Norway veteran Northug misses out on Pyeongchang Games

Stockholm (dpa) - Veteran Norwegian cross-country skier Petter Northug will not compete at the upcoming Winter Olympics in South Korea, the Norwegian Olympic Committee said Wednesday."In professional sports, results count and unfortunately Petter Northug‘s have not been good enough," Tore Oevrebo, head of sports at the national Olympic Committee said.He added that Northug "has had bad luck and missed out on large portioons of the competitive season due to illnes."Northug has struggled the whole season and not been close to meet  the Olympic qualification criteria to compete in Pyeongchang February 9-25.The 32-year-old‘s Olympic medal haul includes two golds from the 2010 Games in Vancouver.Team Norway director Vidar Lofshus told public broadcaster NRK that Northug had failed "to achieve the form he wanted" and had declined an offer to travel to South Korea as a reserve.Announcing more names for Norway‘s Olympic roster, Ovrebo said Norway sought to be among the top three nations in the medal standings at the Pyengchang Games.Norway aimed to win 30 medals, including 10 gold medals, he said according to NRK.