He is one of the biggest stars in winter sports: Norway's cross-country idol Petter Northug ends his career. "If cross-country skiing has been your life for so long it's hard to stop, but at the same time it feels good," said the double Olympic champion during a press conference in Trondheim.
Northug is a hero in Norway, record world champion, 13 times he went to World Cup gold, twice he won the overall World Cup. "When I was a little boy I had the dream of being a good skier and I'm proud of how I did it," said Northug.
He celebrated his first World Cup victory at the age of 20, something that no cross-country skier had achieved before. The 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver included Northug's 50-kilometer gold and team sprint, as well as relay silver and sprint bronze.
Northug is 32 years old, not really a cross-country skier's age, but the shape is gone. After a disappointing 2016/17 season, he had not made the leap in Norway's World Cup team. At his only World Cup appearance last winter, he was only 32nd in Lillehammer. The Olympic Games in Pyeongchang also took place without him.
An athlete with rough edges
The athlete Northug was one with rough edges. In 2012, for example, he crossed the finish line at the World Cup in Gälivare, Sweden, with a Sverige flag. A year earlier, he had slowed down as a season finale at the World Championships in Oslo before the finish line, waited for his Swedish rival Marcus Hellner and then grinned wide as a world champion over the red band on the ground.
Northug had already said in November that he was "in bad historical shape" in the face of continuing health problems. Two months before the World Championships in Seefeld he declared his resignation in tears. "Over the last few weeks, I've realized that it's not enough to be at the level needed to fight for the World Cup," he said. "My body can not handle the strain anymore."