March 04, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Once again Norway proved they were the masters of these cross-country ski championships taking the men’s 4x10km relay as the home town roared in the Holmenkollen while Petter Northug anchored the team to yet another gold

Yet many wondered if Northug planned his controversial finish? He hung back in the pack, attacking a couple of times in the last skating leg, but realized the field was just too strong to let him get away, and conserved his strength. In this wild and exciting event nothing can be taken for granted except what will happen if Northug is anywhere near the front in the last 800 metres – he will unleash a trademark sprint that makes him appear to have been shot out of a sling-sho

He and Sweden’s Marcus Hellner were fighting it out on the last serious climb before the finishing stretch. Earlier in the championships, Hellner had used the climb to win the individual men’s 1.5km sprint. It has been renamed Hellner Hill, but later Northug said he’d have to attack harder than he did in the sprint in order for it to be seen as his hill historically.

This was just one of many fiery remarks Northug made about the Swedish skier who appears to have been his nemesis since the Swedes won this event last year at the Olympics. The two Scandinavians were the main protagonists at the end powering to the finish with a turnover pace beyond comprehension as they sprinted up the climbs, trying to kill all oxygen in one another.

Behind them Germany’s Tobias Angerer held on best he as he could, while Finland’s Matti Heikkinen had to drop off the back, after setting the pace for this five-man lead pack on the first half of the last leg of the relay

Northug simply flew up the final hill, gained more speed on the following descent, hit the one small climb left as if it was a slight bump, as he unleashed his trademark attack. In a matter of metres it was as if Hellner and Angerer had glue on their skis. Heikkinen was now dropped. Once on the straight away, he played to the fans, putting one finger to his mouth, kissing his index finger signaling the number one position. He said later, “This is something I am learning from the young kids. I have to say I am really impressed with Alex Harvey’s skiing.”

But it was not the only theatrics. He looked back casually at Hellner, who had beat him in the individual sprint on the opening day, as if to say, “Can I help you with anything?” and then skied in a more leisurely style to the finish, where he pulled up just before the line, looked at Hellner again and crossed the line doing a 90 degree turn just as the Swede arrived.

He said he’d wanted to do a 360, but there wasn’t time. The Norwegians took the relay in 1:40:10:2, Sweden was up next 1.3 seconds back, while Germany was 5.7 seconds back. Finland took the fourth spot at 15 seconds back, Italy was 5th at 31:3 back and Japan had the race of their lives, moving from last ranked 17th, to 6th at 1:39:2 minutes back. Canada, with Devon Kershaw sick and replaced with Stephan Kuhn as the lead-off man, finished in 12th at 5:01:9 minutes back, while Team USA was 14th at 6:54:8 minutes back.

Hellner was subdued and polite at the flower ceremony while the Norwegians were true to their Viking past, delighting over the spoils. The centuries old rivalry here between Norway and Sweden is very real. People may joke about it, but nowhere is it more apparent than at Holmenkollen.

Yet the Norwegians had not dominated this race. In the first of two classic legs, it was Sweden’s Daniel Rickardsson leading off and setting a blistering pace that only Russia’s Maxim Vylegzhann could match as Norway’s Martin Sundby Johnsrud held on in third while the others chased at about 20s behind. Then Vylegzhann attacked overtaking Rickardsson, setting a 25:43:0 pace as they hit the exchange with the Swede only half a second behind.

Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby was then a distant 22.7 seconds back. “Sweden and Russia skied very fast. It has never been like this for two years [in the first leg of the relay.] I was attacked by Russia and Sweden out there” he said. “ For me it was awful. For me too, though, I have the world’s best team. I really love those guys today,” Johnsrud Sunby added when asked if he thought the rest of the team would bring them to the podium

The first leg saw Estonia, Kazkhstan, and Germany following in 4th, 5th and 6th, another 20 seconds behind the Norwegian, with Italy, Japan and Finland chasing them. The pace pushed by Russia and Sweden had shattered the field by the 2.2 km mark. Canada and USA had fallen off the back at this point.

The second classic leg saw the tables turn as Norway’s Elder Roenning caught Russia’s second skier Stanislav Volzhentsev and Sweden’s Johan Olsson at the 5km mark and pushed past them to establish a 22-second gap over the Swede and 42 seconds over the Russian by the third hand-off.

Meanwhile, Finland’s Sami Jauhojaervi was another key story taking his team from 9th to 1st and powered by them all, skiing a 25:35 for the fastest classic lap. As the Finns moved forward so did Italy, Japan and Germany – in that order. While the Norwegian dominance at the Worlds is the first and foremost story, certainly the emergence of the Japanese skiers must be the next.

As the skiers hit the third hand-off which was the start of the skating legs, Finland’s Jauhojaervi touched off to Juha Lallukka and led Norway by 9.5 seconds. The first skater for Norway was Tord Asle Gjerdalen, followed by Italy’s Roland Clara in third place, 25:50 seconds back. Japan’s Masaya Kimura went out in 4th one second behind Clara.

Germany’s Axel Teichmann touched off to Franz Goerging, 28.5 seconds back. Later, Teichmann, who won two silver medals at the Vancouver Olympics and seven World Championship medals said the German team, including him, have suffered a series of endless illnesses this year and lost much of their form. He has been sick four times and has been on antibiotics. That the team eventually claimed the bronze was a great relief and the relay was the last race of the season for him – perhaps the last of his career as he thinks about what lies in his future

Every leg was a race within itself as strong second and third leg skiers caught those who had been given a lead by their teammate but could not maintain it. But Finland’s Lallukka kept the lead handed to him by Jauhojaervi and came into the final hand-off zone to touch Matti Heikkinen, who had won gold in the 15km classic race two days earlier

Italy’s Clara had a great leg, closing the gap on the Finn as he touched off to Pietro Cottrer Piller just 0.8 seconds back, gaining 14 seconds. Germany’s Franz Goering had also made up time, bringing the team up from 5th to 3rd 9.1 seconds back and handing off to Tobias Angerer, while Sweden’s Anders Soedergren was the 4th man in, handing off to Hellner, who would have to make up a 34.8 second gap.

But the Norwegians were in a similar situation as Gjerdalen came in as the fifth man and tagged off to Northug, who had to make up 35 seconds. This third leg was also the leg that saw Canada’s Ivan Babikov with the 6th fastest leg in 24:40, but the Canadians still sat in 13th place.

This last leg became overwhelmingly exciting as the Swedes and the Norwegians – avowed enemies – had to work together to catch the Finn and the Italian who had nine seconds on the Germans. Hellner and Northug, who have had a war of words for a year now, cooperated and with Angerer soon caught the leaders. Then there were five.

Hellner pushed the pace and later said he liked to be in front and did not see it as a disadvantage. But Northug was right on him, matching every move. Soon after the last big climb – Hellner’s Hill – Heikkinen and Piller Cottrer could not match the pace. Heikkinen tried to bridge the gap but by then the Northug Machine had been turned on and he left them all behind, allowing himself room to perform his theatrics.

Later Hellner remarked, “The way of ending this race is Northug’s way. I would not do it this way.” Northug countered saying if the Swedes found his gestures arrogant, then he had succeeded.

Hellner ended the jousting by saying, “My legs were not so good. I wanted to follow [Northug] on the course. It’s hard and Northug’s a very, very good skier. We congratulate him that was so good today. We will go home and train and beat him next year.”

Northug played with the paper in front of him and stared into his water bottle while his teammates spoke at the press conference, but he came alive once questions were directed at him. “I think today was the very best day. Thanks to the Norwegian crowd it’s easy to give it all – it’s easy to race here in Holmenkollen,” he told the crowded room. “Maybe to race in the relay team here is the biggest thing – the most important thing in your life. We will most likely remember this day for the rest of our life.”

When asked if he thought what he did at the end was fair play he replied, “We both had a pair of skis and a pair of poles. I was not blocking anyone. I planned to do a 360, but didn’t have enough time so I did a 90.”

Canadian coach Justin Wadsworth was not disappointed with the Canadian showing. “The guys all skied well today, and I think it was a positive experience for each of them. Ivan skied easy for the first 2/3rds, and then put on a spurt. George also skied well today, which he needed leading into the 50k. It was also a good experience for Lenny today, as we are continuing to groom him for more distance starts in the future.”

George Grey, who skied anchor for Canada was equally happy with their effort, given they started without Devon Kershaw, who was sick and Alex Harvey, who did not want to race the relay.

“We did not start with our strongest team but we all skied with our hearts and enjoyed the grand spectacle that Oslo has been. Stefan, Lenny, Ivan, and I were proud to start today. I raced my leg alone and was able to hold a decent pace and gave up just over a minute to the best skate time, with which I was relatively happy

“I passed Kazakhstan and closed a minute on the French team who finished just ahead of us. To race for Canada at such a big event gave me a huge sense of pride.

The American men’s team, who have not had the championship breakthroughs they were hoping for, still appreciate the love of skiing that is so apparent in the nearly 100,000 strong spectators.

“It was a really tough day for all of us on the American team. I think we are capable of a lot more than we showed today” said Noah Hoffman, who skied the third leg. “Hopefully we can all show it in the 50km. My leg was really tough because the Canadian Ivan Babikov started six seconds ahead of me. I started fast to catch him, but blew up and lost 50 seconds in the last 3km. I was disappointed not to hold it together better than I did.”

Full results HERE.