Norwegians celebrate quadruple victory at the Nordic World Ski Championships

The 29-year-old led a quadruple Norwegian win on Wednesday. 5.3 seconds back, Harald Östberg Amundsen took silver, bronze went to Hans Christer Holund (+24.6). Two-time sprint world champion Johannes Hösflot Kläbo was only 25.5 seconds behind “Blech”. Austrian Philipp Leodolter was 58.

Two years ago, Krüger had won silver on both of his current gold routes, behind the Russian Alexander Bolschunow and Holund. The Russians are not allowed to start in the title fights in Slovenia because of the war of aggression in Ukraine that has been going on for more than a year.

It is the fifth World Cup medal for skiathlon Olympic champion (2018) Krüger, after all he had also secured bronze over 50 km classic in 2021. In the 15K decider he pulled away quite early, but Amundsen always stayed in close contact.

Leodolter: “A tough race”

Originally, two other Austrians should have played with Benjamin Moser and Mika Vermeulen, they passed. Vermeulen, who fell ill over the weekend, still decides whether to start over 50 km classic on Sunday.

Teresa Stadlober, who had already taken part in the skiathlon on Saturday and then drove home, was back on skis for the first time on Wednesday. The 30-year-old travels back to Planica on Thursday and decides on Friday whether she will start the 30K on Saturday, but expectations are low if she does.

Leodolter, who started number two, clearly missed the top 40 he was aiming for in slow conditions with some fresh snow. He was 4:03.3 minutes behind Krüger. “It was a tough race,” said the 24-year-old.

“I tried to pace myself well. I think I didn’t do so badly. The last lap was really tough.” He still has to talk to the team managers about further campaigns this season, Leodolter basically sees more realistic chances in distance races than in the sprint.