Nobody thinks Bolt is less of an athlete than Farah. Klaebo likely finishes with 7 or 8 golds, it's better than Cologna, even though Cologna's achievement is remarkable.
I don't disagree with you, I just don't understand why we feel that way.
There's probably the element that the number of sprint races that can be settled due to luck, questionable judging decisions and similar will affect perception. Take the Lahti Worlds where Kikkan Randall got through to the final on almost nothing but sheer luck, with a crash in front of her in one race and a questionable DQ in another, but that's fine - only the last 2-3 minutes matter, the rest is just manoeuvring yourself into position to have the chance to fight for that win and how you get there is irrelevant. Individual start distance, however, is perceived as purer, one man or woman against the clock, in the same way as the time trial is the Race of Truth in cycling. And also, compared to a real distance race, a sprint is fleeting; no matter how good the action is, each race is only a few minutes long, so it doesn't have the chance to really imprint itself in our heads as an epic the same as, say, Johan Olsson at Val di Fiemme in 2013.
It's very much like the component parts of a GT. A sprint stage win is no less valuable, but we've kind of been trained to think of those stages as transient, plentiful and interchangeable, so they tend not to live on in the memory as long.
Of course, like Northug before him, Klæbo is far more than just a sprinter, but there's also a reason why defenders and supporters of Northug will point more at those individual start races he won and long distance events to point out that he was great above and beyond being 'just' a sprinter. Even if Northug winning long distance races where everybody skis as a pack for 95% of the duration are one of the main things Northug's detractors disliked about him (regardless of whether that was his fault or not).
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram