‘Tired’ Amundsen digs deep to win 10km in Oslo ahead of former biathlete Hedegart
Mar 16, 2025·Cross-Country
After Moa Ilar claimed a shock victory in the women’s race on Sunday morning, normal service was resumed in the Men’s 10km Freestyle on a sunny afternoon in Oslo as reigning World Cup champion Harald Oestberg Amundsen led Norway’s dominance on home snow in the capital.
There was, however, one surprise, with Einar Hedegart, in just his second World Cup race, finishing second having only recently converted from biathlon to cross-country skiing. Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, still feeling the effects from his exploits at the FIS Nordic Ski World Championships, completed the podium.
With sprints to come in Tallinn, Estonia and Lahti, Finland on the last two stops of the World Cup season, Klaebo leads the overall standings by 298 points and is almost certain to take Amundsen’s crown and claim what would be his fifth Crystal Globe to go with the six gold medals he won at the world championships and Tour de Ski title. Even by his standards, it has been quite a season.
Just two years after winning a gold and two silver medals at the Biathlon Junior World Championships Shchuchinsk, Kazakhstan, Einar Hedegart set the early pace in Oslo. But the 23-year-old novice was just 1.1 seconds ahead of Amundsen – who has now won six distance races this season – at the halfway mark, so it seemed inevitable that his more experienced compatriot would overtake him.
But it took a late burst from Amundsen to get the job done. He was 0.2s behind Hedegart at 9.3km, the final checkpoint, before finally making his class tell to finish 5.2s ahead.
“It was very hard,” Amundsen said of an Oslo course that has lots of turns and undulations. “I had such a hard time early on and I was struggling to keep up with the pace, but I had quite a good finish so I’m really happy with my 10th World Cup victory. That’s nice to reach.”
Of the final two events of the World Cup season, Amundsen, who took two individual bronzes and a team gold at the world championships, said: “My body is very tired and my muscles are getting sorer and sorer, so I need some rest tomorrow.”
Klaebo, meanwhile, teased the crowd in the city where he was born with the possibility of another incredible victory after he could only manage 14th in Saturday’s 20km Classic.
In the 10K, he was only 3.3s off the pace at the halfway point and had narrowed that to 2.3s by 6.3km, but he then started to lose ground on Amundsen and Hedegart. By the 9.3km mark he was 13.6s down and out of the medal positions, only to find a late burst to snatch third ahead of Iver Tildheim Andersen and Andreas Fjorden Ree (both NOR), who both faded badly.
World Cup distance leader Simen Hegstad Krueger finished down in 15th, meaning Amundsen closes the gap in the standings to 96 points after leapfrogging Hugo Lapalus (FRA), who came seventh, into second place. But with just the 50km Classic Mass Start to come in Lahti, to win the distance title Amundsen would need to win that race and Krueger fail to finish it.
The FIS Cross Country Skiing World Cup continues on 18 March in Tallinn, Estonia with the Men’s and Women’s Sprint Freestyle races.
For the full results from Oslo, click here.
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