Klaebo wins but Iversen's day with first podium in five years

Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) made it two FIS World Cup in as many days by taking the 20km Skiathlon in Trondeim, Norway on Saturday, but even the king of cross-country skiing had to accept that the limelight belonged to another hometown boy.

Emil Iversen (NOR), a friend of Klaebo's who trained with him in the United States during the off season, might have thought his days of standing on a World Cup podium were over at the age of 34. It had happened 26 times previously in individual races, but not since January 2021, when he came third in the 20km Skiathlon in Lahti, Finland.

The same year he won the gold medal in the 50km Mass Start at the Nordic Skiing World Championships after Klaebo was disqualified. But success had been difficult to come by ever since. Until this season.

A good showing at the Norwegian championships wasn't enough to earn him a place in national colours at the opening 2025/26 World Cup in Ruka, Finland. He responded - amid claims he had been omitted because of his age - by winning the Norwegian Cup 10km in Gala to earn his place in Trondheim, where he raced in his own brown ski suit amid the many red suits of his compatriots.

But Iversen stood out in more ways than one, crossing the line in third place for a first podium in nearly five years. He celebrated like he had won Olympic gold, with cheers, tears and finally a hug from Klaebo. Fittingly, it might have been enough to win Iversen a place in Norway's team for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in the face of competition so stiff that Norway occupied the top eight places in Saturday's race.

Mika Vermuelen (AUT) who was on the podium in Ruka last week, said his plan was to "follow the Norwegians" in the Trondheim 20K "because they need to ski fast to qualify for the Olympics".

Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, Harald Oestberg Amundsen and Simen Hegstad Krueger - racing for the first time this season after illness - were among the big-name Norwegians to join Klaebo and Iversen in the lead group.

With long, straight downhills after every climb, the course in Trondheim is a hard one on which to break away. Every time one of the Norwegians tried to push the pace on the uphill, the others would close the gap on the descent that followed.

This pattern played right into the hands of Klaebo, whose superior sprint finish has won him many a distance race.

With no major mishaps on the changeover of skis after three 3.3km laps of classic technique, it would all come down to the 10km freestyle half of the race. The pace increased significantly in an attempt to break Klaebo, but with one lap to go, he was one of 19 skiers still in contention.

Iver Tildheim Andersen (NOR), Andrew Musgrave (GBR), Amundsen and Iversen were among those who tried to push the pace, but Klaebo managed to respond every time, proving he is the most tactically astute skier on tour as well as the fastest and most skilful.

Twice he hit the front on the last lap; both times he slowed the pace because he wanted a sprint finish. When he did make his decisive move, the outcome seemed inevitable. Slipstreaming Amundsen down the final descent, Klaebo stepped right to take the inside line into the bend before streaking away to claim his 101st individual World Cup victory by 0.7s, having slowed down over the line to take the applause from his adoring fans.

Amundsen took second by 0.2 seconds from a charging Iversen.

"I think it was a tough race," Klaebo said. "I think the pace on the classic part was quite high. Then we changed to skating and the pace just increased. But beautiful conditions and good to be racing distance again in Trondheim."

"I'm going to try my best to make it three out of three tomorrow but I think it's going to be hard. Yesterday was a hard day and today was pretty tough as well, so we'll see."

The action continues in Trondheim on Sunday with the Men's and Women's 10km Interval Start Freestyle.

For all the results from Trondheim, click here