PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Petter Northug has been up and running again and swinging.
The Norwegian has seen cross-country skiing completely.
Now Calle Halfvarsson strikes back after the play.
Over the years, the rivals have Calle Halfvarsson and Peter Northug had a lot of dust between each other. They have mocked and heckled each other openly and have been worst enemies on the ski slopes.
Northug’s play
Last year, Halfvarsson got a boost in his career again, while Northug ended his skiing career a couple of years ago. But that still doesn’t stop the duo from continuing to mess with each other.
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Recently, the Norwegian ski profile went out with a surprising move and saw today’s cross-country skiing. Northug was immediately worried about the future of the sport and singled out the long-distance Ski Classic Cup as a strong contender for the World Cup.
– I think that the long-distance cup has become popular because many people find it exciting to watch races that you yourself are a part of, and to be part of a large context, where the world cup becomes very small, he told SVT.
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Halfvarsson’s words
A move that the Swedish national team men take extremely lightly.
– I don’t think so. It is probably because he is there and riding that he wants to raise it. There is probably a little “marketing” in that. I don’t think it looks very dark for cross-country skiing, says William Poromaa to SVT Sport as an answer and gets the support of the national team colleague Edwin Anger.
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Calle Halfvarsson is also not particularly slow to hook up and give back to Northug once again. He is not at all very worried about long races taking over cross-country skiing.
– I have no idea how popular the long-distance cup is. But in my eyes, it is quite far from the World Cup so far. I don’t really know if we need to be scared of the long-distance cup yet, but it is moving forward and we have perhaps stagnated and are standing and stomping a bit in the same place, says the 34-year-old who was so close to taking the first individual WC medal of his career earlier this year.
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But when asked what actually needs to be done, Halfvarsson turns to the International Ski Federation, Fis.
– That is a task for Fis (International Skiing Federation) of course. There are different things that have to be adjusted in competitions. It obviously hasn’t progressed. They come up with different ideas sometimes but I don’t think it was the right stuff. I don’t know, it’s hard to say, Calle told the TV channel.
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