Petter Northug, Team Northug Crucible, is taking his comeback seriously. In recent months he had a training volume similar to 2017. 

Petter Northug is determined to return to the elite level in cross-country skiing. This time as a Pro Tour athlete in Ski Classics. 

The king of cross-country skiing, with 13 World Cup golds and 4 Olympic medals under his belt, already announced last year that he dreams of winning Vasaloppet. However, the previous season arrived too fast for Northug, who did not manage to have a green light to start at the elite level in time, and only raced a few Ski Classics events as a recreational skier. 

This year, Petter Northug launched his Ski Classics Pro Team: Team Northug Crucible. 

With younger brother Even Northug on the team, there are now a total of five athletes in Team Northug Crucible: Petter and Even Northug, Pål Trøan Aune, Johanne Heimdal, and Ine Løvlien. 

Trains As Much As In 2017

Recently, Northug has logged between 75 and 80 hours of training a month. He had not done that before starting at the World Cup in December 2018. 

“I guess we have to go back to 2017. I was excited about how I would react to that (the amount of training). I’m tired. But I hope to get a boost. And I need this if I’m going to wear my starting number for the winter,” says Northug to VG.

In recent weeks, Northug had been training in the Canary Islands with his training partner Petter Soleng Skinstad. And the 36-year-old notes progress. 

“This summer, I was untrained. Now I have put in so much training that my body looks like it can go skiing again. But I still have more to go on, and I will be sharper before the first competition,” says Petter Northug.

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But even if the podium places are still missing, the experienced cross-country skier has already sent more than one warning alert to the top Pro Tour athletes. 

At Kanalrennet in June, which was also the opening stage for the 2022 Rollerski World Cup, Northug was 12th, just seconds behind the winner Johannes Høsflot Klæbo. 

During Blink Classics at the beginning of August, he secured one of the sprint prizes. In the 90km long Klarälvsloppet in September, a Ski Classics Challengers event, he fought for all the sprint prizes and hung on to the lead almost all the way to the finish line. 

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Also read: Team Northug Crucible – Pro Team Presentation Season XIV 

Ski Classics Pro Tour Season XIV (2022/2023)

• Event 1: December 10, 2022 – Bad Gastein PTT, Bad Gastein, Austria, 15km
• Event 2: December 11, 2022 – Bad Gastein Criterium, Bad Gastein, Austria, 35km
• Event 3: December 17, 2022 – La Venosta Criterium, Val Venosta, Italy, 40km 
• Event 4: January 14, 2023 – Pustertaler Ski Marathon, Sexten, Italy, 62km
• Event 5: January 15, 2023 – Prato Piazza Mountain Challenge, Niederdorf, Italy, 30km
• Event 6: January 21, 2023 – Engadin La Diagonela, Engadin Valley, Switzerland, 55km 
• Event 7: January 29, 2023 – Marcialonga, Trentino, Italy, 70km
• Event 8: February 12, 2023 – Jizerská50, Bedrichov, Czech Republic, 50km
• Event 9: February 18, 2023 – Grönklitt Criterium, Orsa Grönklitt, Sweden, 50km
• Event 10: February 19, 2023 – Grönklitt ITT, Orsa Grönklitt, Sweden, 15km
• Event 11: March 5, 2023 – Vasaloppet, Sälen-Mora, Sweden, 90km
• Event 12: March 18, 2023 – Birkebeinerrennet, Rena-Lillehammer, Norway, 54km
• Event 13: April 1, 2023 – Reistadløpet, Setermoen-Bardufoss, Norway, 40km
• Event 14: April 2, 2023 – Summit 2 Senja, Bardufoss- Finnsnes, Norway, 67km

More info about the Ski Classics Pro Tour you can find at skiclassics.com.

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