The first day of competition kicked off in Trondheim, Norway with the men's and women's sprint classic finals. The Norwegian city is hosting the second stop on the cross-country skiing World Cup circuit of the season, where all of the events taking place also will be on the 2026 Olympic program in Milan Cortina.

After a morning of qualification races, Norway's Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won the men's sprint classic final and captured a historic 100th career World Cup win, proving the 29-year-old is more than capable of topping the podium at the upcoming Games.

The men’s sprint classic final was an all-Norwegian field, aside from Alvar Myhlback from Sweden. Norway's Oskar Opstad Vike finished second behind Klaebo and Sweden's Myhlback captured the final spot on the podium to avoid a Norwegian sweep.

After Klaebo’s 100th win in front of his home crowd, he made a 100 with his fingers in celebration after crossing the finish line.

"It's perfect, couldn't be a better place to take it and to also do it in sprint is special," Klaebo said after the race.

Team USA's Ben Ogden won the qualification round, but his chances of reaching the final were crushed after getting tangled up in a crash on the course during the semifinal. Ogden finished the day in ninth place overall.

On the women's side, the sprint classic final was made of up four skiers from Sweden, one from Norway and one from Germany. It was a messy race with numerous falls and collisions, due to the difficulty of skiers taking sharp turns on fast snow.

Despite the conditions, the top-four finishers all were from Sweden. Johanna Hagstroem was able to stay on her feet throughout the race and was lucky enough not to get caught up in any of the mess behind her. She cruised to an uncontested finish to top the podium and is the sprint World Cup leader after the victory.

Teammates Emma Ribom and Linn Svahn finished second and third, respectively, for an all-Swedish podium in the women's sprint classic final. Svahn rallied after a fall earlier in the race and skied her way back to clinch the podium.

Sweden's Jonna Sundling had her sights on the podium but got caught up in two falls, along with a broken poll in the final. Despite the difficulties, Sundling was able to finish in the fourth spot.

U.S. teammates Jessie Diggins and Julia Kern reached the quarterfinals. Diggins finished 14th overall in the sprint classic and remains the overall World Cup leader.

Competition continues Saturday in Trondheim with the men's and women's 20km skiathlon events.