Record Olympic champion Johannes Hösflot Kläbo from Norway ended his superlative season with a victory in the last race of the winter.
The 29-year-old, who won six of six possible gold medals at the Winter Games in Italy, also won the final mass start over 20 kilometers in Lake Placid/USA. In the women’s category, Sweden’s Jonna Sundling won and U23 world champion Helen Hoffman was the best German in eighth place (+10.5 seconds).
Kläbo prevailed with a lead of 0.8 seconds over his teammates Harald Östberg Amundsen and Einar Hedegart (+2.5 seconds). The best Germans were the brothers Jakob (+52.7) and Friedrich Moch (+57.4) in tenth and 15th place.
A record remains record man Kläbo, who had already won the overall World Cup in advance, but was denied for the time being: Marit Björgen still holds the record for the most victories (114), his compatriot can only catch up with Kläbo in the first race of the new season at the earliest. The 29-year-old now has 113 wins.
Sundling then wins ahead of compatriot Linn Svahn (+3.5) and Heidi Weng (Norway/+4.2). In the absence of Katharina Hennig Dotzler, 2022 Olympic team sprint champion, 24-year-old Hoffmann in particular showed a strong performance.
Meanwhile, US cross-country skier Jessica Diggins finished the last race of her career in twelfth place, shortly before the finish the Olympic champion from Pyeongchang collapsed. The 34-year-old leaves the big stage in front of her home crowd for the third time in a row by winning the overall World Cup (four in total).
