Petter Northug (31) jokingly hinted that he might run for Russia. But the coach of the Russian national team in ski racing said that the Norwegian ski treasure them unnecessarily.
Resident Trøndelag held in Russia a few very tense days, and this weekend spent two hours to see the capital, Moscow. And he was in the bath, a Russian kind of sauna.
“I believe that Northug is not needed. We have themselves a lot of talented guys. The time will come and they will be no worse than Northug,” said the men’s team coach Oleg Carriers the newspaper “Sport-Express”.
This statement followed after Northug was joking before the race for 50 kilometers in the Khanty-Mansiysk last weekend — and after he had some difficulties with the Norwegian ski Federation:
“Maybe I should get with Elena Vyalbe to talk, start to run for Russia and smash the Norwegians,” said Petter Northug.
In Russia, this statement was taken more seriously than he expected. Yes, and Vyalbe, the President of Federation of ski races of Russia and head of the national team, commented on the statement in the following way, according to championat.ru:
“I think Petter is not as well as I know the international rules. If you are in the course of the year participated in the race for the world Cup, two years ago you can’t play for other country”.
Although Elena Vyalbe realized that it was just a joke:
“Honestly, I didn’t take it seriously. It would certainly be nice if he defended our flag, but right now we own a lot of good skiers. I’m 99% sure that he is just kidding”.
Petter Northug went “from the Varangians to the Greeks” independently, and the Russian press attache Anna Lozovskaya said in an interview with VG on the way home from Siberia, he found a couple of hours for a tour of Moscow.
“I will try to make good use of the few hours that I have in Moscow. It will be interesting to see such a huge city,” says Northug in the video, filmed in the Russian capital.
“I don’t know who’s with me. That’s the way it is here, in Russia. But I love all spontaneous, — continues the skier, and then adds, — I don’t know how will you get home”.
Photos taken Lozova, indicate that Northug visited Red square and walked around the Kremlin. He visited the Sparrow hills, and glanced down at the stadium “Luzhniki”, where next year will host matches of the world Cup.
“Maybe I will be able to combine vacation with a visit to two or three matches of the world Cup next year? I’ve never been to such a big championship,” Northug said in an interview with the Russian sports channel “Match TV”, this on the background of the Kremlin walls.
As we can see, the red square Northug learned. And of course, he was the center of attention during the ski marathon in Khanty-Mansiysk last weekend — together with Sergey Ustyugov, a ski hero of Russia at the world Championship, which in that day was 25 years old. In Siberia Northug jumped at the chance to go to the Museum of mammoths.
His next task is to take part in the ski marathon Mossavat (Fossavatn Skimaraton) in Iceland.
“This is the way to the Olympic games,” said Petter Northug after the ski marathon last Sunday.
