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With the Norwegian men and Swedish women so likely to dominate the relays, these should be the least surprising races on the Olympic cross-country skiing schedule. But Olympic relays have a long history of not turning out the way that fans, experts, and odds-makers predict. An untimely fall, a broken pole, the wrong wax decision, and the pre-race script flies out the window. That’s what has the potential to make the 2026 Olympic relays so exciting. Favorites routinely get beat; dark horses often run away with victories; technologies falter; strategies fail. And much can change during the race, itself.
Men’s Relay
Italy is racing at home (in Val di Fiemme) with a team that is known to run on emotion and pride. Ever since Italy nipped Norway for the gold medal in 1994 at Lillehammer, this has been a hotly contested relay rivalry. Italy is not a pre-race favorite, but Italy’s favorite sons would love nothing better than to deliver a victory in front of their countrymen.
France fields a team of mercurial ski-stars capable of beating any team in the race. They’ll have the ability to push the pace, and to tuck in and sprint. If Norway falters, France could win it all.
And Russia (if they are allowed to field a team) is the defending champion in both the Men’s and Women’s relays from Beijing 2022. None of the other contenders have raced a relay against the Russians since Beijing. It’s truly challenging to know what to expect, other than the Russians race hard and that they will have a great sprinter—presumably Bolshunov—to scorch the anchor leg.
As for Norway, that team’s biggest challenge is likely to be deciding how to choose the members of the Men’s Relay. One thing’s for certain: Klaebo is likely to occupy the anchor leg. And if his teammates are able to deliver him into the lead pack with only the anchor leg remaining, he will be very difficult to beat.
Women’s Relay
It should be easy for coaches to pick the legs for Sweden’s relay: after her performance in the relay at the World Championships in Trondheim (where she made up an enormous deficit on the anchor leg to claim the championship), Jonna Sundling should be the anchor. In Trondheim, she proved that almost no lead is large enough to keep her from the gold medal. And Team Sweden will also have three other world class skiers (presumably Ebba Andersson, Frida Karlsson, and Maja Dahlqvist) to put Sundling in position for the win.
As was the case in the Men’s Relay, Russia (if they’re allowed to enter) represents an unknown quantity. If she returns to Olympic competition in similar form to what she displayed when Russia left the World Cup tour, Natalya Neprayeva would be one of the fastest in the field. And her team may be capable of pushing the pace that could otherwise undo the other contenders.
The USA has prioritized relay events in recent seasons. If mid-race situations play to their favor, Julia Kern, Rosie Brennan, Sophia Laukli, and Jessia Diggins might be able to contend with the fast pace of the first three legs. And Diggins has a nose for the finish line and the guts to finish off even the most unlikely sprint. Just ask Stina Nilsson, the Swedish World Sprint Champion who found herself outsprinted by a young Jessie Diggins for Olympic gold in 2018.
Team Norway fields a team that finds its job made far more complicated by the presence of Sundling in Sweden’s anchor leg. The Norwegian team is likely to include Therese Johaug, Astrid Oeyre Slind, and Heidi Weng. But Norway really doesn’t have an anchor leg skier who can rival the speed—and the sprint finish—of Sundling.
And at least two teams—Finland and Switzerland—have shown a terrific ability to hit the ski preparation just right on otherwise tricky waxing days. Relays have so many moving parts—the wax, the strategy, the crowd, the course, the place in Olympic scheduling—and offer these unique opportunities for athletic glory and national pride. One of our favorite things about cross-country skiing is that the athletes, themselves, prioritize the relay—the team effort, the team accomplishment—over the results in all other individual races. Fans often feel the same, and we’ll be thrilled to watch the way things play out at the Olympic Winter Games of 2026.
John Teaford
John Teaford—the Managing Editor of FasterSkier — has been the coach of Olympians, World Champions, and World Record Holders in six sports: Nordic skiing, speedskating, road cycling, track cycling, mountain biking, triathlon. In his long career as a writer/filmmaker, he spent many seasons as Director of Warren Miller’s annual feature film, and Producer of adventure documentary films for Discovery, ESPN, Disney, National Geographic, and NBC Sports.
