Klaebo once again wins with ease in Sprint final at Lahti

Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won another Sprint title at the FIS Cross-Country World Cup ahead of his talented young Norwegian compatriot Lars Heggen at Lahti on Saturday.

Klaebo unsurprisingly took the lead early to leave the rest of the field to fight for a podium place. Switzerland’s Janik Riebli looked like he may be in with a chance until France’s Jules Chappaz pipped him to the line to take third.

Heggen, who is proving he may be another Norwegian star of the future, took full advantage after qualifying for the final as a lucky loser after finishing behind Klaebo and Riebli in their semi-final race.

As predicted it was another great day for the 11-times Olympic champion Klaebo, who was cheered on by the Finnish crowd in the sunshine. “It was amazing, an amazing crowd,” said Klaebo. “The conditions were pretty hard but I was just trying to enjoy it out there.”

Clearly aware of competition from his team-mate Heggen, who finished 0.42 seconds behind him, Klaebo said: “Next year will be even harder so I think we are going to enjoy this now for the rest of this year.”

After winning six gold medals at Milano Cortina 2026 the previous month, Kalebo added: “I’m tired. I’m barely training in-between the races. I’m just racing now and we’ll see how long we are going to continue to do that but hopefully we will be able to do that for two more weeks.”

Klaebo’s victory means that Norway have now won 19 of the 21 Men’s World Cup races so far this season, with 14 of those having another Norwegian in second place thanks to Heggen.

There were thrills and spills earlier in the day with France’s Lucas Chanavat briefly going ahead of Klaebo in the quarter-finals before falling on the final bend after finding himself too close to Benjamin Moser (AUT) on the inside of the last corner.

Spain’s Jaume Pueyo, who qualified quickest of the field in his quarter-final race, also fell to take him out of contention.

For full results of the Men’s Sprint final at the FIS Cross-Country World Cup at Lahti click here.