FIS World Nordic Ski Championships 2011 Oslo
Norway All the Way
Home-team Norwegians rule Nordic World
Champs in Oslo By Peter Graves Photos by Gepa
Norway’s Marit Bjoergen, here racing in the 30K, took home four golds and one silver from Oslo.
OSLO, Norway — At the conclusion of the FIS
Nordic World Championships (Feb. 23 to March
6), there can be little doubt that the home nation
of Norway rules the world order of cross country
skiing. And that Austria is the ranking nation of ski
jumping. Nordic combined is more up for grabs, but
is still dominated by Austria and Germany.
There can also be little doubt that the World
Champs at the Holmenkollen venue were among
the very best organized and staged nordic skiing
events in history. Many, many thousands — most-
ly Norwegians, along with the remainder of the
world’s nordic faithful — were simply extraordinary
fans who watched each jump and each stride with
knowledge, enthusiasm and sportsmanship. Many
of the events had more than 100,000 people daily.
All told, the Norwegian nordic teams took the most
medals — eight of them gold, along with six silvers
and six bronze, while Austria had seven golds, two
silvers and one bronze medal. No one else was
even close.
The Norwegian women were led by a smiling and
humble superstar in Marit Bjoergen. The native of
Trondheim took home four golds and one silver
from Oslo and was the toast of the town.
On the final day of women’s competition, Bjoergen
still smiled brightly as she earned the silver, losing
only to her teammate Therese Johaug. Bjoergen’s
image adorns billboards and streetcar signs, and
she does it all with a 1,000-kilowatt smile.
The Norwegian men are equally strong and were
led here by the mildly iconoclastic cross country ski
star Petter Northug. In truth, I have never — in 35
years of covering this sport and coaching — seen a
human being faster on a pair of cross country skis
than Northug.
Northug is given to letting others take the race lead
SkiRacing.com MARCH 17, 2011 | 34
