A 24-year-old skier who hadn’t competed in a race since 2011 set a new world sprint record and crushed some of Norway’s fastest skiers including Petter Northug at a sprint show in Oslo Monday evening. Now a coach for the national ski team is opening the door for Ludvig Søgnen Jensen.
Jensen skied the 100-meter sprint semi-final at Bislett Stadium in Oslo in 11.79 seconds, parking the much-hyped Northug who didn’t even make it to the final. The former 100-meter sprint record in skiing was 11.84, reported Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK).
Then the record got broken again, when Theodor Peterson skied the 100 meters in just 11.76 seconds. Jensen, however, ended up winning the final with yet another record of 11.56, with Peterson second and Eirik Brandsdal third. Mona-Lisa Malvalehto of Finland won the women’s sprint with a time of 13.04.
Jensen, from Bærums Verk just west of Oslo, claimed he didn’t really think he was in good enough shape for the national team. Coach Ulf Morten Aune, though, sees potential. Northug, meanwhile, also failed to win the men’s 50-kilometer World Cup race at Holmenkollen over the weekend, but will be racing in another sprint event in Stockholm this week and still eyed winning the overall Nordic skiing World Cup as the season drew to a close.
newsinenglish.no staff
