Monday, March 21, 2011

Who the Hell Is Finn Hågen Krogh?


  1. A twenty-year-old junior ski racer from Norway.
  2. The second-place finisher in the general classification of the 2011 season finale at Falun.(Great Nordic Xplained race recap here.)
  3. The guy who, in moving up from eighth to second in the finale GC, posted the fastest time in the 15k skate pursuit, nearly a half-minute up on Maurice Manificat, one of the top few skaters in the world.
  4. The skier who closed a 5s gap to Dario Cologna and Giorgio diCenta with about 1000m remaining in that pursuit, then outsprinted Cologna to the line.
  5. A skier who has had only six World Cup starts, all in early 2011 - and the best of which, before Sunday, was a 21st in the Lahti 10+10 pursuit the previous weekend.
  6. A three-time World Junior medalist: a gold in the relay and a bronze in the 20km pursuit at the 2010 WJC in Hinterzarten plus a bronze in the relay at the 2009 WJC in Praz de Lys Sommand.
  7. A racer with five podium finishes in Scandinavian Cup races during the 2010-2011 season - including sprints and distance races and in both techniques (plus two other top-10s).
  8. Someone who seems like a good bet for the Norwegian national team in the 2011-2012 season.
  9. A racer who could well be the next Therese Johaug - or at least the next Kristin Størmer Steira.
  10. Or who could well be the next Ronny Hafsås.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Haha, great Hafsås comment. Made me laugh. If Krogh turns into Hafsås, I'll do something ski equivalent of eating my shorts.

Christopher Tassava said...

Krogh looks like a better bet than Hafsås, but just to be sure we maximize the entertainment, how about wagering that you'll eat a tube of klister if he doesn't make the podium three times next season? With video, it'll be a great blog post.

Anonymous said...

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that bet would probably end my life, literally. Word on the street is that klister is not conducive to the esophagus.

Here's my counter offer since I want to live at least a couple more decades. How about if Krogh doesn't earn at least three top 5 placings in the year, assuming he enters at least 15 World Cup races which will include Tour starts(Heidi Weng had a great finish to last season too and never got a World Cup Team spot), I will eat a peanut butter and klister sandwich and put it up on the blog. I just think wolfing down a whole tube of klister is a real life-ender.

Carrie said...

Wow, that's a pretty gutsy bet. You sure have high hopes for Krogh. Three top 5 placings in a season by a male 21-year-old, sounds like something usually reserved for the Northugs and Elofssons of this world...
(Although the 1990-generation seems to have a few talents that might make it; Sedov, Belov, Pellegrino, Golberg, Krogh.)

Anonymous said...

Yeah 3 top 5 seems like a lot paticularly since i do not think Krogh is a good sprinter. The type of races were the younger dudes usually do well.

Another fun fact last year Krogh was rate as the third best junior in the country behind Golberg and Northug and now he was the second best senior in the world a big step up

Christopher Tassava said...

I don't think we have to go overboard with a bet. I mentioned klister in jest. Let's just enjoy the next season: it'll be fun to see if Krogh turns out to be the real deal or not. If he does, maybe we'll see some of the inter-team squabbling that we saw with the Norwegian men's biathlon team this year. Always good for bloggers!

Anonymous said...

I'm mostly a big fan of Krogh because his name is so badass. Why wouldn't you support a guy named Finn Hagen Krogh??
Although now that I think about, Ronny Andre Hafsaas had a decent ring too..