Records within reach as Klaebo and Johaug welcome world's Cross-Country elite to Trondheim

Feb 21, 2025·Cross-Country

Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) calmly crosses the Falun finish line to claim the Sprint victory @NordicFocus

For many of the world's best Cross-Country skiers gathering in Trondheim (NOR) for the FIS World Nordic Ski Championships, the highlight of the season could also be the peak of their career.

Taking place between 26 February and 9 March, it is the second time that the Cross-Country superpower's third biggest city hosts the World Championships, the previous time being in 1997. For Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), the event could pose a once-in-a-lifetime chance to become a world champion in the city where he lives and represents multi-sport club Byaasen IL.

Iver Tildheim Andersen, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo and Didrik Toenseth (NOR) made a clean sweep in Engadin's 20km, in one of several all-Norwegian World Cup podiums this season @NordicFocus

At the past three World Championships, Klaebo has won gold medals in the Sprint, Team Sprint and Relay. At Trondheim, he is chasing a 10th world title, and possibly more.

The overall Coop FIS Cross-Country World Cup leader has improved his versatility over the past few years and won silver medals in the Skiathlon and 50km Mass Start at the last World Championships, in Planica, Slovenia, in 2023.

Klaebo's health has perhaps been the biggest obstacle for a medal haul at home. He had to leave a high-altitude camp in Switzerland early due to illness, missing out on the penultimate World Cup stage before the World Championships, in Cogne, Italy.

In Falun, Sweden, however, he was back for a last international competition before Trondheim, claiming his 10th World Cup victory this season on Valentine's Day.

"It was great," Klaebo said after the Sprint Classic triumph.

I struggled with some sickness during that (Cogne) weekend and I've been having eight days on the couch, so it's good to be back racing again.– Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR)

Confidence should not be a problem for the nine-time world champion, with five Olympic titles to his name including Relays and Team Sprints. The 28-year-old however said that the Falun victory, that was followed by a second place in the 10km Interval Start Classic the day after, "for sure" gave him a boost before the event he has been dreaming about for years.

"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," Klaebo said.

Another world title would put him past his compatriot Bjoern Daehlie as the second most decorated Men’s Cross-Country skier in World Championships history. He would need at least four gold medals and a silver in six events to take over the first place from Petter Northug (NOR).

Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) celebrates his 10km victory in Cogne, Italy, with runner-up Iver Tildheim Andersen (left) and No.3 Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (right) joining him on the all-Norwegian podium @NordicFocus

Norwegian battle for medals at home

Much of Klaebo's main competition comes from within his own team. Last year's overall Crystal Globe winner Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR), who has said a success at the Granaasen track could define his career, made a strong comeback after a month's absence from international skiing when he won the Men's 10km Interval Start Free in Cogne earlier this month.

"It's very important," Amundsen said after finishing on top of the all-Norwegian podium, making a statement to the management selecting the skiers for the World Championships.

We know we have a strong team in skate so I knew that the other guys would be hard to beat today so it was so nice to be even better (than them).– Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR)

Simen Hegstad Krueger (NOR), the king of the 2023 World Championships in Planica, Slovenia, has said he sees himself as an underdog with nothing to lose in Trondheim. A three-time world champion in Planica, Krueger however tops the Men's Distance World Cup standings on 1,033 points, 126 before runner-up Hugo Lapalus of France, and will not be ignored by his opponents.

In the Sprint standings, Erik Valnes (NOR) holds the second place, 43 points behind leader Klaebo, and will be in contention for a first World Championships gold medal. The 28-year-old won the Team Sprint and Sprint Classic in Cogne a couple of weeks ago, clinching the second place behind Klaebo in the Falun Sprint.

As the Sprint Free medals are awarded on 27 February, Sweden's Edvin Anger hopes to give Klaebo and Valnes a run for their money. The 22-year-old, who is No.3 in the Sprint standings and runner-up overall, claimed his first individual World Cup victory when he won the Sprint Classic in Les Rousses, France, on 18 January.

"I hope that he (Klaebo) at least is starting to get nervous," Anger said after finishing 0.2 of a second behind the Norwegian poster boy in the Sprint Free in Engadin, Switzerland, the week after.

"It feels like the shape is going in the right way towards Granaasen."

The distance races have had a better and better flow and in the sprint I feel that everything is clicking more and more.– Edvin Anger (SWE)

Iivo Niskanen claims the 10km Interval Start Classic victory in Falun @NordicFocus

The 10km Interval Start on 4 March is in Classic style, making Iivo Niskanen (FIN) one of the main gold medal candidates. The 33-year-old Finn has won the event the two times it has been contested this World Cup season and will hope to get back on top of a World Championships podium for the first time since 2017, when he won the 15km Interval Start Classic in Lahti, Finland.

"Hopefully I will stay healthy until the World Championships so it will be exciting games," Niskanen said after beating runner-up Klaebo by 12.9 seconds in Falun's 10km Classic.

I still train quite a lot and hopefully the shape will be at its best in the biggest games. But let's see, of course every guy wants to be at the top there. It is the biggest goal of the season waiting so I'm really looking forward to it.– Iivo Niskanen (FIN)

Paal Golberg (NOR) smiled after claiming his first individual victory in just over a year in the last World Cup race before the World Championships @NordicFocus

Golberg ready for new golden run

Another home skier to look out for is Paal Golberg (NOR), who had a golden run at Planica 2023 that resulted in three gold medals and one silver. After triumphing in the Team Sprint as well as the Relay, he won the 50km Mass Start Classic gold medal in the last event of the championships and will be keen to do it again in front of a home crowd.

Golberg had to settle for a third place at the 50km Mass Start Classic in Oslo's World Cup in March last year, but won the 20km Mass Start Classic in Canmore, Canada, last year as well as Falun's 20km Mass Start Free last weekend.

After winning the Trondheim 2025 dress rehearsal, he took the chance to tease Klaebo with the fact that the Norwegian superstar still has not won an Interval Start Free race at the World Cup.

"I finally capture something that Johannes hasn't," Golberg said, adding some spark to the competition between the Norwegian men ahead of the World Championships.

"I've got (wins in) the Sprint Free, the Sprint Classic, Individual Skate and Individual Classic and now Mass Start Skate and Mass Start classic. He misses that Individual Skate, so, good luck, Johannes."

Johaug goes for glory in last dance

If Klaebo is the main figure to keep an eye on in the Men's competition, it is hard to ignore the impressive comeback Therese Johaug (NOR) has done in Women's Cross-Country this season. The 36-year-old took a two-year leave from the sport, during which she gave birth to her daughter Kristin, and came back this season with the home World Championships in mind.

"The World Championships are definitely my main goal; the World Cup is a part of the path leading to it," Johaug said before the season started.

Already back in November, she knew that she was going to Trondheim to win and nothing else.

"If I say that I dream of finishing in the top five I'm lying, having achieved what I have," the 14-time world champion, with four Olympic titles to her name, said.

You dream about a gold medal at the World Championships, I've got to be honest with that. Then we'll see if I can achieve it.– Therese Johaug (NOR)

Johaug won the overall and Best Climber trophies at Tour de Ski @NordicFocus

This season, the Cross-Country icon has shown that she can still achieve greatness, landing eight World Cup podiums including four victories as well as a fourth Tour de Ski title.

"I felt that I needed competitions because when you've been out for two years you feel that you've missed pushing yourself. I push myself when I'm here and when I'm racing with other girls," Johaug said after equalling Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk's record of four Tour victories.

"It was not my goal this season because I shouldn't be here but things happens and I'm so happy that I decided to be in the Tour."

Johaug with Tour de Ski's overall and Best Climber trophies @NordicFocus

New equal distances for men and women

Several events have changed for this edition of the World Championships, where all events for the first time cover the same distance for men and women (see the full rundown in the facts & figures below).

Johaug is a four-time world champion and a six-time World Championships medallist in the 30km Mass Start. As the Women's 30km has been replaced by a 50km Mass Start in Trondheim, Johaug will be a favourite to win the new distance's first world title as her favourite event closes the World Championships on 9 March.

"The day I quit I said, 'it would be nice to make a comeback one day, if I'll feel that the motivation is there'," Johaug has said on her comeback.

"If I'd want to try it out at the World Championships in Trondheim in the 50km race, I could do that, and that's how I felt this year. The shape was good so why not give it a try?"

Born in Dalsbygda, a couple of hours' drive south of Trondheim, Johaug sees the home World Championships as the definite "end" to her career.

I'd perhaps like to have a second child afterwards, if possible, so I feel that the Trondheim World Championships will be the end.– Therese Johaug (NOR)

Slind hopes for home success

Astrid Oeyre Slind is another Norwegian distance specialist veteran born in 1988, who has shown strength in the most exhaustive races this season, but her career journey has been very different to Johaug's. Slind, 37, made her World Cup debut in March 2008, but has mainly focused on the Ski Classics since then, getting her big breakthrough in the World Cup this winter. Before the season started she had two individual World Cup podiums to her name. Now she has 13, and a second place overall in the Tour de Ski. Slind was part of the team winning Relay gold in Planica 2023, where she also finished third in the Skiathlon.

Astrid Oeyre Slind on her way to a second place at the Cogne 10km @NordicFocus

Since then, Slind had taken her Cross-Country game to new levels. After claiming her first World Cup victory, in the 20km Interval Start Classic in Davos, Switzerland, on 15 December, Slind has topped the podium three other times and will be looking for a first individual World Championships gold medal in her hometown Trondheim, where the 50km race could be her best chance. The 2022 winner of Swedish 90km race Vasaloppet has finished before Johaug before.

"I never thought it would happen. At least not when Therese was racing," Slind said after beating Kerttu Niskanen (FIN) and Johaug to seal her first triumph in December.

I had kind of given up on this dream. Then, after getting back into it, now it's worked out.– Astrid Oeyre Slind (NOR)

Frida Karlsson (SWE) was back winning the 20km Mass Start Classic in Les Rousses @NordicFocus

Karlsson and Andersson back to winning ways

Hoping to spoil the Norwegian dreams of glory on home soil are a bunch of Swedish skiers. Frida Karlsson (SWE) and Ebba Andersson (SWE) have been out of World Cup action for periods of this season but come back to win distance races.

The 2022-23 Tour de Ski winner and eight-time individual World Championship medallist Karlsson had won the first World Cup race of the season – a 10km Classic in Ruka – but had been absent from the circuit through illness and injury since December 6 when she came back to win the 20km Mass Start Classic in Les Rousses on 19 January.

"I will get some energy from the altitude down here in the Alps, then hopefully I will be in my best shape for the world champs," said Karlsson, 25, who has been absent from the World Cup since then, only training on high altitude in Lavazé, Italy.

Andersson was a four-time medallist at Planica 2023 where she won the 30km Mass Start Classic and 15km Skiathlon, but has been struggling with health problems since catching Covid-19 last season. In the last competition before Trondheim, however, she won her first World Cup race since 2023, showing the home fans in Falun, Sweden that she is ready to battle for more World Championships medals.

"It (the World Championships) has been a big goal for me and something I've been aiming for a long time now," Andersson said after winning the 10km Interval Start Classic by a margin of 17.8 seconds before runner-up Heidi Weng (NOR).

Since the last championships in Planica I have known that I am going to race two of the distances in Trondheim so I have tried to prepare as well as I can.– Ebba Andersson (SWE)

Ebba Andersson claimed her first win since 2023 in Falun @NordicFocus

Sundling leads strong Swedish Sprint squad

It is however in the Sprints that Sweden have been strongest lately and on 5 March the host nation’s neighbours are going for a fourth consecutive Team Sprint world title.

This World Cup season, six of nine Sprints have been won by Swedes and Olympic champion Jonna Sundling (SWE), who has won three of them, is the main woman to beat on 27 February.

Sprint star Sundling will be in the spotlight at Trondheim 2025 @NordicFocus

After Sundling became the first Woman to win a Sprint in Engadin, Switzerland, on 25 January, however, two of her teammates have shown that they are also keen on a World Championships podium.

Maja Dahlqvist (SWE), who moved to Trondheim last year and is familiar with every centimeter of the Granaasen track, grabbed her first World Cup victory since 2021 when she finished first in Cogne's Sprint Classic on 1 February.

"It feels good, obviously, so I am looking forward to the world champs," said Dahlqvist, whose tactic in the second half of the race had been to ”just go all in and win or die”.

In Falun two weekends later, it was Linn Svahn's turn to stand on the top of the World Cup podium for the first time this season. The 25-year-old, who had been out of competition since Tour de Ski, came back to win the Valentine's Day Sprint Classic on home snow, looking more than ready for the World Championships.

"It was amazing. It's always fun to compete here in Falun and I've been home for some weeks now so I really needed this before the main goal this year," Svahn said.

Nadine Faehndrich (SUI) with the Tour de Ski 2024/2025 Sprint winner's trophy @NordicFocus

Faehndrich and Skistad aim to stop Swedish success

The Swedes' main rivals in the shorter distances are Switzerland's Nadine Faehndrich, Finland's Jasmi Joensuu and home skier Kristine Stavaas Skistad (NOR). Faehndrich won the Sprint Classic on next year's Olympic Games tracks in Val di Fiemme on 3 January, claiming the victory in the Tour de Ski Sprint standings.

"The Tour de Ski is always a highlight of my season and then to go home with this victory is a great success, probably the biggest of my career so far," said Faehndrich, hoping for a new career-high in Trondheim.

"I will continue to work hard and enjoy what I do and then whatever happens, happens."

Joensuu has been consistent throughout the season, winning the Cogne Team Sprint with Kerttu Niskanen, and holds the first place in the World Cup Sprint standings.

Skistad had been absent a large part of the season due to illness and injuries but came back to win the Sprint Free in Les Rousses in January, making it onto the podium in Engadin and Falun. In Trondheim, she will look to make up for the fifth-place at Planica 2023 when Sundling, Emma Ribom, Dahlqvist and Svahn made it an all-Swedish top-four.

Kristine Stavaas Skistad (NOR) beat Sweden's runner-up Maja Dahlqvist (left) and Jonna Sundling (right) in the Les Rousses Sprint @NordicFocus

Diggins aim for second individual world title

The third non-Swede to win a Sprint race this season, Jessie Diggins (USA), is a medal candidate across all events at the World Championships that she takes part in. The 33-year-old has a comfortable lead of almost 500 points in the overall World Cup standings as she is heading for a third Crystal Globe, and will look to add more World Championship medals to her collection.

Jessie Diggins (USA) won the last race before the World Championships, finishing first in the 20km Mass Start Free in Falun @NordicFocus

The three-time Olympic medallist, who won the Team Sprint at PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games, has got six World Championship medals to her name. They include two victories; in the Val di Femme 2013 Team Sprint and the Planica 2023 10km Interval Start Free.

This season she has struggled with a heel injury but still managed to win Tour de Ski and six races that show her versatility; two 20km Mass Start Free, two 10km Interval Start Free, one 15km Mass Start Classic and a Sprint Free.

Claiming the first place in the 20km Mass Start Free in Falun, the Minnesota superstar said she and her team head to Trondheim with an "awesome momentum", looking forward to a rest before this year's big event.

I've been pushing a massive training load, so I'm ready to come down and get a little rest, and come into Trondheim and see my family.– Jessie Diggins (USA)

For the 10km Interval Start Classic on 4 March, Kerttu Niskanen (FIN) is another medal hopes, with seven World Cup victories in the event to her name. The 36-year-old Classic expert finished second in the event at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games but has yet to win an individual medal at the World Championships.

Click here to see the schedule of the Trondheim World Championships, where the medal events kick off with the Sprint Free on 27 February, and here to follow FIS Cross-Country on Youtube.

TRONDHEIM FACTS & FIGURES

It is the second time that Trondheim hosts the FIS World Nordic Ski Championships, the previous time was in 1997. The five other World Championships in Norway have been held at Holmenkollen in Oslo.
Norway have won the World Championships Men's Relay 21 times and are unbeaten this century with 12 victories.
Sweden have won nine Men's Relay world titles but the last one was won in 1989, a few weeks before Calle Halfvarsson (SWE) was born.
At the 2023 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica, Slovenia, Sweden became the first nation to win four World Championships Women's Team Sprint events. Having won it in 2019, 2021 and 2023, Sweden aim to extend their record with a fourth consecutive victory in Trondheim.
In Cogne, Italy, on 31 January, however, Sweden failed to win a Coop FIS Cross-Country World Cup Women's Team Sprint for the first time since 2021 as Finland's Kerttu Niskanen and Jasmi Joensuu clinched the first place.
Jonna Sundling (SWE) chases a third consecutive Women's Sprint World Championship gold medal. Marit Bjoergen (NOR) holds the record of most World Championships Sprint titles, with four.
At Trondheim 2023, there are several changes from previous World Championships: Men's 10km replaces the 15km, Women's 50km Mass Start replaces the 30km Mass Start, Men's and Women's 4x7.5km Relay replace the Men's 4x10km Relay and the women's 4x5km Relay and the Men's and Women's 20km Skiathlon replace the Men's 30km and Women's 15km Skiathlon.
Norway won gold in all men's events at the 2023 World Championships in Planica, Slovenia.
Women's 10km Individual Start Free world champion Jessie Diggins (USA) was the only non-Swedish individual gold medallist at the last World Championships.
Last time Therese Johaug (NOR) competed at a World Championships was in Oberstdorf, Germany, in 2021, when she won four gold medals including one Relay triumph.
Johaug has won the gold medal in 14 of the 25 World Championships event she has taken part in.
Johaug could become the first woman to win four World Championships Skiathlon titles. She currently shares the record of three with Marit Bjoergen (NOR).
Bjoergen has the record of most individual World Championship gold medals, at 12. Johaug is No.3 on 10 but would need three gold medals or two gold medals and three silvers to take over the record. In the total medal count, Johaug needs one silver to jump to the second place, currently held by Yelena Vaelbe (RUS).
Norway has won six of the last seven world titles in the Women's Relay. The exception was in 2019, when Norway finished in second place behind Sweden.
Norwegian men have won eight of the last 10 50km events at the World Championships.
Klaebo chases his 10th World Championships title, with team events included. The 28-year-old overall World Cup leader is currently on nine, having won the Sprint, Team Sprint and Relay at three consecutive championships. At Planica 2023 he became the first man to win three Team Sprint world titles.
Petter Northug (NOR) has the record of world titles in Men's Cross-Country at 13. Klaebo, currently on par with Bjoern Daehlie (NOR) on nine, could break that record with a successful run in Trondheim.