By Lukas S. Pigott
HOLMENKOLLEN, Oslo — The World Cup continues, still in Norway but with a bit more sunshine. On the program today was the 20-kilometer interval-start classic, with no clear favorite as everyone was a bit unsure of their form after a slow week recovering after the World Championships.
Have you landed after the World Champs?
“More like crash landed” was Johannes Klæbo’s reply. He then explained that the week has been spent on the couch, and that his first training session since the 50km was yesterday.
Talking to athletes today there was a noticeable feeling of both tiredness and excitement at the prospect of ending the season soon, as well as a lack of the same focus and intensity as in World Championships, now that the main goals of the season are behind. However, the vast majority of the skiers continue racing because, as Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget says, “We train too much not to race when we get a chance.”
After missing out on the party in Trondheim due to an ill-timed illness, classic maestro Iivo Niskanen would have hoped to meet the king today in Holmenkollen after winning. The chances of that looked dim however as he continued to lose time, evidently still recovering from illness. He eventually pulled out of the race, presumably with thoughts towards next week’s 50km classic at home in Lahti — a more perfect race for him is practically incomprehensible.
However, hopes of meeting the King were not gone for Niskanen. Walking around the finish area, he carried a small black gift bag containing the Holmenkollen medal, which is awarded to athletes who have “achieved outstanding results in Nordic sports and biathlon nationally and internationally over time.” This was the medal that he had shortly before received from the King of Norway, as Jessie Diggins had done in 2024.
No party this year
While there was a normal turnout for a World Cup race, there was none of the usual party atmosphere in Holmenkollen this year. Exactly why this is seems to be a bit of a mystery, but not having a full 50km, not going through the Frognerseteren part of the course, and a general sense of inertia following an all-time world championships are all likely causes.
Because of the 50km races in Trondheim and this weekend’s racing in Holmenkollen being back-to-back, FIS made the decision to have two races instead, a 20km classic and a 10km skate, due to fear of athletes not participating in another 50km.
Clear skies, warm weather, and sunshine were wholeheartedly welcomed by the athletes (and spectators) after experiencing little of those things in Trondheim, but the warm weather meant that the original course for today’s race couldn’t be used as it had melted too much.
That brought the course from being two laps of a 10km loop to three laps of a 6.2km loop. This brought the distance down to 18.6km (see above Strava post from women’s race), as well as taking out the Frognerseteren loop. Frognerseteren is normally the site of the real party in Holmenkollen, but with the race not going through there, the party was cancelled this year.
The race
Already from the first checkpoint Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget took command of the race, extending his lead to around 20 seconds after the first of three loops.
Throughout the remainder of the race he proved unstoppable and on an entirely different level then the rest of the field today. He finished with a time of 43:34, 51.2 seconds ahead of William Poromaa while Simen Hegstad Krüger rounded out the podium, two seconds behind the Swede.
After crashing out of two likely medals at the World Championships, Nyenget was, as Canadian Rémi Drolet observed, “A man on a mission.”
Talking to Nordic Insights after the race Nyenget said, “Today was a great day. I had such good skis, and lots of friends out on the course who encouraged me, so today it was fun to ski.”
When reflecting on the recent World Championships Nyenget said, “First of all, it was a great championship. I won two medals. But I was in such good shape that I could have won two more. I was a little disappointed after two of the distances there, but I was also very happy to show that I was in such good shape that I could do well here today.”
A week on the sofa
Poromaa was also happy with his second place, explaining that the focus this last week was on, “taking it easy.” He continued, “I haven’t skied much so it was good that it worked out today anyway.”
Sixth-place finisher Hugo Lapalus took a similar approach. Talking to Nordic Insights after the race he talked about his disappointment after the World Champs saying, “I think, in my mind, it was not a good result. So it’s rough. It’s really hard to continue to train, but after this race, it’s easier. So I really want to finish the season with a good result.”
Under normal circumstances Klæbo would have been one of the outright favorites for today, but after his six-fold adventure in Trondheim last week he looked visibly drained physically and mentally after finishing 14th. “My body’s tired after the World Champs. It has cost more than I thought, but that’s how it is now” was Klæbo’s candid analysis.
Mentally, have you recovered a bit?
“Yes, but suddenly you are here again and can do new ski races and people are motivated and excited like crazy. So you may not be that motivated yourself, but the focus is on the overall World Cup now, which is what matters. That’s what we have to work for.”
Klæbo currently leads the overall standings by a healthy 250 points, 1723 to Edvin Anger’s 1473, with just four scored races remaining. Klæbo has already taken home the overall crystal globe four times, in 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2023, and seems quite likely to add a fifth to his collection next weekend.
A ski lesson with Klæbo
While Klæbo might not have been in his best form today, Xavier McKeever of Canada, who finished 28th, got the chance today to ski with him for much of the race and can report that he was still skiing well.
“Good race today, for sure,” he said afterwards. “Really good ride for most of it, which is fine, it’s not every day to ski with Johannes Klæbo. Obviously not the best day for him, but it was lucky for me, and I got to ski behind him, which is really neat to like, kind of see technique and kind of tactical work, even on not as best that you can always learn from him.”
What are some of the things you learned? “I feel like he’s a really good guy to see with transitions and techniques and stuff, also tactically, like downhill and where he pushes, where he stops pushing. Overall, just really neat to ski behind him for a couple laps and be able to hang on.”
Where was it hardest to hang on to him?
“Definitely the climbs. Doublepoling is probably my strongest technique in classic and honestly, I felt pretty comfortable behind him in Doublepoling, but as soon as we hit the climbs, he would accelerate as soon as we started striding. So that’s kind of, for sure, the hardest part where I felt like the acceleration was big, and definitely over the climbs, like cresting. He’s really strong, and kind of forced me to kick in that extra gear and crest really hard.”
McKeever was not the only North American to put in a top-30 performance today. Gus Schumacher finished seventh and birthday boy Olivier Léveillé of Canada finished in a superb tenth.
‘Best classic race of the season’
Speaking to Nordic Insights after the race, Schumacher, who ended the day 1:19.9 down on Nyenget, said, “It was good. Really nice to have a strong classic interval-start race.”
How do you feel your form is?
“Oh, really good. I think it’s been really good since Falun even. And, yeah, nice to just have a really sweet conditions day, good skis, and felt like smooth pacing for sure. Super hard at the end, but that’s how it’s supposed to be. And, yeah, happy with it.”
Schumacher, who would rank this as his best classic race of the season, continued when asked if he could have done anything differently. ”I can always probably ski a little more relaxed, especially through the middle part of the race and hold speed there, but I think that was what I had today.”
When talking about how close he was to his competitors (0.1 seconds behind Lapalus, 2.5 up to Pål Golberg in 5th and less than half a minute behind second place) Schumacher said, “Interval starts aren’t always like that. So it’s fun to be getting, like, a lot of yelling good splits out there.”
How would you rank this race in your season and career?
“It’s a bigger step for me than most of even those big mass start races, obviously, like, I think I rate those higher, like the Skiathlon in Lillehammer, World Champs even, the Falun in Mass Start, and then honestly the Team Sprint in the World Champs was another big one. But yeah, as far as interval starts go, this is definitely one of my better ones.”
Schumacher’s compatriot Ben Ogden, who finished the day in 33rd, told Nordic Insights after the race, “It was tough. Really, really hard. I mean, individual start 20k is a really hard race, but it was good, though. I’m feeling okay, starting to feel the effects of a long season, but I’m happy on the whole so, yeah, on to the next one I guess.”
Are you looking forward to the season being done?
“I’m ready to be done. I mean, I’ve been here for a long time”.
What was your pacing strategy today?
“I think you have to start hard and hope that the body can hang on. I think that was kind of what I tried.”
Kevin Bolger, who ultimately finished 36th but enjoyed what girlfriend Maja Dahlqvist termed “10 seconds of glory” in the leader’s chair as an early starter, told Nordic Insights of his day, “It was fun.”
How did you feel?
“Pretty ok. You can’t really complain, [my] distance skiing is just getting better and better.”
I saw you got some company from Nyenget?
“Yes, for a very short second. He came ripping by on the last lap. It makes you really realize how quick those guys are going.”
You skied with Ben for a while, what are the benefits from that?
“Hopefully you can kind of work together. I mean, it’s tough when I’m on a last lap and Ben’s on a second lap, and, you know, I don’t want to slow him down and he doesn’t want to slow me down and we don’t want to cause any issues for each other. So it’s just nice that we know how to ski with each other.”
Rémi Drolet ended in 47th, telling Nordic Insights after the race that, “You couldn’t really rest that much, like the hills are so big here that you can just ski with good technique and then you’re going really hard.”
How do you feel your form is at the moment?
“I’m not sure. I don’t think it’s the best, I feel like I could kind of just go at one pace. At the end when I decided to try and really go I went maybe a little bit faster, but I wouldn’t say there was a humongous gear change”.
Luke Jager finished the day in 59th. Talking to the media after the race he said, “Yeah, it was hard, pretty nice though after being in the kind of sloppy Trondheim weather to get some more conventional ski conditions.”
When asked about what his pacing strategy was, Jager said, “I don’t know. I mean, try and not slow down too much I guess, which, yeah, it’s always hard, but it’s hard to start fast enough, also, because, turns out, people are going faster anyway. So, yeah, I don’t know. Just try and do your own thing out there and not get too in your head about everyone else doing and do your own thing.”
Racing continues in Holmenkollen tomorrow with the men’s and women’s interval-start 10km skate races, where Jessie Diggins, Gus Schumacher, and the other Americans will be fighting for medals in the final skate distance race of the year.
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