Northug wins individual 15K at ‘Nordic Worlds’

VAL DI FIEMME, Italy, Feb 27, (AP): Norwegian cross-country great Petter Northug earned his first gold medal at the Nordic world championships in the 15-km individual freestyle on Wednesday.

Northug had never won a 15K previously. He beat Johan Olsson of Sweden by 11.8 seconds, finishing in 34 minutes, 37.1 seconds. Tord Asle Gjerdalen was third, 22.3 seconds behind Northug.

The victory by the two-time Olympic champion made up for silver in the sprint, a fourth in the skiathlon and a failure to qualify for the final of the team sprint.

“I knew from the first races that I was in good shape so my plan was to attack for the gold medal, so I gave it my all,” Northug said. “Today is the day you dream of when you’re an athlete; you wake up and feel like you have a lot of power and you know you can give it your all ... and then when you win it’s amazing.

“I knew it was going to be fight between me and Johan Olsson and when I heard the others’ times I just focused on the times of Johan. I was losing a bit because I was tired, then I just focused on my legs and not falling because I knew I had the seconds.”

Northug attacked from the start and was more than 20 seconds ahead of Olsson after 9.4 kms. He started to struggle and lost 10 seconds within the next 2 kms.

However, he maintained his pace over the final section and collapsed over the line, where he lay for several minutes before being helped up.

“When you’re so tired as I was today you don’t hear any crowds, it feels like you’re racing on your own,” Northug said. “You just want to cross the finish line because then it’ll be over.