Cross-country skiing: Martin Sundby to greetings, will compete only in the Granfondo

The 36-year-old Norwegian, who had played in the last race of his career at the World Championships in Oberstdorf, confirmed his farewell to the World Cup, World Championships and Olympics. However, his competitive career will continue over long distances.

Sunday 21 March 2021 4 minutes reading time

News that had been filtering through the Norwegian scene for quite some time: Martin Sundby has decided to end his World Cup journey. For the '84 class, a native of Oslo, a career that began on March 13, 2005 ends, when he competed in the 50 km of Oslo without reaching the finish line. Chronic back problems have limited his performance in recent years, forcing him to significantly reduce workloads and to compete in the fewest number of races possible (this season he only took part in the 15 km skating world championship). The news of his retirement was given on Friday, during the last episode of the documentary about his life, broadcast by the Norwegian broadcaster NRK. "My physique no longer allows me to obtain results with continuity, even if the World Championship race in Oberstdorf made me partly reconsider my decision: for this reason I will compete over long distances, where less explosiveness is needed and my back would not be too stressed. " - said the Norwegian champion in the biographical documentary, where he said he was very proud of what he collected over the course of his career. Martin Sundby has won the Cross-Country Skiing World Cup three times (2014, 2016 and 2017), a record that few athletes can boast. Thirty-three victories (including nineteen individual) and twenty-nine podiums (twenty-five individual) are the mirror of a great career, which began right on the snow of his Oslo. Significant results also came in major events: fourteen medals between the World Cup and the Olympics. At the Pyeonchang 2018 Games he was gold in the sprint team and in the relay and silver in the skiathlon, in Sochi 2014 bronze always in the skiathlon, while in Vancouver 2010 he was silver in the relay. At world level, in his palmarès we find four golds, three of which won in the relay (Oslo 2011, Lahti 2017 and Seefeld 2019), in addition to that of the 15 km of Seefeld 2019; three silvers, two of which in the pursuits of Val di Fiemme 2013 and Lahti 2017, where he also won the same medal in the 15 km; two bronzes (15 km Oslo 2011 and Seefeld pursuit 2019). Norway and the Cross-Country Skiing World Cup lose a champion, certainly one of the most successful athletes of the last decade together with compatriot Petter Northug, with whom he shared so many joys in the Olympic and world relays. Fortunately, his class can still be admired in the long distance competitions in which he will take part, because an athlete from this generation is part of the history of cross-country skiing.