Northug the Man to Beat as Olympic Season Starts
Northug enters Olympic season as man to beat in cross-country, and with swagger to match
Petter Northug enters the Olympic season as the man to beat in cross-country skiing, and he isn't doing much to downplay expectations.
The 23-year-old Norwegian has an unrivaled sprinting ability that is matched by his confident swagger and unwavering belief that he is close to unbeatable in the final stages of a race.
It's an attitude that has helped make him the sport's biggest star going into the Vancouver Olympics, but also has a habit of rubbing some of his rivals the wrong way. Before this weekend's World Cup opener in Norway, some German reporters wanted to know whether Northug really is as arrogant as he seems.
The three-time world champion's retort was simple: It's not arrogance, he insisted, when you're the best.
"I just cross the finish line first," he said with a shrug. "That's it."
He'll get his first chance of the season to prove that in a 15-kilometer freestyle race in Beitostoelen, the first event of the World Cup calendar. A team relay is Sunday.
Northug already has his sights set on a bigger target, however.
After taking three golds at this year's world championships, Northug can cement his place as the next Norwegian skiing great with an equally dominant performance in Vancouver.
"You think about the Olympics pretty much every day, all the time," Northug said. "It's in the back of your head throughout."
Northug's explosiveness and speed gives him the potential to be the most dominant cross-country skier since Bjorn Dahlie, the Norwegian all-time great who won eight Olympic golds between 1992 and '98.
Northug represents a new breed of skier who excels in the increasingly common mass-start races — a format that is seen as more TV friendly than the traditional interval start competitions.
While interval starts force every skier to set his own pace throughout the race, a mass start becomes a more tactical event — similar to long-distance running — where the good sprinters can simply tag along behind those up front, biding their time before the frantic finish.
