Cross-country skiing: Johannes Hoesflot Klæbo succeeds in his improbable gamble
“The greatest skier of all time”. These were the words used by our NRK colleagues to describe Johannes Hoesflot Klæbo on Saturday afternoon. Winner of the 50-kilometre skate at the world cross-country skiing championships in Trondheim (Norway), the Norwegian has quite simply become a legend in his sport.
Already crowned in the first five races of this 2025 edition, the world number one didn’t hesitate to claim a fantastic grand slam that no one had yet managed to achieve. The local of the stage, the Scandinavian was able to count on more than 100,000 spectators who rallied to his cause.
At the top of his game, the 28-year-old cross-country skier made history and impressed all the observers: “I can’t believe it. It’ll be hard to do better now. It’s so crazy,” he said in the mixed zone. “I’ve never seen an athlete like him. What he’s doing today is powerful and extremely impressive,” added Fredrik Aukland, consultant for the Norwegian channel. In my opinion, he is the best cross-country skier of all time.
“I didn’t think he would win the grand slam. It wasn’t easy today but I’m really impressed. I don’t have the words to describe this performance,” admitted Petter Northug Jr to Eurosport. This record won’t be broken any time soon.
“Johannes is the most complete skier of all time”.Simen Hegstad Krueger at NRK
Beaten by their team-mate on a regular basis, his compatriot Simen Hegstad Krueger, tanned at the finish, preferred to talk about the performance of the day’s star rather than his own podium finish. “Johannes is the most complete skier of all time. His power in the sprint combined with his distance is hard to believe,” he admitted. It’s both inspiring and hard to compete with him.
Read also
- Trondheim: Johannes Hoesflot Klæbo wins an historic sixth gold medal in the 50km skate, Hugo Lapalus tops the French rankings
- Trondheim: Hugo Lapalus, Mathis Desloges, Victor Lovera and Jules Lapierre at the start of the 50-kilometre skate race at the Worlds this Saturday
- “We wanted to cheer up the whole group”: Rémi Bourdin and Jules Lapierre feel the pinch after the relay at the Trondheim Worlds
- “We missed out on a lot of our objectives”: another frustrating result for Hugo Lapalus in the World Championships relay
