Petter Northug made a big impression when, together with his brother Even, he took silver during the NM in Lillehammer on Thursday.
During the final, Northug was fully aware that he was not equipped for the competition.
– Absolutely too damned! I am not trained for this. It goes way too fast, I’m way too lazy, then I’m five kilos too heavy, Northug told NRK.
Just as fully, Northug hung impressively well with active and meritorious runners in the field.
He finished by bringing in Didrik Tønseth on the run and sending little brother Even out in the back at Byåsen before the last stage.
That made Johannes Høsflot Klæbo smile, as he stood waiting to set off on the last stage for Byåsen.
– Unbelievable
Martin Johnsrud Sundby, who commented on the race for NRK, is hugely impressed.
– It is absolutely incredible what that boy is doing now. He himself says that he is not trained for this in any way, Sundby says of Northug.
– You see that the competitive instinct, it is completely unique. He almost overperforms again. You shouldn’t play with that will and competitive instinct, added Jann Post.
Fredrik Aukland is also very impressed.
– What Petter Northug is doing is almost unbelievable, says Fredrik Aukland.
– Gets dizzy and loses sight
Northug himself was well satisfied with the silver medal and his own performance.
– I get dizzy and lose my sight. It’s hard to go classic then. I’ve become a sluggish, damn diesel, you know. I should have kept going all day. In the last heat I started to wake up. It was good to feel that it responded well on the last hill and at the end there. It was really fun, says Northug to NRK.
Johnsrud Sundby thinks Northug is still better than Johannes Høsflot Klæbo in one thing.
– He has trained a bit this year, I have heard rumours, but he has a head that no one else has. I don’t even think Johannes Høsflot Klæbo has that head, so he is a sportsman of whom we have had very few. We still get to enjoy a bit of it, and I think that’s gratifying.