Kerttu Niskanen and Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo ease to 10km distance victories at World Cup event in Falun

Kerttu Niskanen and Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo prevailed in the 10km individual start classic races at the World Cup event in Falun.

Finnish star Niskanen was favourite for victory in the women’s event with home stars, Sweden’s Ebba Andersson and Frida Karlsson, absent due to injury and Maja Dahlquist opting to focus on Saturday’s sprint race.

And she justified her favourite tag with a commanding display, her winning time of 27:08.5 seeing her finish 15.9s ahead of silver medallist Katharina Hennig.

Anne Kjersti Kalvaa came home for bronze, with Jessie Diggins just missing out on a medal in fourth.

Victory means that Niskanen still holds a narrow lead over Diggins in the distance World Cup standings, though both women moved further ahead of Tiril Udnes Weng – who could only finish tenth in Falun.

However, Udnes Weng is still top of the overall standings, with Niskanen second and Diggins third.

The men’s race was dominated by Norwegian races, with Hoesflot Klaebo leading home a 1-2-3-4 for his country on Friday afternoon.

Hoesflot Klaebo’s time of 23:55.3 saw him fend off Martin Loewstroem Nyenget with some room to spare, the silver medallist finishing his time trial 10.7s behind.

Harald Oestberg Amundsen came home to take a bronze medal in third, with Paal Golberg in fourth and Finland’s Perttu Hyvarinen and Ristomatti Hakola in fifth and sixth respectively.

Victory for Hoesflot Klaebo sees him extend his advantage in the overall World Cup standings over Golberg, with Federico Pellegrino sitting in third.

But Golberg still leads the individual World Cup standings, with Hans Christer Holund in second and Hoesflot Klaebo in third.

Sportsbeat 2023