Nortug Petter is a famous Norwegian skier. He has a lot of awards and records. He became the world champion 13 times, twice won the Olympic Games. At world championships he became the absolute champion, having managed to win in all six disciplines. Having also become the two-time winner of the World Cup, he received the unofficial title of King of Skis. Twice recognized as the best athlete in Norway. Opponents know him for his unique ability to accelerate at the finish line, gaining victory with a powerful jerk. Especially he succeeds, speaking skate style.
Skier Biography
Nortug Petter was born in 1986. He was born in the Norwegian town of Musvik in the province of Nur-Trendelag. He began his career in professional sports with participation in continental competitions. In particular, he achieved certain successes in the Scandinavian races, seven times making his way to the podium. The most successful for him were the pursuit races and starts at 15-kilometer distances.
In the World Cup, skier Nortug Petter made his debut in the 2005/06 season. He made his debut in the sprint, held in Drammen. Nortug Petter reached the 35th finish. At the same time, he continued to participate simultaneously in the Scandinavian competitions. At the end of the season, it was officially announced that he was getting a place in the national team.
At the same time, in his first season at the World Cup, Nortug won the first victory. On March 8, 2006, he finished first in a skiathlon in Swedish Falun. Behind his back he left two Germans - Tobias Angerer and Axel Taykhman.
In the final race of that season, Northug Petter finished second. In the same skiathon, he missed the victory, losing at the finish to the Swede Matthias Fredriksson in less than four seconds. In the overall standings, he completed his first season in the world cup in 15th place.
Star of the future
The star of the future - that’s exactly what Northug was called at the beginning of his sports career by many journalists, and they did not fail. Several manufacturers of ski equipment fought for a contract with him at once. The victory in this confrontation was won by Fisher. At that time, Nortug was still a junior, but nevertheless, a tariff rate was included in his contract. Previously, this was never done for a young athlete. The tariff was multiplied by 5, provided that Nortug would withdraw the Norwegian team to the world elite by the end of 2007.
In 2006, the Winter Olympics were held in Italian Turin, but Nortug did not get into the national team. The Scandinavians won 3 silver and one bronze medal. Such a performance was considered a failure. Then many, like Nortug himself, were perplexed why he was not taken to the Olympics.
The first major success came to him at the World Championships, which took place in 2007 in the Japanese Sapporo. Nortug won the relay. And two years later, in Czech Liberec, he won his first gold medal of the world championship in the individual race. The Norwegian came first in the pursuit, having traveled 15 kilometers with the classic style, and then the same amount of skating. A brilliant victory in that race was recognized as one of Petter Northug's best finishes.
Royal year
2010 was a truly stellar year for Northug. At the end of the season, for the first time in his career, he became the winner of the World Cup. 9 times Nortug came to the finish line first, another 6 times was second and once took third place. Only Czech Lukasz Bauer, who became the second in the overall standings, was able to impose the appearance of the struggle on him. But in reality there was no fight, because Northug's advantage was 600 points.
In the same year, the Norwegian triumphantly performed at the Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada. Although at first everything went wrong. At a distance of 15 kilometers in a free style, Nortug came to finish 41st, and in the pursuit race he went in the group of leaders until he fell behind on the last climb, taking only 11th place.
But in the mass start at 50 kilometers in the finish line he managed to get ahead of the German Axel Taykhman by three tenths of a second, having won the first gold Olympic medal.
In the relay, Nortug fled at the last stage, going the distance from fourth place. He managed to overtake the leaders, but by then the Swede Marcus Hölner broke away from his pursuers, so the Norwegians won silver.
In the final sprint race, Nortug fought with two Russians Nikita Kryukov and Alexander Panzhinsky, losing to them and winning bronze.
In the final team sprint, Nortug won another Olympic gold in tandem with Eystein Pettersen. For the Norwegian team, this was a triumphal Olympiad, in which they took first place in the overall standings of cross-country skiing.
Second World Cup Triumph
In the 2010/11 World Cup, Nortug lost the victory to Swiss Dario Cologne, taking second place. In the 2011/12 season, he was third, allowing Colony to make a gold double. Only in the 2012/13 season did the planet regain the title of the strongest skier.
In the overall standings, he was ahead of the Swiss Dario Cologne, who this time turned out to be the third and the Russian Alexander Legkov, who finished in second place. His final advantage was almost 200 points from the closest pursuer.
Second Olympic Triumph
But the second Olympic Games in his career were unsuccessful. For starters, he missed the 15-kilometer race with the classic style. Then the skiathlon failed, taking only 17th place.
In the race for 50 kilometers from the mass start he came to 18 positions. Closest to the Olympic medal, Nortug was in the relay. He fled again at the last stage. But this time he was not able to eliminate the backlog that his compatriots created at the beginning of the race. Nortug brought the Norwegian team fourth place, almost 40 seconds behind the Frenchman Ivan Buate.
In the free-style sprint race, Nortug unexpectedly lost in the semifinals, and on the final day of the Olympics, paired with Ola Vigen Hattestad, became only the fourth in the men's team sprint. As a result, he did not manage to win a single medal, but this did not prevent his team from winning the overall cross-country ski race.
