March 13, 2013 (Drammen, Norway) – Petter Northug Jr. delivered a knock-out punch in the men’s 1.3km CL sprint as he claimed his first victory in Drammen to the delight of the partisan crowd. Northug is an icon in Norway and celebrated his victory lap with flag in hand while sharing the win with fans with ski-by handshakes.

Choosing no-wax skis he landed on the top spot of the podium with an amazing display of double poling through all heats battling with Alexey Poltoranin (KAZ) in the final as he relegated the Kazah to second with Sprint World Champion Nikita Kriukov (RUS) in third.

“After the semi-final I was quite tired but I am very motivated to win the Overall World Cup,” Northug told FIS XC. “I was happy when Alexey took it out quickly in the finals and was really happy to be able to win today.”

Toronto’s Len Valjas, 24, was the top North American in 16th while teammate Alex Harvey was 20th. Both advanced to heats but missed out with Valjas coming third in his quarter final and Harvey fourth. Back in the mix was Sudbury’s Devon Kershaw who did not advance placing 49th in the qualifications. Kershaw has not found his form of last year which earned him second overall in the men’s WCup final standings. Jesse Cockney, of Canmore, Alta., was 67th and Graeme Killick, of Fort McMurray, Alta., qualified 71st.

The USA’s Andy Newell had a solid qualifier in 10th and looked strong in his quarter final skiing at the front for the first half almost breaking away. Then suddenly Newell was on the ground when his skis gave way as it looked like a pole may have landing on his ski in the tight quarters causing the mishap – he finished in 27th.

“It was frustrating for me because of the crash. I’ve been feeling great the last two weekends but it’s always tough to have two bad results in a row. I was feeling strong and double-poled the qualification,” Newell explained to Trax post-race.” My double pole has been feeling great and Drammen is usually a sweet venue for me so I was excited to make it through to the finals.

“I tired to make a move over the top of the climb during my heat to get some separation from the racers on skate gear. Unfortunately across the flat after the downhill a Swedish skier [Johan Edin] came up next to me and poled hard right on top of my ski.

“It put a hole through my ski and hammered me to the ground pretty quickly. It was a bummer, but there’s not a lot you can do about it. Because of today I dropped a lot on the sprint standings but will have to fight back with half points in Stockholm.”

Teammate Torin Koos qualified 26th and also looked strong in his quarter final as well but couldn’t match the blistering pace in the finishing stretch and was fourth ending up 18th. Not advancing today were Simeon Hamilton (USA) who placed 59th in the qualifications while teammate Dakota Blackhorse-Von Jess was 65th.

Men’s Qualifications HERE.
Final results HERE.