OBERHOF, Germany — After several years of playing a dour second fiddle to Petter Northug (NOR), Axel Teichmann (GER) struck a different chord on Friday, besting the Norwegian at his own game with a strong attack on the last climb to win the second stage of the 2012 Tour de Ski. On snowy afternoon at the ski stadium in Oberhof, the race was rife with waxing challenges—temperatures holding at right around freezing, a mixture of...
OBERHOF, Germany – If the Prologue is any indication, the 2012 Tour de Ski will play out as predicted by the media hype—a battle between Petter Northug (NOR) and Dario Cologna (SUI). Northug edged his rival, and defending Tour champion, Cologna, by .7 seconds in the men’s prologue in Oberhof, Germany. Maurice Manificat (FRA) placed third, four seconds off the pace. As expected, times were tightly compressed on the fast hard track. The course was...
Though the men’s 15 k classic mass start in Rogla, Slovenia was contested on a 7-lap manmade loop, the final distance race in Period 1 of the World Cup provided plenty of excitement. Petter Northug (NOR) delivered what is now almost an expected sprint-finish performance, and edged out Dario Cologna (SUI) and Alexey Poltoranin (KAZ) to the line with a powerful double pole. Though the last-second victory on Saturday was typical of Northug’s style, the...
Davos, Switzerland — The Russians are coming. On a beautiful blue-sky day in Davos, Switzerland, Russian sprint-specialist Alexey Petukhov picked up his first win of the season in the 1.5 k sprint freestyle World Cup. Petukhov skied clear of the competition, leaving Swedes Teodor Petersen and Emil Joensson scrambling for second and third, respectively. While Petter Northug (NOR) crushed the field by nearly a minute in the 30 k on Saturday and was considered by many...
Davos, Switzerland – Petter Northug served notice to the World Cup field Saturday in Davos, Switzerland that the Norwegian superstar has to be taken seriously – no matter where or what the World Cup race is. The odds were supposed to be against Northug Saturday. The 30 k freestyle distance individual start doesn’t suit his strong mass-start finishing style. The strong distance field taking to the start line was rounding into shape, especially home-town favorite...
After a weekend of city sprinting in Germany, including gluhwein, spills, and DSQ’s, the FIS World Cup heads to Davos, Switzerland, this weekend for another pair of skate races. Saturday sees a rare beast on the World Cup — a long distance individual start skate race (15 for the women, and 30 k for the men) — while Sunday features what might be the most intense sprint of the World Cup season. While Dusseldorf...
Even if he didn’t say it, Petter Northug presented the challenge from the onset. The first starter in the men’s 15 k classic pursuit would give his followers a fighting chance before playing the game of cat and mouse in Kuusamo, Finland. The Norwegian frontrunner in the three-day Ruka Triple mini-tour wasn’t known for charging out of the gate in those types of races anyway. As expected, he led the race with the help of...
Roland Clara had been second before. On Saturday in Kuusamo, Finland, the Italian looked pretty comfortable in the leader’s chair, bundled in a blanket and flashing a genuine smile. But the men’s 10 k freestyle race on the second day of the Ruka Triple mini-tour was only halfway through. With individual starts staggering the finishes, Clara could see his seat wasn’t permanent. With every checkpoint — 3.1, 6.4 and 8.1 k — his challengers closed...
From the start, the U.S. men appeared ready to roll with the best of their World Cup competition at the 4×10 k relays in Sjusjøen, Norway, on Sunday. It wasn’t looks so much as action. Andy Newell jumped out to a first quick lap on the 2.5-k loop, working outside the icy track to position himself in fifth. As he found out, he wasn’t the only one working hard — most of the men he...
With the Norwegian women taking the top two spots earlier in the day in the 4×5 k, the Norwegian men had the bar for success set high for their four-man relay effort. As always, Petter Northug Jr. was anchoring Norway I, supported to Eldar Roenning and Finn Haagan Krogh on classic skis, while Lars Berger, biathlete, brother of Tora Berger, and occasionally cross-country relay selection skied third in the 4×10 k race in Sjusjøen, Norway,...
Petter Northug (NOR), famed for his unmatched finishing kick, fired up the afterburners once again, accelerating out of the final stadium hairpin and into the homestretch. The seconds ticked off the clock, and it seemed impossible that Northug would overtake his challenger. But lifting off the snow with each stride, Northug ate up the final meters, lunging across the line before collapsing in a heap, just two tenths of a second ahead of Roland Clara...
where she pulled away from Marit Bjoergen and Justyna Kowalczyk to become World Champion in the 30 k skate. Most importantly, Johaug’s prowess broke up the Bjoergen-Kowalczyk club, and introduced a new power into womens skiing. With Bjoergen knocking the stuffing out of every single woman on the circuit this year, and Johaug stepping up to a new level, the Norwegians have an unbeatable 1-2 punch in women’s skiing. Add in the aging but putting...
Petter Northug (NOR) has dropped skis and poles in favor of cards and chips for the next few days.
“It’s been an emotional day,” Morten Aa Djupvik, 36, said to Norwegian TV station NRK on Wednesday.
Norway’s government-run TV station NRK admits overstepping privacy boundaries in showing the images and sound track of Northug crying after the 30K pursuit at the 2011 Worlds in Holmenkollen.
Marit Bjørgen was ahead for almost the entire course, but in the last 50 meters Petter Northug surged ahead and won the show event "Bysprinten" in Mosjøen, Norway.
The World Cup is long wrapped up, and it’s time to party. The top racers never pass up a chance to party, and this weekend the party is Bysprinten in Mosjøen, Norway.
Skarverennet in Norway, the unofficial international season finale, draws deep and competitive field of racers from both the biathlon and cross-country World Cup circuit. This year, it’s a pursuit: the men will chase the women for the overall title.
Petter Northug Jr. won the 50K skate mass start at the Norwegian National Championships in Tromsø Saturday, despite having to make a pit stop in the woods.
His opponents insist he is not unbeatable, that Petter Northug (NOR) can be taken down. Marcus Hellner (SWE) proved that in the World Championship sprint. But when Northug is in top form and the event is a head-to-head distance competition, it is hard to imagine anyone else on the top of the podium. Northug did it again, sprinting away from an overmatched Giorgio DiCenta (ITA) at the end of the 20km pursuit in Falun, Sweden....