By Lukas Pigott
Granåsen Arena, Trondheim — The first medals of the 2025 FIS World Cross Country Ski Championships were to be handed out in the men’s and women’s skate sprints here earlier Thursday.
By 10 a.m., the start of the qualification round, 23,000 people had made their way up to Granåsen to see the stars in action, creating an atmosphere rare for the World Cup.
The stadium being almost filled for the qualifiers didn’t go unnoticed by American favorite Ben Ogden, who told a group of reporters, “Everyone’s been saying it, but I was like, Man, I believe it when I see it. This amount of people out for a qualifier is something I’ve never experienced.”
Gus Schumacher also noticed the amount of people, stating, “I was sort of doubtful that those grandstands were gonna be every seat full [but] it looks like people are sitting on each other’s laps up there.”
Hometown star Johannes Høsflot Klæbo was the out-and-out favorite to defend his title from the last World Championships in Planica in 2023 (not to mention his World Championships titles from Oberstdorf in 2021 and Seefeld in 2019). The tension and pressure on Klæbo’s shoulders have been building exponentially over the winter and this was the race a whole country took for granted that he would win.
In the final, Klæbo would be joined by Federico Pellegrino of Italy, Lauri Vourinen of Finland, Michal Novák of the Czech Republic, and Jules Chappaz and Lucas Chanavat of France. Klæbo took control of the race from the start.
At the top of the first hill Pellegrino took the lead, diving into a roar of noise in the stadium. On the first part of the final climb Klæbo started to push the pace, having overtaken Pellegrino on the downhill into the stadium. Much like Jonna Sundling did in the women’s race, Klæbo set a high pace up the final hill trying to put the hurt on the rest of the field.
By the top of the hill only Pellegrino was able to stay with him. After both men were able to stay on their feet through the high-speed right hand turn that claimed several skiers throughout the day, it became clear that Pellegrino would have to settle for second.
Crossing the line today, there were none of the typical held back emotions. Klæbo punched the air and smiled; you could see the tension being released as he finished. This one meant a lot to him.
“I can die happy now,” was Klæbo’s way of expressing his relief to the thousands of people who had come to see him win. At the medals ceremony that night, in front of a plaza packed with many thousands of fans, Klæbo looked more relieved than happy as he accepted his medal and briefly addressed the crowd from a gold microphone, a gold podium hat on his head and his tenth (!) career World Championships gold medal around his neck.
Klæbo was not the only podium finisher to feel strong emotions. Third-place finisher Lauri Vuorinen brought home a surprise bronze medal for the Finnish team, who celebrated by throwing him up and down in the air while yelling at the top of their lungs.
The Finnish team were big favorites going into the 10km interval-start classic behind Iivo Niskanen, but with Niskanen fighting sickness and unsure if he can compete at all here, a podium finish is surely welcomed with open arms by the Finns.
For Pellegrino, coming second behind Klæbo in the World Championships appeared to be as good as winning. The 34-year-old veteran sprinter, and World Champion from the sprint in Lahti in 2017, picked up his seventh World Championships medal today, his third from an individual sprint. Pellegrino has already said that he will be ending his career following home Olympics in 2026; this was his last World Championships sprint.
photo: Leann Bentley, USSS
Although none of the American men ended up making the final, they all made it safely through the qualifiers. They would end up joining forces in quarterfinal heats three and four.
In heat four, JC Schoonmaker and Jack Young finished third and fourth respectively, but the heat would not be fast enough for them to advance as lucky losers.
Speaking to Nordic Insights after the race, Schoonmaker said, “It was all right. Just, yeah, a little bit bummed with it; for sure I was wanting a little more out of it today.”
With an air temperature of +4–5 C the snow conditions got softer and softer throughout the day, resulting in multiple crashes. Janik Riebli, Matz William Jenssen, Jan Stölben, and Benjamin Moser were all involved in crashes in the quarterfinals.
When asked about the conditions Schoonmaker said, “Yeah, just super slushy; the hill was just pretty torn up. I just didn’t ski at my best; just kind of like was struggling with the slush and felt like I was kind of like moving through quicksand a little bit.”
When asked about the vibe in Team USA after the four men racing today all had different experiences in the heats, Schoonmaker answered, “Just rooting for Ben now, pulling for him to make it to that final and get on the podium. I think it’s pretty sweet that we all qualified, but I think for sure we’re wanting more. I don’t think any of us are satisfied with just doing that and then getting out in the quarterfinals. I think we all are hungry to make the final and get on the podium.”
[read more: Athletes on Racing in a Team USA Suit After the Election]
When asked about the current American political situation, and if that is affecting the way the Americans are treated or viewed overseas, Schoonmaker said, “I feel like the community that we’re around over here in Europe is — they know what we stand for, as the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team, and I think we’re all great people and friendly to all the other teams and they’re friendly to us. I haven’t felt that at all. I feel like, in the ski community, there’s for sure different views and different opinions on politics and all that, but I really think everyone deep down is really kind-hearted and that’s like all I felt from the ski community.”
In heat three Ogden advanced along with Even Northug, while Schumacher ended up last, failing to advance and ultimately ending his day in 27th overall.
Speaking to the North American press after his race, Schumacher said, “ Yeah, I mean [in] the qualifier I think I nailed it [but] in that quarterfinal I messed up that first corner just like coming in with a lot of speed and I sort of rolled the dice on the far outside being firm enough to carry speed through and it wasn’t.
“I just like lost all my speed, came out just like falling behind in sixth and had to accelerate. I think it was just, it’s hard to do and when it’s soft like this it’s much easier to keep your speed. So yeah I’m bummed that I didn’t approach that differently, but also I felt like I didn’t really have the speed to go super far.”
Schumacher added, “I think it’s interesting at World Champs, like, it’s not like podium or nothing, but it feels more like that than a World Cup, and like being sixth and out here, it doesn’t feel quite as bad.”
When asked how he viewed Ogden’s chances in what were at the time an upcoming semifinal and potentially final, Schumacher said, “He’s looking really good. His pace all around is super solid. I think he just needs to make the right tactical decisions and be a little bit lucky, but he can do it. It’d be crazy.”
Unfortunately for Ogden, luck wasn’t on his side today. In the second semifinal, he pushed the pace throughout the course much like he did previously this year in Les Rousses, meaning that both lucky loser places in the final would come from his semi. Ogden led the heat down the final hill but got passed going into the final corner. On the finishing straight he lost his balance, as well as the top-four placement that would have been a ticket to the final for him.
In the mixed zone afterwards Ogden was asked, What do you think about the crowd?
“I mean, they love their Norwegians,” he said. “It’s been really fun. It’s really cool to race in front of a big crowd and [it’s] motivating for me for sure.”
What does the team do after a day with skis that weren’t good, like today?
“You know, we’re privileged enough that we don’t do much. As far as the athletes, we give feedback the best that we can and I think that the wax techs sit down and look at the systems and see what maybe could have been different. But I think in general we try not to beat ourselves up over it. You know, you’re gonna have good days and bad days in terms of fitness and good days and bad days in terms of skis. So the most important thing is to brush it off and look to the next day.”
How is the team environment when everybody’s had such different experiences on a day like today?
“I think it’s tricky because I think that good times and like the preparation times are the easiest moments to have good team cohesion and support each other and be happy for each other, but I think that when you have a bad day, or a day when half the people have a bad day and half have a good day, I think that’s when it becomes a challenge. But like, we’ve been here, we’ve had bad days, it happens, and it’s a long championship. And I think that, like, that’s what we’ll keep in mind, and at least as a men’s group, I think we are experts at laughing it off, if that makes sense.
“We’ll go home and feel sorry for ourselves for a few minutes, but we’ll pretty quickly be, you know, making jokes and talking about what could have been and not being too hard on ourselves, so that’s what’s in the future. And I think we’ll be fine, but, you know, not what we all had hoped for, I would say.”
Unfortunately none of the Canadian men were able to make it through to the heats with Pierre Grall-Johnson ranking as the top Canadian in 36th, only half a second from qualifying.
Sasha Masson, who qualified 54th, told Nordic Insights afterward, “For myself, today the race was mediocre. But to represent Canada and stuff is just unbelievable.”
When asked if he struggled with his skis Masson said, I mean it’s hard to tell. I don’t know, on the downhill it seemed like they were having a little bit too much suction. But it’s also the kind of conditions we’re seeing today”.
After his qualifier, Graham Ritchie, 48th in the qual, told Nordic Insights, “Oh it was not bad for sure. I was hoping for a little more, but tough out there for sure.”
“Skiing in Norway is always a pretty cool experience,” Ritchie continued. “This sprint course is really fun because for spectators it’s probably one of the only sprint courses other than Davos where you can actually see the whole thing from pretty much anywhere you’re standing. So it’s pretty cool for the spectators to get 20 plus thousand people” here.
Ritchie has been working his way back into form after breaking his ankle last year. Talking about his situation, he said, “I mean, for myself personally, I’m just happy to be here and it feels pretty amazing. Just after the last year and a half, I’m just happy to be here. And you know, if this is my only race, then that’s fine. I’m just happy to be here. Just happy to take it in. There’s probably, you know, not everyone gets to experience a world championship in Norway. So it’s pretty cool.”
Ritchie added that he was “building back into racing this year and things are progressing kind of as expected and going, you know, slow, but getting better every race. So just looking forward to the rest of the season and seeing how much more it climbs back up into normal shape.”
“You kind of just have to trust the base of training you already have from previous years and just trust that it’ll come back,” he said. “It just takes time and it takes racing. … The big goal is the Olympics next year. So kind of just have to do what’s best this year to be prepared for that next year.”
When asked about his race day preparations and specifically bicarb, a baking soda–based fueling system from Maurten that currently retails on The Feed for $70 for four servings and is said to improve performance, Ritchie said, “I think it became big when I was out last year. I came back to the World Cup and everyone’s doing this bicarb and I’m like, Wow, okay, it’s too expensive for my life. I’ll just skip.”
It wasn’t only the Canadians who struggled out on the course. Marcus Grate of Sweden was only 36th in qualifying, meaning that he would not be advancing to the heats.
When Nordic Insights spoke to Grate he was clearly devastated. “It is an enormous disappointment and sorrow” he said, struggling to hold back the tears. “That it’s ending this early — it’s simply not [good] enough.” Grate added, “It feels good and I’m doing what I’m supposed to and really leaving everything on the course. … I’m really lost.”
One of the big favorites to challenge Klæbo was Grate’s compatriot, Edvin Anger. However, it was not to be for Anger or any other of the Swedish men today.
Speaking to the press after exiting out of the quarterfinals, Emil Danielsson said, “Of course, Edvin had high expectations of himself too. And I had hoped for more. Free to go into the qualifiers. So, yeah, it’s not a great thing.”
Danielsson continued, “The World Championships in Norway, it’s big. It’s awesome to have made my World Championships debut too. So I guess I’ll take something positive with me from here. But in terms of results it was a bit below what I had hoped for.”
Anger pulled few punches when discussing the soft course conditions, telling Expressen, “The World [Championships] should not be decided on courses like this.”
Norwegian coach Arild Monsen, in the same article, countered, “There have been many different conditions at different competitions, but Johannes always wins. It’s part of the sport, dealing with the conditions you’re put in.”
Athletes also have to deal with the competitors around them. James Clugnet of Great Britain did not enjoy his experience with Anger in the second quarterfinal. At the top of the final climb in this heat Clugnet was on the inside beside Anger, who didn’t give him any space around the top of the hill. After Anger took an action that was somewhere between a “that’s sprinting” race incident and an unfair closing the door on Clugnet the Brit had to settle for third down the hill, losing speed and ending up not advancing.
A clearly frustrated Clugnet told journalists after the race, “He didn’t want me to go to the front. I could feel him getting closer and closer and closer. And I was like, No, I’m not getting into this spot. Normally when that happens and the person on the inside doesn’t back down, you just keep your line and go around the corner. But he just kept getting closer and closer and in the end he just kind of stepped over me and I had to push him.”
“So yeah, it’s tough, especially when it’s like one British guy. So it’s like the whole team that’s affected. I was telling the Swedish media, imagine if the whole Norwegian team, like, bullies the whole Swedish team in the last corner. And just, yeah, I felt a bit like he’s this big guy from a big nation and I’m a small guy from a small nation. He can do that and get away with it. Maybe he gets a yellow card, maybe not. But at the end of the day, I go home and he goes first.”
Anger is not mentioned in the official results as receiving any sort of sanction for today’s racing, either a yellow card or just a verbal warning.
Klæbo was the only Norwegian in the men’s final, which is a disappointment for the calibre of skiers on the Norwegian team, and the fact that they are racing a home championships. Monsen told Norwegian broadcaster NRK, “Thank god we have Klæbo; he saved the day for our team today.”
When asked about the Norwegians struggling today, and before knowing the outcome of the final, Danielsson said, “Yes, it’s been a bit of a mess for them too with falls and stuff. We’ll see. They might win anyway, then they’ll be happy. We Swedes don’t like Norway. Maybe Chanavat will take it now then. We’ll see. I hope so.”
Well, they did win, and they were happy. But maybe, just maybe, will the Norwegians be not quite as dominant as we expect. When asked if he had any message to everyone in the stadium, Klæbo said with a twinkle in his eye, “This is how we do it in Trondheim. Come back on Saturday — it’s gonna be fun.” Stay tuned for the next ten races out of Trondheim — it’s gonna be fun.
You’re reading this on Nordic Insights, one man’s labor of love dedicated to publicizing American nordic skiing. Last season’s GoFundMe is literally the only reason why I turned a profit in years one and two of Nordic Insights, and in turn the only reason why there is a year three of Nordic Insights for you to be reading now: I was okay with working for very little money to get this love letter to American cross-country skiing off the ground, but I didn’t want to lose money for the privilege of doing so. If you would like to support what remains a brutally shoestring operation, last season’s GoFundMe may be found here. Thank you for your consideration, and, especially, for reading.
