Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, the world’s top male cross-country skier for much of the last decade, went into the world championships in his hometown of Trondheim with a shot at the greatest major competition performance in the sport’s modern history.
Klaebo is now just one (very long) race away from perfection.
He has five gold medals in five events after anchoring the Norwegian men’s relay to gold on Thursday with King Harald and Queen Sonja in attendance.
“Just look at the atmosphere here and all the spectators,” Klaebo, who lives 10 minutes from the Granasen Ski Center, said last week after being cheered on by 25,000 strong. “It’s for sure something else and by far the coolest experience of my life.”
There is one event left for Klaebo to complete the first six-for-six world championships: the 50km on Saturday, a 31-mile endurance test and the only event that Klaebo has never won at an Olympics or world championships.
Klaebo took 50km silver at the last worlds in 2023, one second behind countryman Pal Golberg after two hours on the snow. In 2021, Klaebo crossed the 50km finish line first, then was disqualified for obstructing another skier near the start of the final straight.
Verdens Gang, Norway’s largest tabloid newspaper, set (or echoed) the tone for these worlds after Klaebo won the first event, the sprint, last Thursday.
On the sports section cover was Klaebo, standing on the top step of the podium, with a checklist graphic underneath him: One race down, five to go.
That graphic was updated with second, third and fourth green checks on front pages following Klaebo’s wins in the 20km skiathlon on Saturday, the 10km on Tuesday and the team sprint on Wednesday.
Klaebo said he was “living in a dream right now,” according to the International Ski and Snowboard Federation.
Then in Thursday’s relay, he broke a tie with Petter Northug, Klaebo’s predecessor as the sport’s Norwegian king, for the most world titles for a male cross-country skier with the 14th of his career.
He also became the second cross-country skier — male or female — to win five golds at a single worlds. Nobody has gone six for six since the program was expanded from five events to six starting in 2001 for men and 2003 for women.
Of Norway’s 13th consecutive world title in the men’s relay, Klaebo said, “I feel like this is the most important race during the world championship. In Norway, there is one thing that’s good enough and that’s winning.”
Klaebo, a 28-year-old coached by his grandfather, already owns five Olympic titles from 2018 and 2022. He is three shy of the career Winter Olympic gold medals record across all sports.
It is too early to start dreaming about the Milan Cortina Games. He still has 31 miles left to ski at a world championships for the ages.
“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.”
NBC Sports’ Dan Meyer contributed to this report from Trondheim.
