Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo completed an unprecedented sweep of all six cross-country skiing gold medals at the World Championships, capping it in Saturday’s grueling 50km race in front of tens of thousands in his hometown.
Klaebo, the world’s top male skier for much of the last decade, won the 50km freestyle (at 31 miles, longer than a marathon) in 1 hour, 57 minutes, 47.1 seconds.
He pulled away from Swede William Poromaa in the closing sprint by 2.1 seconds at Granasen Ski Center in Trondheim, about 10 minutes from where he lives.
Commentator Chad Salmela said around 50,000 fans were expected to line the course. The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) reported 100,000.
“This is way more than I expected and dreamed of, so it’s unbelievable,” Klaebo said of his achievement. “I’ve been working so hard to just be here and try to be in my best shape and managing that, and winning six out of six here, it’s just crazy. I don’t have any words.”
Klaebo, 28, became the first cross-country skier to win all six events at worlds since the program was expanded from five events to six starting in 2001 for men and 2003 for women.
Russian Yelena Välbe won all five events at the 1997 Worlds, also in Trondheim.
Klaebo began worlds by winning the sprint (a race less than three minutes) for a fourth consecutive worlds, then the 20km skiathlon (combining classic and freestyle skiing) and the 10km interval start. He then anchored Norway’s team sprint and relay to gold.
Klaebo’s race Saturday was his toughest. His best event is the shortest. He had never won the 50km — the longest race — at a major championship, though he did cross the finish line first in 2021 before being disqualified for obstruction.
Klaebo became the third skier to win both the sprint and the longest race at worlds since the sprint debuted in 2001. The others were Norway’s Marit Bjoergen (2013) and Petter Northug (2015). Klaebo’s 15 career World Championships gold medals across all events are second only to Bjoergen’s 18.
Next up for Klaebo is the finish of the World Cup season. He leads the World Cup overall standings and can win a fifth career overall season title, one shy of countryman Bjorn Daehlie’s record.
“I think it’s going be hard to motivate myself for the upcoming weekends, that’s for sure,” Klaebo said, according to FIS.
More history beckons next February.
Klaebo already owns five Olympic titles from 2018 and 2022. He is three shy of the career Winter Olympic gold medals record across all sports.
“I’m not thinking much about 2026 right now,” Klaebo said last week. “The main goal now is what we are doing here now, and what we’re trying to accomplish here.”
Ski Jumping: Prevc gold rush
Slovenian siblings Nika and Domen Prevc combined to win three of the four individual ski jumping gold medals in Trondheim.
Nika, 19, became the first woman to sweep the normal hill and large hill since women’s ski jumping was expanded to two individual events at worlds in 2021. She has also won the last six World Cup events and can make her Olympic debut in 2026.
Domen, 25, won the last ski jumping event of worlds, the men’s large hill, on Saturday. He can also make an Olympic debut in 2026.
Norwegians Marius Lindvik, who won the men’s normal hill, and Johann Andre Forfang were disqualified from the final round after originally finishing second and fifth. FIS live results listed at least Forfang’s DQ for “suit manipulation.”
Lindvik “was disqualified after the race following an inspection of his equipment by competition officials,” according to a FIS press release.
“Unfortunately the suit was not according to the rules,” race director Sandro Pertile said in the release.
The Prevcs’ older brothers, Peter and Cene, both competed at previous Olympics and have retired.
Slovenia won two golds and four total medals in ski jumping at the 2022 Olympics.
Nordic Combined: Riiber sweeps golds in farewell
Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber won both individual Nordic combined golds in Trondheim in the last major championship of his career.
Riiber, 27, won the normal hill/7.5km event on March 1 and then the large hill/10km on Saturday.
“It’s the greatest day of my career,” Riiber said last week of taking gold in his first worlds on home snow, according to FIS.
Riiber extended his Nordic combined record to 11 world titles.
In January, Riiber announced he will retire at the end of this season. He cited a recent diagnosis of Crohn’s disease and a desire to spend more time with his partner, Sunna, daughter, Ronja, and son, Birk.
NBC Sports’ Dan Meyer contributed to this report from Trondheim.
