Northug powers Norway to relay gold at World Championships

By Published On: March 4th, 2011Comments Off on Northug powers Norway to relay gold at World Championships

It was the gold medal Norway wanted more than any other and she got it dramatically as Petter Northug pushed by Swede Marcus Hellner on the final uphill at the edge of a sold out Holmenkollen Stadium and powered home for the men’s relay gold.

Martin Johnsrud Sundby, Eldar Roenning and Tord Asle Gjerdalen made up the rest of Norway’s team finishing the four by 10km challenge in an hour, 40 minutes and 10.2 seconds, a full second ahead of Sweden. A huge charge from Tobias Angerer brought Germany the bronze.

The Norwegians stayed in touch throughout the race, never ending a leg worse than fourth, but that fourth was handed to Northug for the final leg starting 11 seconds behind Finland, with Italy in second and Sweden third. Northug was not having any of that and quickly caught the leaders, tucked in with them and waited to the final kilometer before showing his strength.

When Northug decided to go he left no doubt as to the outcome of the race. He went by Hellner in three strides and powered to the finish continuing to put distance between he and his competitors. The race was not as close at the time made it appear. Northug did a bit of mugging as he approached the finish, standing sideways and sidestepping over the finish line to claim the win and his second gold medal of the World Championships having also won the 30k-pursuit.

The team celebrated with fans before joining King Harald and Queen Sonja in the royal box (along with most of the royal family, and Danish and Swedish royalty).

The win gives Norway six gold medals and 14 total for the event, leading Austria 14-8 in the total count and 6-5 in the gold harvest.

Gepa image

Place   Oslo
(NOR)
  Discipline   Rel 4×10 km M
Date   04.03.2011   Category   World Ski Championships
Race codex   2125   Gender   M
Valid for FIS Points   NO – Waiting reports   TD Name   Pekk Tiit (EST)
       
  
Rank Bib Name Nation Time FIS Points
 1 NORWAY      NOR 1:40:10.2
    JOHNSRUD SUNDBY Martin     26:05.7  
    ROENNING Eldar     25:44.7  
    GJERDALEN Tord Asle     24:22.4  
    NORTHUG Petter     23:57.4  
 2 SWEDEN      SWE 1:40:11.5
    RICKARDSSON Daniel     25:43.5  
    OLSSON Johan     26:06.3  
    SOEDERGREN Anders     24:22.2  
    HELLNER Marcus     23:59.5  
 3 GERMANY      GER 1:40:15.9
    FILBRICH Jens     26:13.7  
    TEICHMANN Axel     26:03.7  
    GOERING Franz     23:56.5  
    ANGERER Tobias     24:02.0  
 4 FINLAND      FIN 1:40:25.2
    NOUSIAINEN Ville     26:38.6  
    JAUHOJAERVI Sami     25:35.2  
    LALLUKKA Juha     23:47.4  
    HEIKKINEN Matti     24:24.0  
 5 ITALY      ITA 1:40:41.5
    CHECCHI Valerio     26:26.7  
    DI CENTA Giorgio     25:50.0  
    CLARA Roland     23:48.2  
    PILLER COTTRER Pietro     24:36.6  
 6 JAPAN      JPN 1:41:49.4
    SHIMIZU Kouhei     26:26.0  
    YOSHIDA Keishin     25:51.1  
    KIMURA Masaya     24:54.7  
    NARUSE Nobu     24:37.6  
 7 RUSSIA      RUS 1:42:46.3
    VYLEGZHANIN Maxim     25:43.0  
    VOLZHENTSEV Stanislav     26:26.8  
    LEGKOV Alexander     25:41.1  
    CHERNOUSOV Ilia     24:55.4  
 8 CZECH REPUBLIC      CZE 1:43:08.2
    JAKS Martin     27:03.9  
    BAUER Lukas     26:08.0  
    MAGAL Jiri     25:12.7  
    KOUKAL Martin     24:43.6  
 9 SWITZERLAND      SUI 1:43:20.9
    LIVERS Toni     27:06.9  
    COLOGNA Dario     26:05.5  
    FISCHER Remo     25:12.4  
    PERL Curdin     24:56.1  
 10 ESTONIA      EST 1:43:21.3
    MAE Jaak     26:11.6  
    KAERP Algo     26:49.6  
    TAMMJARV Karel     25:19.4  
    REHEMAA Aivar     25:00.7  
 11 FRANCE      FRA 1:44:59.3
    GAILLARD Jean Marc     26:48.0  
    MANIFICAT Maurice     27:10.9  
    VITTOZ Vincent     25:04.9  
    DUVILLARD Robin     25:55.5  
 12 CANADA      CAN 1:45:12.1
    KUHN Stefan     27:50.8  
    VALJAS Len     27:27.2  
    BABIKOV Ivan     24:40.5  
    GREY George     25:13.6  
 13 KAZAKHSTAN      KAZ 1:45:20.9
    CHEREPANOV Sergey     26:11.8  
    POLTORANIN Alexey     26:27.0  
    MATVIYENKO Gennadiy     26:59.2  
    VELICHKO Yevgeniy     25:42.9  
 14 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA      USA 1:47:05.0
    NEWELL Andrew     28:16.7  
    FREEMAN Kris     27:07.8  
    HOFFMAN Noah     25:24.5  
    ELLIOT Tad     26:16.0  
 15 GREAT BRITAIN      GBR
    MUSGRAVE Andrew     28:17.5  
    PLATT Simon James     31:11.6  
    SMITH Callum     28:06.8  
    YOUNG Andrew       
 16 AUSTRALIA      AUS
    SIM Ben     29:17.3  
    WATSON Ewan     30:44.0  
    WATSON Callum       
    VAN DER PLOEG Mark       
 17 DENMARK      DAN
    MOELGAARD Asger Fischer     30:47.7  
    WULFF Kristian     32:25.4  
    HULGAARD Jens       
    HULGAARD Lasse     

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About the Author: Hank McKee

In memoriam: The veteran of the staff, McKee started with Ski Racing in 1980. Over the seasons, he covered virtually every aspect of the sport, from the pro tours to junior racing, freestyle and World Cup alpine competition. He wrote the first national stories for many U.S. team stars, and was still around to report on their retirements. “Longevity has its rewards,” he said, “but it’s a slow process.”