Sprint stars Sundling (SWE) and Klaebo (NOR) dominate in Lillehammer

Jonna Sundling (SWE) and Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) proved their pedigree over cross-country skiing’s shortest distance with respective victories in the Women’s and Men’s Sprint Freestyle at the FIS Cross-Country World Cup in Lillehammer, Norway on Saturday.

Both Olympic and world champions, on their day the pair have proved themselves unbeatable in the sprint and this certainly felt like one of those days.

Johanna Hagstroem (SWE), winner of the sprint in Ruka, Finland last weekend described the soft underfoot conditions and the Lillehammer course as “really hard” but Sundling mate light work of them, qualifying fastest – as is often her way – by more than six seconds.

In the absence through illness of last season’s sprint champion, Linn Svahn (SWE), home hopes were high for Kristine Stavaas Skistad (NOR). Winner of five sprint races in each of the last two seasons, the 25-year-old missed the opening weekend in Ruka as she recovered from abdominal surgery, and qualified fourth fastest here.

But she was edged into third behind distance specialist Victoria Carl (GER) in a tightly fought first quarter-final and the Norwegian missed out on a lucky loser spot for the semi-finals.

There were no such problems for Sundling and Hagstroem, who cruised through their quarter-finals and semis to take their place in the fight for podium places.

Sundling again hit the front, taking compatriots Hagstroem and Emma Ribom with her, but the pace was just too fast for the rest of the field and Sundling was already well clear by the start of the second climb. She stretched that lead to eventually finish in two minutes, 50.08 seconds, 3.05s ahead of Hagstroem who held on for second ahead of Julie Myhre (NOR), who claimed her second podium in as many weeks.

“Oh, it was so fun,” Sundling said. “I felt so good in my body and the skis were really good too so I just tried to ski as good as I can. I did my first World Cup victory here [in 2018] so it was nice to be here again and do this sprint course.

Like Jessie Diggins (USA) last season, Carl is much improved in the sprints, She finished fourth ahead of Ribom, who won this race the last time it was held in Lillehammer in 2022.

Refreshed Klaebo puts down the (Lille)hammer

After missing the 20km Mass Start in Ruka on Sunday and the 10km Freestyle in Lillehammer on Friday as he recovered from a cold, Klaebo was refreshed and motivated in his bid for a fifth World Cup victory in Lillehammer.

He qualified second fastest then won his quarter-finals and semi with a minimum of fuss to reach a final featuring four Norwegians – but not sprint specialist Erik Valnes who missed out on a lucky loser’s spot after finishing third in his semi-final.

Klaebo blasted out of the starting gates as usual with Lucas Chanavat (FRA) and Federico Pellegrino (ITA) – two sprint heavyweights more than capable of spoiling the Norwegian party – initially staying close.

But Klaebo powered away on the final climb with a sense inevitability that we have felt so many times.

This time, there was no punch of the air as he crossed the line 1.22 seconds ahead of compatriot Even Northug, just a knowing smile from a job well done, followed by a modest wave to the crowd.

This was a sixth World Cup podium for Northug – younger brother of cross-country legend Petter  – while Pellegrino completed the podium to signal a welcome return to form after a disappointing 2023/24 season, when he only stood on the podium twice.

“I’ve been a little bit sick since Ruka, so I didn’t manage to race last Sunday and needed to wait one extra day,” Klaebo said.

“I was quite tired in the prologue [qualification] but I feel like I kind of woke up a little bit after an early start. It’s good to be back. The plan is to race tomorrow but just going to see how everything feels after today.”

Pellegrino said: “It was good to get a first podium of the season; it was not expected at all. Today the goal was to qualify and then to find a way to feel I was getting the speed in the last part. I’m pretty satisfied.

“The form is good and the speed is coming. I can look forward to the Alps and I still think I can be challenging there. I really hope there is more to come from me.”

The FIS Cross-Country World Cup season continues on Sunday in Lillehammer with the Men’s and Women’s 20km Skiathlon races.

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For the full results from Lillehammer, click here