It’s no secret that Sebastian Coe wants to introduce cross-country running into the Olympics. Or rather reintroduce it, only this time at the next Winter Games in the French Alps in 2030.
Coe’s motivation is also clear, with a quick glance at the medal table for Milano Cortina 2026 providing the evidence. Going into the last weekend of competition, with 95 of the 116 medal events decided, only 27 countries have so far managed to win a medal of any colour. Not surprisingly there’s not a single African nation in sight.
Since taking over as World Athletics president in 2015, Coe has witnessed the continuing demise of cross-country running as a globally competitive sport. Last month’s World Cross-Country Championships in Tallahassee provided further proof, with east African countries once again dominating (hardly their fault), while many European countries didn’t send a single athlete, man or woman, across the five races (shame on them).
Coe has politely suggested that cross-country running at the Winter Olympics would result in significant African interest, perhaps restoring some old European rivalries, and adding some fresh ambition too, if Olympic medals were on offer.
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Cross-country running had been part of three summer Games up to 1924, where the stifling hot conditions in Paris almost killed some of the 38 starters, so harrowing an experience that many swore never again. Coe now sees room in the Winter Olympics programme, his quest supported by International Cycling Union president David Lappartient, who helped secure the French Alps bid and is also looking to get cyclo-cross included for 2030.
For now, there is simply no stopping Norway. Once again proving itself to be a Winter Olympics behemoth, the country of just 5.6 million people is leading the way in both gold medals and overall medals won. By the start of Friday’s programme, Norway had won 16 gold, eight silver and 10 bronze. That’s 34 in all, at that point seven ahead of the US on 27, with hosts Italy doing nicely on 26.
Norway also finished first in Beijing 2022, 10 medals ahead of Germany, a country with nearly 15 times as many people. This is no fluke. There is possibly some consolation for rival nations in that Norway aren’t dominating every event, and in fact failed to qualify for both the men’s and women’s ice hockey tournaments, a quintessential winter sport.
Some nations, and indeed continents, have been making the breakthrough after 102 years of Winter Olympic history. On the slopes of the Stelvio last Saturday, Lucas Pinheiro Braathen from Brazil won the first Winter Olympics medal of any colour for South America, striking gold in the giant slalom showdown.
Braathen was, however, born in Norway. His mother is from Brazil, his father from Oslo. He grew up between both countries, representing Norway until 2023, before falling out with the Norwegian Ski Federation. They’re still taking some of the credit, as well they might.
Leading Norway’s medal charge is the irrepressible Johannes Høsflot Klæbo. The 29-year-old from Trondheim has already won five gold medals in cross-country skiing, with every chance of completing a six gold medal sweep heading into Saturday’s 50km event. Two of his medals have been in relay events, and his dominance is so complete that he’s already being considered the greatest Winter Olympian of all time – and surely among the world’s greatest athletes most people have never heard of.
With five gold medals already won from 2018 and 2022, plus one silver and bronze, Klæbo’s 10-gold medal tally now places him alongside US swimmer Michael Phelps – the only other man or woman in Olympic history to win 10 gold medals. And Klæbo’s far from finished yet. Phelps did win 23 Olympic swimming medals in all, so in that sense he’s still out on his own.
Still, it’s hard to fathom just how good Klæbo is. It’s said he would easily have won another gold in ski mountaineering, a new event at the Winter Olympics, had he bothered to enter. (Thankfully for Oriol Cardona Coll he didn’t, the Spaniard winning his country’s first gold medal at the Winter Olympics since 1972.)
Maybe Klæbo’s backstory might provide some inspiration to other Winter Olympics hopefuls. The Athletic ran a 2,400-word profile of Klæbo last Friday, delving deep into his humble beginnings as just the “average Joe” among young cross-country skiers in Norway.
As a teenager, his mother Elisabeth did have to soften his competitive spirit, especially when Klæbo wasn’t winning. And there was a lot of losing in those early days. “At that age, there was no clue he was going to get this good,” said Rune Sandoy, Klæbo’s under-15 coach at Trondheim ski club. “He was just an average Joe in the group.”
The Klæbo family arrived in Trondheim from Oslo when Johannes was five, looking for a quieter existence closer to the country. It was there he fell under the coaching influence of Didrik Tonseth, who would also win a cross-country skiing Olympic gold for Norway in 2018.
As puberty hit, the teenage Klæbo fell behind his rival cross-country skiers, before a late growth spurt at age 17 turned him into a six-foot aerobically charged powerhouse. At age 20, he became the youngest men’s skier in history to win the Cross-Country Skiing World Cup, already known for his rapid stride uphill, now known as the Klæbo Run.
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He’s been training in Utah in the US since 2022, close to Team USA’s cross-country skiing facilities. It’s been mainly for reasons of anonymity, with the sport like a religion in Norway – last week’s men’s relay attracted a 93.1 per cent TV share on public broadcaster NRK.
Coe’s plan to introduce cross-country running would likely require a change to the Olympic charter, which currently stipulates that all winter sports must be performed on snow or ice. The next World Cross-Country isn’t scheduled until 2029, at which point Coe hopes it might act as a qualifier for the 2030 Games.
Then it’s about deciding how much snow would be considered okay for cross-country running, otherwise Klæbo might be tempted to switch over, believing he’d probably win that gold medal too.
