Sundling (SWE) and Klaebo (NOR) deliver sprint masterclasses in Minneapolis

It was a numbers game on Saturday as the FIS Cross-Country Skiing World Cup returned to the USA for the first time in 23 years. Olympic and World sprint champion Jonna Sundling reminded everyone of her class with a first victory of the season, while Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo claimed a sixth win in the eighth sprint race he’s competed in this season.

Most eye-catching of all, though, around 15,000 fans turned out for Minneapolis’s World Cup debut. And while they were mainly here to see hometown favourite Jessie Diggins, there was plenty of support for the star-studded Scandinavian teams – Minnesota has more residents of Swedish and Norwegian ancestry than another other state in the US following an influx in the 1800s.

Popular Italian Federico Pellegrino, meanwhile, said he felt so overwhelmed by the reception that he almost cried.

Sundling’s first win of season Wirth the wait

After two sprints in Canmore, Canada last week, the challenge that greeted Saturday’s freestylers on the other side of the border was very different.

An unseasonably warm winter in Minneapolis finally gave way to snow last week but it was clear skies, sub-zero temperatures and tricky cross winds that greeted the skiers on the city’s Theodore Wirth Park course on Saturday.

And while the 1.6km circuit lacks the steep downhills and punishing climbs of many courses on the calendar, the rollercoaster layout of dips and corners meant there was no respite for the world’s best.

As wide sections gave way to challenging bottlenecks, several racers fell or stumbled while jostling for position, including another home favourite Rosie Brennan (USA) and four-time World Cup race winner Emma Ribom (SWE), who crashed to the snow early in the final.

This left team-mates Sundling (SWE) and Linn Svahn (SWE) to battle it out with Norwegian rival Kristine Stavaas Skistad and Diggins in the final.

Sundling, as she often has this season, set by far the fastest time in qualifying, only to falter in the knockouts. But this time she looked imperious throughout the afternoon session, setting a searing pace in the final that not even runaway sprint standings leader Svahn could live with.

Having won five of the previous six races, Svahn tucked in behind Sundling but left herself too much to do on the final straight. Sundling crossed the line in 3 minutes 6.4 seconds, nearly four seconds faster than her qualifying time.

Diggins’ homecoming but Klaebo wows the crowds

If the home crowd had high hopes for Diggins, their expectations for the men were more modest with leading American Ben Ogden sidelined by glandular fever and JC Schoonmaker – who claimed his first World Cup podium in Östersund, Sweden earlier this season – unable to recover from a broken pole in the second quarter-final.

But with one banner reading ‘Klaebo is a babe-oh’, the crowd went home happy after seeing the greatest cross-country skier of his generation do what he does best – sprint to victory – in the flesh.

With Eric Valnes (NOR) surprisingly failing to qualify for the quarter-finals, Klaebo looked set to take his compatriot’s pace at the top of the sprint standings, and he did it in emphatic style after setting the fastest time in morning qualifying.

Off the back of two sprint victories in Canmore, the Olympic and World champion cruised through to the final, where he served up a masterclass.

This being a brand-new World Cup course, the skiers were honing their tactics as they went along. Staying out of trouble – and staying out in front – became increasingly popular as the day progressed.

Klaebo found himself boxed in in fifth place in the final but found a gap that nobody else would have seen to move effortlessly into second place on the shoulder of compatriot Solaas Haavard Taugboel. With the Italian, Pellegrino, also well positioned, it was a three-horse race to the finish – but with one clear thoroughbred.

Klaebo burst clear two thirds of the way through, and although Pellegrino accelerated over the final rise to give himself a chance of victory going into the final straight, like Svahn in the women’s race he gave himself too much ground to make up.

“It was so much fun racing out there with all the spectators,” Klaebo said, after spending several minutes high-fiving members of the crowd. “I think we need to come back here way more often than we have been. It’s crazy – you can’t hear a breath when you’re racing, which is a really good sign. I’m just looking forward to coming back here tomorrow – and as often as possible.

Racing continues on Sunday with the women’s and men’s 10km Freestyle.

For the full results from Minneapolis, click here