Norway – At 28 years old and about 10 minutes from his home in Trondheim, Norwegian Johannes Klaebo on Saturday achieved the greatest feat in cross-country skiing history, winning all six world titles on the line in 10 days.
Whatever the style – classic or free (skating) –, whatever the distance – from the shortest (1.4 km) to the longest (50 km) –, whether alone or in a team,
Johannes Klaebo swept it all for a historic grand slam that no cross-country skier had managed to achieve until then.
“It’s crazy, I have no words. It’s much more than I expected. It’s a dream too, it’s incredible. I worked so hard to be here and try to do my best. I did it and to do six titles in six races, it’s just crazy,” the Norwegian told the International Federation.
With 15 world titles since the start of his career (four in sprint, four in team sprint, four in relay, one in skiathlon, one in 10 km and one in the 50 km mass start), Klaebo is the most successful cross-country skier in history, ahead of the 13 titles of his compatriot Petter Northug.
In cross-country skiing, only the Russian Elena Välbe, in 1997 and already in Trondheim in a country where Nordic skiing is the king of sports, had already achieved a grand slam in a world championship. At the time there were only five titles at stake, no sprint, and a title in the 5 km classic won three days after the race, her compatriot Lioubov Iegorova having been disqualified after a positive anti-doping test.
100,000 spectators
Already the greatest cross-country ski sprinter of all time with four individual titles (2019, 2021, 2023, 2025), Klaebo finally won gold in an endurance event, having always failed to win a world or Olympic title beyond the 1.4 km sprint, even though he has 30 World Cup victories over 10 km and more.
On Saturday, in the event that seemed on paper to be the most complicated for Johannes Klaebo, the 50 kilometer mass start, Harald Amundsen drove like crazy to try to force his compatriot to give way, unbeatable in the event of a sprint finish.
In front of a huge crowd (some 100,000 spectators), under the smoke bombs, Klaebo held on in the last big difficulty despite the acceleration of Simen Krueger, while Amundsen cracked. Klaebo then managed tactically perfectly in the last climb to take the lead and prevent any attack.
Martin Nyenget also tried to drop Klaebo but fell 2 kilometers from the finish, having gained a few meters ahead of the megastar of the Trondheim World Championships.
In the final of the race, he let the Swede William Poromaa take the lead before the last descent leading to the stadium, to slide past, take the last bend in the lead and win by a few seconds after almost two hours of effort ahead of Poromaa and Krueger.
“The spectators helped me a lot today, I suffered for three laps, but I managed to stay at the back of the leading group. I was helped by these 100,000 spectators,” Klaebo stressed.
After his final coronation, he enjoyed the cheers from the stands, under the eyes of the Norwegian royal family.
Source AFP
