Hot take: Johannes Høsflot Klæbo is more talented than any Ingebrigtsen, or any other runner

Very well explained here. And I emphasize this statement:

”Ingebrigtsens started in Nordic skiing and defaulted to running because they were not good enough at it to be competitive in their own country.”

This will give a perspective to unknowing Americans of the level of athlete on skis in Norway.

I follow XC skiing, and I think JHK is the best ever. His aerobic engine is highly remarkable in a sport where all the professionals have exceptional aerobic capacity -- just look at how long he holds the V2 technique going up the last hill in the skiathalon after all his competitors have gone to V1 offset. However, one cannot assume that his dominance in one sport means he would be dominant in another. For instance, JHK also loves and played soccer, but he didn't stand out nearly as much in that sport. He also seems to have the best wax technicians in XC.

Early in his career I used to root against Klaebo. Fortunately I quickly realized it was a waste of time. Now I appreciate him.

There was one disqualification years ago against Bolshunov. I rather enjoyed that one. Interference down the stretch. Somewhat controversial. Now I feel like an idiot for rooting for a Russian. But at the time he was among the very few who were willing to challenge Klaebo instead of conceding.

It's inaccurate to say that Kleabo has been destroying people on the final climb in the way he did yesterday and in the pyeongchang sprint for the past eight years. Both of those races were great days in his best technique and event, the classic sprint. He didn't start reliably winning distance races until the past few years, and he most often wins in the final straightaway. He is astonishingly consistent in way no skier has been before, especially in sprinting. However, I would argue this has more to do with his incredible technical skill (especially at high speeds) and his ability to always be in the right position at the right time (something he is far better at then any other athlete I've seen race, across many sports).

Kleabo is also not anywhere near as fast of a runner as some people here are speculating. I would be shocked if he could break 15:00. Below are the results from a Norwegian Road Race where he was roughly a minute back from the winner in ~12:00 race. The winner was another Norwegian skier, Harald Oestberg Amundson, who qualified 4th and then knocked out in semis yesterday. He was the world cup overall winner last year (Kleabo skipped several races) and is a podium contender across the different formats on the world cup, as well as probably the best runner on the world cup with a 8:14 3k pr. Kleabo still has a world class engine, but not in ways that translate well to skiing. Skiing fitness is very multifaceted because of the variation in race formats as well as terrain and sub-techniques, and not all skiers (especially today) are efficient runners on flat ground.

racedays.run

IDYLL X CRAFT RUN 2025 results | Racedays

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racedays.run

Moseby Invitational Racedays 2025 results | Racedays

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Norway's Therese Johaug (female) who was an excellent xc skier (Old gold medalist) ran 31:32 for 10,000 on the track (and won the Norwegian national championships at 10,000 on the track).

The rat king himself?

Do you think he was trying or pacing the top woman who is also a XC skier?

oh wow this aged like a fine wine.

Sry but thats not true.

Soccer is by far the most popular sport in norway. Every kid wants to become the next Erling Haaland.

Then it depends where you live. If you live in areas easy accessible to cross country skiing, then you might aim at becoming the next kläbo.

To be honest, skiiers are good runners but compared to the top runners in the world they are nothing. Elite skiiers typically do around 30 min plus minus a min or so for the 10 k.

This is categorically false. According to SSB (the national Statistical Central Bureau), over 75% of children aged 6 to 15 in Norway participate in organised sport. Thr most common is football, with 30-40% participation based on age.
Going down the list is handball, swimming, turn, dance, fighting sports and...then....cross country skiing, done by roughly 3-5%. That is around the same as cycling and athletics. As a activity in general (organized and organized), ca. 5% go skiing multiple times a week, and another 5% once a week. Around 60% never go or go less than once a month.
Jf. SSB: kultur-og-fritid/idrett-og-friluftsliv/statistikk/barn-si-fritid/artiklar-om-barn-si-fritid/meir-skigaing-blant-barn-fra-hoginntektsfamiliar

This is somewhat expected, as very little of Norway, including Rogaland, actually has a climate that sustains consistent winter sport training. Stavanger /Sandnes has snow about 2% of the year, and although parents can drive their kids hours into the uplands, it is not something that can be done consistently like most other sports, including football.
Langrenn may have a intense following as a viewer sport. And small pockets of the population, almost exclusively high income, have active milleus. But no, it is not true that skiing eats up Norwegian talent resources. That would be football, if anything.

This is a highly upopular fact check for us Norwegians, which still want to believe that skiing is a people's sport. But thems the facts.

(Forgot quote) This was in reference to Rogalands post about all kids wanting to be skivers, and their skiing depleting the talent pool for runners. I agree with poster above.

He would not run sub 28.....Few Norweigan skiers go sub 30. The connection between competetive running and XC-sking was closer in the 60´s and 70´s when many XC-skiers also competed in running summertime.

First off, not true. They could easily have continued with skiing, was among the top skiers.

Secondly, they live in a town withouth snow. Its not really doable.

Nonsense

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUniEvzklqU/?igsh=MTVkYmJ1eHE5MWF5aw==

Monster!

I'm Norwegian, and it's fun to see all the Klæbo memes recently. He's an insane athlete. But I disagree. Klæbo's accomplishments are really impressive, but non of them are 7:17-in-the-3000m-levels impressive. Running is a global sport. Cross country skiing is not. I like them both as athletes, but this is comparing apples and oranges.

I was wondering when the Fasterskier types would show up. I XC ski a few times a week (slowly and poorly). The snow has been good here in New England.

I didn't say anything about being top three or anything like that. I said you can use XC skiing like other fringe sports (think fencing, squash, sailing) to boost your college application.

There are plenty of slow HS runners around New England who have good XC ski results simply because the talent pool in XC skiing is so shallow. I'm too lazy to do this, but I bet if you look up the results of the Maine and Vermont XC skiing state champs and look at track times you'll be less than impressed. Of course, you do occasionally get an athlete like Ben True.

US XC skiing has improved. It's now a bunch of 4:20 HS types making the US olympic team. 20 years ago it was a bunch of 4:30 types who were willing to grind for years to make the olympics. I very much respect that.

I should start to say that I am not born in the west coast/Rogaland. And perhaps the sport is not quite as popular as it once was amongst our lazy generation that plays video games and stays inside? All I can tell you is that the overwhelming majority of my classmates wanted to be skiers. We had school days where there were ski races and even school trips where my entire class would go for ski. I can remember a huge buss of our school going to Oslo to Holmenkollen and sleeping in a hotel for to nights. Every family had/has hutts to drive to for the weekends to ski in the winter (and hike/fish in the sommer). The point is that everyone was skiing. It is without any doubts our national sport- we are born with skiis on our feet. Of course, we all wanted to be fotballers in the summer as well so your point is well taken there.