, and the side to side pushing called skating.

    Biathletes compete only in skating, and Hedegart, this past year, has focused his training almost exclusively on that technique. He hasn’t even bothered to contest classical cross-country competitions this winter. 

    Hedegart said on the podcast, in November, that he’d spent less than 12 hours practicing classical style in the previous six months — a tiny fraction of the hundreds of hours he’d spent training in total. Top cross-country skiers, meanwhile, typically divide their training close to evenly between the two techniques.

    Einar Hedegart, center, celebrates winning a World Cup cross-country race in Switzerland. (Federica Modica/Nordic Focus)

    “That is my strength, that I can use more time than anyone else ever has on skating,” said Hedegart in the interview. “I’ve just really done my thing, and that has gotten me this far.”

    Hedegart’s training plan has other unconventional elements, including lots of moderately hard sessions and few extra-hard ones, which allows him to spend more time training overall, said Hosøy, his coach. Hedegart is also a “very clever” athlete who’s shown a keen awareness of his own body that’s unusual for someone his age, Hosøy added.

    But it’s the added emphasis on skating that’s allowed Hedegart to take the technique “to a new level,” said Pål Golberg, a former top Norwegian skier who’s competed against Hedegart and now is working at the Olympics as an expert TV commentator.

    “The training he does is out of this world,” Golberg said. “He can be the best skater the sport has seen — if he wants to do that.”

    A postseason dilemma

    That’s the question Hedegart will have to answer after this season — and it poses a real dilemma. 

    Avoiding the classical technique means he can only compete in half of cross-country’s racing schedule. And because his success, so far, has come mostly in distance events, Hedegart has not yet earned a chance to race individual sprint races for the Norwegian team, whose start slots are hotly contested.

    As a result, Hedegart has started just six cross-country races this winter — far less than athletes competing in both disciplines.

    “If you want to get old in this sport, maybe you have to get to compete more to have the motivation to train as much as he does,” said Hosøy, the coach.

    But training and racing in the classical technique would risk the success Hedegart has found after specializing in skating.

    “I wouldn’t take the chance,” said Golberg. “If he has this skating that’s so good, why would you risk it? He would never win a distance race in classic, I’m pretty sure.”

    There’s also the question of whether Hedegart will ultimately return to biathlon — which, he said, would make it pointless to try to improve his classical technique, since it’s not used on the biathlon circuit.

    Hedegart celebrates a podium finish at a cross-country World Cup race in Finland earlier this year. (Federico Modica/NordicFocus)

    At the start of the season, Hedegart said, he still planned to go back to biathlon next year. Now, he added, he’s pretty sure he’s changed his mind: If he’s offered a spot on Norway’s national cross-country team for next year, he’d take it, at least for one season.

    But in 2029, the biathlon World Championships will be held in Oslo — a chance to compete in a marquee event in Hedegart’s home nation. “That is a big, big dream of mine,” he said. “And I really hope that I can compete there.”

    “That is the back and forth I have to do,” Hedegart added, referring to the balance between the two sports. 

    If Hedegart’s success this season has complicated his career planning, it’s at least provided Scandinavians with a compelling new storyline — particularly in men’s cross-country skiing, where some pundits complain that Norwegian dominance is making the sport boring.

    “Norwegians are pretty tired of watching one Norwegian fighting with another,” said Golberg. “But now, suddenly, you have two sports clashing together.”

     

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  • A 50-Year Wait Ends: Ben Ogden Takes Olympic Silver for U.S. Men

    A 50-Year Wait Ends: Ben Ogden Takes Olympic Silver for U.S. Men

    This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers who have helped put our Nat Herz on the ground at the Olympics. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) crosses the line during the Men’s Olympic Classic Sprint semifinal while Ben Ogden (USA) and Lauri Vuorinen (FIN) (l-r) lunge for second during the semifinals of the Olympic Classic Sprint. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    PREDAZZO, ITALY — Ben Ogden finished his semifinal standing upright, his skis still on, lungs burning in the familiar way that meant the work had been done, but the verdict was not. He crossed the line in third place — close enough to matter, not close enough to know if he would advance. As he waited and recovered, on another stretch of the course, the second semifinal was still unfolding, its clock still running, its outcome still capable of undoing everything he had just done.

    For a few minutes, the race was no longer about how he skied. Ogden, in this moment, had to wait.

    Out on the course, six more skiers were racing for two automatic spots and two chances to survive on time. The math of it was simple, brutal, and final. Either his time would hold, or it wouldn’t.

    In the stadium, just above the finish line, Andrea Ogden, Ben’s mother, stood with a friend, phone clenched in her hand, trying to make peace with the day as it already was. She had watched enough sprint races to know how easily they break. She knew what it meant that Ben had been edged into third. A podium was possible, but so was an ending that would look, on paper, entirely ordinary.

    “That would have been okay,” she said later. “That would have been a great day.”

    This wasn’t resignation. It was realism.

    While Ogden waited Jiri Tuz (CZE) and Oskar Opstad Vike (NOR), (l-r) stride their way to the top of the Zorzi Climb. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)

    Men’s sprint racing begins with a time trial that sorts athletes by hundredths of a second, and from there it becomes a sequence of increasingly narrow tests. Thirty advance. More than seventy don’t. On this day in Val di Fiemme, the margins were particularly cruel. Thirty-first place missed the heats by fourteen hundredths of a second. From twenty-second to thirty-first, was separated by just over a second — a slip in a corner, a missed pole plant, a hesitation where there could not be one.

    For the United States team, the line had already claimed one of its strongest skiers. Gus Schumacher was that racer who finished thirty-first, out by the smallest of margins. His Olympic sprint ended before it began.

    Ogden avoided that fate in the morning. He qualified second-fastest, behind only Johannes Høsflot Klaebo, the Norwegian who arrived at these Games with history in his sights. It was an early signal that Ogden’s form was real — but sprint days are not won in qualification. They are endured through rounds, managed through fatigue, and decided by timing as much as strength.

    He moved through his quarterfinal easily after gaining a big lead on the Zorzi Climb. In the semifinal, he held back, once again saving his effort until the final climb. There, he skied next to Klaebo and crossed the line, still unsure whether the result would hold.

    Five minutes can feel like an hour when a season or sometimes a career is compressed into a single time.

    When the final times from the second semifinal appeared, they came without drama. Ogden’s time held. He was through to the final.

    Only then did the day change shape.

    Six men would race for medals. Ben Ogden would be one of them.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) on his way to winning qualification. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
    Qualification: The Day Narrows

    Sprint days do not unfold evenly. They constrict. After the top 30 advance from the qualification to the heats, the field shrinks heat by heat. First to 12, then to six, and eventually to one.

    By the time the men’s classic sprint reached its decisive final, the field had already been reduced by not just the clock but also by the rapidly changing conditions, the soft corners, the hard, long climbs, and a finish stretch that at times required careful and unique tactics. What remained was not simply the fastest skiers, but the ones who had survived a sequence of increasingly challenging tests throughout the day.

    Ben Ogden (USA) steadies himself in the starting gate as he gets ready to start his day and chase his dream. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)

    The course at the Olympics is a 1.5 k sprint loop with a grinding climb. Klaebo set the fastest qualifying time with his usual economy, skiing exactly as hard as necessary and no harder. Ogden followed less than three seconds back, skiing with a balance he hadn’t always found earlier in his career, and to be fair, this season.

    Behind him, the time gaps shrank again.

    Zak Ketterson qualified twenty-third. JC Schoonmaker slipped in at twenty-eighth. Schumacher missed by fourteen hundredths. None of the Canadian men advanced. The difference between safety and elimination felt almost arbitrary, though every athlete on the start list knew it wasn’t.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) and Ben Ogden (USA), (l-r) crest the final climb before descending into the finish during the semifinals. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)
    The Heats

    Once the heats started, the race took on a new feel.

    Sprint brackets reward quick decisions and punish hesitation. Six skiers line up, two move on automatically, and the rest hope their times are fast enough to be one of the two Lucky Losers. Drafting is valuable, and position matters. Every downhill section encourages patience and positioning, but every corner can ruin it.

    Ogden skied his quarterfinal calmly, not pushing too hard, until the final climb. Ketterson’s race ended suddenly when he fell, his klister sticking at the worst possible time. Schoonmaker made it to the semifinals, but later stated that he just didn’t have what he needed on the final climb.

    By the semifinals, the race had stripped itself down to essentials. Like the quarterfinals, six skiers per heat. The top two in each advanced automatically to the finals. And again, two Lucky Losers did so on time as well.

    It was here that Ogden’s approach stood out. Earlier in his career, he had raced as if opportunity might vanish at any moment — attacking early, burning energy that never came back. Today, he waited. He skied the lower sections under control and trusted that something would still be there when it mattered.

    That restraint didn’t make the racing feel safe. It made the result possible.

    Erik Valnes (NOR), Ben Ogden (USA), Oskar Opstad Vike (NOR), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), Jiri Tuz (CZE), and Lauri Vuorinen (FIN), (l-r) start the men’s final. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)
    The Final

    Six men lined up for the final, and for the first time all day, everything was clear.

    There were no more clocks to watch or other heats to compare. The medals would be decided in one lap, based on position, timing, and nerve.

    From the gun, Klaebo and Ogden moved to the front side by side without urgency, setting a pace that revealed nothing until it started to. Norway’s Oskar Opstad Vike hung in the tracks behind the two leaders. The others followed, each solving the same problem: how long to wait until trying to break open the race or at least make a move for a medal.

    The course rewarded drafting, especially through the downhill sections and into the finishing straight. The question, however, was whether the medals could be won on the Zorzi Climb with an explosive attack that would open up a large enough margin so the draft wasn’t a factor.

    “I was definitely feeling it,” Ogden said later. “The body’s starting to hurt. But I figured that was my one chance.”

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) celebrates as he comes to the line for the gold. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)

    The decisive move did come over the final hill, where Klaebo accelerated with the explosiveness that has made him nearly untouchable. As seen in so many races before, it was a surge meant to drop everyone immediately.

    Ogden tried his best to keep up with the attack, just as he had in the semifinal when he skied next to Klaebo.

    “I wondered a little bit in the semifinal,” said Haakon Klaebo, Johannes’s father. “They were really looking at each other.”

    In the final, though, Klaebo pulled ahead, as he often does. Behind him, the fight for silver became even more intense.

    As the climb reached the crest, Ogden gave one last surge that opened up a small enough gap on Vike so the Vermonter could get clear and avoid being overtaken by the Norwegian, as he had been in the semifinal by Finland’s Lauri Vuorinen.

    Ben Ogden (USA) double-poles with everything he has down the finish stretch to win silver. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    Ogden stayed tucked down the final descent into the finish stretch before popping up and double-poling for the finish with everything he had left. In sprinting, skiers are often passed in the last hundred meters by someone who has saved just a little more.

    “I was double-poling down that final stretch,” Ogden said, “[hoping] no one comes sneaking up behind me.”

    No one did.

    When he crossed the line, he didn’t look back.

    Klaebo took gold. Ogden crossed second, winning the silver. Vike followed for bronze.

    Only after he crossed the finish line did Ogden let up.

    Ben Ogden (USA) waves to his fans as he celebrates the first American Olympic medal in 50 years. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus. For editorial use only.
    The Weight of What Came Before

    Klaebo did not come to Val di Fiemme chasing a single race. His sprint victory was another step in an attempt no skier has ever completed: winning gold in every Olympic cross-country event. Doing so would place him beyond even Marit Bjoergen, whose Olympic record has long defined the sport’s outer limit.

    His dominance framed the day, but it did not define it.

    Ogden’s silver mattered because of what it represented for American men’s skiing. The last Olympic medal by a U.S. man came in 1976, when Bill Koch won silver in Innsbruck. Since then, generations of skiers had come close without breaking through.

    Ogden grew up near that history, not as legend but as geography. He learned to ski on trails threading through maple groves and dirt roads in southern Vermont. Koch lived nearby, as in just a couple of miles away. The connection was literal, not symbolic.

    For years, Ogden raced with urgency, as if opportunity might disappear. In Val di Fiemme, he raced differently.

    What changed was not his strength, but his patience.

    Ben Ogden (USA) jumps on the podium to the delight of all his teammates, coaches, and fans who came to celebrate this moment with him. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
    After the Line

    Ogden skied through the finish, coasted toward the fencing, and bent forward, hands on knees. The medal was secure. There was nothing left to calculate.

    Andrea Ogden was crying in the stands.

    “It was overwhelming,” she said. “Just pure joy.”

    At the medal ceremony, with the ribbon of the silver medal draped around his neck and over his shoulders, there was just one choreographed celebration waiting for him, a backflip off the podium he had promised himself he would do as a young teenager had the dream been realized. From there, just teammates, coaches, family, and a long exhale of disbelief.

    “You know how many things have to go right,” Andrea said. “And how many times they don’t.”

    Ogden spoke afterward with excitement, as if the day had been so much more than he had dreamed of for years.

    Ben Ogden (USA) captures Olympic silver and realizes a dream a long time in the making. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
    What It Means

    “A huge goal of mine this year has been an Olympic medal,” Ogden had said months earlier, when he spoke with FasterSkier over Zoom, careful to pair ambition with realism. He talked then about patience, about understanding how foolish it is to expect outcomes in a sport built on margins.

    The final played out exactly that way.

    Ogden waited when others pressed. He trusted preparation. When it was time to commit, he did so without hesitation.

    “This wasn’t something that surprised us,” said Chris Grover, the U.S. program director. “Ben’s been building toward this for a long time.”

    Head coach Matt Whitcomb agreed. “He skied like a complete athlete,” he said. “He managed the day.”

    The rest of the team felt the other side of the sport. Schumacher was out by just fourteen hundredths. Ketterson went down in a fall. Schoonmaker was eliminated in the semifinals. All prepared. Yet all were impacted by the reality of cross-country skiing, especially sprint racing.

    Ben Ogden (USA), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), and Oskar Opstad Vike (NOR), (l-r) share the 2026 Olympic Winter Games Classic Sprint podium in Tesero, Italy. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    That context matters. It keeps the medal from becoming myth.

    Ogden will leave Val di Fiemme with more attention than he arrived with, but with the same constraints. Sprint skiing will remain unforgiving. The margins will not soften.

    What has changed is clarity.

    There is now proof — not theoretical, not historical — that on the right day, with the right decisions, an American man can stand on the Olympic podium again.

    Ogden’s moment was born from hours of training on a network of muddy dirt roads in southern Vermont and fueled by the sap running through the lines strung from maple tree to maple tree, which lined those same roads. It will live in the memory of a final hill, a perfectly timed move, and the discipline to wait.

    After thousands and thousands of hours of training, and maybe as much time dreaming, what remained was simple. It took a decision not to rush, the nerve to trust that choice and seize the moment when it arrived, and the experience to know that waiting, when done at the right time, was what would make the dream come true.

     

    Olympic Winter Games – Men’s Sprint Qualification – RESULTS

    Olympic Winter Games – Men’s Sprint Final – RESULTS

    On the ground reporting by FasterSkier’s Nat Herz.

     

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    Ben Ogden (USA), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), and Oskar Opstad Vike (NOR), (l-r) share the 2026 Olympic Winter Games Classic Sprint podium in Tesero, Italy. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

     

  • The Devon Kershaw Show, Tesero Day 2: A skiathlon showdown in the sun 44 minutes

    The Devon Kershaw Show, Tesero Day 2: A skiathlon showdown in the sun 44 minutes

    This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers.  If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription.  

    Men’s racing is underway at the Olympics, and there were some surprised on Sunday. Norwegian legend Pål Goldberg joins us to break down a day that included some strong and some less-than-strong performances from his country’s squad.

    Devon is still out of commission, but you can reach us at devon[at]fasterskier.com and nat[at]fasterskier.com. We’ll be back Tuesday.

    It’s really expensive to be here in Italy. If you can, support the show and FasterSkier’s ongoing coverage with a voluntary membership. We’re also offering a special bonus to our members during the Olympics: an insider’s WhatsApp group featuring notes on Nat’s experiences in Italy, the food he’s eating, links to international coverage of cross-country skiing and more. Send nat[at]northernjournal[dot]com a confirmation of your voluntary membership and the number he should use for WhatsApp and we’ll get you signed up. You can also Venmo him directly at @nat-herz if a membership isn’t for you. We’re suggesting a minimum of $10, but we also won’t turn anyone away who wants to join because of an inability to pay.

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  • The Cost of Being the Best: Norway Finally Locks In Its Olympic Squad

    The Cost of Being the Best: Norway Finally Locks In Its Olympic Squad

    This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription.

    Norway’s greatest competitive advantage in cross-country skiing has always been depth. In an Olympic selection season, that depth becomes a headache. When the federation gathered to finalize its 2026 team, the conversation was not about who belonged at the Games — those results and calculus had been logged. It was about which version of the team could survive illness, underperformance, and the cruel compression of Olympic schedules. For several skiers who have already proven themselves capable of standing on a World Cup podium — and perhaps even an Olympic one — the answer would be no. Not because they weren’t good enough. But because someone else fit the puzzle a fraction more cleanly.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) leads a train of Norwegian men in Lahti (FIN) last March. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)

    Eight Men, Eight Women — Complete

    The Norwegian cross-country Olympic squad now includes eight men and eight women, a balance that reflects the depth of talent and strategic breadth of Norway’s cross-country program.

    Men:

    Women:

    With these 16 names confirmed, Norway’s roster boasts a mix of seasoned champions and hungry young stars — from Klæbo’s Olympic pedigree to Vike’s breakthrough sprint talent.

    Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR), Mattis Stenshagen (NOR), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), Emil Iversen (NOR), Jan Thomas Jenssen (NOR), Erik Valnes (NOR), and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), (l-r) come up the final climb during the Skiathlon in Trondheim (NOR) in December. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

    The Final Pieces of a Puzzle: Iversen and Vike

    For weeks, the most hotly debated part of Norway’s Olympic selection revolved around the last two men’s spots.

    Emil Iversen, the veteran 34-year-old World Cup stalwart and World Champion team sprinter, secured one of the final berths — a decision that stirred both emotion and controversy. Iversen missed out on earlier national team standing but made a compelling case this season with solid World Cup performances, including in Tour de Ski events that carried significant weight in the selection criteria.

    On the younger side, Oskar Opstad Vike earned the final spot. The 22-year-old sprinter’s rise — riding strong sprint results, including a World Cup top ten — gave the selectors a promising specialist to bolster Norway’s Olympic squad.

    The decision to include one established distance racer (Iversen) and one sprint threat (Vike) over alternative combinations was no accident. It reflects not only this season’s results but also the complexity of Olympic event programming — multiple distance races, relays, and sprint competitions demand versatility and redundancy.

    Emil Iversen (NOR) during the Skiathlon in Trondheim (NOR) earlier this season. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

    What Was on the Line

    Norway’s selection strategy rested on ranked criteria that put top priority on World Cup results this season, followed by last season’s performances and past championship achievements. This emphasis on objective metrics aims to ensure that the athletes selected are not just popular choices, but the ones statistically most expected to deliver in Val di Fiemme.

    It’s no surprise that Johannes Høsflot Klæbo leads the team — the multiple World Cup overall and sprint title holder is already one of the greatest of all time, and his results this season keep him in clear contention for medals across disciplines.

    Meanwhile, Mattis Stenshagen has been one of the season’s breakout distance performers, boasting both World Cup podiums and a strong Tour de Ski showing that solidified his place on the team.

    Erik Valnes (NOR), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), and Oskar Opstad Vike (NOR), (l-r) share the podium in Falun (SWE) in last season. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

    Notable Near-Misses and Debates

    Not everyone who hoped for an Olympic ticket got one.

    One of the most talked-about stories this season was Lars Heggen, the 20-year-old sprint phenom who has burst onto the scene with impressive results, including a World Cup sprint victory this past weekend. Many voices in ski media argued passionately for his inclusion, citing his explosive form and tactical range. But in the end, selectors opted for experience and proven Olympic relevance — a choice that sparked debate across Norway and beyond.

    Another compelling case was Andreas Fjorden Ree, whose World Cup performances and near-victory finishes led many to forecast him as a certain medal contender. His exclusion — by mere fractions in selectors’ evaluations — was described as “brutal” by some commentators, underscoring just how competitive this national squad truly is.

    Kristine Stavaas Skistad (NOR) leads Maja Dahlqvist (SWE) down the homestretch of the opening stage of the Tour de Ski in Toblach (ITA) in December. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

    Women’s Squad: Balance of Experience and Youth

    While the men’s selection drama took center stage, the women’s squad also reflects a dynamic mix of talent:

    • Veterans like Heidi Weng bring Olympic experience and tactical acumen.
    • Sprinters and all-rounders like Kristine Stavås Skistad and Karoline Simpson-Larsen add valuable firepower.
    • Milla Grosberghaugen Andreassen and Ingrid Bergene Aabrekk represent the up-and-coming generation making their impression through World Cup and Norwegian Championship results.

    Selectors reportedly evaluated performances not just from the World Cup and Tour de Ski, but also through the Norwegian National Championships — especially when managing variables like injury and form.

    Heidi Weng (NOR) during the final climb of the Tour de Ski in Val di Fiemme (ITA) earlier this month. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    Looking Ahead — Milan-Cortina 2026

    The Winter Olympics kick off on February 6, 2026, and cross-country skiing begins early with the women’s skiathlon on February 7. In Val di Fiemme — a venue steeped in Nordic history — Norway will arrive with one of the deepest teams in the field.

    For a nation where cross-country skiing is practically a national pastime, these selections carry huge anticipation. Every name on this roster is now poised to chase Olympic gold, silver, or bronze — but behind them are stories of near-misses, fierce competition, and strategic choice-making that defined this winter’s most compelling selection drama.

    Let the Games begin.

     

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    Astrid Oeyre Slind (NOR) will be a favorite in many events, especially the 50 k Classic at the end of the games. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
  • One Final Climb: Diggins Victorious in Tour de Ski

    One Final Climb: Diggins Victorious in Tour de Ski

    This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.

    Jessie Diggins (USA) claimed her third Tour de Ski overall victory in Val di Fiemme (ITA). (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    The Tour de Ski does not end so much as it compresses. By the time the women turned onto the ribbon of snow climbing Alpe Cermis, the race had already been going on for a week—measured not only in kilometers and seconds, but in fatigue accumulated quietly overnight, in sore muscles, achy backs, and in confidence gained or lost one race at a time.

    The final climb has a way of making those invisible things visible. It is steep enough to strip racing of pretense, long enough to punish impatience, and familiar enough that every skier arrives with memories—good ones, bad ones, and some they would rather forget. On Sunday afternoon in Val di Fiemme, the climb again became what it always is: less a finish line than a reckoning.

    For Jessie Diggins, that reckoning ended in confirmation. Diggins finished second on the stage, protecting her margin with experience and restraint, and secured her third career Tour de Ski overall title. It was not the loudest way to win. It was, however, the truest.

    Jessie Diggins (USA) paced the final climb perfectly to finish second on the day. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

    A Climb That Decides Everything

    Stage 6 of the women’s Tour de Ski—10.0 kilometers, mass start, freestyle—began with the tension that always precedes Alpe Cermis. Some skiers arrived still dreaming of a stage victory. Others were guarding seconds earned days earlier. Still others were simply hoping to make it to the top without the climb turning overly cruel.

    The early kilometers unfolded with relative calm. The pace was honest but controlled, the group compact as it flowed through the lower valley before turning uphill. On Alpe Cermis, there is no hiding, but there is strategy: when to let others go, when to follow, and—most importantly—when not to.

    The decisive moves came as the gradient steepened and the field stretched into a long, thin line. Norway’s Karoline Simpson-Larsen skied with precision and patience, gradually asserting herself as the strongest on the day. She crested the final meters alone to win the stage in 37:05.3, earning the biggest single-day victory of her World Cup career.

    Behind her, the race unfolded with quieter drama. Diggins, who entered the day with a commanding overall lead, skied with calculation. She resisted the temptation to respond immediately when others surged, choosing instead to manage the climb in segments. When the grade lessened and the gap narrowed late, she allowed herself to push hard enough to secure second place, but not so hard as to invite disaster.

    Diggins crossed the line 8.8 seconds behind Simpson-Larsen, followed by Norway’s Heidi Weng in third at +14.4. The stage podium reflected the day’s effort, but it was Diggins’ second place that carried the most weight.

    Jessie Diggins (USA), as always, left everything out on the course. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

    “Dying at the Right Moment”

    Diggins’ approach to Alpe Cermis was shaped by experience—and memory.

    “I was trying to be smart and safe in terms of the overall Tour,” she said afterward. “And then when I realized we were close enough, I thought, okay, now I can empty the tank. But I’ve paced it badly before where I blow up, and that last 600 meters is the slowest of your life.”

    It is a detail only veterans tend to mention: not the steepest pitch, but the final few hundred meters, when legs that have already been pushed too far simply refuse to respond. Diggins has lived that mistake. On Sunday, she avoided it.

    “I was trying to ski it smart and make sure I was dying at the right moment,” she said.

    That restraint—so often invisible to spectators—was the difference between managing the Tour and risking it. The margin Diggins had built over five stages gave her room to think clearly. The climb rewarded that clarity.

    Julia Kern (USA) and Jessie Diggins (USA) celebrate with US Cross-Country Ski Team coaches and staff, as well as US Alpine Ski Team athletes who came to support them at the end of the 2025/26 Tour de Ski. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    The Meaning of a Tour

    In the mixed zone at the top, Diggins spoke not with relief so much as appreciation—for the work, the people, and the endurance the Tour demands.

    “The Tour de Ski is one of the hardest things to win,” she said. “When you win the Olympics, it’s amazing—it’s really special. But that’s one race. The Tour is day after day after day. You have to put it together back-to-back, under cumulative pressure. That’s really hard. It’s hard on you, and it’s hard on the team.”

    Her emphasis, repeatedly, returned to the collective effort. She spoke of team energy, of support staff, of consistency rather than dominance. It was a reminder that Tour victories are not seized in moments, but constructed patiently across an entire week.

    Diggins finished the Tour with a total time of 2:11:26.1, winning the overall by more than two minutes over Austria’s Teresa Stadlober. It was not a victory defined by a single attack or a single stage, but by accumulation—time gained when others faltered, mistakes avoided when margins were thin.

    Julia Kern (USA) makes her way up Alpe Cermis to finish 14th on the day. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    Kern’s Quiet Confirmation

    For Julia Kern, Alpe Cermis offered something different: clarity.

    Kern finished 14th on the stage, 2:01.0 back, after a Tour that reflected both progress and unfinished business. She described the climb as meeting—or exceeding—her expectations.

    “Every year it’s a little different with who’s still left in the Tour,” Kern said. “But I’m taking away from today that my fitness is there. I just need to fine-tune some of the sprinting gears. That’s very trainable at this point in the season.”

    Her assessment mirrored her results. Kern was consistently strong in the distance races throughout the Tour, finding rhythm and confidence as the days passed. The sprint stages, by contrast, left her frustrated.

    “I was a bit bummed with my sprint days for sure, and hungry for more,” she said. “But at the same time, I had consistently good, strong distance races. Halfway through the Tour, I started to find my race legs again.”

    It is a pattern Kern recognizes—slow starts, gradual momentum, strength revealed in longer efforts. In an Olympic season, that trajectory matters more than any single result.

    Maja Dahlqvist (SWE) attacked at the end of the valley trail leading to the Alpe Cermis in Val di Fiemme (ITA) to secure her silver sprinters’ bib. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    The Bib Battles

    Beyond the overall, the final climb also settled two secondary competitions that added layers of tension to the Tour’s closing act.

    The climber’s bib—awarded for cumulative performance on the Tour’s toughest ascents—went to Teresa Stadlober, who accumulated 45 points across the week. Diggins finished second in the standings with 39, underscoring how consistently she handled the steepest terrain without ever needing to gamble on a single climb.

    The sprint standings, marked by the silver bib, remained unsettled until the final stage, where one final set of bonus points was awarded at the beginning of Alpe Cermis. Sweden’s Maja Dahlqvist emerged with the title at 53 points, ahead of Switzerland’s Nadine Fähndrich and Sweden’s Johanna Hagström. Diggins finished fourth in the sprint competition—another reflection of her Tour: competitive everywhere, decisive where it mattered most.

    Teresa Stadlober (AUT) fought hard to defend her climbers’ bib. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    Pain, Reconsidered

    Late in the mixed zone, Diggins reflected on something more personal—how different this climb felt compared to recent years.

    “The last two years I’ve been so injured that I was in so much pain outside of racing,” she said. “So for it to be only painful during the race was like, wow—that’s kind of nice.”

    It was not a dramatic declaration, but it carried weight. The Tour de Ski magnifies everything: fatigue, doubt, confidence, pain. To arrive at Alpe Cermis feeling capable—rather than simply enduring—marked a shift.

    She laughed when she added that she told herself, mid-Tour, that she would “never do this again.” Then she smiled at the familiar uncertainty that defines the race.

    “You never know how you’re going to feel every day on a Tour,” she said. “And today I felt really good. One of the best I’ve ever felt on the final climb.”

    Julia Kern (USA), Jessie Diggins (USA), (l-r) at the top of Alpe Cermis in Val di Fiemme (ITA). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

    The American Picture

    For the U.S. women, the Tour ended with a sense of coherence. Diggins’ overall victory provided the headline, but Kern’s steady distance form pointed toward depth and durability within the team.

    Kern’s immediate plans reflect that long view. She will return home to Richmond, Vermont, for two weeks—prioritizing recovery before resuming training on familiar snow.

    “I did this last year, and it worked really well,” she said. “Just getting off World Cup, getting a lot of recovery the first week, being in my own bed.”

    From there, she will rejoin training camps and racing with an eye toward sharpening for the Olympics. It is a plan built on patience rather than urgency—much like Diggins’ approach on Alpe Cermis.

    Teresa Stadlober (AUT), Jessie Diggins (USA), Heidi Weng (NOR), (l-r) take the Tour de Ski overall podium. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    What the Climb Leaves Behind

    When the last skier crested the climb and the finish corral emptied, Alpe Cermis returned to stillness. The Tour de Ski had done what it always does: clarified things.

    It clarified that Jessie Diggins remains one of the sport’s great stage racers—capable not just of winning races, but of managing weeks. It clarified that Julia Kern’s fitness base is real and growing, even if some pieces still need refinement. And it clarified, once again, that the Tour is not about brilliance alone, but about survival, intelligence, and trust in process.

    Diggins did not win the final stage. She did something harder. She won the Tour by knowing exactly when not to.

    At the end of the longest climb of the week, that knowledge mattered most.

    Women’s Alpe Cermis Climb RESULTS

    Women’s 2026 Tour de Ski FINAL STANDINGS

     

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    Jessie Diggins (USA), Karoline Simpson Larsen (NOR), and Heidi Weng (NOR), (l-r) share the final climb podium at the top of Alpe Cermis in Val di Fiemme (ITA). (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
  • Klaebo Wins Classic Sprint in Val di Fiemme as the Tour de Ski Heads for Alpe Cermis

    Klaebo Wins Classic Sprint in Val di Fiemme as the Tour de Ski Heads for Alpe Cermis

    This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.

    Richard Jouve (FRA), JC Schoonmaker (USA), Elia Barp (ITA), Lucas Chanavat (FRA), Gus Schumacher (USA), and Lars Heggen (NOR), (l-r) during the FIS Tour de Ski Classic Sprint quarterfinals in Val di Fiemme (ITA). (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    There are places in cross-country skiing where the scenery tries to soften the message. Val di Fiemme is one of them: chalets tucked into the folds of the valley, the geometry of the Dolomites, the sense that the world is being held in a wide, cold palm. But on Saturday—Stage 5 of the Tour de Ski—the athletes arrived with that gentler Italy already behind them. Toblach, with its familiar corridors of speed and fatigue, was gone. The rest day was gone, too. And in its place sat something more specific and more unsettling: a brand-new sprint course built not for tradition, but for February.

    For the first time, the World Cup sprint field raced the exact Olympic sprint track that will be used at Milano-Cortina 2026. That matters not because athletes need more “practice,” but because courses have personalities, and this one introduced itself like a handshake that squeezes a little too long. It asked for patience in the technical sections, then demanded commitment on a long climb that made everyone reveal something—fitness, timing, ski choice, nerve. And it did all of that during the Tour de Ski, a stage race where every extra match struck comes with a price tag at the bottom of Alpe Cermis.

    It was, in other words, the kind of sprint that is only a sprint if you insist on calling it that.

    Edvin Anger (SWE) leads his quarterfinals in Val di Fiemme (ITA). (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    A course that changes the definition of “sprint.”

    The men’s sprint qualification—one lap, individually, no drafting—made the opening statement. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (NOR) posted the fastest time in 3:17.64, immediately establishing that the new Val di Fiemme sprint course rewards the kind of controlled power that can climb without unraveling.

    Behind him, the qualification list already hinted at the day’s theme: capacity mattered. The climb mattered. And a handful of skiers who sometimes feel squeezed by short, sharp sprints found themselves looking at something longer, more elastic, more survivable.

    That was the feeling Gus Schumacher (USA) described when he stepped away from the finish area and tried to name what this course was asking for.

    “It’s pretty long… it favors a guy like me,” Schumacher said. “The length, having a long climb, helps me… capacity.” He paused, then gave the most accurate label anyone offered all day: “It feels like a sprint for… yeah. I mean, yeah, it’s not a distance course.”

    Schumacher wasn’t the only American to qualify well. In fact, the U.S. men placed four athletes in the top 14 of qualification: Ben Ogden was 8th (3:21.53), Zak Ketterson 11th (3:22.08), J.C. Schoonmaker 13th (3:22.26), and Schumacher 14th (3:22.32).

    That’s the kind of qualification spread that usually sets a team up for a day of opportunity—multiple rolls of the dice, multiple chances to land someone in the semifinals where the sport’s real math begins.

    But the sprint format never promises fairness. It only promises structure.

    Zak Ketterson (USA) during qualification. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    How the day works: one lap to qualify, one lap to survive

    The men’s sprint unfolded the way sprint days do: qualification narrowed the field to 30, then the heats began.

    Five quarterfinals. Six skiers per heat. One lap each.
    Advance by placing in the top two—or by being one of the two fastest “lucky losers” across all heats.

    Then two semifinal heats, same rules. Then a six-man final.

    Every lap is a new decision-making problem. Every lap is also a chance to get boxed in, bumped out of rhythm, or forced into the wrong line at the wrong moment.

    If qualification is a test of horsepower, the heats are a test of spatial intelligence.

    And on this course, spatial intelligence was complicated by a finishing sequence that bred uncertainty: a long downhill run-in that made it hard to know whether to lead, draft, or gamble on timing.

    That was Zak Ketterson (USA)’s main takeaway.

    “This course finishes in such a long, fast downhill,” he said. “So it’s like, do you lead and then hope you don’t get passed, or do you go in third or fourth and hope that the draft is good enough?” The group, he explained, tried different strategies. “No one really found something that worked.”

    Ketterson described a moment that will sound familiar to anyone who has ever felt a sprint slip away at the worst possible time: “I was in first at the top of the hill… skied really hard into the downhill, put in some super hard pushes, and still just got kind of swallowed up.”

    What the course offered—passing opportunities on the climb—it took back in the late-run chaos of speed and positioning.

    Lars Heggen (NOR), JC Schoonmaker (USA), Lucas Chanavat (FRA), Elia Barp (ITA), and Gus Schumacher (USA), (l-r) during their quarterfinals in Val di Fiemme (ITA). (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    Quarterfinals: when good qualification isn’t enough

    The official final results show a blunt fact: none of the four U.S. men who advanced to the quarterfinals made it through to the semifinals. Schumacher finished 19th overall, Ketterson 18th, Ogden 17th, and Schoonmaker 22nd, all eliminated in the quarterfinal round.

    That’s the story in the statistics. The story as a race day was more complicated: a series of heats where the differences were small, where a late shove of speed could turn into nothing if the line closed, where the “right” choice was often only identifiable after it was too late to make it.

    J.C. Schoonmaker (USA)—whose comments matched Schumacher’s in tone—captured the frustration of a quarterfinal where the movement simply didn’t happen.

    “I was okay. I felt all right,” he said. “It was just a little… I didn’t really know how to play it in the end.” He described entering the downhill in fourth and finishing fourth—close enough to feel like you were in the race, far enough to be done. “Maybe less movement than before, which is good,” he added, sounding like someone trying to find the useful part of a disappointing outcome.

    Ketterson, too, framed the day as reconnaissance: “We’re really lucky to have this practice since we’re gonna get to race here again in a month… hopefully we learn something.”

    That line—practice—is never said casually in January. It’s a word you use when you want to turn a miss into preparation.

    Antoine Cyr (CAN), Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR), Ben Ogden (USA), and Simone Mocellini (ITA), (l-r) sprint for the finish line during the quarters. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

    The Canadian near-miss: Antoine Cyr, 15th

    For Canada, the day held a performance that belonged in the center of the narrative.

    Antoine Cyr (CAN) qualified 24th (3:23.74) and advanced to the heats, then raced well enough to finish 15th overall, just missing progression into the semifinals.

    Fifteenth is a strange place in sprinting: too high to dismiss, too low to celebrate, close enough to the semifinals that the what-ifs come easily. It also matters inside the Tour because athletes like Cyr are not only sprinting for the day—they’re managing the Tour’s overall clock, and every effort has to be weighed against the climb that ends this race.

    In a field loaded with sprinters, all squeezed by the Tour’s cumulative fatigue, Cyr’s result was one of the cleaner statements of form: he belonged in the mix, and he was nearly through.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) showed he didn’t need to find someone’s draft to win; he could claim the win during the last climb. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

    The final: Klæbo wins, the course makes its point

    If the quarterfinals were chaos and calculation, the final delivered clarity.

    Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (NOR) won the men’s classic sprint in 3:21.28, with Jules Chappaz (FRA) second (+3.11) and Anton Grahn (SWE) third (+3.14).

    Behind them, Ansgar Evensen (NOR) placed fourth, Lars Heggen (NOR) fifth, and Jan Stölben (GER) sixth.

    Klæbo’s win did not read as a normal sprint win, where the whole story is a final straightaway. This felt like a course that paid out earlier than that—on the climb, on the willingness to push, on the ability to arrive at the downhill with both speed and options.

    And it’s worth noting what the result sheet shows about the men who made it out of the semifinals and into that final: this was not a day dominated solely by pure short-sprint specialists. The course asked for more, and the finalists were the ones who could give it.

    Gus Schumacher (USA) during qualification in Val di Fiemme (ITA). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

    What it means for the Tour: Schumacher in the mix, Cermis ahead

    With the sprint finished, the Tour de Ski narrative tightened. The decisive climb up Alpe Cermis was no longer “upcoming”; it was practically audible.

    The most current men’s overall standings posted by FIS list Klæbo in the lead, with Heggen second and Mattis Stenshagen (NOR) third.

    Gus Schumacher (USA) appears 7th overall on that list, and Antoine Cyr (CAN) 12th overall—a significant position heading into the Tour’s final confrontation with gravity.

    (For U.S. readers tracking the broader picture: the overall standings list shows Ben Ogden 24th, Zak Ketterson 36th, Kevin Bolger 43rd, J.C. Schoonmaker 48th, and Jack Young 70th.)

    That overall placement is why Schumacher’s post-race tone mattered so much. He sounded like someone who sees tomorrow not as a survival exercise, but as a legitimate racing day.

    Asked how he felt physically and mentally going into the final climb, Schumacher didn’t hedge. “Feeling good. Definitely got to push. I’ve got a lot of energy left,” he said. “Today wasn’t too hard, especially on the legs, which is nice.”

    Then the part that reveals what the Tour does to athletes: it turns them into calculators of effort. A sprint can be hard on the lungs and nerves without stripping the legs. That matters on Alpe Cermis, where every athlete arrives with a different version of fatigue.

    Schumacher made his intentions plain: “Obviously, I’m going to race aggressively.” He added a piece of perspective that’s easy to overlook: “I actually haven’t really raced it feeling like myself, healthy, since my first year on the World Cup… I feel like I’m in really good shape and I’m excited to push and try to stay near the front.”

    In a Tour de Ski, that kind of confidence is itself a resource.

    Not everyone sounded like that.

    Simone Mocellini (ITA), Ben Ogden (USA), Roman Alder (SUI), and Antoine Cyr (CAN), (l-r) in their quarterfinals. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    Ben Ogden: The honest cost of sprinting in a Tour

    Ben Ogden (USA) gave the other side of the ledger—the part that usually stays hidden behind finish-line smiles and polished mixed zone answers.

    “Definitely frustrating,” he said. “A little drained physically and mentally, to be completely honest.”

    He didn’t claim emptiness; he just didn’t claim abundance. “There’s some energy still there,” he said, “not a crazy amount.”

    Ogden described his current skiing with a clarity that is both discouraging and useful: “I feel like strength and fitness are okay when it comes to sprinting, but the tactics are just still a struggle.” He called it a “blow to the confidence,” then separated that from tomorrow: not necessarily a blow to what the final climb will be.

    His plan for Alpe Cermis wasn’t romantic. It was practical. “Tomorrow is what it is,” he said. “Just sort of putting my head down and getting it done.”

    And then, in the simplest possible terms, he described the Tour de Ski’s last stage: stay connected early; endure late. “Try to stay connected to the bottom of the hill. And once the hill starts, it’s whatever you got. And then when it’s done, at least it’s done.”

    That line is not optimism. It’s accuracy.

    Maybe the most interesting moment of the day was when Jules Chappaz (FRA) started celebrating to the crowd before the finish line while Anton Grahn (SWE) almost stole second with a tremendous lunge. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

    What Saturday really was: Olympic reconnaissance under Tour pressure

    Stage 5 didn’t decide the men’s Tour de Ski. But it clarified it, in a way that felt almost clinical.

    The Olympic sprint course in Val di Fiemme is not a nostalgic sprint track. It doesn’t let everyone arrive together and sort it out in a final straight. It makes decisions earlier. It forces athletes to choose between leading and drafting, between saving and committing, between the clean line and the crowded one.

    For the Americans, the day contained both promise and frustration: four men qualifying in the top 14 is a sign of depth and form, even if the quarterfinals didn’t deliver the advancement they were chasing. For Canada, Antoine Cyr’s 15th-place result was the sort of near-breakthrough that keeps a season’s story alive—one more push, one more opening, and the semifinal door swings the other way.

    Jules Chappaz (FRA) and Anton Grahn (SWE) made the podium order exciting at the line. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

    And above all, hovering over it all, was the climb that ends the Tour: Alpe Cermis, an alpine ski slope repurposed into a cross-country crucible, where technique becomes something closer to posture and grit.

    Saturday gave the field one kind of truth—the truth of speed, positioning, and compressed opportunity. Tomorrow will provide the other kind: the truth of endurance, suffering, and the ability to keep moving when the course stops pretending it wants you to.

    The Olympic Classic Sprint rehearsal is behind them. Whatever each athlete learned on Saturday—about skis, about lines, about courage on the climb—will be carried into February, but for now, the one place the Tour de Ski never lets anyone hide is tomorrow. Alpe Cermis awaits!

    Men’s Classic Sprint Qualification RESULTS

    Men’s Classic Sprint Final RESULTS

    Men’s 2026 Tour de Ski OVERALL STANDINGS

     

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    Jules Chappaz (FRA), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), and Anton Grahn (SWE), (l-r) sharing the Classic Sprint Podium in Val di Fiemme (ITA). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
  • Klaebo Controls Toblach as Schumacher Anchors the Chase in Men’s 20 k Classic Pursuit

    Klaebo Controls Toblach as Schumacher Anchors the Chase in Men’s 20 k Classic Pursuit

    This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) paced the Tour de Ski 20 K Classic in Toblach (ITA) to perfection. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    By mid-morning in Toblach, the cold had settled into the valley in that particular Dolomite way—dry, bright, and unforgiving. The stadium clock read 10:30 a.m., the tracks were hard-packed, and the Tour de Ski—never gentle, always exacting—had reached a moment where patience mattered as much as power. Stage 4’s men’s 20-kilometer classic pursuit would not be decided by theatrics. It would be decided by discipline.

    From the first push out of the starting line, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo made that clear.

    The Norwegian leader skied as if tethered to an internal metronome, clicking off splits that barely wavered across five laps of the 4-kilometer loop. Behind him, the race congealed into a dense, minute-long chase—ambitious but realistic, orderly but never comfortable. Inside that group, Gus Schumacher did what pursuit racing rewards: work when it mattered, wait when it didn’t, and finish inside the race rather than on its margins.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) on his way to first place on the 20 K Classic Pursuit. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    Klæbo’s Quiet Authority

    Klæbo entered the day with the yellow bib and skied as though intent on keeping it uncontested. At 4 kilometers, he led in 9:11.8; at 8 kilometers, 18:23.4; at 12, 27:34.6; and at 16, 36:53.3—the first three splits almost exact to the tenth. He crossed the line in 46:01.7, never once letting the chase compress to a threatening distance.

    Second place belonged to Mattis Stenshagen (+51.1), who skied the most assertive race of those behind Klæbo and briefly tested the cohesion of the chase on the fourth lap’s long climb. Third went to Edvin Anger (+59.8), tied on time with Italy’s Federico Pellegrino, whose classic form looked as efficient as it did economical. Emil Iversen finished fifth (+1:00.2), matching Schumacher stride for stride to the line.

    That minute—barely more than a breath in Tour de Ski terms—defined the race.

    Gus Schumacher (USA) did much of the work early to bring the chase into one pack behind Klaebo. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    Schumacher in the Middle of It

    Schumacher finished sixth, also +1:00.2, part of the decisive chase that refused to fracture even as the course repeatedly asked for answers. The result came less than 24 hours after his 5 k freestyle win in Toblach, and the transition—emotionally and physically—was not trivial.

    “It was a little bit tough, honestly,” Schumacher said. “This pursuit started at 10:30 a.m., and I haven’t woken up before eight in probably a month because all our races have been so late. … I definitely enjoyed the win, but the focus was to refocus right away. It’s another new day, and this race was really important for the Tour.”

    Inside the race, Schumacher was not hiding. He described closing the gap to Iversen after the early climbs and doing much of the work that consolidated the group—an effort he acknowledged with pride. “I did most of that work, which I’m actually pretty proud of,” he said. What he didn’t do was overreach. “I wasn’t trying to catch Klæbo or anything,” Schumacher added. “Even though some of the guys might have been thinking that.”

    The fourth lap told the story. Stenshagen pressed hard on the long climb out of the stadium, stretching the elastic just enough to test resolve. Schumacher bent but didn’t break. Over the top, the group exhaled. The fifth lap came fast—but not frantic—and Schumacher found himself boxed in late, a tactical note he filed away rather than lamented.

    “With the overall standings so tight, I don’t think it’s worth thinking about it too much,” he said. “I’m sitting in third right now, and top ten is definitely still the goal. … Everyone from second through ninth is so close that it really comes down to focusing day by day.”

    That may be the most Tour de Ski answer of all.

    Gus Schumacher (USA), Emil Iversen (NOR), Edvin Anger (SWE), and Lars Heggen (NOR) worked together to prevent Klaebo from extending his lead. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    A Chase by Committee

    Behind Schumacher, the chase’s cohesion owed as much to restraint as to strength. Lars Heggen (seventh, +1:00.3) and Benjamin Moser (eighth, +1:00.8) rounded out a group that included Harald Østberg Amundsen (ninth, +1:03.1). No one bridged to Klæbo; no one detonated the pack behind. The race’s geometry stayed intact.

    That stability mattered in a Norwegian context. With Olympic selection pressure already humming and only a few men’s spots still unsettled, Toblach functioned as both race and audition. Stenshagen’s second place was emphatic. The Tour does not reward one-off brilliance. It rewards survivability.

    Ben Ogden (USA) finding his classic distance form. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    The Americans: Process Over Panic

    Further back, the pursuit revealed its less visible truths. Ben Ogden finished 29th (+3:03.3), a result that reads well on paper and even better when you hear how he raced it.

    “The biggest challenge is always the start,” Ogden said. “For me, it was about trying to pace the race properly, even when people were moving ahead of me early. … I started with a pack, then a bunch of them dropped me, and I just kind of let that happen, knowing I’d be able to catch some of them later—which I did.”

    That in-and-out rhythm—sometimes lonely, sometimes crowded—is pursuit racing in the middle of the field. Ogden framed it honestly. “Racing in a tight group is obviously more fun,” he said, “but you really have to pace yourself and try not to lose unnecessary time in a Tour, especially when you’re already a little tired.”

    For Zak Ketterson, who started deep in the order, the early kilometers were chaos by design. He finished 42nd (+3:55.1), but the route there mattered.

    “The wave is really challenging, especially starting in bib 70,” Ketterson said. “Five or six seconds have already passed before I even reach the start line. The first two laps were chaos, and I was just trying to stay relaxed and avoid trouble.”

    He did move forward—damage control after a Stage 2 crash that had already cost him minutes. “It was nice to move up a lot today,” Ketterson said, “but the classic sprint on Stage 5 is definitely the main focus now.”

    Ketterson also addressed the jury’s written reprimand for use of a banned technique in a marked stride zone—a penalty that did not disqualify him but appears in the official record. “The technique violation came from double poling in a stride zone,” he explained. “I changed tracks to pass someone, and the motion of doing that ended up being a double pole.”

    For Zak Ketterson (USA), the Tour de Ski hasn’t exactly gone as he had hoped, but today in the pursuit, he showed his form from earlier in the season. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    When the Day Turns on a Ski

    Kevin Bolger finished 51st (+4:18.6), a result shaped by circumstance rather than strategy. Bolger had been patient by design, content to let early red-lining pass him by before advancing after lap two. Then a ski broke.

    “I like to settle in, and then after lap two start working my way up the field,” Bolger said. “I was just about to do that today when someone merged into my track and broke my ski, which cost me close to a minute. That was pretty disappointing.”

    Before that moment, his choices had been sound. Toblach’s two main climbs invite early commitment to kick wax, and Bolger leaned into it. “It was an easy choice to really feel the kick wax early,” he said. “The skis were feeling great, and I was really excited about how I was going to start moving up the field.”

    Bolger’s broader view was measured, almost cheerful in its realism. “This Tour isn’t quite as massive as some of the past ones,” he said. “It’s about gaining confidence and fitness, as long as you’re able to absorb it after the Tour.” Olympic energy is present, he acknowledged, but not consuming. “At the end of the day, I’m just trying to race fast.”

    J.C. Schoonmaker placed 56th (+4:42.7), while Jack Young finished 80th (+8:07.2), both navigating a day where patience was mandatory, and opportunities were earned in inches rather than meters.

    Andrew Musgrave (GBR) and Antoine Cyr (CAN), (l-r) moving up through the field together. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    Canada: Trials Done, Work Ongoing

    Canada’s men arrived in Toblach with their Olympic trials already behind them and the Tour serving a different purpose. Antoine Cyr led the way in 13th (+1:54.5), with Thomas Stephen 28th (+3:02.6) and Xavier McKeever 30th (+3:08.1). The emphasis now is accumulation—fitness, familiarity, resilience—rather than immediate results.

    Context at the Margins

    The Tour de Ski has a way of narrowing options without warning. On Thursday morning, one Norwegian men’s Olympic hopeful, Oskar Opstad Vike, withdrew close to start time, a reminder that the margins between readiness and retreat are thin, especially in an Olympic year. Toblach did not create that pressure; it merely revealed it.

    Mattis Stenshagen (NOR) was excited when he crossed the finish line as if he knew he had shown the Norwegian Olympic selectors enough to make the team. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

    What the Splits Say

    A look at the time checks explains why the race felt so controlled. Klæbo’s advantage barely fluctuated. The chase group’s gaps among themselves were measured in seconds—Schumacher, Iversen, Anger, and Pellegrino trading fractional advantages without a decisive rupture. Further back, time losses accrued not in dramatic collapses but in quiet inefficiencies: a missed pack, a broken ski, a moment of over-enthusiasm.

    The course profile—five laps, 137 meters of total climb—rewards restraint. Toblach does not forgive impatience.

    A broken ski for Kevin Bolger (USA) didn’t prevent him from showing his form in Toblach (ITA). (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    Looking Ahead

    Stage 4 did not reshuffle the Tour so much as clarify it. Klæbo remains the reference. The men chasing him know exactly how much ground they have—and how little room there is to gamble it away. Schumacher’s position near the top of the standings is real, earned through effort and discretion. Behind him, athletes like Ogden, Ketterson, and Bolger are racing a Tour that asks for perspective as much as speed.

    Val di Fiemme awaits with its own demands and, this year, Olympic resonance. But Toblach offered a simpler lesson. In a pursuit, the clock is visible; the choices are not. The best skiers make the hard ones look easy—and the easy ones count.

    Men’s 20 K Classic Pursuit Start RESULTS

    Men’s 2026 Tour de Ski OVERALL STANDINGS

    Fastest Skiers on the Day – Men (Top 15, Net Time Only)

    This ranking removes pursuit start gaps and shows who skied the fastest 20 km classic on Stage 4.

    Day Rank Athlete Nation Net Time
    1 Edvin Anger SWE 45:39.5
    2 Simen Hegstad Krüger NOR 45:44.0
    3 Federico Pellegrino ITA 45:45.5
    4 Mattis Stenshagen NOR 45:51.8
    5 Emil Iversen NOR 45:51.9
    6 Gus Schumacher USA 45:52.9
    7 Truls Gisselman SWE 45:58.5
    8 Antoine Cyr CAN 45:59.2
    9 Hugo Lapalus FRA 46:00.5
    10 Johannes Høsflot Klæbo NOR 46:01.7
    11 Benjamin Moser AUT 46:03.5
    12 Savelii Korostelev AIN 46:04.5
    13 Harald Østberg Amundsen NOR 46:07.8
    14 Andrew Musgrave GBR 46:13.6
    15 Lars Heggen NOR 46:17.0

    Net time calculated as finish time minus individual pursuit start offset.

    Places 3-7 where this close for Federico Pellegrino (ITA), Edvin Anger (SWE), Gus Schumacher (USA), Emil Iversen (NOR), (l-r) after 20 K in Toblach (ITA). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

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    Mattis Stenshagen (NOR), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), and Edvin Anger (SWE), (l-r) shared the pursuit podium in Toblach (ITA). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

     

  • The Devon Kershaw Show: recapping stages 1&2 of the TDS, aka Tour di Northern Italy, aka an Olympic selection nightmare

    The Devon Kershaw Show: recapping stages 1&2 of the TDS, aka Tour di Northern Italy, aka an Olympic selection nightmare

    This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers.  If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription.  

    Devon and Nat bring you more podcast content from stages one and two of the Tour de Ski, which is proving to be a further headache for those responsible for selecting Norway’s Olympic team. We’ll be back after the next two stages. Thanks for your support.

    Keep the questions and feedback coming; also, we’ve gotten surprisingly little hate mail this year…just saying. Reach us at devon[at]fasterskier.com and nat[at]fasterskier.com.

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  • Stenshagen Sets the Pace in Toblach as the Men’s Tour Takes Shape

    Stenshagen Sets the Pace in Toblach as the Men’s Tour Takes Shape

    This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.

    Mattis Stenshagen (NOR) took stage two of the Tour de Ski in Toblach (ITA). (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    By the time the final seeded skier pushed through the finishing straight in Toblach, the race had already revealed what interval starts always do best: not who looks fastest, but who stays fastest when no one is there to help.

    On a clear, cold Monday morning in northern Italy, the men’s Tour de Ski distance competition began in earnest with a 10-kilometer classic interval start — a race that rewards patience, punishes impatience, and exposes any weakness in pacing, technique, or timing. For some, it was a statement. For others, a warning. For nearly everyone, it was a reminder that the Tour de Ski is less a series of races than a slow accumulation of consequences.

    At the front of the field, Mattis Stenshagen (NOR) delivered the cleanest distance race of his World Cup career, leading from the opening checkpoint to the finish and winning Stage 2 in 22:11.0. Behind him, familiar names followed — Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and Emil Iversen — but the day belonged to the skier who never wavered, never overreached, and never gave back time once he took it.

    Mattis Stenshagen (NOR) led wire to wire in the 10 K Interval Start Classic. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
    A Classic Race, Skied Classically

    From the opening 2.1-kilometer split, Stenshagen established a rhythm that no one else matched. His early advantage was not explosive, but it was decisive: a smooth, efficient tempo that translated into the fastest time at every checkpoint — 2.1 km, 3.0 km, 5.0 km, 6.7 km, 8.0 km — and ultimately at the finish.

    Behind him, the race for the podium unfolded with more complexity.

    Klæbo, starting later with the gold Tour de Ski leader’s bib, skied conservatively through the opening kilometers, conceding small amounts of time before gradually tightening the gap. His second-half splits were among the fastest in the field, but by then Stenshagen’s advantage was already established. Klæbo finished 8.9 seconds back, a strong result that preserved his overall lead without demanding unnecessary risk.

    Iversen followed a similar arc — controlled early, assertive late — but never quite bridged the gap to Klæbo, finishing third at +10.1. Behind the podium, the field compressed quickly, with Iivo Niskanen, Edvin Anger, Erik Valnes, and Harald Østberg Amundsen all skiing within seconds of one another through the middle splits before settling into their final placings.

    It was the kind of race that rewards experience — and punishes even small mistakes.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) kept close to the lead on the day and preserved his Tour de Ski lead. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
    Norwegian Depth, Olympic Stakes

    If the Tour de Ski is often described as a test of endurance, for the Norwegian men it is also something else entirely: an extended job interview.

    With the Olympic Games returning to Italy in February, every race carries an added layer of pressure. The margins between selection and omission are thin, and performances like Stenshagen’s matter not just for podiums, but for perception. Beating Klæbo, Iversen, Valnes, and Amundsen head-to-head in a classic interval start sends a message — especially when it is done decisively.

    Emil Iversen (NOR) continued making his case for one of the valuable Norwegian Olympic team spots. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    The depth of the Norwegian field was evident throughout the top ten, but Stage 2 clarified one thing early in the Tour: no spot is guaranteed beyond Klæbo, and even he is racing with calculation rather than abandon.

    Gus Schumacher (USA) led the American men in the 10 K Classic Interval Start in Toblach (ITA). (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
    Schumacher Leads the Americans on a Complicated Day

    For the U.S. men, the day unfolded with a mix of promise and frustration — a pattern that became clear as the split times accumulated.

    Gus Schumacher emerged as the top American finisher, placing 17th, just under 50 seconds back. His race was defined by steadiness rather than volatility, with consistent splits that kept him in contact with the top 20 throughout the day. In a Tour de Ski that rewards durability as much as peak form, Schumacher’s result positioned him solidly in both the stage results and the overall standings.

    Still, Schumacher felt there was more on the table.

    “The pacing wasn’t amazing,” he said. “It was close to the race I expected, but it could have been a bit better with a little more energy over the last two or three kilometers.”

    Part of that equation came down to ski feel — specifically, kick wax that required more effort than anticipated.

    “I think my kick was slightly slipperier than I expected based on how it felt in testing,” Schumacher said. “Having to work for the kick more than I planned on the second lap tilted the scales of my pacing a bit. Overall, it was a solid day, but some small changes could have made a big difference.”

    Rather than holding back, Schumacher said he plans to continue racing the Tour aggressively, while being deliberate about recovery away from the course.

    “This year’s Tour doesn’t feel too hard, so managing load isn’t really on my mind during the races,” he said. “Outside of racing, I’m trying to give myself a lot of quiet time, but I don’t feel any reason to hold back in my efforts.”

    His goals for the Tour strike a careful balance between ambition and pragmatism.

    “I want to end up top 10, but most of all I want to finish,” Schumacher said. “A lot of my focus is on doing everything i can to avoid getting sick.”

    Zak Ketterson (USA) was sharp early during the 10 K Classic in Toblach (ITA). (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
    Zak Ketterson’s Race Changes in an Instant

    Through more than seven kilometers, Zak Ketterson was skiing the way he had during the first part of the season.

    His early splits placed him firmly in contention for a top-15 finish, and as he crested the final significant climb with just one uphill remaining, the trajectory of his race appeared set. Then, in an instant, it wasn’t.

    “This race was going really well for me up until I crashed on a really high-speed downhill at about 7.3 kilometers,” Ketterson said. “I was fighting for a top-15 finish and had just one uphill left to go.”

    The fall itself was only the beginning.

    Zak Ketterson (USA) continued his form from November and December through most of the race before a crash changed his day. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    “After I got up, my muscles got insanely stiff, and I felt really dizzy and disoriented,” he said. “I honestly thought about DNF’ing at that point and was just in survival mode to the finish.”

    The split data tells the story clearly: a sharp loss of time between the 7.1- and 8.0-kilometer checkpoints, followed by a fight simply to reach the line. Ketterson finished well outside his early-race position, but his performance before the crash suggested a level of classic skiing that bodes well for the remainder of the Tour and beyond.

    “I’m feeling okay now — I don’t think I injured anything, but I’ll see how things feel over the rest of the day,” he said. “My shape feels good, so hopefully I’m back in the fight on Stage 3.”

    Ben Ogden (USA) looked strong early in Toblach (ITA). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
    Ogden’s Setback Comes Early

    For Ben Ogden, the defining moment came much earlier in the race.

    Based on the split times, Ogden’s momentum shifted between the 3- and 5-kilometer checkpoints, where a promising early pace gave way to a sudden loss of time. The cause was broken equipment — and a prolonged scramble to find a usable replacement.

    “I broke a pole right around three kilometers — maybe a little before,” Ogden said. “After that, I was kind of swapping poles until I finally got one that was the right side and the right length, which was a bummer.”

    What followed was an unusually long stretch of improvisation in the middle of a World Cup race.

    “I was swapping poles for probably two and a half kilometers,” he said. “I think I swapped four times — from an Italian coach, to a Swiss coach, to an American coach, and then finally to one of my own spare poles that was the right height and side.”

    Ogden eventually crossed the line in 46th, a result that understated how well he felt he was skiing before the incident — and how difficult it was to mentally reset afterward.

    Ben Ogden (USA) crosses the line in Toblach (ITA) with a trail of random poles scattered throughout the course behind him. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    “It was hard to get back into it mentally,” he said. “But I felt like I skied pretty well over the last couple of kilometers, so I was happy with that. I definitely wish I could have put together the race I felt capable of.”

    From a Tour de Ski perspective, the lost time was costly. But Ogden emphasized that his broader season goals remain intact.

    “My biggest goals this year aren’t in the Tour,” he said. “I still feel like I can take steps toward my big goals this year and feel good about that. These tours can change really quick. I’ve been in the top five in the Tour, and then after one race, I’ve been 40th, so maybe the same will happen in the opposite, but, yeah. Definitely just keep my eye on my main goals this year and trying to stay positive and keep fighting.”

    Antoine Cyr (CAN) during his second World Cup race this season. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
    A Canadian Return to the World Cup

    Stage 2 also marked a quiet but meaningful milestone for the Canadian men, who arrived in Toblach for their first World Cup races of the season after holding Olympic trials in Canada before Christmas.

    Antoine Cyr led the Canadian contingent with a solid performance just outside the top 20, while teammates followed in behind. For a group using the Tour de Ski as both a competitive platform and a form-building block toward February, the results offered a baseline — not definitive answers, but a starting point.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), Mattis Stenshagen (NOR), Emil Iversen (NOR), (l-r) take the podium of the 10 K Classic in Toblach (ITA). (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
    The Long View of the Tour

    The Tour de Ski rarely reveals its winner on the first distance day. Instead, it reveals tendencies: who overreaches, who fades late, who absorbs pressure, and who survives adversity without letting it define the week.

    In Toblach, Stenshagen showed he could control a race from the front. Klæbo showed he could defend without exposing himself. Others — Ketterson among them — showed flashes of form that mattered more than a single line in the results.

    By the time the Tour leaves Toblach for Val di Fiemme, the standings will shift again. Fatigue will accumulate. Risks will sharpen. And the races will begin to resemble not just World Cups, but rehearsals.

    In Italy, on familiar snow, the men are already practicing for something larger.

     

    Men’s 10 K Individual Classic RESULTS

    Men’s 2026 Tour de Ski OVERALL STANDINGS

     

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    Mattis Stenshagen (NOR) had lots to celebrate following today’s race in Toblach (ITA). (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
  • The Devon Kershaw Show: Slugging it out in Davos with guest Bill McKibben

    The Devon Kershaw Show: Slugging it out in Davos with guest Bill McKibben

    This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers.  If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription.  

    Climate activist and author Bill McKibben joins the show this week to recap some surprising results in Davos, including standout performances from a pair of Vermonters.

    We’re hoping to land some interviews before the Tour de Ski kicks off, and we’ll be back with more recaps once racing resumes. Reach us at devon[at]fasterskier.com and nat[at]fasterskier.com.

     

  • In Davos, the Second Lap Always Tells the Truth

    In Davos, the Second Lap Always Tells the Truth

    This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.

    Davos doesn’t reward urgency.

    It tolerates it, sometimes — lets it flirt with the clock through the opening kilometers — but it never forgets. Like a mysterious, wispy cloud, the altitude sits quietly above the stadium, thinning the air just enough that the consequences arrive late, not immediately. The first lap can feel generous. The second is where Davos asks what you’ve really brought with you.

    On Sunday, in the men’s 10-kilometer freestyle interval start at the World Cup in Davos, Switzerland, that truth arrived right on schedule. Athletes who attacked early were gradually called back. Athletes who waited found themselves moving forward without ever appearing to accelerate. And one skier — patient, smooth, and increasingly inevitable — turned the second lap into a private demonstration.

    Einar Hedegart of Norway won in 22:40.7, earning his second straight World Cup victory, this one built not on surprise but on control. Behind him came Harald Østberg Amundsen (NOR) at +11.7 seconds, Mattis Stenshagen (NOR) at +18.8, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (NOR) fourth (+24.1), and Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget (NOR) fifth (+30.6). Andrew Musgrave (GBR) led the non-Norwegians in sixth (+31.1).

    Five Norwegians in the top five — but only one skied the race the way Davos prefers.

    Mattis Stenshagen (NOR) comes to the 10 k Interval Start Freestyle finish in Davos (SUI). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
    The Temptation of the First Lap

    Interval starts strip racing down to decisions. No drafting. No cover. No negotiation. In Davos, those decisions begin almost immediately because the course invites speed from the start. The opening kilometers flow. The snow was hard and fast after an overnight freeze. Skis hummed. Breathing felt manageable.

    Several athletes took the invitation.

    Early time checks were brisk, and for a moment the race appeared to be tilting toward the skiers willing to press from the gun. Harald Østberg Amundsen, the reigning overall World Cup champion, was among them — assertive, controlled, but unmistakably on the front foot. At the first major checkpoint, Amundsen held a small advantage over Hedegart, exactly the kind of margin that feels reassuring on paper.

    Others followed similar scripts. Strong starters carved seconds in the opening loop, skiing as if Davos were simply another mid-altitude venue rather than one of the circuit’s quiet physiological traps. It all looked reasonable — until the course turned upward again.

     

    Why Davos Punishes Impatience

    At roughly 1,560 meters above sea level, Davos sits just high enough to distort pacing instincts. Red-lining a climb here doesn’t always feel catastrophic in the moment. The cost arrives later, when recovery never quite comes, and the second lap begins to feel longer than the first.

    That dynamic defined the race.

    Athletes who went hard early found themselves defending, not attacking, once the second lap began. Speed leaked away on the longer climbs. Transitions dulled. The ability to change gears — so critical in freestyle skating — started to fade.

    Hedegart, meanwhile, was doing something else entirely.

    Einar Hedegart (NOR) with Vili Crv (SLO) trailing during the 10 k Interval Start Freestyle in Davos (SUI). (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
    Hedegart’s Patience — and the Moment it Mattered

    Hedegart did not lead early.

    That point matters.

    He allowed seconds to slip away in the first lap, skiing smoothly but without urgency, keeping his effort under control on the steepest sections. At altitude, that restraint isn’t passive — it’s strategic. Backing off even a few percent on the climbs can preserve a system that stays responsive later.

    When the race entered the second lap, the difference became apparent.

    Hedegart didn’t surge so much as continue. While others plateaued, he maintained tempo. While early leaders fought to hold speed, he quietly increased his advantage, taking time not through dramatic accelerations but through the absence of slowdown.

    By the 7.4-kilometer mark, the race had clarified. The seconds Hedegart had conceded early were gone — and then some. His advantage over Amundsen had grown decisively. The course was no longer offering second chances.

    The finish confirmed what the splits already suggested: Hedegart’s second lap was the fastest in the field, and it wasn’t close.

    Harald Amundsen (NOR) on his way to second place in Davos (SUI). (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
    Amundsen, Stenshagen, and the Norwegian Sorting Hat

    Behind Hedegart, the Norwegian internal race unfolded in layers.

    Amundsen’s early aggression kept him close, but the cost was unavoidable. He remained solid — this was not a collapse — yet the final kilometers belonged to Hedegart. What had been a narrow early lead turned into an 11.7-second deficit at the line.

    Mattis Stenshagen, by contrast, skied one of the day’s most even races. Never flashy, never panicked, he moved steadily forward as others drifted back, finishing third and reinforcing his reputation as one of Norway’s most reliable distance technicians.

    Johannes Høsflot Klæbo offered another useful case study. After a frustrating sprint the day before, Klæbo looked sharper and more composed, staying in contention through the middle of the race. But Davos demands distance-specific economy, not just efficiency, and he lost ground late, finishing fourth — competitive, but never truly threatening Hedegart.

    Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget, wearing the red distance bib, rounded out the Norwegian sweep of the top five, steady as ever but unable to match the winning pace in the final lap.

    Five Norwegians, five slightly different races — and one clear template emerging at the top.

    Andrew Musgrave (GBR) was the fastest non-Norwegian skier in Davos (SUI). (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
    The International Picture: Holding On vs. Moving Up

    Outside Norway, the same altitude logic applied.

    Andrew Musgrave (GBR) skied a disciplined race, managing his effort well enough to stay competitive throughout. He was rewarded with sixth place — not by attacking late, but by avoiding the fade that claimed others. In Davos, survival is often the first victory.

    France’s Mathis Desloges and Hugo Lapalus hovered near the top ten, their early speed gradually neutralized by the second lap. Italy’s Federico Pellegrino, so dangerous in sprint formats, found the sustained demands of the 10 km Interval Start less forgiving, finishing outside the top 30.

    The pattern repeated down the results list: strong early checkpoints followed by diminishing returns. Davos was collecting its debts.

    On his way to 30th place, John Steel Hagenbuch (USA) follows teammate Ben Ogden (USA). (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
    The American View: Learning in Familiar Air

    For the U.S. team, John Steel Hagenbuch finished 30th, the top American on the day — a result that only hints at how complicated his Davos race really was.

    Hagenbuch has never considered himself particularly sensitive to altitude, a fact that quietly shaped both his expectations and his pacing plan.

    “I’m maybe not the best authority to say how altitude feels, as I usually don’t feel affected by it much,” Hagenbuch said. “I typically start slow and then pick up speed through races, and this pacing strategy is typically rewarded at altitude.”

    That approach aligned neatly with what Davos demanded. And while Hagenbuch is quick to downplay any physiological advantage from growing up and training in Sun Valley, Idaho, he did note a different kind of familiarity.

    “I think being from altitude can help with racing at altitude, but it’s certainly not a decisively significant factor — I was still plenty far behind the sea-level Norwegians today,” he said, with a laugh. “Speaking of familiarity, however, I remarked at how much Davos reminded me of home — the trails and the surrounding mountains strongly resemble Galena.”

    The race itself marked his best feeling of the opening World Cup block — even if the result came under less-than-ideal circumstances.

    “This Davos Skate 10 km was the best I’ve felt so far in Period 1,” Hagenbuch said. “But it unfortunately came only a day after I crashed hard on the infamously icy slalom downhill coming down from Flüelapass and subluxed my right shoulder for about the tenth time.”

    By race morning, the pain hadn’t gone away.

    “Even with a few thousand milligrams of acetaminophen down the hatch, every single pole stroke hurt,” he said. “So while it was nice to finally — barely — be top 30, I can’t help but think that without the injury and the stress associated with it, I could have done better. Alas, that’s life, and that’s skiing. I am not the only one to have had some bad luck in important races.”

    Zooming out, Hagenbuch remains confident in his trajectory, even if the opening block didn’t fully reflect it.

    “I feel confident in what I can achieve this winter — even if I didn’t necessarily show it during Period 1,” he said. “With this being an Olympic year, the competition was even higher than normal. For example, Per-Erik Bjornestad, one of our Norwegian wax techs, said that the Trondheim 10 km skate was the highest level of skiing he had ever witnessed.”

    Looking ahead, Hagenbuch’s plans are clear — and pragmatic.

    “Pretty much regardless of how today’s race went, I was going to go home to Sun Valley for Christmas,” he said. “I don’t think it makes sense for me to do the Tour de Ski, given how my health has been this fall and the start of the winter. I’m excited to go home and to compete at U.S. Nationals in Lake Placid.”

    Einar Hedegart (NOR) celebrates with a fist pump to the camera in Davos (SUI). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
    Why this Race Matters More than it Looks

    It’s easy to treat Davos as an outlier — scenic, elevated, a little unique. The athletes don’t.

    The men’s 10 km Freestyle Interval Start is an Olympic format. It’s a race without shelter, without drafting, and without excuses. Davos amplifies all of that. Pacing errors are magnified. Aerobic limits are exposed. The second lap becomes a referendum.

    Hedegart passed that referendum emphatically.

    This was not a perfect-day fluke. It was not a tactical accident. It was the same pattern, repeated under different conditions, at a different altitude, against the deepest field in the sport. Ski patiently. Protect the climbs. Let others make the race hard early — then make it impossible late.

    Einar Hedegart (NOR) remained on the snow for several minutes after crossing the finish line in Davos (SUI). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
    A Quiet Finish, a Louder Message

    There was no spectacle at the finish line. No disbelief. No chaos. Hedegart crossed, collapsed, and recovered — another man undone by thin air, but this time by his own effort.

    Two races. Two wins. Two second laps that separated him from everyone else.

    Davos didn’t raise its voice. It didn’t have to.

    It simply told the truth — the same one it always tells — and this time, Einar Hedegart listened better than anyone else.

     

    Men’s 10 k Individual Start Freestyle RESULTS

     

    Harald Amundsen (NOR), Einar Hedegart (NOR), and Mattis Stenshagen (NOR), (l-r) take the 10 k Freestyle podium in Davos (SUI). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

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    Andrew Musgrave (GBR) gives the race winner Einar Hedegart (NOR) a sleigh ride after the pair had excellent days in the 10 k Freestyle in Davos (SUI). (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

     

  • The Devon Kershaw Show: the world champs of Norwegian Olympic qualification, and a Kersh mea culpa

    The Devon Kershaw Show: the world champs of Norwegian Olympic qualification, and a Kersh mea culpa

    This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers.  If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription.  

     

    We’re back to recap three days of racing in Trondheim and for Devon to eat some of his words from last weekend’s podcast.

    We’ll have more after the World Cup swings to Switzerland this weekend. Reach us at devon[at]fasterskier.com and nat[at]fasterskier.com, and if you’re interested in supporting the podcast, visit fasterskier.com/support and email matthew[at]fasterskier.com with inquiries about ads or sponsorship.

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    Feature stories like this one take time, access, and care to produce. If you value thoughtful storytelling and independent ski journalism, please consider becoming a Voluntary Subscriber. Your support directly fuels the work we do to cover the people, places, and moments that make our sport special.

    Join the FasterSkier community!