The numbers behind Norway's dominance in the men's World Cup

Traditional skiing

The numbers behind Norway’s dominance in the men’s World Cup

by MÅRTEN LÅNG/Ingeborg Scheve/Leandro Lutz • 31.03.2024

Member Article

Photo: Modica/NordicFocus

That Norway dominated the cross-country skiing World Cup this winter is no secret. But what does it look like overall, and how has the development been in the last decade?

Norway took the entire podium and the first five places in the winter cross-country skiing World Cup. The competitions have been more like the Norwegian Cup than the World Cup, with the Norwegian men taking the entire podium several times and having seven out of eight national team skiers in the top 10.

There has been a Norwegian overall victory in the World Cup in seven of the last nine years, and Norway has taken 50 out of 100 top-ten positions in the World Cup in the previous ten years. If you take out the 2020/2021 pandemic season, where many of the Norwegians did not participate in World Cup races, it looks even better/worse: Norway has then taken 49 out of 90 top-ten positions. While it may be excellent for Norwegian fans, it could be better for the sport in the long term.

After the last race of the World Cup season, Harald Østberg Amundsen was the overall winner, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo was second, Erik Valnes third, Pål Golberg fourth, and Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget fifth place.

Also Read – 2023/2024 World Cup: Final Standings after Falun

Before the 2022/2023 World Cup season, Norway had as many as six skiers at the top of the World Cup, and this has been the case ever since the Covid season in 2020/2021. We see a similar trend from Sweden on the women’s side now – read more about it here.

But how have the overall standings in the World Cup looked over the last decade? And are there more nations represented in the top ten now? Langrenn.com has taken a deep dive into the statistics.

The article continues below.

*Harald Østberg Amundsen and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo during the season’s last World Cup race in Falun*. *Photo: Simon Hastegård/BILDBYRÅN*

Langrenn.com has reviewed the overall standings in the World Cup for the last ten seasons. Here are the ten skiers who have made it into the top ten in each season.

However, it is worth noting that the 2019/2020 season ended a couple of weeks early due to the pandemic that broke out in the winter of 2020. Furthermore, athletes from Russia and Belarus have been banned since March 1, 2022.

HERE ARE THE RESULTS YEAR BY YEAR, STARTING WITH THE 2014/2015 SEASON

SEASON 2023/2024

World Cup overall

1. Harald Østberg Amundsen, Norway
2. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, Norway
3. Erik Valnes, Norway

Total number of top-10 skiers per nation: Norway 5, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, and Canada, all 1 skier each
Norwegian skiers top-10: Harald Østberg Amundsen 1, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo 2, Erik Valnes 3, Pål Golberg 4, Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget 5

SEASON 2022/2023

World Cup overall

1. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, Norway
2. Pål Golberg, Norway
3. Federico Pellegrino, Italy

Total number of top-10 skiers per nation:  Norway 6, Sweden, Italy, the Czech Republic, and the USA all had 1 skier each
Norwegian skiers top-10:  Johannes Høsflot Klæbo 1, Pål Golberg 2, Simen Hegstad Krüger 4, Didrik Tønseth 5, Hans Christer Holund 6, Erik Valnes 10
Swedish skiers top-10:  Calle Halfvarsson 7

SEASON 2021/2022

World Cup overall

1. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, Norway
2. Alexander Bolshunov, Russia
3. Iivo Niskanen, Finland

Total number of top-10 skiers per nation: Norway 6, France 2, Russia, and Finland 1 each
Norwegian skiers top-10: Johannes Høsflot Klæbo 1, Erik Valnes 5, Didrik Tønseth 6, Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget 7, Harald Østberg Amundsen 8, Pål Golberg 9

SEASON 2020/2021

World Cup overall

1. Alexander Bolshunov, Russia
2. Ivan Yakimushkin, Russia
3. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, Norway

Total number of skiers top-10 per nation:  Russia 6, Norway, Italy, France and Sweden 1 each
Norwegian skiers top-10:  Johannes Høsflot Klæbo 3
Swedish skier top-10:  Oskar Svensson 10

SEASON 2019/2020

World Cup overall

1. Alexander Bolshunov, Russia
2. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, Norway
3. Pål Golberg, Norway

Total number of top-10 skiers per nation: Norway 6, Russia 2, Finland and Switzerland 1 each
Norwegian skiers top-10: Johannes Høsflot Klæbo 1, Pål Golberg 2, Simen Hegstad Krüger 4, Sjur Røthe 5, Hans Christer Holund 7, Emil Iversen 9

SEASON 2018/2019

World Cup overall

1. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, Norway
2. Alexander Bolshunov, Russia
3. Sjur Røthe, Norway

Total number of top-10 skiers per nation: Norway 6, Russia and Italy 2 each
Norwegian skiers top-10: Johannes Høsflot Klæbo 1, Sjur Røthe 3, Simen Hegstad Krüger 4, Didrik Tønseth 5, Emil Iversen 6, Martin Johnsrud Sundby 9

SEASON 2017/2018

World Cup overall

1. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, Norway
2. Dario Cologna, Switzerland
3. Martin Johnsrud Sundby, Norway

Total number of top-10 skiers per nation: Norway 4; Switzerland, Canada, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Italy 1 each
Norwegian skiers top 10: Johannes Høsflot Klæbo 1, Martin Johnsrud Sundby 3, Hans Christer Holund 6, Emil Iversen 9

SEASON 2016/2017

World Cup overall

1. Martin Johnsrud Sundby, Norway
2. Sergey Ustiugov, Russia
3. Alex Harvey, Canada

Total number of top-10 skiers per nation:  Norway 5; Russia, Finland, Sweden, Canada and Switzerland 1 each
Norwegian skiers top-10:  Martin Johnsrud Sundby 1, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo 4, Niklas Dyrhaug 8, Sjur Røthe 9, Finn-Hågen Krogh 10
Swedish skiers top-10:  Marcus Hellner

SEASON 2015/2016

World Cup overall

1. Martin Johnsrud Sundby, Norway
2. Petter Northug, Norway
3. Finn-Hågen Krogh, Norway

Total number of top-10 skiers per nation: Norway 5, Finland 3, Sweden and USA 1 each
Norwegian skiers top-10: Martin Johnsrud Sundby 1, Petter Northug 2, Finn-Hågen Krogh 3, Niklas Dyrhaug 6, Emil Iversen 8, Didrik Tønseth 9, Hans Christer Holund 10

SEASON 2014/2015

World Cup overall

1. Dario Cologna, Switzerland
2. Petter Northug, Norway
3. Calle Halfvarsson, Sweden

Total number of top-10 skiers per nation:  Norway 6, Germany 2, Sweden and USA 1 each
Norwegian skiers top-10:  Petter Northug 2, Finn-Hågen Krogh 4, Martin Johnsrud Sundby 6, Niklas Dyrhaug 7
Swedish skiers top-10:  Calle Halfvarsson 3

Total number of results in the top-10 World Cup in the last ten seasons

Norway 50 (14 different skiers)
Russia 16 (eight different skiers)
France 6 (three different skiers)
Italy 6 (two different skiers)
Canada 5 (two different skiers)
Sweden 4 (three different skiers: Calle Halfvarsson, Marcus Hellner and Oskar Svensson)
Switzerland 4 (Dario Cologna all)
Finland 3 (Iivo Niskanen all)
Kazakhstan 2 (Alexey Poltoranin all)
USA 1 (Ben Ogden)
Germany 1 (Friedrich Moch)
Austria 1 (Mika Vermeulen)
Czech Republic 1 (Michal Novak)