King Klæbo solidifies his crown
Nordic skiing is experiencing its "Michael Phelps moment."
I will keep the introduction brief in the spirit of publishing more frequently. Enjoy!
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A great Olympian emerges
The American men looked set for an incredible finish. For a few moments, fans started to believe they might be seeing a miracle.
They were not. King Klæbo made sure of that.
Michael Phelps. Usain Bolt. And now, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo joins the pantheon of Olympic legends.
Every so often, an athlete transcends a sport by so thoroughly dominating their competition that the entire world begins to root for them. Klæbo will aim for his 11th gold medal across three Olympics on Saturday in the 50 km mass start. Winning that race would cap a remarkable run, as it is notably longer than the other Nordic events and requires an entirely different skill set than the sprints.
In race after race during these Games, Klæbo has taken the lead but has stayed in the pack. His strategy lets a group of challengers follow close behind. These top athletes give everything they have to keep up, hoping he’ll slip up.
Sometimes, you can almost see the other racers trying to believe they have a shot. It’s exciting to watch. Fans hope for an upset and imagine someone is saving their energy for a last-minute move.
But then comes the final hill, and every hope evaporates in an instant. In the space of a heartbeat, an hour’s drama is decided, the competition extinguished with breathtaking finality.
As the race ends, all that’s left is to surrender to greatness as it glides, unchallenged, across the finish line. If we’re lucky, we catch the chaos of the chase behind, a scramble for what’s left after the king has claimed his crown.
It helps that Klæbo is Norwegian. They just care more about this sport than the rest of the world. He was already a national icon heading into the Olympics, but he has likely knocked off soccer superstar Erling Haaland as the most famous athlete in Norway.
Like Michael Phelps or Usain Bolt, a ‘greatest of all time’ athlete is rising from a country that truly values his achievements, which makes it even more special.
If Klæbo were American, or from any non-Nordic country, we would have supported him. We love greatness and would have spent two weeks learning about Nordic skiing just to act like we cared.
We Americans are actually fairly good at laundering enthusiasm. Hell, we briefly made Lance Armstrong the most famous man in America during the early 2000s and convinced ourselves we were a bike racing nation. But no matter how hard we would have tried, Klæbo’s greatness would not have been appreciated as it will be in Norway.
Klæbo is now joining the Nordic Mt. Rushmore, alongside Bjørn Dæhlie and Marit Bjørgen. He’ll spend the rest of his life as a living legend, which is exactly what he deserves.
I wrote this piece in a burst of excitement, but I hope it encourages people to watch Saturday’s race. Greatness is rare, so take the chance to enjoy every moment of one of the best performances in recent Olympic history.
Loved your energy in this piece, Kev! And, it is great seeing your commitment to the sport, too.
There have been so many great subplots in these Olympics. I don't know if it's as simple as a hunger for escape from everything else or what, but man, they've been fun to watch!