Johan Kjølstad

Who is Johan Kjølstad?

Johan Kjølstad is a Norwegian cross country skier who has competed since 2002.

Born in Levanger, he represents the sports club Skogn IL.

Competing in two Winter Olympics, he earned his best finish of seventh in the individual sprint event at Turin in 2006. He finished sixth overall in the Sprint Cup at the 2007-08 Cross-country Skiing World Cup, and won one of the races.

At the 2009 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, Kjølstad won the sprint prologue before American Andrew Newell and Russian Alexei Petukhov. In the quarter finals, Kjølstad progressed alongside Swiss World Cup leader Dario Cologna. Then, Kjølstad defeated Nikolay Morilov in the semi final and went to the final heat, being a medal favourite. Here, he fought with Ola Vigen Hattestad for the gold, having broken free from the other four competitors. At the sprint final, Vigen Hattestad defeated Kjølstad who grabbed the silver medal. The following day, Kjølstad teamed up with Vigen Hattestad to win gold in the team sprint event.