Norway absolutely dominating in the Cross Country competition

37 comments
  1. And Musgrave has been living here for years, speaks fluent Norwegian and even takes part in the national championships for an Oslo club. Strange to see how fast we’ve moved from being concerned (and/or delighted) about Norwegian dominance in women’s cross-country skiing to struggling in the women’s competitions and completely dominating the men’s events. If Russia wasn’t currently bombing electrical grids to freeze Ukrainian grandmothers to death, they would have a couple of names on this list, but still pretty crazy.

  2. God, that’s so boring. And this is WITHOUT Klæbo, who likely would have won if he’d raced.

    I’ve stopped watching men’s XC skiing, for me it’s the women’s races that are exciting. Strong international participation, and, since Johaug has retired, the distance races are actually unpredictable. I mean, Germany is back!

  3. For anyone from the outside wondering – we Norwegians don’t all have those difficult names. It’s mostly centered around male and female skiing athletes.

  4. We killed it ourselves by spending millions upon millions on equipment optimizarion giving our skiers the edge for years until the other nations just went: fuck it.

    And now noone wants to spend their time training to lose against a competition that is just way better supported.

    FIS should disallow personal skies and have everyone use the same equipment. That would at least level things a bit.

  5. Norway has an awesome team for sure. But there are three big aspects here that are easily overlooked:
    1. This would look very different if Russian athletes were competing.
    2. It looks much better on the female side where Sweden is better than Norway, and Germany and USA and other countries have top athletes as well.
    3. Most non Norwegians are only focusing on the world ski championship in February/March. They will try to peak in form during those days. Norwegians need to compete now to secure a place in the championship, and therefore has to have a good form now as well.

  6. Makes sense. We were taking the train from Voss to Oslo and at a certain stop, a bunch of people got off with their skis in tow. If a nation of people is doing it for fun….

  7. Is this the sport where people run with weird skis on their feet?

    Monopoly and domination because of your own rules, what is here to brag about?

    /downvoting starts in 3, 2, 1…

  8. Get a grip, Finland!
    You make us look bad!
    Sweden? You’re good. Exactly where you should be.
    Scots who speak Trønder dialect with no accents? Basically Norwegian.

  9. Who didn’t see this coming? After banning Russia, it was pretty obvious the WC would pretty much turn into Norwegian championship.

  10. I guess XCS is such a minimal sport worldwide that nobody really cares, except maybe the hardcore Norwegian nationalists. Like most of the Norwegian media, governing Norwegian politicians, 7-9 TV viewers and a few guys in jail. I’m a Norwegian myself, and I don’t care who wins or comes in 10. place, they’re all about the same level. Neither do I care who bakes the highest cakes in Toten.

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