Skistad and Klaebo win city sprints on home snow in Drammen (NOR)

Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo and Kristine Stavaas Skistad gave the home fans along the streets of Drammen, Norway, something to cheer for as they won the men's and women's sprint classic at the Coop FIS Cross-Country World Cup on Tuesday.

In the women's race, Skistad claimed the second World Cup win of her career on the snowy streets of the city in south-eastern Norway where she lives and competes for the ski club Konnerud IL. She finished 1.22 seconds before Swedish world champion Jonna Sundling, who had to settle for a second place. Norway's overall World Cup leader Tiril Udnes Weng got the last spot on the podium, 1.83 seconds after Skistad.

"It was very fun. Drammen is the best city, so I am happy," said the winner, whose surname suitably for the occasion translates to "ski city".

"(The course) is hard but now I like it."

Skistad had claimed her first World Cup triumph in Les Rousses, France, in January, but missed out on the podium at the 2023 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica, Slovenia, in February/March where she finished fifth in the sprint final.

On home snow however, the 24-year-old strong double-poler made no mistakes. Having finished second in the quarter- and semifinal, she stayed behind Sundling for the beginning of the final before shifting gears at the end, making it difficult for the Swede to respond.

"I tried to go fast in the end and it worked out," Skistad summarised her final tactics.

For Tiril Udnes Weng, the third place meant more than the joy of celebrating on the podium in front of the home fans. After a strong start to the season, the 26-year-old had struggled in the past few World Cup stops, inviting overall runner-up Jessie Diggins from USA back into the competition for the crystal globe as this season's overall winner.

In the six competitions leading up to Tuesday's sprint, Diggins had gained 350 more World Cup points than Weng, who finished seventh in Sunday's inaugural 50km race where Diggins was third. The Norwegian had claimed a gold and a silver at the world championships but was under pressure to start winning World Cup races again to defend her first-place in the rankings.

And she did. As Diggins was eliminated in the quarterfinals, Weng claimed her first World Cup podium since 6 January, gaining 60 points over the American superstar. The score brought Weng back to a 147-point lead in the overall standings, with five races left to go.

In the men's final, Klaebo claimed his 62nd World Cup win – his 14th this season – by a large margin, even by his standards. The 26-year-old sprint expert let the other skiers take the front seat for parts of the first half of the race before making his trademark acceleration to go from third to first place in no time, storming away from the rest of the field as the gap kept growing for every stride.

Klaebo could calmly cruse over the finish line, celebrating one of his most convincing victories as the other skiers were left to fight for the second place. Norway's Erik Valnes won that battle to claim his ninth World Cup podium, 1.79 seconds after Klaebo and 0.34 second before France's Richard Jouve in third.

"It's always special. I love these types of city sprints and it's been a while since I was here last time so it's really fun to be back," said Klaebo, who has not been beaten in Drammen since in 2017.

"I like the course, I think it's pretty tough and there's a lot of action during the race, so I love those kind of races.

"It was a tough (final). We went pretty slow until the top there and I had pretty good skis as well so I tried to be good on the last quarter."

Klaebo extended his lead in the men's overall rankings and is now 224 points ahead of runner-up Paal Golberg from Norway. Distance expert Golberg, who won three gold medals at the world championships, was eliminated in the semifinal. Tuesday's results also make Jouve, the only non-Norwegian skier in the final, pass Golberg to take the third place in the sprint rankings.

The World Cup action continues with a three-day weekend in Falun, Sweden, this week, starting with the men's and women's 10km individual start classic on Friday.

Click here for full results from the men's sprint classic, and here for full results from the women's sprint classic.