2023/2024 FIS Cross-Country World Cup season preview: Full schedule and how to watch live
The 43rd FIS Cross-Country World Cup runs from 24 November 2023 to 17 March with the world’s best cross-country skiers competing for crystal globes in 33 individual events. Discover the complete calendar and find out more about the upcoming season below.
Cross-Country Skiing
Johannes Klæbo and Tiril Weng are hoping to defend their overall FIS Cross-Country World Cup titles in this season, but who can challenge the Norwegians?
The reigning champions are coming into the 2023/2024 FIS cross-country World Cup season as the ones to beat, when the first competition kicks off on Friday (24 November) with the traditional opening in Ruka, Finland.
In the 43rd edition of the World Cup, there are 33 individual competitions and four relay/team events that will take place across 15 different locations, concluding in Falun, Sweden, on 17 March 2024.
Read on to learn more about the standout stars to watch, the schedule, and how to watch the action live.
2023/2024 FIS Cross-Country World Cup format
In the FIS Cross-Country World Cup, the winner is awarded 100 points, the runner-up 95, and third place 90, winding down to 50th place which earns one point.
The skier with most points after the final World Cup stop wins the overall crystal globe. A smaller crystal globe is also awarded to the leader of each discipline – distance and sprint.
In distance, races are 10, 20 or 50 kilometres. Sprint races have a maximum distance of 1.8 kilometres.
Events can feature both individual start or mass start, as well as both freestyle and classic technique.
2023/2024 FIS Cross-Country World Cup: Stars to watch
Men’s World Cup
The record-breaker Johannes Klæbo of Norway is regarded as one of the best sprinters that cross-country skiing has ever seen, but he proved last season that he also is an exceptional distance racer.
He claimed his fourth overall World Cup, taking 20 World Cup victories. Ten wins were in sprint and the other ten in distance, which awarded him the sprint crystal globe for the fifth time, while he finished second in the fight for the overall distance title.
Despite starting the season struggling with injury, the 27-year-old added three gold and two silver medals at the World Championships.
There has been a lot of uncertainty around Klæbo in the build up to this season, as the super star broke with the Norwegian national team in April. However, the Norwegian Ski Association and Klæbo reached an agreement last month, meaning he is ready to defend his overall World Cup title.
A positive covid test on 7 November has put the five-time Olympic gold medallist’s season opener in danger, and he had to skip the Norwegian cross-country skiing premiere at Beitostølen.
Pål Golberg is hoping to challenge his compatriot again this season after claiming the 2022/2023 overall distance title ahead of Klæbo. The 33-year-old Norwegian seemed like a serious contender for the overall World Cup win, but eventually settled for second in what was the best season of his career.
At the World Championships, Golberg took gold on the 50 km mass start and silver in sprint, in addition to two gold medals in 4 x 10 km relay and the team sprint.
His consistency was key last season, and if Golberg can find the same level, he will be in the mix for the overall title.
If anyone can upset the Norwegian domination, it would be Federico Pellegrino. The 2017 sprint world champion beat Klæbo in a photo-finish in the freestyle sprint at the Cross-Country World Cup in Davos, Switzerland last season. The Italian finished third in the overall World Cup.
Pellegrino, 33, had eight podium finishes in the 2022/2023 season, which is the most he has ever achieved. Just like Golberg, being consistent will be the key for the Italian.
Rising star Ben Ogden is another skier to look out for. The charismatic American claimed the U23 Green Bib last season as the fastest male skier under 23-years-old in the entire World Cup.
The Vermont native was part of the historic junior men’s relay team that secured the first ever medal for the U.S. men at a World Juniors Championships in 2018. In 2019 and 2020, the American 4 x 5 km relay team won gold at the World Juniors Championships.
Distance specialists Simen Hegstad Krüger and Didrik Tønseth, both from Norway, also deserve to be mentioned among the outsiders in the World Cup.
Women’s World Cup
Norway’s Tiril Weng saw her take the overall crystal globe for the first time last season. With ten podium finishes and a win in Val Müstair, Switzerland, the 27-year-old’s stability also landed her third place in both the distance and sprint World Cup.
Unfortunately, the defending champion will not be able to attend the opening race in Ruka, Finland due to contracting covid.
US cross-country star Jessie Diggins won the overall World Cup in 2021 and after two second places since, she will be hoping to take back the crown.
The 32-year-old clinched her first individual gold medal at the 2023 World Championships in Planica, Slovenia, and last season took her World Cup win tally to 14, which is more than any other cross-country skier from the U.S.
With Weng missing the first World Cup stop and Natalia Nepryayeva not competing, three-time Olympic medallist Diggins is a gold-medal favourite this year.
Kerttu Niskanen is one of the most experienced skiers in the women’s field. The Finnish veteran is used to being on the podium, but last season finally won the distance crystal globe.
She took two World Cup wins and six podiums in total during the previous season. Although, Niskanen now is 35 years old, she has proved that she can still be a serious contender for the overall crystal globe.
Sweden’s Frida Karlsson is still only 24 years old, but has competed at the top level since she was 19.
After taking home the Tour de Ski for the first time and four World Championships medal, the distance specialist should agian be considered an outsider for the World Cup, in which she finished sixth overall last season.
Katharina Hennig’s raced her first World Cup season in 2017 and has improved every year since, finishing seventh in both overall and distance in the 2022/2023 season. This might be the year where the German team sprint Olympic champion establishes herself as a crystal globe contender.
2023/2024 FIS Cross-Country World Cup: Calendar
Information subject to change. An updated calendar can be found on the FIS Website.
24 November 2023
- Ruka (Finland) Sprint Classic
25 November 2023
- Ruka (Finland) 10 km Classic
26 November 2023
- Ruka (Finland) 20 km Freestyle Mass Start
2 December 2023
- Gällivare (Sweden) 10 km Freestyle
9 December 2023
- Östersund (Sweden) Sprint Classic
10 December 2023
- Östersund (Sweden) 10 km Freestyle
15 December 2023
- Trondheim (Norway) Sprint Freestyle
16 December 2023
- Trondheim (Norway) 20 km Skiathlon
17 December 2023
- Trondheim (Norway) 10 km Classic
30 December 2023
- Toblach (Italy) Sprint Freestyle
31 December 2023
- Toblach (Italy) 10 km Classic
1 January 2024
- Toblach (Italy) 25 km Freestyle Pursuit
3 January 2024
- Davos (Switzerland) Sprint Freestyle
4 January 2024
- Davos (Switzerland) 20 km Classic Pursuit
6 January 2024
- Val di Fiemme (Italy) 15 km Classic Mass Start
7 January 2024
- Val di Fiemme (Italy) 10 km Freestyle Mass Start Climb
19 January 2024
- Oberhof (Germany) Sprint Classic
20 January 2024
- Oberhof (Germany) 20 km Classic Mass Start
27 January 2024
- Goms (Switzerland) Sprint Freestyle
28 January 2024
- Goms (Switzerland) 20 km Freestyle Mass Start
9 February 2024
- Canmore (Canada) 10 km Freestyle
10 February 2024
- Canmore (Canada) Sprint Freestyle
11 February 2024
- Canmore (Canada) 20 km Classic Mass Start
13 February 2024
- Canmore (Canada) Sprint Classic
17 February 2024
- Minneapolis (United States) Sprint Freestyle
18 February 2024
- Minneapolis (United States) 10 km Freestyle
2 March 2024
- Lahti (Finland) 20 km Classic
3 March 2024
- Lahti (Finland) Sprint Freestyle
10 March 2024
- Oslo (Norway) 50 km Classic Mass Start
12 March 2024
- Drammen (Norway) Sprint Classic
15 March 2024
- Falun (Sweden) Sprint C
16 March 2024
- Falun (Sweden) 10 km Classic
17 March 2024
Falun (Sweden) 20 km Freestyle Mass Start
The Tour de Ski events take place from 30 December 2023 to 7 January 2024.
2023/24 FIS Cross-Country World Cup calendar: Men's and women’s relay
Information subject to change. An updated calendar can be found on the FIS Website.
3 December 2023
- Gällivare (Sweden) 4 x 7.5 km Relay Classic/Freestyle
21 January 2024
- Oberhof (Germany) 4 x 7.5 km Relay Classic/Freestyle
1 March 2024
- Lahti (Finland) Team Sprint Classic
TV, live stream coverage during 2023/2024 Cross-Country World Cup season
The 2023/2024 Cross-Country World Cup season will be available on Eurosport, discovery+ and the Eurosport App across Europe and Asia (excluding the Nordics and Japan).