November 20, 2011 (Sjusjoen, Norway) – Petter Northug’s trademark finishing kick gave Norway a seemingly easy victory in the men’s World Cup 4x10km relay in Sjusjoen, Norway this afternoon. Local fans were treated to a 1-2 finish as Sjur Roethe of Norway III crossed the line in second just ahead of Sweden’s Calle Halfvarsson in third.

For the North Americans it was a so-so day at the office as the US team of Andy Newell, Kris Freeman, Tad Elliot and Simi Hamilton put in a solid effort, finishing 11th. Meanwhile the Canadian team chased a ski and broke a pole shattering any hopes of a lofty finish deciding to abandon after the third leg to focus on the next round in Kuusamo.

Setting the pace through most of the race were teams from Norway, Sweden, Russia, France and Italy. Norway was at the front after the first leg but Russia 1 was having none of that as Maxim Vylegzahanin charged to the front on the second 10km leg. Lars Berger (NOR) skied near the front and then Roland Clara (ITA) decided to mix it up as the third leg finished. Clara looked strong but Berger was able to overtake him and hand off to Northug first for the last 10km.

A break of five skiers that included Northug were away on the final leg but things slowed dramatically – to a strange training pace – as the group of eight skiers watched each other allowing some chasers to regain contact as the race became more tactical. The USA’s Hamilton was just behind on his own but could not make contact.

Then in typical style, Northug attacked in the closing meters to open a gap on compatriot Roethe and Sweden’s Halfvarsson. As he crossed the finish line Northug taunted the field with a quick look back with his pole straps already undone.

Alexander Legkov, skiing for Russia I, seemed to have a lock on third when the tip of one of Halvarsson’s  skis appeared to throw him off balance as the competitors scrambled for lane position. The Russians eventually finished 5th, as the Frenchman Christophe Perrilat outstretched Legkov for 4th.

Newell skied the lead-off leg for the US team and stayed in contact with the leaders despite poor grip and icy conditions, until the final two kilometres when he fell a little off the pace, handing off to Freeman in 9th.

Freeman took over and skied strong to bring his team back into contact with the lead group, at one point sitting in 7th spot, but as the pace up front quickened he faded towards the end of the leg handing off to Elliot in 10th.

“I worked really hard to catch the group ahead of me but didn’t realize they were the leaders and had I been more aware I might have race differently at the end of the leg.

“I’m not as excited about this weekend’s start to the season as I’d like. Yesterday was disappointing and today’s relay effort was ok but I was never really comfortable out there. It was a tricky waxing today as the weather changed and half the guys were out of the track.

“Last year I came over early and had some good races in Muonio [Finland] but this year I decided not to given the snow conditions. It’s a crap shoot and easy to second guess yourself – now I want to get rested up and be ready for Kuusamo next weekend.”

Elliot put in a solid leg, swapping leads in a small group with Norway II’s Tarjei Boe and Switzerland’s Remo Fischer before fading slightly. Hamilton skied the final leg for the U.S., crossing the line in 11th position.

It was a rough day for the Canadian men’s relay team, made up of Devon Kershaw, Ivan Babikov, Graham Nishikawa and Lenny Valjas. Kershaw lead off for the Canadians and was looking strong near the front when he became entangled with Marcus Hellner (SWE) and lost a ski, which went shooting off the trail into a crowd of spectators (readers may recall a similar type of situation plagued Kershaw at the Worlds in Oslo).

“Losing a ski AGAIN today blew it,” Kershaw tweeted later in the day, “Falling because of it sucked too. Thanks to the NOR fans who got it for me & handed it back to me,” he added.

After retrieving his ski from a spectator Kershaw continued racing, but by this time had fallen back to 14th. He pressed on and handed off to Babikov, who subsequently broke a pole losing more time.

Nishikawa skied third for Canada, but with the team so far behind and with the up-coming Kuusamo mini-tour in mind, they decided to abandon the race and rest rising star Valjas, who was to have skied the anchor leg.

“We had lots of misfortune today,” said Head Coach Justin Wadsworth in a phone interview with SkiTrax after the race, “hopefully we’ve gotten all of the bad luck out of the way today.”