Johannes Høsflot Klæbo Norwegian Athlete Born 1996 in Oslo

Early life

Johannes Høsflot Klæbo was born in Oslo on 22 October 1996. When he was five, his family moved to Trondheim, where he grew up and went to Heimdal Secondary School. He is 183 centimetres tall. His father, Haakon Klæbo, works as his manager, and his grandfather, Kåre Høsflot, serves as his coach.

Career

Klæbo is a Norwegian cross-country skier who competes for the club Byåsen IL. He made his World Cup debut on 3 February 2016 in a classic sprint in Drammen, where he finished 15th. During the following winter he reached his first World Cup podium with third place in a classic sprint at Ruka on 26 November 2016, and on 18 February 2017 he took his first victory in a freestyle sprint at Otepää. He also won bronze in the sprint at the 2017 World Championships in Lahti, collected the sprint crystal globe, and ended the season with three wins.

The 2017–18 season brought his Olympic debut at PyeongChang. After placing tenth in the skiathlon, he won the men's sprint on 13 February 2018, which made him the youngest man to win an Olympic cross-country event. He also skied the final leg for the Norwegian teams that won the 4 × 10 kilometre relay and the team sprint, giving him three gold medals at his first Games. Norwegian media named a steep climb on the course after him because he repeatedly overtook rivals there. That season he won the overall World Cup ahead of Dario Cologna, the youngest skier to do so, and set a record of seven sprint wins in a single World Cup season.

In 2018–19 he won the Tour de Ski at his first attempt, becoming its youngest overall winner. At the 2019 World Championships in Seefeld he won the individual sprint, the team sprint together with Emil Iversen, and the relay, and his sprint victory made him the youngest man to win a World Championship cross-country race. He again won the overall World Cup and raised his single-season sprint record to eight wins.

The 2019–20 season was shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Even so, he placed second overall in the World Cup, third in the Tour de Ski, and won a fourth overall sprint title, a record at the time. In June 2020 he announced a five-year contract with the Uno-X Pro Cycling Team, fitting cycling around his skiing commitments. At the 2021 World Championships in Oberstdorf he defended his sprint title, becoming the first man to win consecutive world titles in the event, and added golds in the team sprint with Erik Valnes and in the relay. He was disqualified from the 50 kilometre classic after crossing the line first, because officials judged that he had obstructed Alexander Bolshunov in the final sprint. He finished third in the overall World Cup that season.

In 2024–25 he won both the overall and sprint World Cup titles. At the 2025 World Championships he became the first athlete to win all six cross-country events at a single championships, which brought his career total to 15 World Championship gold medals, a number only Marit Bjørgen has exceeded. In 2025–26 he won the Tour de Ski for a fifth time, the first skier to do so.

At the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina he won all six men's cross-country events: the skiathlon, the sprint, the 10 kilometre freestyle, the relay, the team sprint with Einar Hedegart, and the 50 kilometre classic. This made him the first athlete to win six gold medals at a single Winter Games. His career total of 11 Olympic golds and 13 medals gives him more Olympic gold than any other Winter athlete, and among all Olympians only the swimmer Michael Phelps has more. After the Games he secured his sixth overall World Cup title, matching the record held by Bjørn Dæhlie, along with an eighth sprint title and his first distance title. He became the first man since Thomas Alsgaard in 1997–98 to take the overall, sprint and distance titles in one season.

Recognition

Klæbo received the Holmenkollen Medal in 2022. In 2026 he was awarded the Fearnley award, and in spring of that year he received the Marca Leyenda award from the Spanish sports newspaper Marca.

Personal life

With his younger brother Ola, Klæbo runs a YouTube channel that publishes weekly videos about the daily life of a cross-country skier. He started it to show viewers what skiers do outside competitions and during the off-season. As of May 2025 the channel had about 125,000 subscribers.