Amundsen makes late burst to win 20k in Ruka: 'I'm hungry for more'

Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) will have to wait for his 100th Coop FIS Cross-Country World Cup race victory after compatriot Harald Oestberg Amundsen overcame a broken pole to win the 20km Mass Start Freestyle in Ruka, Finland for the second year in a row.

"Just the feeling to win a World Cup race is so crazy, especially on the Mass Starts," said Amundsen after claiming his 11th World Cup race victory.

Klaebo, who won the 20K on this course in 2022, was in touch with the leaders until the halfway point of the five-lap race but couldn't respond to the two-man breakaway of Edvin Anger (SWE) and Mika Vermuelen (AUT) and eventually finished down in 15th, 18.3 seconds behind Amundsen.

So what went wrong? "I don't know, it just didn't work," said a visibly upset Klaebo. "(I will) just go home now."

Home is, of course, Trondheim, scene of his incredible six out of six 2025 World Championship gold medals earlier this year. It also happens to be the next stop on the World Cup circuit. Maybe it is meant to be that this is where the sport's GOAT will reach an incredible century of wins.

Amundsen could only manage 12th place in Friday 10km Classic but did manage to reach the final of Saturday's Sprint, despite it being his weakest distance. But on Sunday he showed the kind of form that made him the 2023/24 Overall World Cup Crystal Globe winner, albeit in a season hit by injury and illness for Klaebo.

With no long climbs on the second half of the course, Ruka is a difficult place in which to make a breakaway and for a long time it looked like this would play into the hands of Klaebo, a brilliant all-rounder but peerless in the distance races when it comes to sprint finishes.

Then, at the start of the third lap, Vermeulen (AUT), who finished third in the 10K on Friday, led a breakaway. He was soon joined by much-improved distance racer Edvin Anger (SWE) and climbing specialist Hugo Lapalus (FRA).

The Frenchman had dropped back into the chasing pack by the start of the fourth lap. Klaebo was among those who tried to close the gap, but Anger and Vermeulen were working well together, sharing the frontrunning and slipstreaming in an attempt to preserve energy while keeping the gap to the rest.

But on the final lap, Amundsen, Friday's 10K winner Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), Einar Hedegart (NOR) and Mathis Desloges (FRA) reeled in the leaders.

With two becoming six, it was Amundsen who made the decisive move. A burst on the final incline took the 27-year-old clear of Anger to finish 1.9 second in front of Hedegart, who pipped the Swede to second place on the line. Vermeulen, having made the majority of the front-running, had to settle for fifth behind Nyenget.

"It's just crazy to win this race two years in a row," Amundsen said.

"It was such difficult conditions, so high speed, I was quite nervous in the downhills, and on the first four laps I was quite far behind, and struggling to get up. But I had saved some energy and on the last lap I was very strong. And I had a great finish."

It was the career-third Cross-Country World Cup race for Hedegart, and his second podium, having finished in second place behind Amundsen in the 10km Free on home snow in Oslo, Norway, in March.

The former biathlete, who hang up his rifle to aim for Cross-Country glory at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games, had come to Ruka full of confidence after winning the 10km Free in the National Championships in Beitostoelen, Norway, last weekend, and said the second place was a "great position" for him.

"I'm really happy with that," Hedegart said, adding that there is still a lot to improve in the new sport.

"If I'm going to be brutal, I did a lot of beginner mistakes and could have done a lot of things in this race differently.

Anger was pleased with his first podium of the season and said he felt like he "did a good thing for the sport" to deny Norway a clean sweep.

"It felt good," the Swede said.

"It was fun to race and I had good skis so it was a good day. It was fun to race in front of Mika (Vermeulen) in the last two laps."

The FIS Cross-Country Skiing World Cup continues in Trondheim, Norway on December 5, starting with the Men's and Women's Sprint Classics.
For the full World Cup schedule, click here. For full results from Ruka, click here.