Olympic omens ominous as Klaebo crushes rivals in Val di Fiemme sprint

Jan 03, 2026·Cross-Country

Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) dominates the Sprint in Val di Fiemme @FIS/ActionPress/Arnd Wiegmann

If there is such a thing as a forgone conclusion in sport, then surely it’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) winning Sprint gold at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games. The greatest men’s cross-country skier of all time claimed the 104^th individual FIS World Cup victory of his career, not so much beating his rivals in the Sprint Classic on Saturday as destroying them.

That it was in Val di Fiemme, Italy, where Klaebo has now won nine times was particularly significant – this is where the cross-country skiing events at next month’s Olympics will take place.

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It mattered little to Klaebo that the sprint track has been lengthened to over 1.5km to include two sharp hairpin corners as well as the two familiar steep climbs, making it suit the endurance sprinters more than the out-and-out speedsters. This is a man for all courses, all conditions, all types of race.

Nor did it matter that there’s a particularly long finishing straight that means coming into the final corner in the lead isn’t necessarily an advantage, with the potential for being slipstreamed by those tucked in behind.

After qualifying with a time two seconds quicker than his nearest rival, Klaebo realised during his cruise through the quarter-finals and semi-finals that he needed to be a distant first or a close second coming into the final corner.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, he chose to win from the front. In an extraordinary display of power, timing and tactical knowhow, Klaebo galloped up the second climb in familiar style, leaving his young compatriot Lars Heggen (NOR) and the rest of the field for dust. In seconds, his lead went from one metre to 50 – yes, 50.

Heggen (NOR), 20, has claimed two podiums in his breakthrough season, paid the price for trying to keep up with Klaebo during the first half of the race and was hauled in by Ansgar Evensen (NOR) and a jubilant Jules Chappaz (FRA). The effervescent Frenchman claimed his fourth individual career podium and first since March, beating Anton Grahn (SWE) to second place in a photo finish.

“It was good,” said Klaebo, the master of understatement when assessing the most dominant of performances. “It was a really useful process to see how things worked out on the Olympic track.”

“It was a really fun day, with ups and downs,” Chappaz said, after claiming his podium place the hard way, with a lucky loser’s spot in the semi-final, where he stormed up the second climb and then held on for dear life.

“In the quarter final I was third, I did a big mistake 200 metres from the finish line, so my coach was really angry. Luckily I was able to take my revenge in the semi-final and the final, where I gave my best. I tried to be more clinical tactically and it was better.”

At 21, Grahn looks like being another of this season’s breakout stars. “It feels like it’s a race where I did everything I could, I think I raced on 150% or something,” he said after claiming his first career podium. “I was totally gone at the finish line, but it’s so fun to have got the first podium, and on the Olympic track too. It really feels like I'm doing something good.”