It took him just two years in the World Cup before he stood on an Olympic podium alongside Johannes Høsflot Klæbo. On Sunday, the 23-year-old took silver in the opening event, and on Friday, the breakthrough could become gold in the 10km freestyle.

Mathis Desloges is one of many international World Cup skiers who will challenge Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and this season’s big story, Einar Hedegart in Friday’s 10km freestyle.

Also Read – Olympics 2026: Complete guide to the men’s 10km interval start in freestyle technique

In Sunday’s 20 km skiathlon, the opening Olympic race, he was close. The French 23-year-old took silver, two seconds behind Klæbo and one-tenth of a second ahead of Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget.

Read More: Klæbo dominates 20km skiathlon at Milano-Cortina 2026

Now the goal is to win Olympic gold. The plan is as simple as it is difficult.

What do you have to do? Of course, you have to beat Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, who took six out of six gold medals at the World Championships last winter.

“It’s easy to beat Klæbo. I just have to ski faster than him,” Desloges says dryly to Langrenn.com ahead of the season.

But the young Frenchman is not as cocky as it might sound. Desloges has deep respect for both Klæbo and the rest of the field, but he also has big ambitions. And he is working purposefully to fulfill them.

From roster filler to podium contender in less than two years

Desloges raced his first World Cup event in January 2024. It was the 20km classic in Oberhof, where he finished 58th. He ended the season ranked 142nd overall in the World Cup standings.

But ahead of last season, his first full World Cup season, he took a major step forward.

Desloges finished second overall in the U23 World Cup, beaten only by Edvin Anger, and placed 13th overall in the senior World Cup. He also delivered the best race of his life at the World Championships in Trondheim, his first elite-level championship.

Turning point at the World Championships

The World Championships race in Trondheim became a real aha moment, and a turning point for Desloges.

“Last winter I got confirmation that I have the capacity and the speed to ski with the best, but I lost the victory and the podium in the last 200 meters,” Desloges says, and continues:

“Sixth place in the 20km in Trondheim is the best I’ve ever done, but that’s exactly what happened there.”

After leading the entire race, Desloges lost more than two seconds over the final couple of hundred meters. At the finish, he was 2.3 seconds behind Klæbo and nine hundredths of a second from the podium.

He promised himself that it would not happen again, and he has worked specifically on that ever since the World Championships in Trondheim.

Now Desloges has taken new steps forward. Both testing and results show it.

“I’m at a higher level than at the same time last year,” he says.

The race he delivered in the Olympic skiathlon in Val di Fiemme is solid proof of that.

Two key measures

Desloges attributes his progress over the past year, especially to two things.

One is a greater focus on technique and tactics, targeted training tasks, and constant competition with his national team teammates.

“I’ve worked a lot on finishing speed. It’s unnecessary to lose the podium in the finishing stretch. And I’m still missing a bit of experience. But many of the others on the team have that. They’re among the best in the world. I learn an incredible amount by pushing myself against them throughout the buildup and during races in the season,” says Desloges.

Sleeping at 3,000 meters

The other key measure is an intense altitude program, and here Desloges goes further than most. The young Frenchman has revived technology from the glory days of Bjørn Dæhlie, namely the traditional altitude house.

“The national team has access to a house with those possibilities in Premanon, so I use it a lot in addition to altitude camps with the team. The point is to get even more days at altitude,” Desloges says.

“I started a bit with it last summer and discovered that my body responds extremely well to it. So, this year I’ve done even more and pushed the altitude a little further. Now it’s set at 3,000 meters above sea level.”

There he spends 14 hours a day, for three to four weeks at a time. In total, he has spent more than 12 weeks at altitude in preparation for the season ahead.

Are there any downsides to using an altitude house or spending long periods at altitude?

“Yes. You don’t sleep as well, and it’s a strain on the body to be at altitude, so it requires extreme focus. You have to be very careful that the total load doesn’t become too much. Altitude also makes recovery time longer, and you can’t do hard sessions at the same intensity as at sea level, so you don’t get to train at maximum speed in the same way. So, it’s about finding a balance.”

“It seemed so raw”

Mathis Desloges comes from the village of Villard-de-Lans in the Vercors massif, a popular ski area in the French Alps about 40km from Grenoble.

As a child, he dreamed of becoming a track and field star and committed fully to that for several years. But then something happened that changed everything.

“I was sitting watching cross-country skiing from the Olympics with my father when I was around 10 years old. I was completely fascinated. It seemed so raw, what they were doing. That’s what I wanted to try,” Desloges tells Langrenn.com.

So, he did. And Desloges quickly realized that cross-country skiing would be his sport. He was competitive right away and won almost everything throughout his youth years.

But for Mathis Desloges, cross-country skiing is about much more than winning. He becomes animated when describing his passion.

“I love, love, love the feeling of gliding over the snow and the incredible experiences in nature. France and other places around the world have so much beautiful nature. You experience it in a unique and different way on skis.”