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The Norwegian men are in a league of their own—but when a league is contested by just one team, will fans still watch?
TRONDHEIM, NORWAY – As the morning gales gave way during last Thursday’s men’s 4×7.5 kilometre relay, the crowds at the Trondheim World Ski Championships picked up steam until Granåsen stadium was fit to burst. And burst it did: Fans cheered in unbridled, patriotic delight when Johannes Høsflot Klæbo sailed into the stadium in first place hoisting a full-size Norwegian flag.
In truth, Norway’s win was written before the athletes even hit the start line: The Norwegian men have stood atop the podium in seventeen of the last eighteen relays. If one can look past Klæbo’s mind-bending Championship tally of six for six gold medals, the depth and dominance of the Norwegian mens’ team comes into focus — until Sweden’s William Poromaa broke the spell with an impressive second place finish in the 50-kilometer, they were just one silver medal away from sweeping every single distance podium at the Championships.
The country’s fans and media are increasingly anxious that this level of Norwegian dominance threatens the future of international cross-country skiing. Many pundits and people in the grandstands are convinced that fewer young Norwegians are interested in international ski racing, and that the sheer strength of the Norwegian men’s team is partly to blame.
Simon lives a few minutes walk from the ski centre and has tickets for the whole week of competitions. He sums up the state of men’s skiing in a few words: “It’s all about Norway. It’s about Klæbo.”
One of his friends, Nina, chimes in with a familiar refrain: “it’s bad for the sport.”
Simen Hegstad Krüger himself isn’t blind to the consequences of such a lopsided competition. “In the long term,” the Olympic gold medalist admits, “I think it’s better when it’s some change on the podium.”
To be sure, other nations aren’t at their best in Trondheim. The French men are flagging, their sprint stars notably missing from the podium. The absence of Finland’s Iivo Niskanen’s clearly blunted the drama of the 10-kilometer classic race. And, despite two bronze medals so far, Edvin Anger and the other Swedish men are still short of their long-promised redemption.
Meanwhile, on the women’s side of the competition, one can’t help but worry that an inverse story of Swedish domination is taking shape. Ebba Andersson and Jonna Sundling each have a hand on the women’s crown, with Sundling making an especially strong case for the title “Queen of Trondheim”: She has medaled in every race of the four she has started, winning three of them.
Viewership data collected by the International Ski Federation, or FIS, appears to support the notion that an unbeatable team turns off spectators. Norway — which ranks fourth in international viewership behind Sweden, Germany, and Finland — saw a 10% decline in TV World Cup viewership between 2023 and 2024.
This year’s World Championships are all but guaranteed to drive TV viewership back up in Norway. Indeed, it’s no secret here that whenever the sport’s popularity threatens to dip, the Norwegian Ski Federation relies on events like this to jumpstart hype and participation. Which then begs the question: If a competitive field is so crucial to FIS’ television ratings, when will the United States and Canada have their own chance to host a World Ski Championships to encourage growth in North America?
Despite word on the street and speculation in the broadsheets, there are more factors that affect skiing’s TV ratings than simply the Norwegian men’s results. Indeed, judging by Norwegians’ compulsion to discuss the topic, it seems that their second favorite national pastime after skiing itself is debating whether their chosen sport is dying — and who exactly is killing it.
Fans in Trondheim have pointed out that since Norway’s national broadcaster, NRK, lost the rights to air international ski racing in 2021, people have been reluctant to pay the subscription fees required to follow World Cup racing on other channels. Their fear now is that the recent move by FIS to centralize international broadcasting rights hurts any prospect that free-to-watch World Cups may return.
Other frequently cited causes for the apparent decline in skiing’s popularity are the increasing costs of racing and the shortening of winters due to climate change.
But not everyone buys the doom and gloom narrative. Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget, from his vantage point on the skiathlon and relay podiums, says that the sky most certainly is not falling. He chalks up the talk of declining viewership and participation to media spin.
Nyenget says that “it’s been popular in Scandinavia — and especially Norway — to write in the negative and to tell that the popularity is going down. But it doesn’t seem like it’s completely the truth.” He points to the blockbuster crowds in Trondheim as a testimony to the sport’s vitality.
“You see here around the track during the championship, it seems like it’s still a popular sport,” he said.
The Norwegian men say that, in the end, they are just doing their job the only way they know how to: without compromise.
Krüger puts the onus on other nations. “The other guys need to step it up,” he said. “We have a really strong team and, for sure, we are just pushing as hard as we can to be the best and to be on top.”
For those keen for some cultural entertainment, on Thursday, Trondheim’s Nidaros Cathedral hosted the World Championships concert. Backed by a string ensemble, the Nidaros Girls’ Choir performed folk songs and modern compositions in the packed 11th Century gothic cathedral.
On Thursday night, at the site where Norwegian monarchs have been crowned for centuries, the nave echoed with the lyrics: “At the World Championships, I show up with a ticket in my back and color film. I want a world champion, tough and harsh and narrow-hipped. Yes, a world champion is my ideal.”
Perhaps, then, it is a more ephemeral variable that best explains why Norwegian men are so damn good at skiing.
Nyenget agrees: “I think the culture is the main factor for the good results. It’s almost like, for the Norwegian team, it’s not only the results that are okay. It’s the top of the podium.”
This sentiment should sound familiar to Canadians, who have notoriously high expectations of their junior national hockey teams. And, like Norwegians, Canucks don’t turn off the television when their team goes on a winning streak — they cheer all the louder.
So, while a World Championships on Norwegian soil offers a welcome boost to the profile of cross-country skiing, it seems that the jury is still out as to whether Klæbo and company are killing the sport in the long run. For now, then, ski fans may as well enjoy the spectacle on offer from Klæbo and his merry band of VO2 monsters.
Stuart Harden
Stuart is a teacher, coach, and former biathlete from Canmore. He writes on the intersection of sports, culture, and politics and is based in Montréal.
