Northug stole farewell show – Helsingborgs Dagblad

I had wanted to begin with Johan Olsson, or even better, with Anders Sodergren.

But there’s no getting around the ski king’s resurrection from the dead.

On the way up the killer hill for the last time saw Petter Northug murdered out. He had lost the technology fully and staggered up the shaky, lactic heavy legs. In the last downhill towards the ski stadium in Falun, he was suddenly four. Now how it happened. But it would still not go – Lukas Bauer, Maxim Vylegzjanin and Johan Olsson was too far ahead. But then, going up against the last horse shoe, exploded Northug. He flew past Johan Olsson and had a sudden stroke position behind the Russian and Czech. The stretch gored himself between Bauer and Vylegzjanin and got up a speed you never thought possible after one of the heaviest femmil are in the modern skiing history.

When Petter Northug ensures back on his skiing career, it is enough this particular gold, the thirteenth in the World Cup, he will remember with a little extra pride and warmth.

Because it was not a fun trip, not for Petter Northug and not for anyone else either.

In heavy snowfall and snow reminiscent of powdered sugar, it became a race against the inner demons. It was like skiing from another time – when the piste and track machines even existed only in the imagination. In some parts of the track were the tracks completely rutting and it looked more like the World Championships in Lahti in 1958 than a ski championships in the 2000s. They won Sixten Jernberg femmilen after almost three hours of driving. Northug was admittedly an hour faster than Jernberg – but sixteen minutes slower than Johan Olsson 2013.

Johan Olsson yes, he wanted to win this femmilen. He tried and tried, but how much he raised the pace so it was not possible to create a hatch back in the groove covered with fresh snow. The shape and åkstyrkan was there and with external conditions more suited for Johan Olsson, had we been able to get a repeat of the feat race two years ago.

But this was the day when everything went Petter Northugs way.

With individual start, I am not sure that Northug had become the top twenty.

Yet, ironically, it was Northug who saved Johan Olsson’s last World Championship medal. The normally so spurt strongman Maxim Vylegzjanin did not think his eyes when Petter Northug flew a few centimeters beside him, dropped whatever technique called and had no chance against even a spurt weak riders Johan Olsson.

If the This was Johan Olsson last championship race is as yet unknown, but much going for it.

Anders Sodergren, however it is definitely out and there are primarily two images that become etched. The first when Södergren with all its heat took care of an inconsolable Jorgen Brink after the collapse relay at the World Championships twelve years ago. The second when he with all his loyalty drove and slowed the peloton on skiathlonen in Vancouver in 2010 to give Johan Olsson such a big gap to the peloton as possible.

An athlete’s greatness is measured not only in the medals.

And Anders Sodergren is undoubtedly one of the greatest athletes I’ve ever met.