Cross-Country Skiing-Klaebo, Andersson storm to gold in 10km classic ski races

TRONDHEIM, Norway : Norwegian cross-country king Johannes Hoesflo Klaebo and Sweden's Ebba Andersson powered to victory in the 10km classic interval start races at the Nordic World Ski Championships on Tuesday, with Norway sweeping the men's podium again.

After Klaebo's gold and Norwegian silver and bronze in Saturday's skiathlon, Erik Valnes claimed the men's classic silver for Norway, 8.8 seconds behind Klaebo's 28 minutes 16.6 seconds, with Harald Oestberg Amundsen picking up bronze.

The athletes had to cope with difficult weather conditions, with the striding classic technique made much more difficult by build-ups of loose, heavy snow in the carefully-prepared tracks.

With the racers starting at 30-second intervals, Klaebo, who won his first world championship gold in an individual distance race on Saturday, started well before taking over at the mid-point of the race. 

His powerful skiing over the second half of the course ignited the home crowd of over 15,000 as he passed the final split time at 9.2km in the lead, and the 28-year-old thundered to the end of the course to win his 12th world gold medal.

"It's so big, it's what I've trained for and lived in celibacy for. Finally, you get a payoff in a championship. It tastes incredibly good," Klaebo told broadcaster NRK.

The women's race developed into another epic battle between Andersson and Norway's Therese Johaug after a photo-finish between them in Saturday's skiathlon that saw the Swede triumph.

Andersson was out first, with Johaug following shortly afterwards, and there was little to separate the two at the various split times around the course.

The Swede crossed the line in 30:19.8 and then faced an agonising wait as Johaug powered into the stadium but the 36-year-old