Klaebo goes from sofa to success in last Sprint test before Trondheim: 'I needed this one'

Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) won the Men's Sprint Classic in Falun, Sweden, on Friday, kicking back from "eight days on the couch" to show that he is the man to beat as the FIS Nordic Ski World Championships in Trondheim, Norway, start in less than two weeks.

In the last Coop FIS Cross-Country World Cup Sprint before this season's main event, the Norwegian superstar beat runner-up Erik Valnes (NOR) by 1.31 second as Oskar Opstad Vike (NOR) completed the Norwegian clean sweep.

Klaebo's third consecutive Sprint win in Falun came after a couple of difficult weeks where the world championships host nation's main name had to leave a high-altitude training camp in Switzerland early due to illness, missing out on the World Cup stage in Cogne, Italy, two weekends ago.

"It was great," Klaebo said after cruising to his 10th victory this winter.

With 13 days to go until the World Championships Sprint Free in his hometown, the big gold medal favourite saw the victory in the final test as a well-needed boost of confidence.

"This helps, for sure," Klaebo said.

"I feel like I needed this one so it's good for me now to feel like I can race again and the body feels pretty good.

"I'm glad I still have 13 days for the world champs but I'll for sure use those days well and hopefully be in a very good shape in Trondheim."

It is no doubt that Klaebo likes it in Falun, where he has won nine World Cup races in his career. Last year he made it three victories in three races in the Swedish town, triumphing in the Sprint Classic as well as the 10km Classic and 20km Mass Start Free.

This year, Klaebo will "for sure" compete in the 10km race on Saturday that he has won the past two editions of. After that, he will se whether he will try to defend his 20km Mass Start win on Sunday.

"The plan is to at least to go tomorrow and then we will take it from there," Klaebo said.

The victory extends his lead in the overall as well as Sprint World Cup standings.

In the Sprint standings, Klaebo has 702 points and a 43-point lead over Valnes in second place, with two Sprint races left of the World Cup season.

Sweden's Edvin Anger, who is in second place overall, had the lead in the final-like first semifinal but was passed by Klaebo, Valnes and Vike as well as Jules Chappaz (FRA) in the final stretch, missing out on the final.

The top-four positions from that semifinal were repeated in the final, where Chappaz finished fourth, 3.19 seconds behind the winner.

Finishing 2.52 seconds behind the winner and 1.21 second behind Valnes, 21-year-old Vike claimed the first podium of his career. The previously best results for Vike, who is not in Norway's World Championships team, had been two Sprint eighth-places, in Cogne and Les Rousses, France, this season.

Jiri Tuz (CZE) also reached a career-milestone with his fifth place. The 20-year-old Czech had driven up the pace in the second semifinal and managed to only let Even Northug (NOR) go past him to secure a berth in his first final. Finishing 13.67 seconds behind Klaebo, he landed the best result of the career, having never made it into the top-20 before. Northug, the fourth Norwegian in the final, finished in sixth place.

Click here for full results from the Men's Sprint Classic and here to follow FIS Cross-Country on Youtube.