Johannes Hösflot Kläbo Begins Word War at World Championships – See How Sweden's Women Struck Back

Johannes Hösflot Kläbo Begins Word War at World Championships – See How Sweden's Women Struck Back

Norwegian and Swedish stars have taken every opportunity to tease each other during the medal ceremonies at the World Ski Championships in Trondheim. The discussions began Thursday evening when the Norwegian superstar, Johannes Hösflot Kläbo, roused the home crowd after hearing the Norwegian national anthem during the men’s relay awards ceremony.

In his opening remarks, Kläbo referred to the glories of past World Cups, saying, "We sat in the car on our way here and discussed what we should do. We thought it would be appropriate to sing the Swedish national anthem. However, we realized we don’t know it, which would be quite difficult," poking fun at the Swedish men's team for not having secured any gold medals in Trondheim so far.

Climbing to new heights, the Swedish women's team has been celebrating unprecedented success, winning all five golds contested in their events so far. Following Kläbo's comments, Frida Karlsson responded by wishing the Norwegian women a warm welcome for a good fight in the upcoming World Championships in Falun in two years, confidently predicting the same outcome of victory.

Then, Ebba Andersson aimed her humor directly at Kläbo with a clever riposte.

"We have a question for you Norwegian guys. We heard that Kläbo and others don't know the Swedish national anthem. Therefore, we have prepared a small gift," Andersson began, revealing a piece of paper with the lyrics written on it. "We’re giving it to the Norwegian women so they can practice for the upcoming Falun World Championships!" Andersson quickly responded, handing over the paper to the Norwegian relay women.

In a twist of fate, Sweden’s Jonna Sundling closed the relay drama dramatically; she caught up to Norway’s lead during her leg in the relay, which saw her clinching victory by just 0.7 seconds against Norway’s anchor Kristin Fosnæs.

Sundling seized the perfect opportunity to strike back a final jibe by starting to sing Norway's national anthem, stating, "Yes, we love this country!"

In her comments, Sundling noted that the idea and initiative for the playful banter was entirely Andersson's. "She’s so funny and clever. It was great that she was responsible for it. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been such a banter," Sundling explained to Aftonbladet.

Klæbo is now targeting a historic achievement this Saturday: his sixth gold at the World Championships in six tries.