Superstar Johannes Høsflot Klæbo has previously taken six consecutive championship gold medals in individual sprint (including the Olympic Games), but the 28-year-old has lacked the big breakthrough in a distance race.
It came now at the home World Championship in Trondheim. The 20-kilometer-long skiathlon race – where half the distance is in classical style and half in freestyle – developed into a sprint finish.
There, Klæbo is normally in a class of his own – also this day. He was first into the final stretch and pulled away to an easy gold to the great audience's jubilation.
"Worked hard"
It was about time. I have worked hard for this and it has been close several times before, but now I get to stand on top of the podium. This is more emotional than in sprint, says Klæbo in the victory interview in Viaplay's broadcast.
Klæbo says that he has heard that he has not succeeded in distance races at championships.
People have talked more about it than I have. To be able to do this in front of a home crowd, it couldn't be done at a better place.
Behind, it became a photo finish between a trio of countrymen. Silver medalist Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget and bronze medalist Harald Østberg Amundsen had the same time – one tenth behind came fourth Jan Thomas Jenssen.
William Poromaa was long in the medal hunt, but when the pace increased before the final stretch, he fell back and had to settle for eighth place. The Swede was 2.8 seconds behind Klæbo.
The feeling is good and I get to take it with me. I'm energetic all the way. It's tough when they have shortened the distance by 10 kilometers and it's 20 instead of 30 as it usually is in skiathlon. It makes a big difference for me. It becomes fast guys up front when it's time to sprint, says Poromaa to Viaplay.
Burman crashes
Edvin Anger finished in 14th place and Calle Halfvarsson became 17th man.
Jens Burman crashed in a downhill slope early in the race. Burman was forced to change one of his skis and a pole – and the chance of a top placement was practically gone. He became 51st.
He flew off the track in the left turn before entering the stadium. It looks like there was a problem with the binding. He had to change skis and broke a pole too, says men's coach Lars Ljung to Viaplay.
Corrected version: In an earlier broadcast, the time difference to the medal for fourth-place Jan Thomas Jenssen was incorrectly stated.
