15k Classic Individual start - Petter Northug?
Terje Mathisen
skier:
He's won lots and lots of mass start events, from sprint to 50k, as well
as every single relay where he's been a contender.
Today he managed to overcome a 8 second deficit over the last couple of
km, with most of it seemingly inside the stadium, for his first ever
individual start world cup win.
I'm impressed!
Terje
--
- <Terje.Mathisen at tmsw.no>
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"
Anders
> The subject says it all, I believe Petter N is now officially a complete
> skier:
Those are almost the exact words used by Jarmo Punkkinen who
commentated the ra ce for Finnish TV and added "I have run our of any
reservations against him". Punkkinen also pointed out that the course
in Ruka is one where - despite it appearing deceptively easy when you
view it as a course profile - you don't get anything for free.
> He's won lots and lots of mass start events, from sprint to 50k, as well
> as every single relay where he's been a contender.
And a couple of individual start 15 km F races - but only at FIS or
national level. Before Beito, where he was fourth, his best World Cup
result had been the 7th in Lahti in March, a rather lonely exception
among the many barely-in-WC-points.
> Today he managed to overcome a 8 second deficit over the last couple of
> km, with most of it seemingly inside the stadium, for his first ever
> individual start world cup win.
According to my inofficial timing - I haven't checked a rerun of the
race - he was about three seconds behind Vylegzhanin at the "40
seconds to the finish line" mark and his winning margin was over one
second. The Russian was not among those who faded in the end and I'm
willing to bet that with the possible exception of Kris Freeman (of
whom I never saw a glimpse on the tracks or in the intermediate times)
he was by far the fastest in those last hundreds of meters. It is as
if he was now able to produce his trademark final kick also in the
absence of a man-to-man-battle.
> I'm impressed!
You're impressed - I was speechless!
Anders
PS it was somehow nice to see the Russians back in force, too. And
there is something much more sympathetic in Saarinen than in Kuitunen
both in victory and in defeat.