Klæbo and Skistad start Tour de Ski with sprint wins

Norwegians Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and Kristine Stavås Skistad kicked off this season's Tour de Ski with a cross country sprint win in Toblach, Italy on Sunday. For sprint king Klæbo it was business as usual amid a dominant World Cup season.

Norway’s Johannes Hosflot Klaebo shows his six gold medals during the men's 50 km mass start freestyle medal ceremony at the Cross-Country Skiing World Championships. Hendrik Schmidt/dpa
Norway’s Johannes Hosflot Klaebo shows his six gold medals during the men's 50 km mass start freestyle medal ceremony at the Cross-Country Skiing World Championships. Hendrik Schmidt/dpa

Norwegians Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and Kristine Stavås Skistad kicked off this season's Tour de Ski with a cross country sprint win in Toblach, Italy on Sunday.

For sprint king Klæbo it was business as usual amid a dominant World Cup season.

The Tour de Ski men's title holder clocked 2 minutes 28.82 seconds in the final heat to beat team-mate Lars Heggen by 0.13s. Oskar Opstad Vike was third, completing a podium sweep for Norway.

In the women's sprint, Stavås finished 0.24s ahead of Germany's Coletta Rydzek. Two-time sprint World Cup champion Maja Dahlqvist of Sweden was third.

Overall World Cup leader and title holder Jessie Diggins was only fourth.

The men's and women's 10-kilometre individual are scheduled for the second day of competition on Monday.

Category: General Sports