Stig Rune Kveen and Krister Trondsen say that Swede Marcus Hellner (20) is a daring person to boast that he will crush Northug.
– Petter Northug is unique and we wish Hellner good luck in his quest to beat him, say Northug’s two teammates.
Trondsen says that Hellner's ambitions are high and that it will be hard for him to beat Northug.
– It will be tough but go ahead and try: Good luck, says Trondsen
Stig Rune Kveen is often training with Northug and also trained with the Swedish team when they had a camp in Meraker in May this spring.
– Marcus was not afraid and often set the pace in the interval sessions. He was also active in the distance sessions, explains Kveen.
He still believes that Hellner will have tough time against Northug.
Unique
– Petter is unique. He won a World Cup race at age 19. Hellner has raced many good races, but I believe that it will take many years before he can possibly beat Petter. Hellner might with normal progression have a chance at beating Northug when he turns 25. I hope they treat him well in Sweden and I wish him good luck, says Kveen.
Editors’ note:
A Norwegian newspaper asked Northug about Hellner after he had boosted on l
Langrenn.com that he was going to crush him in (some) races this upcoming winter.
Northug’s replay was something like:
– Marcus Hellner? I haven’t even heard about him or seen his name on the result lists. He better start training then…
Source: Langrenn.com
