Old skis? No problem for Johannes Høsflot Klæbo at World Championship sprint

Nathaniel Herz · March 3, 2025

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Johannes Høsflot Klæbo won Thursday’s World Championships sprint on an older model of Fischer skis. (Photo: NordicFocus)

TRONDHEIM, NORWAY — After winning Thursday’s world championships-opening sprint here, Norwegian superstar Johannes Høsflot Klæbo posed for photos with the new model of Speedmax cross-country skis recently unveiled by his sponsor, Fischer, the giant Austrian winter sports company.

But if you looked carefully at Klæbo’s skis during the race, they were different, and, unusually, they were dated: The pair was several years old, a Fischer official confirmed in an interview Sunday.

Typically, new skis are more dynamic and give athletes a more stable platform on the snow, said Gerhard Urain, Fischer’s head of nordic racing. But the older pair Klæbo used Thursday are especially good in the wet, sloppy snow conditions that have prevailed in Trondheim for the past week, according to Urain.

“And then also, when they have good memories with the skis — when they use them in these conditions, they are confident,” he said.

“It was the right choice for him on this day,” Urain added, noting that Klæbo’s skis appeared to be running fast compared to other athletes’ on Thursday.

Klæbo celebrates his sprint win while holding a pair of the new Fischer Speedmaxes. (Nordic Focus)

On the surface, Klæbo’s victory on older skis could complicate Fischer’s marketing pitch for the new Speedmaxes, which, according to the company, are characterized by “extreme lightness.”

But coaches and ski technicians said it’s increasingly rare for older pairs of skis like Klæbo’s to still perform competitively in tests against newer models.

Urain noted that, just a few weeks after the introduction of the new Speedmaxes, many other top competitors have been choosing to race on them — suggesting that generally, they’re performing better than the dozens of pairs of skis already in athletes’ quivers.

In Sunday’s women’s skiathlon, the two top Norwegian finishers, Therese Johaug and Heidi Weng, both used new Speedmaxes.

Heidi Weng, second from left, and Therese Johaug, right, raced on the new Fischer Speedmax skis in Sunday’s skiathlon. (Nordic Focus)

“They got the skis three weeks ago, and they’re racing them, using them in the championships,” Urain said.

The durability of Klæbo’s race-winning skis also is an argument for Fischer’s equipment in and of itself, noted Matt Whitcomb, one of the U.S. Ski Team coaches in Trondheim.

“A ski that keeps winning stays in the fleet. I know the ski companies love to have the new graphics. But what a great testimony to Toyota when you see a ’91 Corolla in, just, great condition cruising down the road,” Whitcomb said. “There’s no better accolade to receive.”