Høsflot Klæbo, who has won sprint, freestyle and classic titles already this campaign, won the sprint free event in a time of 2min 56.45sec, to continue a stellar calendar year, which included winning four medals at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

Italian Federico Pellegrino took the silver in 2:57.20, with Even Northug of Norway claiming bronze in 2:57.68.

In the six-strong final, fourth place went to Edvin Anger of Sweden, with two more Norwegians Paal Golberg and Ansgar Evensen in fifth and sixth places respectively.  

Earlier in the day, Høsflot Klæbo had showed he was likely to be the man to beat again as he topped sprint free qualifying in 2:49.88.

The Norwegian leads the men’s World Cup sprint standings for the season overall with 230 points, with Northug in second on 189 and Golberg in third place on 185.

In the women’s event, there was a Swedish one-two with Emma Ribom winning her second World Cup race as she claimed victory in 3:20.40.

Her compatriot Maja Dahlqvist, who won three medals at Beijing 2022, took silver in 3:20.57, with Norway’s Tiril Udnes Weng completing the podium as she won bronze in 3:21.51.

In the six-strong final, fourth place went to Jessie Diggins of the United States, with Victoria Carl of Germany in fifth and Johanna Hagstroem in sixth place.

Ribom tops the women’s World Cup sprint standings overall with 223 points, with Weng in second on 195 and Dahlqvist and Hagstroem in joint third place with 181 points.