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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The start of the Holmenkollen Men’s 50 k Freestyle in Oslo, Norway. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
For nearly two hours on Saturday, 77 men disappeared into a stubborn curtain of fog that clung to the hillsides above Oslo, their figures swallowed by the mist somewhere between the stadium and the high point at Frognerseteren. When it was over, only one emerged with his arms in the air, and it was the one freestyle specialist who had been topping shorter freestyle distance races most of the season.
Einar Hedegart, the 24-year-old former biathlete who only committed fully to cross-country skiing in November, surged past Harald Oestberg Amundsen in the final meters to win the Holmenkollen 50 k Freestyle in 1:51:38.2 — his first victory on cross-country skiing’s most storied stage, in just his seventh World Cup start.
“This is the greatest feeling I’ve ever had,” Hedegart said after the finish. “This is just a nostalgia stadium. [A] legendary race, almost all my heroes have won this race, and especially Petter Northug. This might be the reason why I’ve been so motivated my whole life to be a cross-country skier.”
Einar Hedegart (NOR) celebrates winning Norway’s most iconic race. www.nordicfocus.com. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
But the result that will echo loudest across the sport happened away from Oslo. Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, the overall World Cup leader, was home nursing a mild concussion from a hard crash in the Drammen sprint two days earlier. Klaebo, who has already compiled a nearly perfect season, winning the Tour de Ski, all six Olympic races, secured the FIS Overall Crystal Globe, the FIS Sprint Crystal Globe, and only needed to keep racing the remaining distance races to take the clean sweep of the season with the FIS Distance Crystal Globe. BUT his absence from the start line meant zero points scored in the distance standing today. And with Amundsen’s second-place finish today, the distance crystal globe race was blown wide open: Amundsen now leads the distance standings by three points, 939 to 936, with two distance races remaining at the World Cup Finals in Lake Placid.
Klaebo posted to Instagram yesterday: “Took a fall yesterday and hit my head pretty hard, but luckily everything is all good in the hood. Ended up with a concussion, so I’ll take some days off from both training and the internet just to make sure everything settles properly. Only got one head, so have to take good care of it.”
He had been scheduled to fly to the United States on Sunday, but will now stay in Norway for a few extra days, hoping to recover in time for Lake Placid.
Einar Hedegart (NOR) emerges from the fog to take the win. (Photo: Nordnes/NordicFocus)
A Race Defined by Fog
The Holmenkollen 50 k — first raced in 1888, a fixture of the World Cup since 1982, and a race that draws an estimated 100,000 fans to the forested hills above Oslo — returned to the calendar Saturday after a one-year absence. For the first time, the men’s and women’s 50 k races were held on the same day, the women starting 45 minutes behind the men in a format designed to create an all-day spectacle. The fog, however, had other ideas. Conditions were so thick that spectators along the course could hear the racers before they could see them.
The course — six laps of 8.3 km with 334 meters of climbing per lap — was firm and fast after overnight salting despite an air temperature of 5.0°C. The salted, compact surface was ideal for skating, and the winning time of 1:51:38 came in roughly four minutes faster than the last time the Holmenkollen 50 k was contested in freestyle.
Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) on his way to second place. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
Through the first three laps, the race unfolded as a cautious tactical affair. A large pack of roughly 40 skiers stayed together, with Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, Mattis Stenshagen, and Federico Pellegrino taking turns at the front. The first athlete to make a decisive tactical move was Iver Tildheim Andersen, who changed skis early at the stadium after the third lap while the rest of the pack continued through. The fresh skis gave Andersen a burst, and when the lead group stopped for their own ski exchange one lap later, he suddenly found himself alone at the front with a roughly 15-second advantage.
“Just stick with the field as long as possible and then hopefully be in position when the group starts swarming,” Hedegart said of his plan. “But today I was really offside, like 70 percent of the race. So I was lucky that no one took a gap.”
The chase group — reduced to roughly eight athletes, all Norwegian once France’s Victor Lovera fell off the pace — gradually closed on Andersen through the fifth lap, with Hedegart, Simen Hegstad Krueger, Amundsen, Nyenget, Andreas Fjorden Ree, and Kasper Andersson Herland trading pulls at the front. By the time the group reached the final lap, they had swallowed Andersen, and the race became a question of who had saved enough for the final kilometers.
Simen Hegstad Krueger (NOR) tried his best to get away for the win. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
Krueger’s Late Charge and Hedegart’s Final Kick
Krueger, who was celebrating his 33rd birthday the day before, was omitted from the Norwegian Olympic team despite multiple Olympic medals in his career and was the winner of the last freestyle Holmenkollen 50 k. He drove the pace through the final lap. He pushed hard over the climbs near the iconic Holmenkollen church, stringing out the group and shedding Andersen off the back. But Krueger couldn’t sustain the pressure all the way to the finish, and as the group of seven came around the final corner and up the short, steep ramp before the descent into the home stretch, the sprint was on.
Amundsen launched first, throwing everything he had at the final few hundred meters. But Hedegart, who had looked labored at points earlier in the race, found a gear no one could match. He came alongside Amundsen, took the lead in front of the grandstand crowd, and raised his fist in celebration as he skied across the line.
“I felt, like, better,” Hedegart said of his position in the back of the pack through much of the race. “So I was just laying in the field, and I had to remind myself he did the same,” he added, referring to his idol Northug, whose trademark move was stalking from behind before unleashing a devastating sprint.
Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR), Mattis Stenshagen (NOR), and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), (l-r) stayed in the lead pack. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
Hedegart crossed in 1:51:38.2. Amundsen finished four-tenths of a second behind. Nyenget was third at +1.1. Ree took fourth (+1.5), followed by Herland (+2.1), Krueger (+3.0), Moseby (+4.8), and Andersen (+16.8) after his brave solo effort. Norway swept the top eight positions.
France’s Lovera was the first non-Norwegian in ninth (+48.1), followed by AIN athlete Savelii Korostelev in 10th (+1:24.2).
Zak Ketterson (USA) led the way for the Americans in the chase pack racing for 11th place; he ultimately finished 18th. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
Ketterson Fights for 11th in His Adopted Home
Zak Ketterson, who spent the summer and fall living and training in Oslo, found himself in the thick of a battle for 11th place, a fight he learned about from coaches stationed along the fog-shrouded course.
“I had heard from coaches on the side of the trail that our pack was fighting for 11th, and that was super cool,” Ketterson said. “I actually felt pretty fresh at the end and thought my finishing sprint would be pretty good, but I didn’t time it well and got really boxed in on the last couple turns into the finish.”
Ketterson ultimately finished 18th (+1:54.2), part of a chase pack that came across the line within seconds of each other. He said everyone in the group knew a sprint was coming on the final lap.
The fog made the tactical picture nearly impossible to read. “I couldn’t see more than 10 meters in front of me,” Ketterson said. “It definitely made it difficult to assess where I was relative to the leaders in the later laps. It also made some of the corners feel way sketchier because you couldn’t really choose an optimal line with such limited visibility.”
For Ketterson, the race carried personal significance beyond the result. Having trained on the Holmenkollen course through the Norwegian summer and fall, he knew every climb and descent intimately. “This is definitely one of the most iconic and cool races we get to do,” he said. “It was especially special for me this year since I trained on this course all summer and fall living in Oslo. The highlight was definitely having my wife Julie and her family out there cheering me on.”
What made the performance all the more impressive was the state of his body coming in. “I honestly feel like I am really running on fumes,” Ketterson said. “To be honest, I was not sure if I would even start this race in the morning. I felt so bad, and honestly, my body has felt super up and down in the last few weeks. I’m really curious to see how my body responds to this race. I was pleasantly surprised by how decent it felt, but I feel like the next week could go either way. Especially with the international travel tomorrow.”
Brian Bushey (USA) gaining experience on his way to 59th place. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
The Rest of the North Americans
Hunter Wonders was 45th (+5:46.9), Kevin Bolger was 48th (+6:51.3), and Brian Bushey was 59th (+12:24.9).
Canada’s Xavier McKeever finished 41st (+5:11.4), while Thomas Stephen was 43rd (+5:18.1).
Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) takes over the FIS Distance Globe lead with just two distance races remaining. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
Distance Globe: Three Points
The ramifications of Saturday’s race land squarely on the crystal globe picture. Before the race, Klaebo held a 128-point lead over Amundsen in the distance standings and a 636-point lead in the overall. With Klaebo watching from home, Amundsen’s 131-point haul (including bonus points) vaulted him into the distance lead: Amundsen now sits at 939 points, three ahead of Klaebo’s 936. Nyenget climbed to 914 in third.
Klaebo’s overall World Cup lead, at 2,071 points to Amundsen’s 1,566, remains secure with a 505-point cushion. But the distance globe — awarded to the season’s best across distance events only — will come down to the final two races: a 10 k Classic Interval Start and a 20 k Freestyle Mass Start in Lake Placid, March 20-22.
If Klaebo can travel to Lake Placid and race, he’ll have every opportunity to reclaim the lead. If the concussion keeps him out, the distance globe is likely to belong to Amundsen.
Kasper Andersson Herland (NOR), who finished fifth, celebrates with Einar Hedegart (NOR), (l-r) at the finish of the Holmenkollen. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
A Star Made for This Stage
Hedegart’s career trajectory is one of the season’s best stories. A junior biathlon world champion who struggled with his shooting, he drifted toward cross-country skiing after a surprising second-place finish at the Holmenkollen World Cup last season. He spent the summer training with a cross-country team while bringing his rifle to every camp, undecided. In November, after winning the popular pre-World Cup cross-country race in Beitostoelen, Norway, by a wide margin and missing eight of 20 shots in a biathlon event, he committed to leaving the rifle at home.
Since then: an Olympic bronze in the 10 k Freestyle behind Klaebo, a team sprint gold partnered with Klaebo, victories in the Engadin Marathon, and now the Holmenkollen 50 k — a distance he had never raced at the World Cup level. He was asked whether his approach of sitting back resembled Northug’s famous stalking tactics.
“Yeah, I felt like Petter,” Hedegart said. “So I was just lying in the field, and I had to remind myself he did the same.”
For a race that dates to 1888, that has been won by the sport’s mythical stars, and that is contested before the King of Norway in a stadium surrounded by 100,000 fans, there is no small amount of weight to what happened Saturday at the Holmenkollen. Hedegart is, by every measure, now a cross-country skier.
The season concludes with the World Cup Finals in Lake Placid, New York, March 20-22. Three races remain. The distance globe is separated by three points. And the world waits to see whether Klaebo can make it to the start line.
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Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR), Andreas Fjorden Ree (NOR), and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), (l-r) share the Holmenkollen 50 k Freestyle in Oslo, Norway. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
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The Men’s 20 k Skiathlon gets underway in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
With fresh snow overnight and temperatures hovering just above freezing, it was the kind of conditions that keep ski technicians guessing and athletes second-guessing. A week removed from the Olympics in Italy, the World Cup resumed for the second day with a 20-kilometer Skiathlon on a course that rewards patience and punishes weakness.
And while viewers looked on, whether to witness something historic or something new, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won again.
Klaebo covered the 10 k classic and 10 k freestyle in 48:41.8, edging teammate Harald Oestberg Amundsen by 0.7 seconds and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget by 0.8 seconds in a Norwegian podium sweep. The victory extended one of the most remarkable streaks in modern cross-country skiing and tightened his grip on the overall standings and, maybe more importantly for the remaining season-long narrative, extended his lead in the FIS distance ranking for the Distance Crystal Globe.
The race was familiar and predictable, with Nyenget driving much of the pace, Amundsen staying close, and Klaebo remaining measured in the pack. When the decisive move came in the final sprint, Klaebo, once again, not only had the answer, but made it look easy.
“This was a tough one,” Klaebo graciously said on the FIS broadcast after the race. “I think Martin was very strong today. I think he was in the front almost for 20 k.”
Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) leads, Andreas Fjorden Ree (NOR), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR), and the rest of the field at a frenzied pace at the beginning of the Men’s 20 k Skiathlon in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)
Classic Leg: Bonus points that created a breakaway
The men opened with three laps of the 3.4-kilometer red course, climbing the Mini Mördarbacken each time. Conditions sat just above freezing, with fresh snow complicating the classic wax call. Athletes chose between traditional kick wax and zero-skis, the latter relying on a texture sanded into a softer base material underfoot.
The pace was honest from the gun. At 5.4 kilometers, where bonus World Cup points were on offer, Nyenget and Klaebo pushed hard, with Klaebo claiming the maximum 15 bonus points, followed by Nyenget and Amundsen. That acceleration fractured the field.
A lead group of Norwegians formed with Nyenget, Amundsen, Klaebo, and Andreas Fjorden Ree. Arsi Ruuskanen of Finland and Savelii Korostelew, competing as a neutral athlete, also managed to maintain contact. Behind them, a gap had opened to a chase pack led by American Gus Schumacher.
By the end of the classic leg, the leaders had established a gap that would prove decisive.
Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) continued to set a fast pace at the front of the Men’s Skiathlon. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
The Exchange and the Mördarbacken
Transitions in a Skiathlon are rarely glamorous or decisive, but a skier can lose contact with the lead if they don’t stay calm. Amundsen executed a clean ski exchange and briefly looked poised to dictate terms once the field switched to the blue 5-kilometer skate loop.
That loop includes the full Mördarbacken, a long, layered climb that television struggles to do justice. The ascent, which parallels the ski jumping landing hill, builds in segments, steepening before easing slightly when it cuts across the slope, then rising again one last time. It is not just a memorable climb in name, but once you have skied it, you will never forget the ‘Murder Hill.’
Nyenget continued to press the pace up front. Klaebo, as he often does, sat tucked in, attentive and measured.
On the first lap of the skate course, the lead group remained six, with the four Norwegians, Ruuskanen, and Korostelew. By the second ascent of Mördarbacken, it was effectively a three-Norwegian affair with Korostelew, Ree, and Ruuskanen fading slightly and fighting to limit losses and eventually finishing fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively.
Behind them, the chase pack raced for seventh.
Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), and Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR), (l-r) crest the second to last climb. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)
The Finish
With less than a kilometer remaining, the three Norwegians — Klaebo, Amundsen, and Nyenget — remained locked together. Nyenget, who historically has the least sprint speed, had done the bulk of the visible work, setting the tempo on both classic and skate sections.
At the top of the final climb before descending into the stadium, the trio jockeyed for position, no one wanting to lead only to be overtaken by those in the draft. Nyenget took the lead, but was predictably passed by Klaebo on the far side of the stadium, and at the line, it unfolded as it so often does, Klaebo easing up to wave to the crowd with Amundsen outsprinting Nyenget behind him.
“It was very hard,” Klaebo said during his post-race interview with FIS on the broadcast. “But at the end, I managed to keep up with [Nyenget] and managed to do a good last sprint at the end.”
The margins were small. The pattern was not.
Klaebo now has 12 consecutive victories across World Cup and Olympic competition. The last race he entered without winning was the final climb of the Tour de Ski, where he managed his effort to secure the overall title rather than contest the stage.
“To be honest, I don’t think I have a goal anymore for this season,” he said. “I think the main goal is completed, and now I’m just going to enjoy the last races and see how it goes.”
Gus Schumacher (USA) seemed to do the majority of the work at the front of the chase pack. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
Schumacher: Fast Skis, Hard Hills
Gus Schumacher finished seventh in 49:38.6, 56.8 seconds behind Klaebo and spent much of the day managing a gap that opened during the classic leg and never fully came back.
The decisive acceleration came when the Norwegians lifted the tempo in pursuit of bonus points. Schumacher felt it immediately.
“In the classic, when it got fast, my kick was not great, so it was hard to fight for anything,” he said. “I was kind of just getting up the hills, but the pace was fast the whole time.”
He believed the separation was coming regardless.
“I think that gap was going to open at some point, no matter what,” he said. “Just because of how they were skiing from the start, mostly Nyenget, I think.”
Schumacher was on zero skis for the classic portion.
“I was on zeros. I think most people were on zeros,” he said. “Some people looked good, and I don’t know, there’s some variation there for sure.”
On the flats, he felt competitive.
“The gliding sections were great for me. My skis were really fast,” he said. “But the hills were tough.”
After the exchange, Schumacher exited the stadium aggressively and led the chase group for stretches on the first lap of the skate course. The leaders, however, continued to gain time on the full ascent of Mördarbacken.
Asked to describe the climb, Schumacher was more measured than dramatic.
“Honestly, compared to a lot of the other climbs they do, I feel like it’s not horrible,” he said. “I enjoy it partly because it’s not insanely long and it’s got some steps to it.”
That does not mean it is easy.
“It definitely climbs pretty far and has some steep parts,” he said. “But as far as big climbs go, that’s one of my faves.”
What does it demand?
“Same as other climbs,” he said. “Just fitness, technique, poise… the whole deal.”
Kevin Bolger (USA) during the classic leg, on his way to 36th place on the day. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
Bolger: Boxed In Early, Fighting Back Late
Kevin Bolger finished 36th in 51:12.8, but his race was shaped early.
“It’s always hard to feel the pace when you start mid to back of the field,” Bolger wrote in an email afterward. “I’ve always tried to just relax, let the stringing out happen, and take the gaps where they form and make some jumps.”
He later learned from Gus Schumacher that the leaders had opened aggressively from the gun.
“I heard they started quite hard,” Bolger said. “So I think it was just a hot pace from the start and things just naturally spread out.”
For Bolger, the defining moment came within the first lap of the classic leg.
“Unfortunately, I got stuck behind Andrew Musgrave and went from mid pack to last after the first lap,” he said. “So it was a lot of work to catch back up after that.”
In a Skiathlon, that kind of early compression can cost dearly. Once the field stretches, passing becomes energy-intensive, and the leaders ease the pace.
The waxing decision, at least, felt clear.
“Waking up and seeing the fresh snow and the temperature around zero, it was clear it was going to be zeros,” Bolger said. “But you never know what the techs are mixing up in the truck. As you run out to the start, you look around to see what other people have under their skis.”
Bolger chose zero skis and was confident in the call.
“I went with zeros, and I was very happy with that decision,” he said. “Tim Baucom and I did some good testing and landed on zeros because they were running the best for me, and I was super happy with that.”
By the time the race shifted to the skate leg, the front group was already out of reach. Still, Bolger felt he had something left.
“I was really happy with my classic leg,” he said. “Even with getting stuck early and having to work to catch back up, finishing that classic leg with the energy I had, I knew I could put together a good skate.”
The full Mördarbacken climb on the blue loop remained the critical point.
“I think everyone knows when that massive climb is in the mix, that’s a very critical part of the course and a tipping point for a lot of people,” Bolger said. “If I can get up that hill with the group, I’m in. Once there’s separation, the chances of that coming back are small.”
He described the climb bluntly.
“She starts pretty gradually, and you feel confident at the bottom,” he wrote. “But she turns boys into men real quick, or men into boys quick at the top.”
In soft conditions, with lactate building, the final pitch can expose anyone.
“It’s hard to keep the legs moving when the lactate’s flowing,” he said. “It’s really hard to describe it, but that’s the best way to say it.”
JC Schoonmaker (USA) finding joy in the distance racing as he builds fitness and experience with the longer races. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)
Schoonmaker: Finding Value in the Distance
JC Schoonmaker finished 58th in 52:40.4, but the placement did not tell the full story of his day.
“The longer distance was pretty tough, but also fun to do that kind of race again,” Schoonmaker wrote afterward. “Even though it was a tough day and not my best race, I find a lot more enjoyment in a 20 k like that, where I’m 60th or whatever, than a sprint qualifier where I’m 35th. Cool to push yourself and ski in a pack.”
Falun’s Skiathlon rewards positioning and sustained pace more than sharp accelerations. For Schoonmaker, the takeaway was direct.
“Today shows me that I probably need to have a bit more pace to be competitive in these longer races,” he said. “Just overall need to be fitter and stronger than I am right now.”
He felt competitive through the classic leg, especially in tricky waxing conditions hovering around freezing.
“The conditions were a bit tricky for sure,” he said. “Whenever zeroes are in the mix as well as wax, it can be a little stressful.”
Schoonmaker chose kick wax rather than zero skis, a minority decision in the field.
“I ended up going on wax, and I think I was probably one of the only guys in the field to do that, so I was a bit nervous at the start,” he said. “But they worked great for me, and I think I made the right call.”
The transition to skate proved costly.
“I felt more competitive in the classic leg, had a bit of a blow up as soon as we switched to skating, and found my flow after a bit, but just lost too much time right after the transition there,” he said.
Then came the full Mördarbacken climb, twice.
“The Mördarbacken is a tough one, I think mostly because it’s just so long,” Schoonmaker said. “It has a lot of grade fluctuations, which I think is cool in a hill and a bit of a grind, but I like the way it skis.”
Other American Finishers:
Hunter Wonders – 47th place
Zanden McMullen – 61st place
Antoine Cyr (CAN) on his way to a top ten. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
Canada: Cyr Inside the Top Ten
Antoine Cyr led the Canadian contingent, finishing 10th. It was a controlled race from Cyr, who held position through the classic leg and limited losses on the climbs during the skate.
Other Canadian Finishers:
Olivier Leveille – 53rd place
Remi Drolet – 54th place
Max Hollmann – 55th place
Sasha Masson – 66th place
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) charges for the win once again at the end of the Men’s Skiathlon in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
The Larger Arc
Falun is more than just another stop as it will host the 2027 World Championships. It is also a venue that rewards discipline. The gradual terrain away from the stadium invites packs, and the big climbs around the ski jumping hill expose any fitness weaknesses.
For Klaebo, it was another example of restraint followed by precision.
He leads the overall standings. He leads the sprint standings. The distance standings remain mathematically contested, but days like this narrow the space for drama as we move towards the final races.
After sweeping the Olympics, one might have expected a pause, yet there has not been one.
In Falun, the snow was fresh, the wax calls uncertain, and the climbs unforgiving. The result, however, was familiar.
And with three weeks remaining before the World Cup finale in Lake Placid, what now remains is not a question of whether Klaebo has delivered a historic season, but how complete it might become.
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Norwegians Harald Oestberg Amundsen, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (l-r) share the Men’s 20 k Skiathlon podium in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
We’ll keep it short and sweet: Here’s a recap of the men’s 50 k. It was a fun race to watch and left us with a lot to discuss.
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Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR #3) and Emil Iversen (NOR #4) lead during the opening kilometers of the Men’s Olympic 50 k in Tesero, Italy. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)
TESERO, ITALY — Sprint races can be dazzling, relay legs can be heroic, but the 50 k, especially classic, is where cross-country skiing gets carved into stone. The 50 k Classic turns strength, technique, and endurance into history, myth, and lore.
On Saturday afternoon in Val di Fiemme, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo skied into that mythology.
By winning the Olympic 50 k Classic, Klaebo completed a sweep of six gold medals at these Games — six events, six victories — something no Winter Olympian had ever done before. The sprint prodigy who has built his reputation on ferocity over 1.5 kilometers now owns the sport’s most traditional crown.
“I don’t think I even could have dreamed about this,” Klaebo said afterward.
“In Norway, they say you must win a 50 k to become a man.” Klaebo said, smiling in the post-race press conference, “I think I am that now.”
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) both the Olympic 50 k gold and a clean sweap of these games. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
Feeling the significance
The 50 k Classic is the most prestigious event in the sport with a long and storied history, and over 100 years of these championships, no one had ever put their skis on to start this race, trying to win an unprecedented 6th gold medal in one Olympic Games. But Klaebo had proven last year he could, winning six races at the World Championships on his home trails in Trondheim, Norway.
The historic attempt was larger than cross-country skiing, too. American long-track speed skater Eric Heiden won five gold medals at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. Klaebo was attempting to do something no athlete had ever done before at the Winter Olympics.
Savelii Korostelev (AIN #12), Iivo Niskanen (FIN #7), Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR #3), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR #1), Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR #2), Emil Iversen (NOR #4), (l-r) during the early stages of the 50 k. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
The potential spoilers
Going into the race, the heavy favorites were without a doubt the Norwegians with Klaebo, his training partner Emil Iversen, Harald Oestberg Amundsen, and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget. However, others had to be considered as potential spoilers for the historic moment, among them, athletes on the French team, including Mathis Desloges, Hugo Lapalus, Victor Lovera, Finland’s Iivo Niskanen, American Gus Schumacher, and the Independent Neutral Athlete (AIN) Savelii Korostelev. Though it was a long shot, these other nations’ athletes could, potentially, battle for the win or at least a podium spot.
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), Emil Iversen (NOR), and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), (l-r) turned the 50 k into a three-man race. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
The Shape of the Race
The Olympic course in Tesero is not subtle. Seven laps with relentless climbing. Among them, the featured hill, the Zorzi Climb, waits like a toll booth each time the skiers re-enter the stadium.
Heading into the race, there were 65 men on the start list, but Italy’s Federico Pellegrino, Finland’s Ristomatti Hakola, and America’s Ben Ogden all scratched.
Once the race started, the first lap went by without much drama, though the field began to stretch. As they entered the stadium after one loop, over 30 skiers were within 20 seconds of the lead. By the end of lap two, that front pack had reduced to 20 skiers within 23 seconds of the lead, and on lap three, things really began to take shape.
Early on in lap three, two favorites, Niskanen (FIN) and Amundsen (NOR), who had been at the front of the race, pulled out. The French favorites and American Schumacher also began to lose contact with the front-runners. Only Korostelev was able to maintain contact until even he could no longer keep up with the three top Norwegians.
Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) did much of the work at the front. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
By the middle of the race, there were three
By lap four, it was unmistakable: Nyenget, Iversen, and Klaebo were alone, three red suits moving in steady formation.
From the stadium, the mood was less frantic than historic, almost strangely calm.
“The sun shone down… as if God had ordained the great Klaebo, winning his six in a row… I mean, it really was a beautiful day,” said FasterSkier’s Nat Herz, who was on the ground in Tesero. “I think people were just pretty relaxed watching this three-man Norwegian time trial as it went around the course… These guys have the best technique, the best materials, the best skis, the best fitness, and they did exactly what they set out to do.”
The crowd was not roaring every lap. It was watching. Waiting.
“Nyenget and Klaebo definitely gave everyone a good show, and it was tense to see. Was Klaebo going to be able to do this incredible accomplishment?”
There was little theatrics in their separation from the field — no dramatic surge, no visible cracking. Just a grinding tempo that only they could sustain.
Even the question of ski exchanges became a collective calculation. While much of the field ducked into the pit lane for fresh skis after lap four, the Norwegians skied past the ski exchange zone each lap.
A Norwegian train. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)
“Martin made the choice of not changing skis,” Klaebo said. “Emil and I just followed because we didn’t want to gamble.”
In long races, fortune often hides in such decisions. The snow was changing; the sun had warmed the surface. Fresh skis could have been salvation or ruined a chance at gold.
“I think it was the right decision,” Klaebo said in the press conference afterwards about the three Norwegians not switching skis.
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) makes history as he crosses the line of the Men’s 50 k Classic. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)
Saving Something for the Hill
Through lap six, Nyenget did much of the visible work. Klaebo shadowed him, conserving every drop of energy he could.
“I wish I was able to help them a little bit,” he said. “But when they asked me if I could go in front, I said no, because I was too tired.”
It was not false modesty, Klaebo’s Olympic schedule had been more than the other two and fifty kilometers taxes even those who make winning look inevitable.
“My plan today was just try to save as much energy as possible,” he said. “I needed to play on my strength… the last few hundred meters.”
On the final lap, Klaebo came to the front, as if to take measure of the other two Norwegians, but in doing so, he created a gap on Iversen. Was the race for gold now just down to two? The answer was yes, as the rubber band had clearly been snapped for Iversen, who began to drift backwards from the leading pair.
The decisive moment arrived where many had expected it would: on the Zorzi Climb. On the preceding descent, Klaebo rose from his tuck, adjusted his pole straps, and as they exited the sweeping left-hand turn at the base of the final climb, Klaebo pulled alongside Nyenget before beginning to accelerate. Not explosively — this was the closing act of a two-hour effort — but with the control of someone who knew exactly how much he had left.
Nyenget followed for a few strides. Then he did not.
Behind them, Iversen skied alone to bronze, sealing a Norwegian sweep.
A moment of reflection at the finish for Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR). (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)
A Private Moment
At the finish, Klaebo crossed the line and sat down alone on the snow. There was no theatrical collapse, only a quiet reckoning.
“For me, it’s the best feeling, the last 200 meters before I cross the finish line knowing that I’m going to win,” he said.
This Olympics, he suggested, had been built on deliberate choices, in training, in team structure, in how he and his father organized his life around the sport.
“He has probably sacrificed as much as I have done,” Klaebo said of his father.
Sacrifice is not his preferred word. He calls them choices. But the effect is unmistakable: a skier who once seemed specialized has become complete.
Emil Iversen (NOR) enjoys his bronze medal and the sunshine after a lot of hard work to get back to the front of the sport and this moment. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
Racing in His Time
For the rest of the field, competing in the Klaebo era carries a strange duality, almost a frustration braided with admiration.
“Of course, a bit,” Nyenget said when asked whether it is annoying to race alongside him.
“But it’s more motivating as well. [Klaebo] is pushing us to be better every day.”
Iversen echoed the sentiment.
“I think it’s just fun to compete with the best skier ever,” he said.
Across these two weeks, Klaebo has made dominance look procedural, yet his rivals know the margins are real, the preparation exhaustive. He bristles at the idea that this is inevitable.
“I like myself way better when I’m winning than when I’m losing,” he said.
Gus Schumacher (USA) gave everything he had to this sixth race at these Winter Olympic Games. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
The American Effort
For the United States, the 50 k carried a different emotional weight.
Gus Schumacher, who had spent the early races in these Games chasing form and momentum before winning silver in the Team Sprint with Ben Ogden, finished 13th. He described the psychological toll of racing in every event.
“There’s been a pretty heavy mental load the last two weeks,” Schumacher said. “If I’ve got a flame, it was ripping a couple days ago… halfway through the race, it felt like a little candle.”
He has raced all six events, too, though with different outcomes.
“I really don’t understand how you can ski 50 k so well and also sprint so fast,” Schumacher said of Klaebo. “I don’t really feel like there’s another athlete in the world that can compare to that scope of athleticism.”
Hunter Wonders (USA) also pushed his body to its limits in the race. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
Hunter Wonders placed 35th and spoke candidly about the physical reckoning.
“I’m alive barely,” Wonders said. “I didn’t think I was gonna finish there for a little while.”
Cramps seized him in waves — hips, hamstrings, forearms — and yet he finished.
“I completed a race that four years ago I was really chomping at the bit to be able to compete in,” he said.
Antoine Cyr (CAN) “gave everything” to the final men’s race in the Olympics. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)
The Canadian Outcome
Canada placed two men inside the top 20.
Antoine Cyr finished 11th, just outside the top 10 he had targeted.
“I gave it everything,” Cyr said. “It’s such a hard course.”
He pointed to the Zorzi Climb and the long drag back to the high point of the course after coming through the stadium, efforts that stretch toward six minutes, rare in modern championship layouts.
“It’s really tough,” he said.
Thomas Stephen finished 17th, steady and controlled in conditions that demanded patience. While he did not step into the medal conversation, his result underscored the depth Canada has built in distance racing and marks what is possible in future years.
Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), and Emil Iversen (NOR) (l-r) share the Milano-Cortina Olympic Winter Games 50 k Classic podium in Tesero, Italy. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)
What Remains
Klaebo plans to rest for a few weeks before racing again in Lake Placid.
“That’s the plan,” he said.
There will be time later to measure what six-for-six means, how it reshapes record books, and how it reframes conversations about the greatest Winter Olympians. For now, it exists as a bright fact in the thin mountain air.
The 50 k endures because it asks the oldest question in endurance sport: what is left?
On Saturday, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo had something left. Enough to attack on the final climb once more. Enough to once again finish alone down the final meters. Enough to make something mythical and historic feel ordinary and predictable.
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Emil Iversen (NOR), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) come through the stadium to the delight of the crowd. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
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Four Norwegian men, including Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), Mattis Stenshagen (NOR), Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), (l-r) set to lead the Men’s 20 k Skiathlon out of the start and begin the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympic Winter Games in Tesero, Italy. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
PREDAZZO, ITALY — The snow in Val di Fiemme had finally settled. After a colder night and a full day’s distance from the most recent snowfall, the surface beneath the men’s skis on Sunday morning felt less negotiable than it had twenty-four hours earlier. It was firmer, faster, and exacting—the kind of track that rewards decisiveness and punishes hesitation. On a course defined by momentum, there would be no neutral moments.
By the time the leaders crested the Zorzi Climb for the final time, illuminated by the bright northern Italian sun, one truth had been clarified: the Olympic Men’s Skiathlon had not produced a surprise. It had produced a confirmation.
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo arrived in Val di Fiemme as the most accomplished skier of his generation, the reigning master of range—sprint speed married to endurance patience, and the man who, one year earlier at the World Championships in Trondheim, Norway, became the first skier ever to win gold in every event. On Sunday, in the opening men’s race of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, he did not reinvent himself. He simply waited, watched, and delivered exactly what the sport has come to expect.
But the Skiathlon is never only about the man who wins it. It is about where the race breaks, who is caught on the wrong side of that break, and how little time there is to recover once it happens.
In Val di Fiemme, that truth arrived early—at a fast right-hand corner about two kilometers into the race—and again, more quietly but just as decisively, midway through the skate leg, when a tangle in the pack ended one of Norway’s strongest medal threats.
An unfortunate early crash took Gus Schumacher (USA) out of a top performance. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
Firmer Conditions, Faster Consequences
The men’s skiathlon opened with a 10-kilometer classic leg, mass start, with athletes seeded by season-long results. It is a procedural detail that becomes strategic fact the moment the gun fires: the highest-ranked skiers line up at the front, while those just behind them must navigate the churn.
On Sunday, the pace was relentless from the first kilometer. The field stretched quickly as athletes fought for position ahead of the course’s first defining technical feature—a fast right-hand corner roughly two kilometers in, where the trail bottoms out before pitching uphill again.
It was the same corner where Jessie Diggins fell in Saturday’s women’s race. And once again, it reshaped the day.
Several skiers went down in the crash, including Edvin Anger (SWE), Zak Ketterson (USA), and Gus Schumacher (USA)—all athletes with legitimate top-ten potential under normal circumstances. The cost of falling there was immediate and severe: not just lost momentum, but lost momentum at the precise moment the leaders were accelerating uphill and creating separation.
“I was dead last after the fall,” Schumacher said afterward. “Unfortunately, Zak fell right in front of me. It was tight coming into that corner, and I didn’t see what happened to Zak, but into the dropdown I got one ski around him and the other caught and spun me around off track.”
“I did what I could, but when the people at the front are still going as fast, it’s hard to catch them. All I could do was ski as smoothly as I could for the next 18 k. At that point, it’s an individual race. I feel like I skied well for being back there.”
Zak Ketterson (USA) was involved in the same crash as Schumacher and was forced to burn many matches early while playing chase, which ultimately proved too costly. He ultimately ended the race in 43rd place. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
Ketterson’s version of the same moment underscored how quickly the situation unraveled.
“I fell on that same corner Jessie Diggins fell on yesterday,” he said. “I was hopeful we’d ski it well, but coming into it everyone started snowplowing and freaking out and someone in front of me fell.
“I fell pretty hard, but I got back up and just burned so many matches catching back up to the group. I was fighting from there to the finish.”
Ahead of them, the race did not wait.
Xavier McKeever (CAN) had, what he described, the race of his life. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
Control Without Calm
With the early chaos, the classic leg splintered the field. A front group formed, thinned, and re-formed, the pace steady enough to discourage attacks but high enough to extract a cost from anyone forced to chase.
For the U.S. team, there was at least one quiet positive. Head coach Matt Whitcomb felt far better about ski preparation than he had the day before.
“We had, in general, very competitive skis today,” Whitcomb said.
But ski quality can only matter if contact is maintained.
“When you get taken out of contact with the leaders,” Whitcomb said, “the people you’re drafting off of are slower than the leaders. It’s kind of negative compounding—you just drift away.”
By the time the top eight skiers entered the stadium for the ski exchange at the end of the classic leg, the race had already begun to select for those who could tolerate discomfort without revealing it. Among them were Norway’s Mattis Stenshagen, who soon faded, France’s emerging depth, and Klaebo himself—observant and patient.
Then the skis changed, and the race revealed its teeth.
Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) got tangled with Savelii Korostelev (AIN), which caused him to fall and lose contact with the lead pack. Korostelev managed to stay on his feet and was able to earn a fourth place. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)
A Quiet Turning Point in the Skate Leg
The opening kilometers of the freestyle leg altered the race more subtly, but no less decisively.
At approximately 11.5 kilometers, Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR)—who had positioned himself exactly where Norway would want him entering the skate portion—tangled skis with Savelii Korostelev (AIN). Amundsen went down. The lead group did not.
He remounted quickly, but the elastic had snapped. His chance to fight for a medal in the opening race of the Games was gone.
For Norway, a team that has dominated the men’s World Cup season at times filling nearly the entire top ten, it was a small moment with outsized implications.
Hugo Lapalus (FRA), Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), Savelii Korostelev (AIN), Mathis Desloges (FRA), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), (l-r) formed the lead pack and became the group that would battle for the podium. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
Desloges, a Yellow Card, and a Protest That Went Nowhere
As the race accelerated, Mathis Desloges (FRA) briefly found himself leading at the end of the first skate lap. In a moment of confusion, he mistakenly turned into the ski exchange lane before cutting back through the V-boards and rejoining the course.
The detour shortened his route by only a few meters and offered no meaningful advantage. The race jury issued Desloges a yellow card warning and allowed the result to stand.
After the race, AIN filed a protest, arguing that the infraction should result in disqualification and elevate Korostelev, who finished fourth, to the bronze medal position. The jury rejected the protest.
Desloges framed the day not around controversy, but around progression.
“I’m very happy,” he said. “The preparation was very good. Two years ago today, I became [the U23 World Champion], and now it’s different. I’m better than two years ago.
“This medal is for my family, for my friends, and for everyone on the French team—the staff and my family.”
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) delivered a spectacular move on the Zorzi Climb that opened up a large gap in the final kilometer. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)
Klaebo on the Zorzi Climb
There are moments in ski racing that feel preordained—not because they are inevitable, but because the athlete who executes them has taught the sport to expect them.
Klaebo’s move on the Zorzi Climb belonged to that category.
He waited. He measured. And then, on the final ascent, he applied a pressure no one else in the group could answer. The gap opened quickly, almost unbelievably so if he had not done the same thing so many times before, and by the time the course tipped back toward the stadium, the Olympic gold medal was no longer in doubt. Klaebo came to the finish with enough margin to ease up, take off his poles, and ski the final meters, celebrating in front of the stadium crowd.
For Klaebo, the performance was the product of both familiarity and tension.
“The last couple of days have been nerve-racking,” he said. “I’ve had a very high resting heart rate these days. I’ve been very nervous, but this is my third Olympics, so you get a little bit of experience. This is a track and course that we know a lot from previously—we’ve done a lot of World Cups here.”
When the skis changed and the race accelerated, that experience showed.
“I had good skis, my body felt good,” Klaebo said. “It’s always good to start a championship in good shape.”
One year removed from his historic sweep in Trondheim, Klaebo arrived in Val di Fiemme carrying questions that extended well beyond a single race. Six gold medals are available in Milano Cortina. No man has ever won them all.
“We’ll see,” Klaebo said. “I’m going to take one race at a time. But it’s a pretty good start. With the weather and the crowds, it was amazing out there.”
Mathis Desloges (FRA) and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), (l-r) come down the finish stretch battling for the silver and bronze medal. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)
Nations in Contrast
France: Depth and Belief
If Norway remains the benchmark, France is no longer content to chase quietly.
Desloges acknowledged Norway’s status entering the race, but did not concede anything beyond the present tense.
“The French athletes are very strong,” he said. “Of course, the Norwegian guys are also very strong, but I believe we can be better. Today, I’m very good, and I’m happy.”
France backed up that belief with the most comprehensive team performance of the day, placing second, fifth, ninth, and fifteenth.
“We see the French team on a similar level as our team,” Whitcomb said. “When we have success, they’re one of the first teams to congratulate us. They’re just a really passionate group, and we love to see them succeed.”
Hugo Lapalus (FRA) and Mathis Desloges (FRA) celebrate an unbelievable day for France. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
Norway: Gold, Bronze—and Perspective
For Norway, the medal count told only part of the story. A gold and a bronze would thrill nearly any other nation, but the context surrounding this team—deep enough to leave world-class skiers at home—made the result feel more measured.
Bronze medallist Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), racing his first Olympic event, framed the day not as a shortfall, but as an arrival.
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR), and Mattis Stenshagen (NOR), (l-r) all entered the day with hopes of an Olympic medal for Norway; two delivered, two did not. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)
“I’m really happy and proud,” Nyenget said. “It’s a result of training, but also of time away from family and a lot of hard mental work. The past days and weeks, I’ve been nervous, so it’s good to be done with my first Olympic race.
“To have this first race in this atmosphere, with these blue skies, and have my wife and little kid in the stadium somewhere—it’s a really good day.”
Asked whether gold and bronze constituted a satisfactory outcome, Nyenget was direct.
“I think so,” he said. “We have some really high pressure. We’ve been doing crazy good in the World Cup, but usually in championships, all racers are at their very best. You see today that there is strong competition from the French, and we took two podium places. It’s good.”
After the fall Gus Schumacher (USA) spent the day racing his way through the field, eventually finishing in 24th place. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)
United States: Disappointed, Not Discouraged
For the U.S. team, the early crash changed everything.
Schumacher and Ketterson were forced into playing chase. Zanden McMullen, who avoided the crash, felt the day slip away in the skate leg.
“Today’s race was not great, but not horrendous,” McMullen said. “I felt really good in the classic leg and then I don’t know what happened in the skate portion. I was cramping up quite a bit and just didn’t have it.”
Hunter Wonders (USA) on his way to 31st place. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
Hunter Wonders, making his Olympic debut, focused instead on the scale of the task.
“It was hard,” Wonders said. “It was a hard course with tricky conditions. The skiathlon is difficult because it mixes up the muscle groups you use and takes a second to transition, but it was fun. Great Olympic debut.”
Whitcomb struck a measured tone.
“I’m feeling good, not great,” he said. “Slightly disappointed, but not discouraged. Nothing about that feels negative to me. This is just one of the days of the Games, and now it’s behind us.”
Xavier Mckeever (CAN) fighting for a top ten, eventually finishing in 13th place. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
Canada: The Race of a Lifetime
For Canada, the day belonged to Xavier McKeever, who finished 13th after spending much of the race on the edge of the top ten.
“Oh man—that was incredible,” McKeever said. “I can’t believe what just went down, to be honest.”
He described a race that improved with each kilometer.
“I felt like I skied it really smart—tried to conserve as much energy as possible—and I just felt better and better,” he said. “The skate felt really good, which is sweet, because that’s usually a weak spot for me.”
Mid-race, the realization crept in.
“You can’t really comprehend what’s going on,” McKeever said. “You’re just like, ‘Holy crap, I’m here right now, fighting for top ten.’ It’s surreal, but you’ve got to focus on the race.”
The result carried deeper meaning.
“To be honest, I was about a foot away from not making this Olympic team,” he said. “To come here and have the best race of my life so far on the first day at the Olympics—I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Mathis Desloges (FRA), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), (l-r) share the Olympic Men’s 20 k Skiathlon podium in Tesero, Italy. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
One Race Down
The skiathlon rarely offers mercy, and Val di Fiemme offered none.
There will be more races, more chances, and more medals to chase. Klaebo will insist he is taking this one race at a time. Everyone else will count.
On firmer snow, with no ambiguity left beneath the skis, the hierarchy revealed itself plainly—and the Olympic Winter Games began exactly where cross-country skiing so often does: with Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo setting the standard.
On the ground reporting by FasterSkier’s Nat Herz.
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On most race weekends, I take my job seriously — up at 3:00 am EST, fresh coffee made, woodstove loaded, notebook out, logged on to coverage early to make sure I don’t have a technical issue. Then once the race starts, I begin looking for subtle, important moments to describe in greater detail in the race report. But there are also weekends, like this past one, when I toss my journalism hat onto the mantle above the woodstove to warm for another day, ‘grab a bucket of popcorn’, and watch, specifically, the Norwegian men’s Olympic selection saga unfold like the most incredible reality show in sport.
This year, the selection of Norway’s eight-man Olympic cross-country ski team might be the third most fascinating storyline in the Nordic world — trailing only Jessie Diggins’ farewell tour and the Russians’ return to the start gate. And yet, the drama out of Oslo might be the strangest: imagine being one of the ten fastest skiers alive… and still needing binoculars to see an Olympic start line.
This is what it means to be a Norwegian man in an Olympic year. It is both a birthright and a statistical tragedy.
Erik Valnes (NOR) and Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), (l-r) crest the final climb before descending into the stadium during the World Cup Classic Sprint in Trondheim (NOR). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
A Nation That Could Sweep Top 10 — and Still Leave Podium Skiers at Home
Let’s get one thing out of the way: on any given Sunday — sprint, classic, skate, distance, mass start, you name it — Norway could theoretically fill the entire top ten of a World Cup with home-grown talent. Twelve deep. Some years, nearly fifteen. The country is, bluntly, absurd.
And yet:
Only eight can go to Milano–Cortina.
Only four can start each race.
Only two can sprint in the team sprint.
Only four can race the relay.
You can be the fifth-best classic distance skier in the world, wearing red and blue, and never get to test yourself in the Olympic 50 k Classic, the sport’s defining event.
You can be a podium threat.
You can be a badge-wearing World Cup, World Championship, or Olympic winner. And still hear the most devastating phrase in the language of elite skiing: “Reserve.”
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo leads training partner Emil Iversen durning the Skiathlon in Trondheim (NOR). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
The Ten-Man Hunger Games
After Ruka and Trondheim, the men fighting for eight tickets look something like this:
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo — simply the best male skier ever and is a favorite for gold in any race he enters.
Martin Loewstroem Nyengetis a force in any distance race, with first, third, fourth, and seventh-place finishes in the races he has entered this season, and is indispensable in the relay.
Andreas Fjorden Ree— second in the 10 k Freestyle and eighth in the Skiathlon this weekend.
Einar Hedegart — the young biathlete turned cross-country racer, who doesn’t even have a FIS bio pic, has broken onto the scene this season with a second in Ruka and a win in Trondheim in the two skate distance races he has entered.
Oskar Opstad Vike — He was second in the Classic Sprint in Trondheim, an Olympic event.
Erik Valnes — Olympic gold potential in the individual sprint, team sprint, and/or relay.
Lars Heggen — while he was only fourth in the Classic Sprint in Trondheim, that is an Olympic event.
Emil Iversen — the comeback story, the steady relay hand, who climbed onto the podium last weekend for the first time in five years.
Didrik Toenseth — has only started one World Cup, the 10 k Classic in Ruka, thus far, but was in 8th place, and it is an Olympic event. Toenseth is still one of the world’s best in distance races, yet still at risk of not making the team.
That is ten world-class athletes, without even mentioning skiers like Simen Hegstad Krueger, who is knocking at the door and who has won bronze in all the championship 50 k races for years.
Norway only gets to name eight Olympians.
Grab more popcorn.
Norway’s Andreas Fjorden Ree (NOR), Einar Hedegart (NOR), Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), (l-r) share the podium after the 10km freestyle Trondheim (NOR) last weekend. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
Who Gets the Golden Tickets? Norway’s Math Problem
If the federation’s stated goal is to:
Sweep the podiums (plural),
Win the relay,
Win the team sprint
And possibly have Klaebo win everything except the marble flooring in the athletes’ dining hall, then the selection is not just about speed. It’s about risk management, event coverage, and event specialization.
Here’s how the roles break down:
The Locks (2):
Klaebo
Amundsen
Barring a meteor strike, these two are sharper in December than most nations’ peak athletes in February.
The Near-Locks (2):
Nyenget — championship DNA, distance weapon.
Valnes — if classic sprint is a medal event (it is) and you want a dependable classic leg in the relay, Valnes is on the plane.
Didrik Toenseth took third at the 2022 Holmenkollen 50 k Classic. (Photo: NordicFocus)
The Crucial Middle (six guys for four spots):
This is where heartbreak lives.
Heggen — might already be one of the five best sprinters on earth.
Ree — versatility is gold in Olympic selection, and he might be Norway’s best “plug into anything” skier outside of Klæbo and Amundsen.
Hedegart — never flashy, but quietly always where he needs to be.
Iversen — history matters. Championships matter. Norwegians never entirely write him off.
Toenseth — elite distance skier who would start for literally any other nation.
Pick four.
Explain it to the other two.
Good luck.
Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) wins the 20 k Mass Start Freestyle during the World Cup opening weekend in Ruka (FIN). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
Then There’s the Start-Quota Madness
Let’s say you do make the team.
Let’s say you ski the best season of your life.
Let’s say you’re in the shape of a medalist.
Too bad — your teammates might be in even better shape.
Norway could very realistically bring to Italy:
Eight skiers capable of a medal in the Skiathlon
Eight skiers capable of a medal in the Classic Sprint
Eight skiers capable of a medal in the 10 km Freestyle
Eight skiers capable of a medal in the 4 x 7.5 k Relay
Eight skiers capable of a medal in the Freestyle Team Sprint
Eight skiers capable of a medal in the 50 k Classic
But they can only start four.
Which means a realist must acknowledge something deliciously absurd:
Norway will leave potential Olympic medalists off the Olympic start list. Not just off the team — off the start list.
That is a uniquely Norwegian form of pain.
Oskar Opstad Vike (NOR) on his way to second place during the Classic Sprint last weekend in Trondheim (NOR). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
The Fan in Me Wants A Front Row Seat
I admit it: I want this selection battle to go deep into January.
I want someone to pop one in Davos and get hot in Toblach.
I want the young skiers to keep storming the podiums and scrambling what we think we know.
I want Iversen — or Vike, or Hedegart, or Ree — to force selectors into sleepless January nights.
Because for once, the stakes in Norway aren’t abstract. The Olympics aren’t a coronation; they’re a compression chamber.
There are eight tickets for ten men who could anchor most nations’ relays.
There are four start spots for races where all Norwegian Olympians can podium.
There is no path through this selection period that does not end in heartbreak.
And yes, as a journalist, I will cover every step of it analytically, carefully, and responsibly.
But as a fan?
I’m sitting on the couch, popcorn in hand, and watching the drama unfold. If competitive suffering is the essence of cross-country ski racing, Norway’s selection battle might be the purest expression the sport has.
Bring on Davos.
Bring on Toblach.
Bring on the Tour.
Let the Hunger Games continue.
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The men’s 20-kilometer Skiathlon at Granåsen never felt like an ordinary World Cup. From the moment the athletes stepped into the start pen, there was a tension in the air that didn’t match an early-December race. The stadium filled slowly; the fog sat low; the snow clung wetly to the klister underfoot. Yet the energy was unmistakable. It felt charged, anticipatory, almost uneasy.
You could see it most clearly in the uniforms. Twelve Norwegians stood in the field of 91, and every one of them carried something heavier than usual race nerves. This wasn’t just about points. It wasn’t just about winning. It wasn’t even about bragging rights.
Today, for Norway, was about the Olympics.
Earlier that morning, Austria’s Mika Vermeulen summed it up bluntly when asked what he expected:
“The Norwegians need to go fast to qualify for the Olympics.”
It was the truth that everyone else was dancing around.
On paper, this was a World Cup Skiathlon. On snow, it became something else entirely: an unofficial Olympic sorting ceremony, shaped by weeks of controversy, public criticism, and a federation under scrutiny.
The start of the Men’s 20 k Skiathlon Trondheim (NOR). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
A Race Run Under a Shadow
The tension surrounding this race didn’t begin in Trondheim. It started with a roster decision — or, in the eyes of many Norwegians, an omission. Emil Iversen, the veteran racer with a World Championship gold and a decade of elite podiums behind him, was left off the opening World Cup weekend in Ruka.
The decision rippled across Norwegian media.
The loudest voice belonged to Johannes Høsflot Klæbo.
In a widely circulated VG article, Klæbo called the decision “dårlig håndverk” — poor workmanship — and argued that if the goal was to send the fastest athletes, Iversen had earned his seat on the plane.
“If you are good enough, you should get to go,” he told VG.
Former national-team director Espen Bjervig fired back in Stavanger Aftenblad, criticizing both Klæbo and Iversen for speaking publicly about selection practices, arguing that it “creates noise and negativity.”
Suddenly, what is typically a quiet, internal Norwegian debate had spilled into full public view. Selection wasn’t just a technical matter — it was a national storyline.
And this Skiathlon, the only one before the Olympics, sat squarely in the center of that storm.
Iivo Niskanen made his way to the front during the classic leg, but ultimately faded to 25th place on the day. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
The Classic Leg: A Tense, Measured Beginning
When the field set off into the opening 10 k of classic skiing, the pace was high but controlled. Nobody wanted to take on the risk of an early break. The lead shifted lightly — Finland’s Iivo Niskanen testing, Norway’s Martin Loewstroem Nyenget responding — but the main pack stayed dense, the elastic never stretching too far.
What stood out was not who led, but how closely the Norwegians watched one another. Every surge drew an immediate answer. Every gap in the pack was filled. There was a vigilance to their movements: unspoken, but unmistakable.
Behind them, American Gus Schumacher skied with patience, always hovering near the front third, avoiding trouble. Ben Ogden played the elastic back-and-forth of the pack, feeling the surging, slowing, and reshuffling that characterizes Skiathlon racing.
Nothing broke the race open. But everything pointed toward what was coming.
Emil Iversen (#37, white hat), Zanden McMullen (#26 USA), Andrew Musgrave (GBR), Gus Schumacher (#18 USA) and Ben Ogden (#24 USA) navigate the pack during the classic leg. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
The Transition: When the Real Race Began
At the stadium, skis were neatly arranged in assigned pens; in the grandstand, the crowd pressed forward on their seats, and the atmosphere shifted. The transition from classic to skate is always an inflection point in a Skiathlon. But today’s felt like the release of a held breath.
As athletes stepped out of classic skis and into skate gear, the pace vaulted. The race’s character changed instantly — no longer steady, but sharp. No longer patient, but aggressive.
Within seconds of leaving the exchange zone, the field stretched into a long, thin line—athletes who had looked comfortable in the first half suddenly fought to hold contact. The front swallowed the course in powerful V2 tempo, and what had been a race of restraint transformed into a race of revelation.
From this point on, the Skiathlon resembled more of a Norwegian internal selection trial than a World Cup.
With Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) and Emil Iversen (NOR) at the front, Federico Pellegrino (ITA), Elia Barp (ITA), (l-r) and the rest of the lead pack try to match pace during the initial kilometers of the skate leg. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
The Skate Leg: Norway Sorts Itself Out
With 10 kilometers to go, the lead group had thinned to about twenty athletes. By the next climb, it was closer to fifteen. And among those fifteen were eleven Norwegians — each racing not only the field but each other.
Every shift in tempo felt deliberate.
Every climb tested hierarchy.
Every acceleration seemed to ask a quiet question:
If this is for a trip to Milan–Cortina, who survives?
Nyenget pushed the climbs with authority. Harald Østberg Amundsen pressed from the front like a man intent on staking a claim. Mattis Stenshagen floated with the leaders, unfazed by the fire around him. And somewhere in that pack, Emil Iversen — overlooked just one week earlier — had battled from the 37th starting position and was skiing with a visible urgency, a visible hunger.
The pace was unrelenting. When Andrew Musgrave surged near 15 km, the field snapped back immediately. No one would be allowed to disrupt the internal Norwegian calculus.
This was not a race that welcomed outsiders.
Behind them, Schumacher held position just beyond the front group, skiing an intelligent and confident race on a day that didn’t cater to anyone not wearing red. Ogden fought through the volatility of the middle pack as the front repeatedly drove the pace into the threshold.
Ben Ogden (USA) finding his skate legs in his first freestyle race of the season during the 20 k Skiathlon in Trondheim (NOR). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
American Reactions: Schumacher and Ogden Describe the Chaos
Schumacher, who had circled this Skiathlon as a key Olympic-learning opportunity, said the day unfolded exactly as he expected:
“I’m still kind of building into the season… but I’ve got some good skiathlon experience, and they don’t feel so crazy now. Treat it like a race, try to do my best, and definitely learn some stuff.”
He found those lessons quickly — particularly in the transition to skate:
“The pace was definitely hot… right out of the start of the skate, they went hard. A lot of those fitness guys are trying to put some distance to the faster people. It’s tough on this course. I felt ready for it, but struggled a little bit with the skis. They were digging too much in the hills.”
And he could feel the intensity radiating from the Norwegians:
“It absolutely was their Olympic trial. There’s definitely some intensity from their side. A lot of those guys are really nervous — and to be honest, they don’t seem to be having that much fun right now. It’s a tough fight for those four spots.”
Ogden, who finished 35th, echoed the shock of the pace — especially coming off a demanding classic leg:
“The pace today was probably the hardest thing for me. The classic was just so fast… and I haven’t skated a lot this year. It came after the world’s hardest 10k classic.”
He battled through the skate leg, trying to recalibrate on the fly:
“I don’t think I skated very well. I didn’t push into the downhills very well, and I was just tired. You can go hard in the classic and still be competitive in the skate, but you have to be a little more tactical.”
And, like Schumacher, he found himself needing to rewrite his goals mid-race:
“Reevaluating your plan on the fly is always the hardest part. Once your plan falls apart, it’s easy to lose a little bit of grit mentally. Today, the goal just became to hang onto the back and try to beat a couple of them.”
Maybe it isn’t in focus, but what is clear is Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR), Mattis Stenshagen (NOR), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), Emil Iversen (NOR), Jan Thomas Jenssen (NOR), Erik Valnes (NOR), Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), (l-r) all charging up the final climb of the 20 k Skiathlon in Tronheim, Norway. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
The Final Kilometers: A Reckoning on the Last Climb
With three kilometers left, the stadium roar began to build. The final climb hovered ahead — long, grinding, decisive. The pack tightened—the Norwegian national and club team suits clustered near the front. And then the sorting began in earnest.
Amundsen drove up the hill with power.
Klæbo hovered, always exactly where he needed to be.
And Iversen — the man left off the Ruka start list — refused to yield a single meter, emerging along the outside edge of the trail toward the front of the pack.
The race crested the final hill, swept through the big left turn, and spilled into the descent where Skiathlon medals — and today, Olympic dreams — are so often decided.
Klæbo did what only Klæbo does: timed the moment flawlessly, slid into open snow, and glided away with the control and confidence that has defined his career. Behind him, Amundsen locked up second.
But all eyes were on third.
There, straining every muscle, skiing with unmistakable desperation and defiance, was Emil Iversen.
He crossed the line in third place — a podium on the only Skiathlon before the Olympics.
For him, it was not just a race result.
It was a reclamation.
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) leads a Norwegian train down the home stretch. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)
A Sweep That Spoke Volumes
Norway swept the top eight.
The best non-Norwegian — the always-impressive Mika Vermeulen — finished ninth.
The top nine were separated by five seconds.
The top fifteen by fifteen seconds.
It was depth displayed as dominance, and dominance displayed as a message.
For Klæbo, the picture is clear.
For Amundsen, clearer still.
For Stenshagen, it was a breakthrough.
And for Iversen, it was a revival that carried the weight of the last two weeks on its shoulders.
For the American men, Schumacher’s 21st showed consistency and smart racing in a field that spent much of the day executing internal warfare—Ogden’s 35th offered lessons in reading a volatile race and surviving wave after wave of pace changes.
Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), Emil Iversen (NOR), (l-r) take the Skiathlon podium in Trondheim (NOR). (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)
What This Means for the Olympic Picture
Klæbo, with a smirk on his face, didn’t hesitate after the race:
“I think I made the team now for sure.”
He wasn’t wrong.
Amundsen likely solidified his place as well.
Stenshagen made himself hard to ignore.
And Iversen forced the federation to confront the conversation it had hoped to avoid.
Performance is supposed to matter.
And Iversen delivered the clearest performance of anyone not named Klæbo.
In the eyes of fans, teammates, and media, he didn’t just earn consideration — he demanded it.
Emil Iversen may be the happiest person in Trondheim (NOR) today. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)
A World Cup in Name Only
As the sun faded over Granåsen and crews raked the sugary snow from the corners, it became apparent that what we had just witnessed was something far larger than a World Cup.
This race was a referendum on form.
A public test of internal politics.
A stage where the world’s strongest skiing nation sorted itself out in real time.
The stadium announcer called it the men’s 20 k Skiathlon.
But everyone who watched, coached, raced, or cheered knew better.
This was the reckoning.
This was the day Norway began choosing its Olympic distance team.
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Emil Iversen (NOR) was so happy to be back on the World Cup podium, but clearly his smiles were about something even bigger. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)
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.
Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) was victorious in Ruka, Finland for the second time in his career. Norway continues its hold on the top of the podium, but more contenders are arising to vie for the remaining steps. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
Where skiing venues are concerned, winter arrives first in Kuusamo, Finland, site of the ski resort known as Ruka. It makes sense, then, that the 2025-2026 FIS World Cup season would begin in this far-northern place where sunrise and sunset are barely separated by actual daylight.
The first races of the season are about straightening out the kinks and blowing out the cobwebs. Everyone needs to get back in the groove: athletes, coaches, wax techs, broadcasters, statisticians, reporters. Some pick up right where they left off, others stumble out of the gate, still others wonder why they’ve showed up at all. But the season is long, and performances in the first race (whether memorably good, or memorably bad) don’t forge a mold for the entire season.
The first FIS World Cup broadcast of the 2025-2026 season suffered from many of the same problems befalling any local race conducted on slushy trails around a city golf course. Conditions are always challenging and stressful, waxing and ski selection make a difference, and the electric timing often fails to work perfectly. In Ruka, on-air commentators Chad Salmela and Kikkan Randall were often left with race splits that failed to update, or blank screens that gave them no information at all. But Salmela and Randall are seasoned pros: they rolled with the punches, and called the race that the cameras showed them. Likewise, most skiers hit their stride by race’s end, and the final results ended up looking like what many fans might’ve expected.
In pre-race interviews, American, Ben Ogden, expressed the excitement at the start of a new season. “I’ve been hunkered down in Vermont, doing what I do,” grinned Ogden. “I’m excited to be traveling again . . . Nothing like a good ol’ Ruka 10 k to get your Classic skiing going again.”
The 10 k distance is one requiring both endurance and speed, though neither quality is sufficient to guarantee success in this all-out event. Go out too fast, and you’ll flame out. Start too conservatively, and you’ll never catch up to faster starters. The winner will be the one who commits to the risk of a fast start, and is able to somehow pick up even a bit more speed at the end. Quite a balancing act, quite a miracle of modern athletic performance. Quite a harsh baptisim to start off a World Cup season. Let the racing begin!
Mika Vermeulen (AUT) reminds us that more than just Norwegians have chances to earn glory in the season to come. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
But nothing is certain when it comes to competing at this level—and even the most glowing reputations do not guarantee racing success. World Cup racing is FAST, and there’s no way to know if a racer has that speed until they pull on a bib and toe the starting line. Based on his unprecedented level of domination last season, we kind of expect Klaebo to win . . . but Klaebo didn’t win everything last season, and an interval start race is one in which just about anyone can pop up and deliver a good one. Ultimately, Klaebo earned a spot on the podium, but it seemed almost like an afterthought. Klaebo found himself in the unusual position of being overshadowed by not only the day’s winner—Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR)—but also by the third place skier—Austria’s Mike Vermeulen. Norway had another big day, but it’s evident that Norwegians won’t be the only ones waving their flag on the World Cup podium this season.
Americans were led by Zak Ketterson’s laudable 14th place finish. He was followed by Ben Ogden 33rd, Gus Schumacher, 36th, Zanden McMullen 47th, JC Schoonmaker 61st, John Steel Hagenbuch 62nd, Luke Jager 67th. No Canadian skiers were entered in this event.
“I definitely made an effort to control my opening pace, and that’s been a huge focus of mine this offseason,” said Ketterson. “I had a lot of races in the past few seasons where I was top 10 in early splits before blowing up. I know I have this type of performance in me if I pace the race well and have good skis—today was both!”
10 k Classic Interval Start
Ten kilometers may not be a truly “classic” distance—the great events of our sports history were typically conducted over far greater distances—but beginning the season with a Classic Interval Start event seems like a tip of the hat to the long history of cross-country skiing. For generations, the races that mattered in cross-country skiing were those in which lone skiers strided into the forest, following narrow pre-set tracks, undertaking daunting solo time-trials toward distant finish lines.
The lights had already turned on, illuminating Ruka’s ski jumping hill, before the men took to the trails for their 10 k Classic. Like the women’s field had done just a couple of hours before, the men raced two laps around a five kilometer course that climbed up and down Ruka’s steep, benchlike hill sides. The field of 109 starters included the flags of many nations not normally associated with cross-country skiing: Bermuda, Chile, Thailand, India, Peru, Armenia, Israel, Venezuela, Ecuador. It’s an Olympic year, after all, and races from many nations will want to carry their flags into that arena.
The week leading up to today’s race had been very cold with no new snow, but temperatures approached freezing by race time. The difficulties of waxing and ski prep would be compounded by a light snow that began falling just before the start. Ski testing had all but concluded, setting the stage for any number of potential waxing disasters on Ruka’s steeply climbing course.
Finland’s eyes were on native son, Iivo Niskanen—a renowned Classic skiing specialist—who’s Classic skiing prowess was likely to impact the results. Win or lose, Niskanen races with passion and fire; he’s always likely to leave his heart on the course in Ruka. Wearing bib 51, Niskanen was the first of the pre-race contenders to test the course. All other chasers would judge themselves against Niskanen’s split times. Ogden’s pre-race enthusiasm had bubbled to the surface in the early kilometers, as he came through the 1.1 kilometer checkpoint first among early starters. His pace appeared even more solid when he was bettered by Niskanen, but only by a tenth of a second.
Mika Vermeulen (AUT) was the surprise of the Ruka 10 k Classic. He raced hard from the gun, and secured a place for Austria on the podium. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
Klaebo came through the first time check in seventh, a bit behind Niskanen and virtually tied with Edvin Anger (SWE). At 3.1 kilometers, the second time check showed a close race between Anger, Harald Oestberg Amundsen, Klaebo, and Niskanen. Mika Vermeulen (AUT) came surging through the field to put up the fastest split time at 6.1 kilometers.
Wearing bib number 79, Nyenget possessed the advantage of being the latest starter of all the pre-race contenders. Nyenget used his late starting position to hunt down those who’d gone before, posting a time even faster than Vermeulen. Niskanen appeared to fade down the stretch, coming across as the fastest finisher at that point, just ahead of Mattis Stenshagen (NOR) and holding off Valnes by .1 seconds. Niskanen would finish the day in fifth. Like Niskanen, Anger faded late, ending his day in ninth.
Nyenget came through with fastest splits at 8.1 kilometers (leading Klaebo by seven seconds). The race would depend on who finished with the most energy in the final two kilometers. Vermeulen crossed the finish line to displace Niskanen from the leader’s chair, but Klaebo and Nyenget were still on course and charging through the final kilometers. Vermeulen’s time in the leader’s chair was shortlived, as Klaebo drove across the line to push the Austrian into second place by 2.1 seconds.
Seen here duroing the 10 k Classic from the 2025 World Championships in Trondheim , Zak Ketterson (USA) delivered a career-best performance (14th) in Ruka. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus.)
Nyenget began his drive to the finish at the same moment he caught up to American, Zak Ketterson.
“When I saw pre-race that Nyenget was starting behind me, I figured he would catch me before the end of the first 5k lap,” Ketterson explained. “For him to not catch me until the very last hill at about 9.2k was a really nice surprise. It was just a case of matching his pace so that I didn’t get overexcited and go too fast up that hill.”
Together, Nyenget and Ketterson powered up the final hill where Nyenget pulled away in the herringbone section after Ketterson caught a tip.
“My plan was to ski fast over the top but I faceplanted at the top of the last hill when my kick wax iced up,” Ketterson said. “I tried to stomp off the snow that had built up, but the skis just stopped in their tracks and I faceplanted!”
Ketterson would recover to claim his best-ever World Cup finish: 14th place, barely 30 seconds removed from the podium. Nyenget would hold on to best Klaebo by 2.1 seconds, earning the second Ruka Classic win of his World Cup career.
In post-race interviews, Nyenget, himself, seemed a bit surprised by his victory. “When you hear Johannes is closing the gap—you know he has a beast of a finish,” Nyenget said. “I tried to just maintain my focus on myself.”
Feature interviews 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.
First podium of the World Cup season: Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), Mika Vermeulen (AUT). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
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.
Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) dominated the 20 k Classic on Holmenkollen’s trails high above Oslo. In this place where Norway crowns its heroes, Nyenget may have tasted sweet revenge for the bad luck that befell him at the World Championships in Trondheim. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
Holmenkollen is the home of Norwegian cross country skiing. It’s their Yankee Stadium, their Churchill Downs, their Wimbledon Centre Court, their Indianapolis Speedway. It’s the place where the Kingdom of Norway would usually crown its greatest champions, identify its cultural icons. But Norway already did that a week ago in Trondheim at the FIS World Championships where Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) so totally dominated the racing that no other performance in World Championship history even begins to compare. Klaebo sits alone atop the throne of Nordic skiing, making today’s races at Holmenkollen less of a coronation, and more of a victory lap.
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) may be forgiven for seeming a bit flat in Holmenkollen. Last week’s six World Championship gold medals is a tough act to follow. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
But Klaebo was not the only one racing in Holmenkollen, and the event staged on Holmenkollen’s first day of racing—the 20 k Classic Interval Start—was not likely to be his best. Frankly, Klaebo’s six gold medal performance in Trondheim could easily have been upset by the presence of Iivo Niskanen, the Finnish Classic specialist who skipped the championships due to lingering illness. Had Niskanen been healthy for the 10 k Classic in Trondheim, Klaebo’s World Championship headlines might have been markedly different. But the stars aligned over Klaebo in Trondheim, allowing him to etch his name into skiing’s history books. In Holmenkollen, just one week later, Niskanen might’ve been hoping to etch his own name . . .
If he hoped to do so, Niskanen would be forced to do things the hard way: his start position in Holmenkollen made him the first of the true contenders to start. He races hard regardless of start position, but he would be at the disadvantage of having all his Norwegian rivals (Klaebo, Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, Simen Hegstad Krueger, Erik Valnes, Paal Golberg, Andreas Fjorden Ree) start behind him. They’d get plenty of useful information, while Niskanen would race virtually alone.
Iivo Niskanen (FIN) may have attempted to quick a return from the illness that also kept him out of Trondheim’s World Championships. He would be a DNF in Holmenkollen. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
In the end, Niskanen looked as though his recovery from the flu was not yet complete. He and Klaebo both skied with little fire, with Klaebo finishing 14th, and Niskanen a DNF.
The athelte who did display considerable fire was Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) who seemed to be channelling the bottomless disappointment that must’ve resulted from his untimely fall in last week’s World Championship 50 k. Nyenget stormed through all the checkpoints of the Holmenkollen 20 k Classic on his way to an astronomical 51 second victory. He was joined on the podium by William Poromaa (SWE) and Simen Hegstad Krueger (NOR).
Olivier Leveille (CAN) strided to a remarkable 10th place finish at Holmenkollen’s 20 k Classic. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
Canadian finishers included Olivier Leveille in a terrific 10th place, followed by Xavier McKeever 28th, Remi Drolet 47th, Thomas Stephen 52nd, Max Hollmann 57th.
Among Americans, Gus Schumacher delivered a masterfully paced performance to finish seventh, only 22 seconds from the podium. Other Americans included Ben Ogden 33rd, Kevin Bolger 36th, Luke Jager 59th.
“I’m feeling tired after the 50 k, for sure,” said Schumacher. “But every day was getting better than the last this week . . . still, maybe the last lap was a bit too hard for going faster. Definitely not super easy to nail the individual start 20 k pacing!”
William Poromaa (SWE) continues to prove himself capable of breaking up Norwegian podiums. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
20 k Classic
The men’s 50 k race in Trondheim concluded only a week ago, but the conditions in which the men’s field raced that World Championship event were nowhere near as taxing and exhausting as those experienced by the women’s field. Even so, the lingering stresses of such a 50 k race influenced FIS to replace Holmenkollen’s usual 50 k race with a 20 k Classic event on the World Cup schedule.
Holmenkollen offered racers an18.6 kilometer course (shortened from the original 20 kilometers due to weather and course considerations). Starting a few hours after the women’s event (won by Therese Johaug), the weather in Holmenkollen had warmed to over 40 degrees Fahrenheit. The sky had gone from sunny to overcast, so the waxing remained straightforward despite the warm temperatures.
Niskanen has dominated 10 k Classic races on the World Cup circuit this season; Holmenkollen represented his opportunity to re-establish himself at the top of the Classic field, and to seek a bit of retribution for the World Championship medals he perhaps missed due to his absence from Trondheim. But Holmenkollen proved to be too quick a return to action for Niskanen, who found himself already 10 seconds behind the leaders at the two kilometer mark. His technique appeared efficient, but his tempo slow and uninspired. Like Niskanen, Klaebo came through the two kilometer checkpoint some 10 seconds behind the leaders. Both pre-race favorites continued to lose time throughout the day with Klaebo finishing 14th, and Niskanen abandoning the race entirely.
Gus Schumacher (USA) skied strongly through the early checkpoints, delivering split times in the top ten of a tightly packed group of early leaders.
“The strategy was mostly pacing-related,” said Schumacher after the race. “I felt like I paced it pretty well. Don’t feel like I could’ve gone too much easier in the middle, but there’s always more room for me to relax and have more energy for the finish.”
Gus Schumacher (USA) paced himself to a seventh place finish in Holmenkollen’s 20 k. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
Schumacher continued to accelerate through the middle kilometers, moving past Golberg, Ree, and Hugo Lapalus (FRA) into the fastest position at 14.4 kilometers. Schumacher was later supplanted by Amundsen, Krueger, and William Poromaa (SWE) with all the leaders being overhauled by Nyenget who seemed unmatchable on his way to the win.
Starting 66th, Nyenget began delivering split times well ahead of all other contenders, appearing to channel his frustration that had begun with his untimely fall in last week’s World Championship 50 k. He established a 35 second lead over all other contenders by the halfway mark.
Schumacher crossed the finish line 2.5 seconds behind Golberg. Both would sit and wait to see what placings their finishing times would earn them. Lapalus bumped Schumacher down by .1 seconds. Each successive finisher took over the lead; first Amundsen, then Krueger, then Poromaa, and finally Nyenget who crossed the finish line right after Poromaa, and 51 seconds ahead of everyone. Poromaa had the race of his life—second place in this World Cup 20 k Classic—and nearly found himself getting caught on course by Nyenget.
“Everyone was speaking since the 50 k that ‘you will have your revenge next week,’” said Nyenget in post-race interviews. “I feel I really had a great day, and got my revenge, if you can call it that.”
Holmenkollen is the venue where Norway crowns its heroes. He may have missed that opportunity in Trondheim, but Martin Loewstroem Nyenget more than made up for it on the storied trails of Holmenkollen.
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Just a little faster than the rest at each checkpoint, Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) demonstrated both dominance and control with his victory in Cogne’s World Cup 10 k Freestyle. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
10 k Freestyle is a speed race . . . and so much faster than the fastest runner in my home town can RUN a 10 k that it’s not even funny. Age grouper racers and recreational skiers might think, “Great! Finally, a distance that’s manageably short!” But that’s not the way World Cup skiers are put together. For the world’s best skiers, 10 k is likely to be the hardest distance they’ll race. The only thing scarier than 10 k would be a 5 k; World Cup racers are eternally grateful that they almost never compete over that brief, incendiary distance. 10 k is bad enough . . .
There are all kinds of things that can go wrong in ten kilometers. Go out too hard, and you’ll totally blow up (think “lactate-bloated slug crawling across the finish line”). Go out too easy, and you’ll finish a full-time zone behind the winners (build speed early, or you’ll never have speed at all). Everyone who wants to race well is going to take massive risks in this short, evil race. That’s just the way it goes. And in order to do well, you’ll need to challenge a virtual rogues-gallery of Norwegian ski-stars: Simen Hegstad Krueger, Harald Oestberg Amundsen, Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, Iver Tildheim Andersen. World Cup winners, Crystal Globe hoisters, World Championship medalists, Olympic heroes—some of whom have never even stood on the podium at their own national championships. It’s a crazy world.
In the end, it was that phalanx of Norwegian greatness that the field could not overcome. Though Iivo Niskanen definitely tried (he would lead at early checkpoints and finish a remarkable sixth in a race that was anything but his specialty), it was Amundsen who took the win ahead of his countrymen, Andersen and Nyenget.
After a mid-season break to recover from illness, Gus Schumacher (USA) appears to be returning to form. He would finish 10th in Cogne’s Freestyle 10 k. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
Gus Schumacher (USA) continued his return to form with a 10th-place finish. Having controlled his opening speed without reaching too far, he began picking off earlier starters. He would hold his form through the finish for 10th place. After a few weeks at home in Anchorage to recover from mid-season illness, Schumacher seems to be rounding back into form in time for the World Championships.
“It does feel like I’m coming back to myself,” said Schumacher, “But there’s always more shape to find, and I think another bit at altitude here than going low and doing some racing/hard efforts/rest should set me up well.”
Among other American finishers, Ben Ogden delivered a steady and controlled 24th place finish, Zak Ketterson 32nd, Zanden McMullen 43rd, Hunter Wonders 46th, Walker Hall 48th.
Canadian finishers were Antoine Cyr 30th, Remi Drolet 35th, Olivier Leveille 40th, Julian Smith 65th,
Iivo Niskanen (FIN) always races to win—a level of determination and stubbornness that made him an early leader in Cogne’s 10 k Freestyle. He would fade to sixth, but showed that he may be returning to form in time for the World Championships in Trondheim. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
10 k Freestyle
Niskanen is an emotional guy—not what might be expected of the phlegmatic and stoic residents of the cold northern countries, but it’s true. A few weeks ago, he was visibly agitated by his failure to win the Classic Mass Start in Les Rousses. Second was simply not good enough, and he stormed out of the finish area, acknowledging neither his rivals nor the media. Then, on Friday, Niskanen was disqualified for a technique infraction in the Classic Team Sprint. Classic racing is his thing, and he just hasn’t been able to pull it together of late. Niskanen has something to prove.
Strange, then, that Niskanen would choose to mount that effort in a Freestyle race. Decades ago, when Skating began changing World Cup and World Championship events, it was the immortal Finn, Juha Meito, who suffered the most. A towering and dominant figure who made his bones through the power of the double pole, Mieto began the transition to skating, looking like a reindeer on skates. He would definitely improve, but his Skate technique still appeared strained and wooden. Niskanen is far better than that, but he’s still another Finn who appears far more comfortable in the Classic tracks.
Iver Tildheim Andersen (NOR) on his way to second-place in the 10 k in Cogne (ITA). (Photo: Nordic Focus)
Nevertheless, Niskanen rocketed out of the starting gate, determined to make his mark in Cogne’s 10 k Freestyle. Total commitment, high risk: he was the leader at most checkpoints up through the mid-point of the race. Then, the inexorable fade began. Niskanen is a supremely talented endurance athlete, so he was able to hold onto his form better than most. Even so, he couldn’t hold back the Norwegian tide. Niskanen faded a bit at each subsequent checkpoint—third at 5.4 kilometers, fourth at 6.6, fifth at 8.7—ultimately finishing sixth. Skiers with good early-season form are taking a break right now to rest up for the World Championships in a few weeks. Niskanen, it would seem, is racing himself into form.
Other contenders struggled to overcome race mistakes of their own. World Cup Distance leader, Simen Hegstad Krueger, attempted the negative split strategy, but he had given up too much speed early on. He would only advance to fifth place. Hugo Lapalus (FRA) never got it going in the early kilometers; there simply wasn’t time for him to recover the placings he surrendered early on. Lapalus would finish 11th. Calle Halfvarsson (SWE) started fast (top four in early splits), then faded to 14th. Like Halfvarsson, new Italian sensation Victor Lovera might’ve been a little too enthusiastic; top three in early splits, then fading to 13th.
Gus Schumacher (USA) on his way to tenth-place in the 10 k Freestyle in Cogne (ITA). (Photo: Nordic Focus)
Schumacher was the one who made the best use of a conservative strategy with split times that moved consistently up through the field—24th, 14th, 9th, 7th—before settling into 10th as the podium contenders turned on their finishing surges. For a skier who lost a few weeks of World Cup starts to illness, it was a masterfully controlled race for Schumacher.
“Definitely felt controlled for the first half,” Schumacher explained. “And then got super hard in the last lap, which is about exactly what I wanted. I would wish for more pop in that last 2 k, but I think that speaks to just not being fully acclimated still for 5000+ feet.”
“Today’s effort was definitely better after some racing last week,: Schumacher continued. “I think the altitude adjustment has been the hardest part for me. Anything over 4500ft feels tough on this sea-level guy! The time off definitely freshened me up mentally, which I think is huge in a long season like this with the big goals at world champs still a month away.”
Ben Ogden (USA) sometimes starts like a rocket. Today, in Cogne, he was controlled and consistent. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
Like Schumacher, Ogden controlled his race effort, measuring his speed and never seeming to go too deep. He would finish 24th, seemingly with more to give. That’s a good strategy on the road to Trondheim.
Edvin Anger (SWE) raced well on the day, hovering around sixth at most checkpoints, then closing in the final kilometer for a top-four finish. A few weeks ago, Anger had made the mistake of speaking a bit too flippantly when he suggested that he would’ve beaten Klaebo in a sprint (Klaebo was staying home in Norway that weekend). Since then, Anger (who wears the green U23 leader’s bib) has had trouble living up to his own predictions. Today’s fine finish in a 10 k Freestyle suggests that he may begin to show the results that his obvious potential has often suggested.
Edvin Anger (SWE) continues is stellar season with a fourth-place finish in the 10 k Freestyle in Cogne (ITA). (Photo: Nordic Focus)
But it was the Norwegian stars who began appearing at the top of the splits with each passing checkpoint, and none mastered it better than Amundsen—starting fast, utilizing a tempo just a bit quicker and snappier than all the others, and holding on without visible stress. Amundsen led at the first checkpoint, then relaxed into a holding pattern behind Niskanen at 2.1 and 3.3 kilometers before beginning to tighten the screws on his effort for a long, controlled surge to the finish line. It was a bit strange to watch: Amundsen led at every subsequent split, but only by a little bit—a display of dominance, but also of control. It really was an impressive performance, one that the field may find difficult to overcome when the show moves to Trondheim.
Iver Tildheim Andersen (NOR), Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), (l-r) share the 10 k Freestyle podium in Cogne (ITA). (Photo: Nordic Focus)Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) returns to the top of the podium. in Cogne, Italy. He’ll be a favorite in the 10 K at the World Championships next month in Trondheim. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
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Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) crushed the field in Lillehammer’s World Cup 10 k Freestyle Interval Start. (Photo: NordicFocus)
There will be a Cross-Country World Championships in Trondheim, Norway later this winter—and it looks like the anticipation of those important race days on the International Ski Federation (FIS) calendar is causing this season to be viewed in a whole new way. In seasons past, the rewards of performing well in the year-long FIS World Cup standings would’ve inspired many skiers to enter every single available World Cup race, even when they were tired (rationalizing that everyone else would’ve been tired), maybe even when they were sick (can’t afford to take a day off in which some other skier could steal their points). Even the exhaustion-inducing, plague-generating Tour de Ski (and the massive number of points it offers) has generally been seen to be so important that skiers risked ruining their whole season by skipping it. Not anymore: FIS has already announced plans to investigate alternative scheduling—and reconfigured scoring values—of future Tour de Ski events so that racers will continue to consider it valuable. As for the tightly packed races of World Cup weekends, World Championship contenders are already selectively entering—and selectively skipping—those. And the season is only two weekends old.
With what’s certain to be the astronomical value of a Norwegian victories in World Championship races contested on native soil, Team Norway seems to be taking a different approach to those days on the FIS calendar. Last week in Ruka, Finland, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo was said to have displayed mild cold symptoms—he did not start Sunday’s 20 k Freestyle Mass Start, a race he truly was likely to have won (healthy or not). This on a weekend when he had already earned his way into the FIS World Cup overall leaders bib (Klaebo’s absence from Sunday’s 20 k would deliver the bib to Norwegian teammate—and defending Crystal Globe winner—Harald Oestberg Amundsen).
Eight Norwegians raced into the top ten of Lillehammer’s 10 k Freestyle, including names that are fairly new to international audiences like Andreas Fjorden Ree (NOR) who would finish an impressive fifth. (Photo: NordicFocus)
In this weekend’s Lillehammer World Cup races, Team Norway is entitled to a whole host of starters—eight for being the nation of a World Cup overall winner (Amundsen), and another four as the host nation of the weekend’s racing in Lillehammer. Twelve Norwegian starters lined up for the Men’s 10 k Freestyle—Iver Tildheim Andersen, Mattis Stenshagen, Didrik Toenseth, Simen Hegstad Krueger, Paal Golberg, Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, Jan Thomas Jenssen, Andreas Fjorden Ree, Sander Haukvik-Jensen, Einar Hedegart, Ole Tafjord Suhrke, and Amundsen—but no Klaebo on the roster. Team physicians have suggested that his case of the Ruka-sniffles continues . . . so no racing for him on Friday. He’s likely to rise from his sick bed just in time to smack around the rest of the competition in Saturday’s Sprints. Then we’ll see what he has left for Sunday’s Skiathlon. What’s evident is that Klaebo (perhaps more than any other skier) is planning his season so that “what he has left” on race day will find him at his absolute best when the World Championships come to Trondheim.
Other teams’ star athletes are already following suit: Team Sweden’s Frida Karlsson followed up her utterly dominant performance in Ruka’s 20 k Classic Individual Start by skipping the 20 k Freestlye Mass Start only two days later (a race in which she would’ve been certain to contend for the win). But the World Cup is filled with fine athletes, and so many of them DID race the event in Lillehammer. In the end, Norway continued its dominance with eight skiers in the top ten and a decisive a victory for Nyenget, followed by Krueger in second and Amundsen in third.
Among Americans, Gus Schumacher finished 25th, followed by Ben Ogden (31st), Zanden McMullen (32nd), John steel Hagenbuch (38th), Hunter Wonders (53rd), Michael Earnhart (64th), Zak Ketterson (72nd).
Canadian racers in Lillehammer included Antoine Cyr (35th), Max Hollmann (37th), Xavier McKeever (63rd), Olivier Leveille (66th), Sasha Masson (68th).
Gus Schumacher (USA) followed up his eighth place finish in Ruka’s 20 k Mass Start with a 25th place finish in the 10 k Freestyle in Lillehammer. (Photo: NordicFocus)
10 k Freestyle Interval Start
Fans of American skiing were eager to see if Ogden could make a mini-comeback after a less-than-stellar couple of races (and a DNS in the 20 k Mass Satrt) in Ruka a week ago. Though cameras were able to follow Ogden for the first meters of the start, he looked to begin very conservatively, very relaxed.
“I’m always trying to be as good as I can be in all the races,” said Ogden. “That being said I have an emphasis on sprinting this season as I want to target the individual and team sprint at world champs. Lots of work to be done on both.”
The more I race the better I get,” Ogden continued. “Always has been that way for early season, that’s how todays 10k fits into the master plan.”
Fans were also eager to see if McMullen and Schumacher could repeat their top ten finishes of a week ago in the Ruka 20 k Mass Start. Team USA’s season continues to be one in development.
“Definitely pretty had conditions,” said Schumacher. The hills, especially, were quite soft . . . kinda no matter what you did, it seemed like that last lap was really hard.”
Naoto Baba (JPN) was one of the leaders among early starters. He would finish an excellent 17th in Lillehammer. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Strong early splits by Joe Davies (GBR) and Naoto Baba (JPN) gave hope to the early starters, but once the wave of Norwegians took to the course, all earlier contenders turned back into pumpkins. Andersen displaced early-leader, Davies by a whopping 23 seconds at the 3.5 kilometer mark. Racing in a pair of distinctly un-Nordic mirror-backed shades, Andersen (winner of last year’s Lillehammer World Cup 10 k Freestyle) blitzed all earlier starters and appeared positioned to repeat his 2023 Lillehammer 10 k World Cup win. But Andersen would find himself replaced in the leader’s chair by Krueger, who would then be displaced by Nyenget’s stunning 22:58 finish.
“The condition today was really tough,” said, Nyenget. “I worked really hard with my motivation—this track and also this condition is not my favorite—but today I had a fantastic good day and good skis, so then it was a great experience.”
Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) defended his hold on the World Cup yellow leader’s bib with his third place finish in the 10 k Freestyle in Lillehammer.(Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
Late starter, Amundsen, skied brilliantly to claim third place on the podium, and in active defense of his World Cup Overall leader’s bib (ahead of Nyenget by 47 points). But the day was definitely Nyenget’s whose victory was made even more impressive when the finishing gaps are considered: more than a minute separated the top ten finishers.
“Last week in Ruka I was really happy,” Nyenget comented after the race. “But to take this win is something extra. Obviously one of my best races, I think.”
Naturally, all Norwegian team skiers are conscious of the bright media spotlight that illuminates their performances each week. Ironically, Nyenget’s career-day may be overlooked in the selection for World Championship starting positions since the 10 k Freestyle is not one of the events slated to be contested in Trondheim later this season. But it’s always a special occasion for any Norwegian skier to find himself atop a World Cup podium.
“It’s a special season with the championship in Trondheim,” said Nyenget. “So fantastic to have a great start for this season.”
Simen Hegstad Krueger (NOR), Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) and Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR), (l-r) lead Norway’s dominance in Lillehammer by sweaping the podium. (Photo: NordicFocus)
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Gjoeran Tefre (NOR), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR): another all-red Norwegian podium in the 2024 World Cup finale in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus
The 2023-2024 FIS World Cup season ends as it began—an all-Norwegian podium. After 20 kilometers of Mass Start Freestyle racing, the race was decided among a crowd of red race suits as Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo sprinted to first, followed by Gjoeran Tefre second, and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget third.
It’s been a season defined by the accomplishments of Klaebo (with 16 individual race wins and the Sprint Globe), but concluding with the awarding of the World Cup Overall Crystal Globe to Klaebo’s teammate, Harald Oestberg Amundsen (who also won the Distance Globe). And few teams in the world of sport dominate their discipline quite like the Norwegian men’s team does in cross-country skiing.
Klaebo missed nine race starts this season (due to illness), including the entirety of the points-rich Tour de Ski. Still, of the 24 races he entered, he won 15—an extraordinary level of consistency, excellence, and dominance. Regardless, the lead built in the World Cup Overall standings by Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) was such that Klaebo would have needed to win Falun’s 20 k Freestyle—and win all the bonus points—while Amundsen finishing far down in the standings. Coming into today’s race, Klaebo trailed Amundsen by `112 points. With maximum of only 130 points available in todays race (100 for the win, 30 bonus points), Klaebo would have needed to run the table AND have Amundsen basically fall off the edge of the map. While the likelihood of a Klaebo win was fairly high, the odds of Amundsen performing so poorly were quite low.
Making his first World Cup start since 2023, Gjoeran Tefre (NOR) demonstrated the true depth of Norwegian skiing in finishing a close second behind Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
20 k Freestyle Mass Start
A massive men’s field—94 starters—lined up to challenge Falun’s four-lap course. Unlike the Women’s 20 k Freestyle Mass Start (contested earlier in the day) that began with a full-gas effort from eventual race winner, Jessie Diggins (USA), Klaebo and Amundsen led the field out of the stadium at a moderate pace.
Scott Patterson (USA), Gus Schumacher (USA), and Zanden McMullen (USA) came through early checkpoints in the top twenty among a solidly packed lead group. Leading through the middle kilometers of the race, Mika Vermeulen (AUT) took the first bonus points followed by Klaebo and Amundsen. Soon after, Hugo Lapalus (FRA), Jens Burman (SWE), and Friedrich Moch (GER) moved toward the front to assist Vermeulen in making the pace in front of a train of red-clad Norwegians.
Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) raced in the lead group all day, keeping an eye on his rivals, and defending his lead in the World Cup Overal standings. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
Amundsen spent his race situated between fifth and tenth positions, a place unlikely to jeopardize his Overall standing while allowing him to keep an eye on other contenders in front of him. Ultimately, Amundsen began to show signs of fatigue at the rear of the 16-man lead group as a steady, regular increase of pace eventually began whittling away the contenders with every rise in elevation and increase in speed. Pace was made in the final lap by Iver Tildheim Andersson (NOR) and Gjoeran Tefre (NOR) (winner of the recent Norwegian National Championships 10 k), in the company of Klaebo and Vermeulen. With one kilometer remaining, Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) drove to the front to challenge Klaebo. But, as he has done so many times before, Klaebo powered into the lead down the final descent into the stadium. Tefre followed closely—and gave good chase down the finishing straightaway—but Klaebo was simply not to be denied, crossing the line for his seventh straight World Cup victory.
“Since Oberhof it’s been really amazing,” said Klaebo in post-race interviews. “So it’s good to finish up this way.”
Nyenget held on for third. Amundsen secured his World Cup Overall championship with a 17th place finish, only ten seconds behind the winner.
Schumacher and Patterson finished in the lead pack, 12th and 15th, respectively. Other American finishers included McMullen 27th, Kevin Bolger 44th, Zak Ketterson 45th, Peter Wolter 60th, Michael Earnhart 79th. Among Canadians, Antoine Cyr was 26th, Sam Hendry 39th, Xavier McKeever 68th, Sasha Masson 73rd, Pierre Grall-Johnson, 85th.
Scott Patterson (USA) concluded his distinguished World Cup career with a 12th place finish, only 9.1 seconds behind the winner. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
After eight World Cup seasons, the Falun 20 k represented the final race of Scott Patterson’s (USA) distinguished career, one highlighted by eighth and 11th place finishes in the Olympics, and a top-ten finish in the World Championships 50 k.
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Celebrating his second World Cup victory in as many days, Erik Valnes (NOR) punches through the finish line of the 20 k Classic Mass Start in Oberhof, Germany. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
For World Cup racers, mass start racing is always tense, nervous, high-risk, rough-and-tumble. Long skinny skis and long fragile poles make close-quarters racing—on courses seldom more than four tracks wide—a bit of a crap shoot. Contenders constantly press forward to secure spots near the front. Everyone wants to be near the leaders, out of trouble, in range of whatever breakaways may be attempted, but no one really wants to lead. Much can happen, opportunities can present themselves, disasters can occur. Just ask Scott Patterson (USA) who fell on one of the opening downhills and was forced to spend the rest of the day playing catch-up. On the other hand, on a day when the best skiers appeared to have well-matched skis (no apparent advantages in waxes, bases, or structure), and when the field is content to simply match pace and remain together, then mass start racing can seem a bit, well, boring.
Fans hope for action, for dominance, for breakaways. for chases, for well-orchestrated sprints. So when we witness a ho-hum race, it’s relatively disappointing. Even comments made to reporters in the winner’s circle described tactics that served to make today’s racing less than exciting.
“It was all about position, and staying in the top ten,” said race winner, Erik Valnes (NOR). “I was feeling very strong and just waiting for the finish.”
“Staying in the top ten:” not exactly bumper-to-bumper NASCAR-style racing out there . . .
While the pace was set by representatives of numerous nations—Finland, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Great Britain—the international field ultimately succumbed to Norwegian pressure in the closing meters. With his second victory in as many days, Valnes showed off the form that has propelled him to numerous wins this season. Behind him finished a string of his Norwegian teammates: Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, Paal Golberg, and Matti Stenshagen. Federico Pellegrino’s (ITA) fifth place finish was the first of the non-Norwegians, just ahead of Perttu Hyvarinen (FIN), William Poromaa (SWE), and Antoine Cyr (CAN).
Gus Schumacher (USA), Antoine Cyr (CAN), Lucas Boegl (GER), (l-r) navigate one of the many technical downhills on Oberhof’s 3.3 kilometer loop. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
North Americans were led by Cyr’s excellent eighth place finish, another top ten in his season of quality finishes. Other Canadian finishers included Olivier Leveille 33rd, Xavier McKeever 43rd, Max Hollman 49th, and Julien Locke 66th. American finishers included Zak Ketterson 40th, Gus Schumacher 44th, Scott Patterson 51st, Peter Wolter 55th, and JC Schoonmaker 60th. Perhaps recovering from his sixth place finish in Friday’s Classic Sprint, Ben Ogden chose not to start Saturday’s 20 k Classic Mass Start.
Andrew Musgrave (GBR) was one of the contenders who consistently pushed the pace throughout the six laps of Oberhof’s 20 k Classic Mass Start. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
20 k Classic Mass Start
Action in the 20 k Classic Mass Start was epitomized by conservative tactics and measured efforts, with different leaders setting the pace in each lap. After a season interrupted by illness, Iivo Niskanen (FIN) returned to the 20 k Class Mass Start, the race in which he is Olympic champion. He led much of Lap 1 ahead of a host of Norwegians who marked his pace. By the end of lap two, Niskanen had been absorbed by the group as Paal Golberg (NOR) led through the 6.6 kilometer checkpoint.
Andrew Musgrave (GBR) led most of Lap 3, but the lead group was still a tightly assembled pack of 30+. The field came through the halfway point with Nyenget and Musgrave leading the way.
During Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo’s (NOR) recent absence from World Cup racing, Erik Valnes (NOR) has begun to appear like the primary contender for World Cup race wins. The 20 k Classic Mass Start represented his second World Cup victory in as many days. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
Returning from illness that prevented his competing in the Tour de Ski, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) spent the day hovering in the middle of the lead pack. During Klaebo’s mid-season absence, Valnes—winner of Friday’s Sprint competition in Oberhof—has begun to appear like the man to beat in both sprint and distance events. Staying near the front throughout the day, Valnes led lap four while Niskanen also returned to the front of the field.
Musgrave again pressed the issue in lap five, closely marked by Nyenget, Stenshagen, Valnes, and Klaebo. The field thinned to 20+; still, no significant breaks had occurred among contenders.
Niskanen pressed forward to push the pace in the final lap. He knew he would need to shake off the sprinters if he had a chance of winning. The field did begin to string out, but Niskanen was marked closely by Valnes who showed no reluctance to trade leads at the front. In the end, Valnes simply pushed a pace that no one else could better. He extended his lead by a few meters as he crossed the finish line, his Norwegian teammates scrabbling for podium positions in his wake.
Another all-Norwegian podium in Oberhoff, Germany. (L-R) Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) second, Erik Valnes (NOR) first, Paal Golberg (NOR) third in the World Cup 20 k Classic Mass Start. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
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.
The unrelenting slopes of Alpe Cermis challenged Norwegian dominance, as France’s Jules Lapierre emerged to triumph in the final stage of the 2024 Tour de Ski. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
The origin story of the Tour de Ski suggests that it was invented to mirror cycling’s Tour de France: multiple stages, mountaintop finishes, leader’s jerseys, thrilling competitions, glorious champions. Today’s Stage 7 of the Tour de Ski—with its finish on the high summit of Alpe Cermis— is probably what the original race organizers had in mind. Helicopters hovered over the point-to-point course that wound its way through historic ski-venues in the Val di Fiemme. At the 2.4 kilometer mark, the still-flat course wound into the stadium of Val-d’Isére (where the first Bonus Sprint in the Alpe Cermis stage would be decided). Then, following the course of the Marcia Longa—Italy’s famous ski marathon—the course traveled to the base of the Alpe Cermis Alpine resort.
The day had begun with Amundsen holding a considerable lead in the overall standings over his countryman, Erik Valnes. Known as a good all-rounder—but really more of a sprinter—Valnes would face considerable challenges to his desire to remain on the Tour de Ski podium, as he was trailed in the standings by other skiers whose pedigrees spoke of greater climbing abilities. Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) sat only eight seconds behind Valnes, with talented climbers, Hugo Lapalus (FRA) and Friedrich Moch (GER) only another few seconds behind. The battle for podium spots would be furious and painful, with rewards and accolades for those brave enough to climb into the clouds. Valnes would have his hands full . . .
Germany’s Friedrich Moch led Jules Lapierre (FRA) through most of the climb up Alpe Cermis, though it was Lapierre who would sprint clear for the stage win. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)
Stage 7, Alpe Cermis
Bonus Points Leader, Lucas Chanavat (FRA), toed the starting line after a number of less-than-stellar stages in which he would win sprint points, then ease along the course to the finish well out of contention. In the early kilometers of the Alpe Cermis stage, Chanavat led the pack toward the first Bonus Points sprint at 2.4 kilometers, hoping to secure his hold on the Points Jersey before the real climb of the day would begin. Though nipped at the line by sprint-rival, Edvin Anger (SWE), Chanavat would collect enough points to secure the victory in the points competition. Ironically, he would be required to finish the stage at the top of Alpe Cermis’ long climb in order to claim the distinction, and to collect the winner’s spoils. It would be a long day of climbing for the sprinter, Chanavat.
After the Points Bonus sprint, it was the skier sitting in 26th place overall—Haavard Solaas Taugboel (NOR)—who went to the front to make pace. Commentators speculated on the possibility that Team Norway was tactically using lower-placed skiers to protect the lead of Amundsen, Valnes, and Nyenget. There was one last Points sprint at 6.8 kilometers (at the base of the climb), but by that time Amundsen had already gone to the front. He took the points that Chanavat and Anger coveted, seemingly determined to begin the climb in earnest. Final standings in the Points competition: Chanavat, Anger, Valnes, Amundsen, and Antoine Cyr (CAN).
Amundsen led the field on the lower slopes of the climb, though with no real sense of urgency. In season’s past, much of the low part of the climb was defined by athletes propelling themselves via V2, maintaining that faster, more costly technique for as long as they could in attempts to break the field. Typically the last skier using the V2 was the one who would create gaps in the field and put themselves in position to win the day. Today, however, Amundsen dropped into the V1 early on, allowing a group of rivals to remain on his heels. That group settled into a lead pack of seven: Amundsen, Nyenget, Friedrich Moch (GER), Mika Vermuelen (AUT), Jules Lapierre (FRA), Hugo Lapalus (FRA), and Beda Klee (SUI). Valnes was nowhere to be seen. The battle for podium positions began . . .
And the course steepened: 26.5 percent (that’s steep). Klee was dropped: lead group reduced to six.
Mika Vermeulen powered to the front as Amundsen and Nyenget faded to the rear of the lead group. By this time, Valnes had already ceded his second place position to Nyenget in the virtual Tour standings. Other podium contenders pushed to the front, fighting it out for podium places, mostly at the expense of Amundsen and a visibly-tiring Nyenget who dangled just off the back.
With every change in pitch, a different contender would appear at the front. Finally, Moch took the lead as the group entered the tightest switchbacks, driving around each direction-change with Lapierre hard on his heels. Next in line—head down, but tempo high—Lapalus followed his countryman while Amundsen and Vermeulen settled in. Nyenget was gapped: lead group reduced to five.
Moch and Lapierre ratcheted up the pace. Little bit by little bit, gaps opened behind them. Lapalus watched his own ski tips, Amundsen (overall victory already in sight) marked the gaps, Vermeulen atttempted damage control: lead group reduced to two.
Farther down the mountain, Valnes struggled; his podium position all but gone as his rivals for the podium—Lapalus and Moch—drove forward.
Moch and Lapierre continue to show spark in their steps as they entered another 28 percent grade (murderous!). In their wake, Lapalus powered on alone (eyes still down). Amundsen and Vermeulen appeared bound to one another in their fatigue (battling to hold their positions rather than determined to drive forward). Nyenget suffered alone in no-man’s land, while resurgent Klee and Jens Burman (SWE) gave chase. Somewhere farther down the mountain, Valnes toiled in obscurity.
The Alpe Cermis levels a bit in the final kilometer, requiring racers to shift gears, yet again. It’s a point where a different set of athletic/physiological abilities comes into play. Thirty minutes into the race, Moch and Lapierre exited the steepest sections of the climb, both breaking into a V2 skate as the horizon leveled. Lapierre drove forward into the lead, his tempo visibly quicker than Moch’s. Behind them (across an ever-widening gap) Lapalus stayed with the V1 in attempts to save energy, just in case he still had to deal with a charging (V2) Amundsen who seemed to have recovered some energy after his mid-climb lull.
Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) climbed bravely, and quickly enough to protect his overall lead in the Tour de Ski standings. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
At the finish, it was Lapierre sprinting clear of Moch, both of whom celebrated as they crossed the line. Moch knew he had skied onto the overall podium, a first for Germany since Tobias Angerer, overall winner of the first Tour de Ski in 2006/2007, finished third in the 2008/2009 tour. Lapalus finished 16 seconds behind the winner, securing his own place on the overall podium by sufficiently gapping Nyenget.
The winner of the overall Tour de Ski—Amundsen—arrived fifteen seconds after Lapalus. Amundsen had done his job, and the biggest prize of the FIS World Cup season was his.
Valnes finished 11th, 1:13.9 behind. All things considered, Valnes (known more for his sprinting prowess) delivered a truly impressive performance, and that in an event where careless or unfit competitors can “blow” and lose big chunks of time. Even so, he proved unable to keep pace with the climbers, and dropped from the podium into sixth overall.
Among North American finishers, Antoine Cyr (CAN) climbed the fastest: 14th place, 1:34.2 behind the winner. Following him were Zanden McMullen (USA) 36th, Scott Patterson (USA) 42nd, and Olivier Leveille (CAN) 45th.
Much much later, at the hard-won summit of Alpe Cermis, Chanavat crossed the line to claim the Points Championship. It’s unlikely that he’s ever skied so far or so high.
International flair on the Stage 7 podium at the summit of Alpe Cermis: Friedrich Moch (GER), Jules Lapierre (FRA), Hugo Lapalus (FRA), (l-r) (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. Learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award—or about supporting FasterSkier coverage—by contacting info@fasterskier.com.
Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) took first in the men’s World Cup 10 k Classic individual start, crushing the hopes of the Finnish crowd. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Day Two of the 2023-2024 FIS World Cup season showcased the individual start 10 k Classic race in Ruka, Finland. The Finn’s were chomping at the bit for an opportunity to break the Norwegian men’s stranglehold on distance racing: last year a Norwegian won every men’s distance event, a trend the Finn’s desperately wished to end on their home turf. A classic race on home ground seemed like the perfect opportunity to break Norway’s winning streak; however—in a result that brought heartbreak to the Finnish crowd—Norway was able to cling to its distance supremacy as Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) defeated hometown favorite and classic technique master, Iivo Niskanen (FIN), by 2.9 seconds. Norway rounded out the podium with Erik Valnes finishing third.
For the USA, Gus Schumacher was the top finisher placing 22nd. He was followed by Ben Ogden 39th, Scott Patterson 53rd, Luke Jager 56th, Zanden McMullen 58th, John Steel Hagenbuch 66th, and Zak Ketterson 71st.
For Canada, Antoine Cyr was the top finisher coming in 27th. He was followed by Xavier McKeever 35th, Olivier Leveille 40th, and Leo Grandbois 65th.
Iivo Niskanen (FIN) was inspired by the home crowd’s cheering, but was nipped at the finish line by Martin Nyenget (NOR). A classic race on home turf was a great opportunity for Finland to break Norway’s distance winning streak, but it was not to be. (Photo: NordicFocus)
The Finnish crowd cheered on their native son, erupting every time Niskanen charged up a hill. In a stirring moment, the crowd chanted “Iivo-Iivo” as he dashed across the finish line. U.S. team coach Matt Whitcomb was able to hear the cheering and commented to FasterSkier that “it’s deafening, the Finns are so proud of him, and all of their racers, they explode when a Finn comes by.” And, for a while, it looked like it was going to be a storybook ending as Niskanen—having a fairly low start number—occupied the leader’s chair for a long time. He held a comfortable lead over all later finishers, though the hometown crowd began to appear nervous after Nyenget surpassed Niskanen’s split time at the five kilometer mark by three tenths of a second. At the 6.1 kilometer mark, Nyenget expanded his lead to 2.4 seconds. After that, it was nip and tuck between Niskanen and Nyenget as the Norwegian skier was only one second ahead at the 8.1 kilometer mark. The hometown crowd still held out hope for their man as Nyenget approached the finish. But, as he came into the stadium, Nyenget was met with stunned silence from the Finnish crowd that saw Finnish victory slipping away. That silence was music to Nyenget’s ears as he gave a final lunge and was able to nip Niskanen by 2.9 seconds.
In a rare display of emotion, Niskanen, watching at the finish line slammed his poles into the snow in disgust as he saw Nyenget displace him from the leader’s chair. Niskanen then quickly stomped off from the stadium area and headed out of view. Nyenget walked away with his second World Cup victory and sixth podium finish. He commented on hearing “Iivo…Iivo” throughout the race, and admitted after the race that he was “inspired to have beaten Iivo.”
While all eyes were focused on the battle for first, Erik Valnes (NOR) was able to sneak into third (further punctuating his World Cup Sprint victory only the day before). (Photo: NordicFocus)
The Ruka course tested not only racers stamina but their ski handling abilities as well: a speed of 45 mph (72.7 kph) was obtained by race winner Nyenget on a downhill. Whitcomb remarked to FasterSkier that while the speeds are high, it’s not a high risk situation. “Today wasn’t the fastest day for conditions,” Whitcomb said. “We’ve had speeds over 50 MPH on this downhill. It’s reasonably straight…it can be easily navigated in an interval race.”
Team USA was pleased with Schumacher cracking the top 25. “It’s great to see Gus coming back into the form that we know he’s capable of,” Whitcomb commented. “Gus has made some big changes to his training plan over the last year.” Whitcomb observed that, “one of the biggest changes was figuring out ways to absorb volume better. He’s cut back a little on his overall volume, and we’re seeing him absorb training better.” Whitcomb also praised Schumacher for the way he paced the race, steadily moving up in the standings as the race progressed.
The U.S. coaching staff was pleased with Gus Schumacher’s (USA) 22nd place performance, indicating the success of significant changes to his training plan. (Photo: NordicFocus)
“I felt a little weird today,” Schumacher commented after the race. “The first race is hard in the sense that your body isn’t used to staying at the limit, but I was happy with my pacing and finding my limit at the end of the race. The skis were really good and helped the technique stay together, which is really important in this course. Looking at the results, this is my best individual Ruka start, so that’s good to see and super motivating. As for looking forward, I feel like my classic and striding technique has improved, and I’m excited to work on that. Once racing starts to feel more natural, I’m excited to dig more into technique with my coach, Kristen Bourne.”
Today was also a chance for Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo to establish firm footing in the distance crystal globe race, in which he finished second last year behind countryman, Paal Golberg. It would also be an opportunity for a shot at redemption of a sort for Klaebo after finishing third in yesterday’s sprint race. Speculation swirled that Klaebo was still feeling the effects of a positive COVID 19 test in early November. That speculation seemed to be confirmed when Klaebo’s struggles continued on the race course, and he was unable to turn things around from yesterday. He made a charge at the eight kilometer mark and moved into fourth. But he faded in the final kilometers and finished 14th. It’s a bit of a stretch to claim a skier is struggling when they finish in the top 20, but expectations are always so high for Klaebo that anything less than a podium is disappointing.
For a while it looked like perennial crowd favorite Andrew Musgrave (GBR) was going to find the podium, but he faded slightly in the closing kilometers to finish fifth. (Photo: NordicFocus)
An ignominious form of history was also made in Ruka: for the first time, a skier was not permitted to start a race due to skis testing positive for fluoro compounds. Ukraine’s Mischenko Oleh was not permitted to start under FIS (International Ski Federation) rule ICR 351 which defines the penalties for bringing fluorinated skis to the start of a race. Oleh’s disqualification brings to light a potential problem with the new rule: teams with limited resources may not be able to perform the extensive remediation necessary to clean all the fluoro molecules from their skis and equipment. As U.S. Coach Matt Whitcomb outlined to FasterSkier yesterday, the amount of time and effort to clean fluoros is extensive. “I know the amount of time we have spent cleaning our infrastructure has been immense,” Whitcomb commented to FasterSkier after today’s race. “Not everybody has the time to do that, not everyone has the resources for that.” How lower-resourced teams will be able to comply with the new rules is yet to be determined. “There will be a learning curve,” said Whitcomb.
Iivo Niskanen (FIN), Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), Erik Valnes (NOR), (l-r) celebrate reaching the podium of the FIS World Cup 10 k Classic in Ruka, Finland. (Photo: NordicFocus)
