Johannes Klaebo is getting stronger and stronger

If you consider the Tour de Ski as the final rehearsal for the Olympic Games in Beijing, the starting point is clear: the 25-year-old Norwegian Johannes Klaebo is the top favorite for all races. The blonde from Trondheim won three Olympic gold four years ago, and there may be even more medals in February. Because Klaebo showed at the Tour de Ski that he is not only an outstanding sprinter, but recently also one who is hard to beat in the distance races.

“He has gotten even better in all areas, certainly in terms of stability and strength,” says Kare Hösflot, who is both his grandfather and his trainer. At the current Tour de Ski, Klaebo achieved four days’ victories; In the last stage up to Alpe Cermis, he skated across the finish line in fifth place. In the final classification he has a lead of over two minutes on last year’s overall winner, the Russian Alexander Bolschunow.

Constantly in altitude training

Klaebo is traveling home for the first time in a long time, and there he wants “to spend as many hours as possible on the sofa to relax”. He had spent the weeks before the tour far away from home, in Davos, also because of the altitude. Klaebo had already completed two altitude training courses in autumn, mainly because the competitions in Beijing will take place at over 1,600 meters above sea level. His trainer believes these sojourns at heights made him stronger too.

There can be no talk of growing strength among Swiss cross-country skiers. On this tour, they missed practically all of the planned goals; this includes the setback in Dario Cologna’s form structure. The 35-year-old wanted to use the distance races on the Tour to raise himself to a higher level for his last Olympic Games. Instead, he was slowed down by a dry cough and had to drop out of the stage race prematurely. He’s running out of time now.

Fatally, the other Swiss failed to shed light on the gloom for their part. The hope-bearer Nadine Fähndrich started the tour brilliantly in Lenzerheide with the best sprint qualification time, but fell in the first final run. After that, not much went together with her. Jonas Baumann classified himself as the best Swiss in 18th place overall, his top result in ten tour participations. His constancy was completely lacking for the other members of the management, with them only going up and down in terms of performance.

And the men’s relay?

That gives little hope for the Olympic Games, which start on February 4th. This assessment is not only about the individual races, but also about the relay of men, which Swiss Ski had described as a medal project before autumn. It’s not entirely presumptuous: the French last won the bronze award in this competition at the 2021 World Championships – thanks to a balanced cast. That means: In the relay race, the field behind the Norwegians and Russians is wide open.

This is also where the Swiss are aiming, as they are broadly solid. At the last World Championships, the squadron came in fifth with the cast of Cologna, Beda Klee, Jason Rüesch and Roman Furger, with just 20 seconds short of the podium. However, these runners are currently not in the best of shape. “We’ll take that to Beijing,” says Christian Flury, Swiss Ski’s cross-country director.