By Adele Haeg
The 2024/2025 World Cup Season culminated today in a 50-kilometer classic race through the evergreen Lahti forests. This season finished just like it started — and like how this sport itself started — with the Norwegians.
Even in Finland, it was still Norway. That’s this year’s men’s World Cup season in three words: It was Norway. Or, it was Klæbo.
Today it was Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, Andreas Fjorden Ree, Simen Hegstad Krüger, and Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget, a battalion in red at the front of the race. Even though the Norwegians were working as a team to fend off the advances of non-Norwegians William Poromaa, Friedrich Moch, Iivo Niskanen, and Gus Schumacher, it was still every man for himself at the finish line. Where, of course, Klæbo, king of Trondheim, prevailed.
Klæbo said to reporters on-site after the race, “That was a hard one. The conditions were really good but it was still soft and it was hard and I felt like Martin was putting on some pace quite early, so I felt like I was struggling for a long time there.”
Was Klæbo actually sweaty and tired? What? “Just wanted to finish up in a good way,” he said to the FIS reporter, smiling.
photos: screenshots from broadcast
Less than three kilometers from the finish, up one of the hills on the course with the steepest grade, each of the four Norwegians was walking in herringbone, fatigued. At the top of the hill Krüger sprang up into a stride and attempted to separate himself from the pack, but it was Klæbo off the tricky hairpin turn into the stadium in first spot. He negotiated the icy bank of the (in)famous Lahti Corner the best, always agile, stepping into the final downhill to the stadium with a lead that he would not relinquish.
Klæbo skied today’s 50km in 2:07.32. Four-tenths of a second behind him was Nyenget, and one second back was Krüger.
Krüger, who was also third in the Trondheim 50km, won his first Distance Globe today. Second place in the distance standings, Harald Østberg Amundsen, was absent today, and third place Hugo Lapalus was not able to catch Krüger, though it was close.
Pål Golberg, who recently announced his retirement from the sport, finished his final World Cup race in ninth, 3:48.2 behind Klæbo. Golberg is one of the all-time greats, with 13 World Cup victories to his name, 207 starts. Golberg had his first ever World Cup podium in Lahti, 14 years ago, so it’s only fitting that he end his career there. He was met at the finish line with a shower of champagne and the congratulations of the Norwegian squad. He deserves it.
Both Iivo Niskanen and Gus Schumacher skied with guts today. Niskanen finished in 6th and Schumacher in 8th, by far his best career World Cup 50km result.
The Finn and the American drove the drama at the halfway point of the race — Niskanen opted to switch to his second pair of skis before any of the leaders did, and he was off the back of the pack for a few kilometers as a result of this tactical move, alongside Schumacher. It was Schumacher and Niskanen chasing then. Niskanen had his break when the leaders opted to switch out their skis.
Niskanen skied furiously away from them, to the cheers of his boisterous Finnish fans. Although the Norwegians eventually caught up to him, Niskanen kept the race spicy. And Schumacher got gritty. He lost time on the leaders after Niskanen caught him but he beat Golberg, Erik Valnes, Andrew Musgrave, and Hugo Lapalus, each of them formidable distance skiers, by a margin.
Before today’s race Schumacher told Nordic Insights he was excited to race 50km, even after the disaster that Trondheim was: “Pretty charged up after some fast racing the past couple days. Glad it’s not a skate 50. Arms are still relatively fresh. The course is good. Very hilly, but the extra hills they added are generally pretty smooth, not crazy steep, so I think it should ski well. Conditions are solid too. Hopefully there isn’t toooooo much difference between the sun-baked hills and everything else.”
As for the other Americans, Kevin Bolger finished in 34th, Ben Ogden 36th, Zanden McMullen 62nd, and JC Schoonmaker 63rd.
First, second, and third in the overall are Klæbo, Edvin Anger, and Erik Valnes. It is Klæbo’s fifth career overall globe. Ogden finished this season 10th in the overall, and Schumacher 14th. Last season, Ogden finished in 32nd (albeit after missing the final third of the season with mono) and Schumacher in 15th. That’s improvement.
Of the season as a whole, JC Schoonmaker explained to Nordic Insights of the American team: “This season we have fought and raced as hard as we could all year. It may not have been our best season ever and it definitely had its ups and downs but we’re fired up to build off of this year and keep pushing forward. We should be proud of our effort and how we have carried ourselves all winter and we can just keep working on our belief that we can be a top ski nation and making that dream come true.”
The champagne for Golberg at the finish line was only a preview of the partying these skiers are about to do. Klæbo told FIS TV that his plan now is to “celebrate.” And to “process what really happened during this season,” of course.
But first, cheese and champagne. “It’s a perfect way to finish up here with a 50km as well,” he said. I agree, Klæbo.
You’re reading this on Nordic Insights, one man’s labor of love dedicated to publicizing American skiing. We started with nothing and now we’re going to the Olympics. You can read more about our first three years here, and donate to the Olympics fund here. Thank you for consideration, and, especially, for reading.
