Johannes Høsflot Klæbo


Johannes Høsflot Klæbo is a Norwegian cross-country skier who represents Byåsen IL. He holds multiple records, most notably for being the youngest male in history to win the FIS Cross-Country World Cup, the Tour de Ski, a World Championship event and an Olympic event in cross-country skiing.
During the 2019–2020 World Cup season, Klæbo became the most successful male sprinter in World Cup history in terms of individual race victories, and set a new record for the most overall sprint titles, with 4. He is currently the third most successful male overall race winner in the competition's history.
Klæbo won three gold medals at the 2018 Winter Olympics, in his debut Olympic appearance.

Athletic career

2015–16: World Cup debut

Klæbo made his debut in the World Cup in the 2015–16 season in the classic sprint in Drammen, Norway on 3 February 2016. He finished 15th in the race.

2016–17: Breakthrough season

In the following 2016–17 season, Klæbo achieved his first World Cup podium after finishing third in the classic sprint in Ruka, Finland on 26 November 2016. Later in the 2016–17 season, on 18 February 2017, Klæbo got his first World Cup victory when he won the sprint freestyle in Otepää, Estonia. He competed at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2017 in Lahti, Finland, winning a bronze medal at the Men's sprint competition. On 17 March 2017 in Quebec City he won his first small crystal globe in the Sprint World Cup and also won the Helvetia U23 overall ranking after winning the end-of-season mini tour. He finished his second World Cup season with three victories.

2017–18: Olympic success and World Cup overall

Klæbo participated in his first Olympics at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. Prior to the Olympics, he had nine victories in the 2017–18 World Cup. He made his Olympic debut by finishing 10th in the men's skiathlon event. On 13 February 2018 he became an Olympic champion after winning the men's sprint. This victory made him the youngest ever male to win an Olympic event in cross-country skiing. He skied the last leg on the Norwegian teams that won both the 4 × 10 kilometre relay and the men's team sprint. A steep hill on the Olympic course was dubbed “Klæbo-bakken” by Norwegian media after Klæbo overtook his competitors several times in this climb throughout the games. With three gold medals, he tied with French biathlete Martin Fourcade for most gold medals won in the games.
Klæbo won the overall 2017–18 World Cup with a gap of 119 points down to Dario Cologna, making him the youngest ever winner of the World Cup. He also beat the record for the most sprint victories in a single World Cup season, with 7 wins.

2018–19: Tour de Ski, World Championships, and second World Cup overall

Klæbo won the 2018–19 Tour de Ski in his first appearance in the Tour. 22 years and 76 days old, he became the youngest skier to win the overall Tour de Ski.
Klæbo won three gold medals at the 2019 World Championships in Seefeld in Tirol, Austria. He started the championships with a World Championship title in the individual sprint. By winning the sprint, Klæbo became the youngest male winner of a World Championship race in cross-country skiing. He finished 30th in the skiathlon after not keeping up at the classic part of the race. The result at the skiatlon made Klæbo give away his spot at the 15 kilometre classic to Sjur Røthe. Together with Emil Iversen, Klæbo won the team sprint after beating Russia's Alexander Bolshunov in the last stages of the final leg. On 1 March, Klæbo raced the 4th leg on Norway's team who won the 4 × 10 kilometre relay on the second-to-last event of the championships.
Klæbo won the overall 2018-19 World Cup and extended his own record of most sprint victories in a single World Cup season, with 8 wins. He also leveled Emil Jönsson's all-time World Cup record of most sprint victories, with 16 wins, and tied with Emil Jönsson and Ola Vigen Hattestad for the most overall sprint titles, with 3.

2019–20: Hand injury and fourth World Cup sprint title

After a shorter season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a hand injury resulting in a short absence from competing, Klæbo placed second overall in the 2019–20 World Cup. He also placed third in the 2019–20 Tour de Ski and achieved his best end-of-season ranking in the distance discipline, placing sixth. Klæbo also won his fourth overall sprint title, thereby setting the record for most overall sprint titles in history. He also overtook Emil Jönsson's all-time World Cup record of most individual sprint victories, extending his own record to 24.

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation.

Olympic Games

Year Age 15 km
individual		 30 km
skiathlon 		50 km
mass start		 Sprint 4 × 10 km
relay 		Team
sprint
201821—10—GoldGoldGold

World Championships

Year Age 15 km
individual		 30 km
skiathlon 		50 km
mass start		 Sprint 4 × 10 km
relay 		Team
sprint
20172015——Bronze—4
201922—30—GoldGoldGold

World Cup

Season titles

Individual podiums

No.SeasonDateLocationRaceLevelPlace
12016–1726 November 2016 Rukatunturi, Finland1.4 km Sprint CWorld Cup3rd
22016–172–4 December 2016 Nordic OpeningOverall StandingsWorld Cup2nd
32016–1714 January 2017 Toblach, Italy1.2 km Sprint FWorld Cup3rd
42016–1718 February 2017 Otepää, Estonia1.4 km Sprint FWorld Cup1st
52016–178 March 2017 Drammen, Norway1.2 km Sprint CWorld Cup2nd
62016–1718 March 2017 Quebec City, Canada15 km Mass Start CStage World Cup1st
72016–1717–19 March 2017 World Cup FinalOverall StandingsWorld Cup1st
82017–1824 November 2017 Rukatunturi, Finland1.4 km Sprint CStage World Cup1st
92017–1825 November 2017 Rukatunturi, Finland15 km Individual CStage World Cup1st
102017–1824–26 November 2017 Nordic OpeningOverall StandingsWorld Cup1st
112017–182 December 2017 Lillehammer, Norway1.5 km Sprint CWorld Cup1st
122017–183 December 2017 Lillehammer, Norway15 km + 15 km Skiathlon C/FWorld Cup1st
132017–189 December 2017 Davos, Switzerland1.5 km Sprint FWorld Cup1st
142017–1817 December 2017 Toblach, Italy15 km Pursuit CWorld Cup1st
152017–1813 January 2018 Dresden, Germany1.2 km Sprint FWorld Cup2nd
162017–1820 January 2018 Planica, Slovenia1.6 km Sprint CWorld Cup1st
172017–1821 January 2018 Planica, Slovenia15 km Individual CWorld Cup2nd
182017–1827 January 2018 Seefeld, Austria1.4 km Sprint FWorld Cup1st
192017–183 March 2018 Lahti, Finland1.6 km Sprint FWorld Cup3rd
202017–187 March 2018 Drammen, Norway1.2 km Sprint CWorld Cup1st
212017–1816 March 2018 Falun, Sweden1.4 km Sprint FStage World Cup1st
222018–1924 November 2018 Rukatunturi, Finland1.4 km Sprint CWorld Cup2nd
232018–1915 December 2018 Davos, Switzerland1.5 km Sprint FWorld Cup1st
242018–1929 December 2018 Toblach, Italy1.3 km Sprint FStage World Cup1st
252018–191 January 2019 Val Müstair, Switzerland1.4 km Sprint FStage World Cup1st
262018–193 January 2019 Oberstdorf, Germany15 km Pursuit FStage World Cup1st
272018–195 January 2019 Val di Fiemme, Italy15 km Mass Start CStage World Cup1st
282018–1929 December 2018
– 6 January 2019		 Tour de SkiOverall StandingsWorld Cup1st
292018–1919 January 2019 Otepää, Estonia1.6 km Sprint CWorld Cup1st
302018–199 February 2019 Lahti, Finland1.6 km Sprint FWorld Cup1st
312018–1912 March 2019 Drammen, Norway1.2 km Sprint CWorld Cup1st
322018–1916 March 2019 Falun, Sweden1.4 km Sprint FWorld Cup1st
332018–1922 March 2019 Quebec City, Canada1.6 km Sprint FStage World Cup1st
342018–1923 March 2019 Quebec City, Canada15 km Mass Start CStage World Cup1st
352018–1924 March 2019 World Cup FinalOverall StandingsWorld Cup1st
362019–2029 November 2019 Rukatunturi, Finland1.4 km Sprint CStage World Cup1st
372019–2030 November 2019 Rukatunturi, Finland15 km Individual CStage World Cup2nd
382019–2029 November
– 1 December 2019		 Nordic OpeningOverall StandingsWorld Cup1st
392019–2014 December 2019 Davos, Switzerland1.5 km Sprint FWorld Cup1st
402019–2028 December 2019 Lenzerheide, Switzerland15 km Mass Start FStage World Cup2nd
412019–2029 December 2019 Lenzerheide, Switzerland1.5 km Sprint FStage World Cup1st
422019–203 January 2020 Val di Fiemme, Italy15 km Mass Start CStage World Cup1st
432019–204 January 2020 Val di Fiemme, Italy1.5 km Sprint CStage World Cup1st
442019–2028 December 2019
– 5 January 2020		 Tour de SkiOverall StandingsWorld Cup3rd
452019–2019 January 2020 Nové Město, Czech Republic15 km Pursuit CWorld Cup2nd
462019–2026 January 2020 Oberstdorf, Germany1.6 km Sprint CWorld Cup1st
472019–2018 February 2020 Åre, Sweden0.7 km Sprint FStage World Cup1st
482019–2020 February 2020 Meråker, Norway34 km Mass Start FStage World Cup2nd
492019–2022 February 2020 Trondheim, Norway1.5 km Sprint CStage World Cup1st
502019–204 March 2020 Konnerud, Norway1.5 km Sprint FWorld Cup1st

Team podiums

No.SeasonDateLocationRaceLevelPlaceTeammate
12018–1910 February 2019 Lahti, Finland6 × 1.6 km Team Sprint CWorld Cup1stIversen
22019–201 March 2020 Lahti, Finland4 × 7.5 km Relay C/FWorld Cup1stGolberg / Holund / Røthe

Personal life

Klæbo was born in Oslo, the capital of Norway. He lived there until he was five years old, before he and his family moved to Trondheim. He grew up there and still lives there today. Klæbo is very close to his family and spends a lot of time with them. His father, Haakon Klæbo, is his manager and his grandfather, Kåre Høsflot, is his coach.
Outside sports, Klæbo and his younger brother, Ola, run a YouTube channel where they upload weekly vlogs about Klæbo's everyday life as an athlete. He started his channel because he wanted people to see what cross-country skiers do outside competitions and off-season. His siblings help him out by editing and translating the videos. As of October 2019, Klæbo has over 102,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, and totals over 12 million views from over 100 videos.
He was previously part of Norway's elite sprint team. As of mid 2019, he is part of Norway's men's elite allround team.
Klæbo was given a non-custodial prison sentence of 16 days and a fine of NOK 10,000 by Sør-Trøndelag district court on 5 March 2019, following a road traffic accident on 12 December 2018, where he collided with a stationary car at a pedestrian crossing.