The keyword “klaebo” is currently trending due to the impressive achievements of Norwegian cross-country skier Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo at the Winter Olympics. Recent reports indicate that he has won six gold medals during this major international sports event, which has generated significant interest among fans and sports enthusiasts.
His historic performances, particularly highlighted in articles discussing his victories in events such as the Olympic Team Sprint and the 50k Classic, have captured the attention of the public and are a direct catalyst for the increased search interest. The articles detail Klaebo’s dominant displays, reinforcing his status as a leading figure in the sport and contributing to the surge in searches related to his name.
The combination of his record-setting accomplishments and the ongoing coverage of the Olympic proceedings has led to an influx of individuals seeking information about his performance and career. This has resulted in over 20,000 searches, emphasizing the current fascination with Klaebo’s achievements on the Olympic stage.
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Internet Reacts
G
This dude is an absolute freak of nature. What a joy to watch.
N
Cross country skiing is far from the most exciting thing to watch, but I’ve been glued to it thanks to this guy. Incredible to watch him cross the line and not even look tired, with other athletes collapsing.
F
It’s a fucking herculean task. Ccs might not be too exciting, but it’s tough as balls, conparable to rowing.
D
Unreal. Similar to Phelps where he’s just a beast in an event, and the games have like 7 variations of the same thing.
S
Obviously it helps to have multiple variations of your event to compete in, but, like Phelps, it’s so impressive to me that he has the endurance to beat the other top athletes in the world multiple times in 2 weeks
D
Unreal sporting achievement
Z
And both in sprints and endurance events as well. Winning the few minute long explosive sprints with similar ease as 50km, incredible.
G
Yes and no, nordic skiing only has two disciplines, Classic and skate/freestyle, but there are sprints and endurance events though which is incredible that Klaebo can win both. They don’t double up the distances for both techniques in the Olympics though. The only other skier that comes close to Klaebo is Bjorn Daehlie who had his career cut short after he was hit by a car (I think) during summer training and had to retire before the 2002 Olympics. Those two are on another level and have an absurdly huge VO2 max that helps them get these results.
E
Dæhlie didnt quit because of the car accident, but because of back problems caused by a rollerskiing accident
G
Yeah, I remember it was a recurring back issue. I thought it was a car involved while he was roller skiing that caused the accident but I may be misremembering. I stand corrected.
S
He’s certainly Phelps like for this games. Only 12 more golds to catch Phelps overall.
C
But only one more winter Olympics in 2030 probably, which brings him 6 shy of Phelps, IF he gets 6 golds again then
C
Not like Phelps. He never swam a race longer than 7min. Klaebo’s like Usain Bolt beating you in the 100, and then again in the Marathon a few days later. And there’s not a damn thing you can do to stop him.
D
Taking nothing away from him but the magnitude of difference in the distance is not nearly this big lol. The sprint in cross country skiing is like 1.5 km and the longest race they do is 50 km iirc. A marathon is like 42000 m vs usain bolt racing in 100 M.
C
Nonetheless, Phelps Olympic record in the 2hr 10km swim is shit. Klæbo decisively beats you in 3 1/2 minutes. He beats you in 2 hours. And he makes it look easy.
D
Yeah again Im not arguing he isnt a generational athlete, Im just saying the bolt to marathon comparison just isn’t accurate.
P
You are being extremely pedantic. Yes it’s not a 1:1 comparison if you measure up the ratios. It’s still one of the best and easiest to understand examples showcasing the absurdity that is Klaebo. The fact that he beats the field in both the sprint distances and long distances is phenomenal. No matter the ratio between sprint and endurance. This is something that sets Klaebo apart from a Bolt and Phelps who, while being extremely dominant, were not this versatile.
D
A marathon is 42km, so according to you, his longest event is longer than a marathon. Is your point that the sprint event in xc is longer than what Usain Bolt ran? I guess you’re right that it’s not *exactly* the same, but the comparison they made to illustrate that this guy is winning in the sprint and endurance races is very reasonable. If I’m understanding your issue with the comparison correctly, then I think you’re being very pedantic.
D
The point is that the ratio of longest to shortest event is dramatically different. 1.5 km to 50 km is longest event ~34x the shortest. 100 m to 42000 m is longest event 420x the shortest, the difference is literally over 10x, not even comparable lol. If you kept the ratio of shortest to longest the same the longest for bolt would be like 2 miles. Call that pedantic if you want but from my pov thats a dramatic difference lol.
C
Pendentic for a purpose. Not sure many can name the 1500m winner from the Paris Olympics (Cole Hocker), but most people know Bolt and Klæbo is as dominant as he was across vastly different distances.
I
Is Nordic skiing popular enough to have high level specialize in 1.5 v 50km? If all athletes do both he is never at a disadvantage, especially since both are “endurance” races. That’s a huge difference to running, where you aerobic vs anaerobic races (sprints).
C
It’s not popular enough in the U.S., but it is in Nordic counties. Also, it doesn’t matter if it’s running/swimming/cycling/cross country skiing. The aerobic/anaerobic differences are the same. Over 2 hrs, your body has to break into fat stores that it doesn’t need in 3 min. Usain Bolt aside (it was an alliteration) 1600m medalists are not marathon medalists.
B
Definitly
A
As a person who like XC. The competition in swimming is much harder. So no matter how good Klæbo is he can’t really prove it in the same way
C
How is the competition in swimming much harder?
B
Way more of the world’s population swims competitively than cross country skis competitively
C
Okay that’s fair. That means any running related medal is harder competition than any swimming competition.
A
Absolutely. 1500 m running and more are the sport where most of the world can train in the most even way. The plentiful resources we have in the west ain’t as dominating on those distances- even if they still matter. Nothing is as competitive as those distances. 100 m require more specific training and facilities to reach olympic finals and medals – which also shows.
C
At the end of the day though, Klaebo is one of the world’s greatest athletes. There is plenty of competition in x-c to make it a hard road that very few people could ever walk. If x-c were an easy sport, the athletes would not be known for their high VO2 maxes.
B
Talent pool size and incentive for the best athletes to play the sport. Neither Swimming nor Cross Country are near the top for size or payout. Prestige of the sport is a factor, the 100m Gold medalist is the most desired medal in either Olympics for example. It’s harder to be Messi or Lebron or Alcaraz where millions/billions play the game and the best athletes are drawn there because it pays out in 10s of millions salary.
N
Does he have a condition/malformation and special equipment that gave an extra edge, similar to Phelps or is he just too good?
G
I heard commentators mention his superhuman lactic acid threshold, for one.
E
From what I gather is definitely high stats like lactic threshold VO2 max, but also is very technically sound. Skate skiing and even classic is very much about translating as much energy as possible towards movement while expending the minimal amount. Balance having a feel for knowing exactly where your stride is to transfer weight ect. All top level skiers have this ability but maybe he’s just that little bit better.
D
Probably has some super good lungs.
J
I get the equipment comment, but it’s not like Phelps got surgery to change his body to give himself an advantage he was just born with that lamo
N
I know, that’s why I said a “condition/malformation” which gave him that extra boost. Didn’t say he upgraded his body. Nothing wrong with that. And was just wondering if it’s case here as well.
A
Every top athlete is a genetic freak in one way or another, Phelps’s was just very visible. As for equipment Norway has a significantly bigger budget than other countries because of the sports popularity meaning better ski prep
T
I love how people are complaining about different variations in cross country skiing of all sports, one of the more grueling sports to just keep piling up races in. Guy just got his last gold in a 50km race
C
I think the problem is that watching x-c it’s hard to understand 1) how difficult it is 2) how different skate v classic v sprint v distance really is.
S
They do 50km in 2 hours. I need almost 2 hours for 10km.
C
Yeah, I only did 30k once and I was zonked after. My favorite distance was 10k.
D
On skis? You should be able to walk 10km in 2 hours tbh.
S
Yes, on skis. There hasn’t been much snow in my area the last 10 years, so I’m very out of practice when the yearly Easter trip comes around.
D
Damn, that is *incredibly* slow.
H
lol you are not wrong. Average walking speed is 3-5 km/hr so they were going about as fast as people walk. Maybe for normal people it is that slow?
T
This entire exchange is just ignorant. A lot depends on whatever trail they’re on and conditions, but beginner level cross country skiers will very normally take longer to go 10k on skis than by foot. 10k taking 2 hours for someone with very little practice is normal
V
The thing is that you are not going for 10k distances as a total beginner. One graduates to those distances quite fast, but at that moment you are not a beginner.
D
As a Norwegian I guess it’s hard for me to imagine someone being that bad at skiing. And obviously, if you’re going uphill, you’re gonna be slower, but I assumed we were talking a mostly flat trail, or at least one that goes a bit up and down. You’re gonna save quite a bit of time going downhill, given that you’re actually able to stay on your feet. The person I responded to initially said they hadn’t skied much in the past 10 years, but neither have I, and I still think I would do 10k a lot faster than 2 hours. I didn’t think we were talking about absolute beginners, because that’s a completely different ballgame.
T
For reference, the marathon world record is ~42km in 2:00:35. So he’s going faster than marathoners, but up and down hills in the snow.
N
I get tired driving 50km.
Additional Sources:
FasterSkier – Klaebo’s History, USA’s Glory—Olympic Team Sprint
FasterSkier – Six for Six: Klaebo Makes History in 50 k Classic
