Norway extend glorious relay run as Finland and Germany win long-awaited medals

Favourites Norway made no mistake and won the men's 4x10 relay classic free at the 2023 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica, Slovenia, on Friday with a comfortable margin.

Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo had plenty of time to wave the red-blue-white flag and enjoy the cheers from the fans as he crossed the finish line 46.9 seconds before silver medallists Finland, earning Norway their 12th consecutive world title in the event. Germany claimed bronze.

"It was nice. I had a huge gap so I just cruised out there and I was able to wave and almost speak to the coaches out there," Klaebo said.

"It was an amazing relay for the Norwegian team and I'm proud of what the other guys have done here."

Norway got a firm grip of the gold medal in the first five minutes of the race as Hans Christer Holund left the rest of the field early. He handed over to distance world No.1 Paal Golberg in the second classic leg with a 25.2-second lead that no other team was able to close.

"The plan was to take charge of the group for the first kilometres, because there's a lot of downhills and turns," Holund said.

"I wasn't interested in getting into any trouble, so after two kilometres I felt strong and decided to go quite hard because there was some fast skiers in the group and I didn't want to invite them at the last kilometres of this stage."

Holund said he was even surprised that no-one tried to follow him as he set off.

"Yes, that's not normal. But when I got the gap it was just to ski hard," he said.

The 34-year-old could then sit back and watch Golberg, two-time Planica 2023 world champion Simen Hegstad Krueger and Klaebo finish the job.

"It was amazing. We are a strong team," Holund said.

"We had good skis and the shape was good, so (I am) super happy."

The fight for second place also ended early as Finland's Iivo Niskanen showed why he is one of the world's best classic skiers with an intense first lap of the second leg that gave Finland a gap to the rest of the field. Despite struggling in his second lap, Niskanen could exchange to Perttu Hyvarinen with Finland in a comfortable second place after 20km – almost 40 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

"It was quite easily a huge gap there down to Sweden and France so I was a little bit surprised that it went that fast," Niskanen said.

"After my first lap I was a little bit struggling all the time, because I pushed already all to the limit, so the second lap wasn't that good, I was a struggling all the time. But I'm satisfied about my leg and we could have an exciting relay."

Ristomatti Hakola had done his job of keeping Finland in the chasing group for the first leg. Hyvarinen handed over to 20-year-old junior champion Niko Anttola, who did not get the pressure get to him and brought Finland to their first world championship relay medal in 14 years.

"We have been on the final stretch with the medallists many times. It has been close fights throughout the years but today we were strong enough to take it and there was a huge gap to the bronze, so we are very happy. Happy that we made it as we planned," Niskanen said.

Hakola was also happy to see the spell of places just outside of the podium put to bed for Finland, whose last medal in the event was at the world championships in Liberec, Czech Republic, in 2009.

"It was like a gold medal for us. We have waited for this for a long time," he said.

Anttola, who won the 10km free at the FIS Junior World Ski Championships in Whistler, Canada, in February, was relieved to be able to add a first senior world championship medal to his collection, his teammates lifting him on their shoulders to celebrate him afterwards.

"It was an amazing feeling. I was really nervous before the start and just tried to keep my head cool and control the skiing. The gap was quite big so it was a good situation for me," he said.

Germany's Jonas Dobler closed a 17-second gap to Sweden, France and Canada in the third leg as the four teams went shoulder to shoulder into the anchor leg and the fight for bronze.

"Our goal was to put Friedrich (Moch) in the position where he was still in the pack and still had all the chances," Dobler said.

"That was our only goal and we were only looking for a medal, it doesn't matter which colour the medal is."

After Sweden's Calle Halfvarsson struggled and fell behind together with Canada's Olivier Leveille, it was Moch and France's Jules Lapierre battling it out for the last spot on the podium.

Moch had stayed in the back to save himself energy for most of the last leg and was strongest in the sprint, earning Germany their first men's relay medal since 2011.

"I didn't expect that I would make it into this group of four and we wanted to lose Halfvarsson, so that he wasn't with us to the finish sprint," said Moch.

"I know that I can beat Lapierre in the final sprint and yes, I did. I'm really happy about that."

Canada finished fifth after France as Sweden had to settle for the sixth-place. Medal-favourites Italy had a tough day and was one minute behind after the first leg after Dietmar Noeckler had fallen, finishing ninth more than five minutes after the winners.

The men's skiers get to rest until the 50km mass start classic on Sunday, which is the final event of the world championships in Planica. Before that, the action continues with the women's 30km mass start classic on Saturday.

Click here for full results from the men's 4x10km relay classic/free.