Klaebo holds off Norway’s new boys for fifth Toblach victory
Dec 28, 2025·Cross-Country
As victories go, this – the 102nd individual triumph of his FIS World Cup career – was a routine one for the greatest men’s cross-country skier of all time. But if Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo is the present of the Norwegian team, then Lars Heggen and Oskar Vike are very much the future.
Aged just 20, Heggen finished second behind Klaebo in the Sprint Freestyle in Toblach, Italy on Sunday to claim his first World Cup podium and potentially book his place on Norway’s team for the Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games 2026 in just over a month’s time.
Vike, who doesn’t turn 22 until January 7, has surely already booked his ticket with his third place in Toblach his third podium of the season and fourth this calendar year.
Whether either of them will make it to the top step while their legendary compatriot still has the hunger to compete remains to be seen.
Klaebo did arrive in Toblach for the first leg of the mid-season Tour de Ski with a point to prove, however, after he finished 17th in his last outing in Davos, Switzerland, the first time in 18 sprint races that he failed to claim victory.
And in perfect conditions – albeit on a fast, challenging course – the 29-year-old looked in determined mood from the outset, leading from the front in both his quarter-final and semi-final to take his place in the final alongside Heggen, Vike, and Swiss pair Valerio Grond and Janik Riebli, as well as Lucas Chanavat (FRA), who took advantage of an out-of-sorts Klaebo to win in Davos.
Erik Valnes, for a long time Klaebo’s closest sprint challenger in the Norwegian team, failed to make it past the quarter-finals after being impeded by a crash in front of him.
The final started at a brutal pace, Klaebo working hard to make sure he went into the first climb in the lead. But it was Vike who took the inside line, with Grond also pushing hard.
After the first of two 1.4km laps, there was little to choose between the six skiers, with Chanavat moving from last place to first in the blink of an eye. As Riebli began to drop off the pace, Klaebo made his move, bursting away up the second of the climbs so that by the time he descended into the stadium, the lead was unassailable.
He could afford to slow down as he crossed the line to milk to applause of the crowd but still managed a time of two minutes 28.82 seconds, the second fastest of the day after his own time from morning qualifying. Heggen finished 0.13s back in second place with Vike completing an all-Norway podium.
“It feels good being back on top of the podium again,” Klaebo admitted. “I’ve been thinking about this race the whole of Christmas so to be back on the top here in Toblach – where the skate [Freestyle] Sprint is really difficult – feels really good.
Was he motivated by revenge after finishing 17th in Davos? “Yeah, I would say so. I felt pretty good there as well but it didn’t go my way so it was good to kick back today. It feels good to have the gold bib [as leader of the Tour de Ski]. We’ll try to recover as best as possible for tomorrow and see how it goes.”
Heggen described his first World Cup podium in just his fifth race as “amazing”. “I felt good pretty much all day but the quarter-final was the hardest, and the semi was really good… just so fun,” he said. “I don’t think the rest of the Tour de Ski will be as good as this, but I hope so.”
Was he motivated by revenge after finishing 17th in Davos? “Yeah, I would say so. I felt pretty good there as well but it didn’t go my way so it was good to kick back today. It feels good to have the gold bib [as leader of the Tour de Ski]. We’ll try to recover as best as possible for tomorrow and see how it goes.”
Heggen described his first World Cup podium in just his fifth race as “amazing”. “I felt good pretty much all day but the quarter-final was the hardest, and the semi was really good… just so fun,” said “I don’t think the rest of the Tour de Ski will be as good as this, but I hope so.”
Vike, meanwhile, made no secret of his ambitions to compete in Milano Cortina over this distance. “For me, the sprint is the most important,” he said. “I want to come to the Olympics.
“It feels good to make the podium again. Johannes was too strong but it was fun to share a podium with Lars. I’ve competed against him since I was 16. He beat me today but it’s ok, he deserved it.”
The action continues in Toblach on Monday with the Men’s and Women’s 10km Interval Start Classic.
For all the results from Toblach, click here
)
)
