After a broken pole and near elimination in both the quarterfinal and semifinal, he sprinted to second place – and may have secured his path through an Olympic selection bottleneck where only one or two Norwegian spots are available.

For the sprint talent from Norway, Friday’s classic sprint was one of the most important, if not the most important, races of the season.

“I was nervous today, honestly,” Ansgar Evensen tells Langrenn.com after taking second place in the classic sprint at Beitostølen on Friday afternoon.

Also Read: Norwegian star wins sprint in Beitostølen

“The first thing I think about every day”

The opening weekend at Beitostølen decides who gets to travel to the World Cup opener in Ruka next weekend, which is also the first step on the road to the 2026 Olympics.

Ahead of the season opener, exactly one spot remained for the sprint race in Ruka. The program there features a classic sprint – just like at the Olympics. It will be eight years before the Olympic sprint returns to its classic form.

“The Olympic sprint, but first and foremost the selection races for that Olympic sprint, is the first thing I think about when I wake up,” Evensen says to Langrenn.com.

“I had calculated that I needed to finish second to be sure of getting that spot,” Evensen says after Friday’s race at Beitostølen.

He finished third in the prologue, won his quarterfinal, and took second place in both the semifinal and the final. All signs now point to him being ready for the World Cup opener.

Blocked, broke a pole – and still finished second

It was close, however, that he even made it to the final at Beitostølen. First, he nearly went out in the quarterfinal, and then it was equally tight in the semifinal.

“There was a tight duel at the start of the quarterfinal that I felt wasn’t entirely clean. In the semi, I got a bit too close to someone in the last corner and broke my pole. A few curse words went through my head then,” Evensen says.

In the final, he finished second, just three tenths behind Johannes Høsflot Klæbo.

How do you manage to ski that fast and that far with a broken pole?

“I almost don’t know myself. I have to thank my ski tech, too, because my skis were incredibly good. It almost felt like they did the work themselves on the finishing stretch,” Evensen says.

A razor-thin Olympic bottleneck

Norway has seven quota spots for the men at the Olympics, maybe eight. For the World Championships, it’s 12. That means there is room for very few specialists, if any, in the Norwegian Olympic team. Evensen believes there may be one, at most two, and expects a brutal fight for the spot.

“There are a lot of people besides me who want that spot. It’s going to be a dogfight. We’re four just on the elite national team, plus Johannes (Høsflot Klæbo), and I know several just outside who are knocking hard on that door,” Evensen says, adding:

“It’s almost like the battle for a place on the Olympic team is tougher than at the Olympics. There, only four from each nation can start. Everyone who was top ten here at Beitostølen could easily be in an Olympic final.”

Has taken steps forward

The 25-year-old from Gjøvik, now in his second season on the elite national team, took his first two World Cup podiums last winter: two second places, both in classic sprint.

“Now I hope I can take the step up to first place in a World Cup this year. Then I think I could be pretty confident about getting to race at the Olympics. That’s the goal,” says Ansgar Evensen, adding that next weekend would suit him just fine.

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