Tiril Udnes Weng wins overall crystal globe as Dahlqvist snatches cross-country sprint title in Lahti

Tiril Udnes Weng of Norway became the sixth different winner of the women’s overall cross-country crystal globe in six years with third place in the women’s sprint in Lahti.

Weng claimed a maiden crystal globe in any cross-country discipline with one race to spare having never previously finished in the top three of the overall World Cup standings.

Maja Dahlqvist of Sweden secured the cross-country sprint crystal globe by just seven points with a fourth-place finish in the final sprint race of the season in Lahti.

Dahlqvist missed out on the podium by 0.83 seconds, but with pre-race standings leader Nadine Faehndrich of Switzerland not making the final, it was enough to see her claim back-to-back sprint titles.

Kristine Stavaas Skistad won her fourth cross-country sprint World Cup in a row having twice finished second in the quarter-finals and semi-finals in Lahti.

The Norwegian came out on top when it mattered, beating out Sweden’s Jonna Sundling for the third consecutive race.

Sundling, Weng, Emma Ribom, Ane Appelkvist Stenseth and Johanna Hagstroem topped the quarter-finals, with Hagstroem the only one not to advance to the final six.

She was beaten out by Skistad, who finished only 0.13 seconds ahead of Sundling in the final to claim her fifth World Cup win of the season.

Weng rounded out the top three in Lahti, coming home 6.55 seconds behind Skistad, to also earn third place in the sprint World Cup.

Her podium appearance stretched her lead to 154 points in the overall standings ahead of the USA’s Jessie Diggins, who fell in the quarter-finals with Kerty Niskanen also on the podium.

In the men’s event, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo came through a photo finish in the quarter-finals, before building bigger and bigger margins of victory in the semi-final and final.

He stretched the 0.7-second gap to Calle Halfvarsson of Sweden to 0.75 seconds in the final, with his compatriot Erik Valnes beating out three other Norwegians to the remaining podium place.

Klaebo already had the overall Sprint World Cup sewn but moved 354 points ahead of Lucas Chanavat of France, with fellow Norwegian Even Northug in third.

The 26-year-old will round out his season tomorrow in the final distance event of the World Cup, having already secured the crystal globe.

Paal Golberg sits 464 points behind him in the standings with Federico Pellegrino 1000 points back in third.

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