In the Holmenkollen World Ski Championship Northug raced in five disciplines, taking 3 gold and 2 silver medals. During the 2011 World Championship, he gained widespread international attention when he controversially crossed the finish-line sideways after decisively beating his opponents on the last leg of the 4x10 kilometre relay. The gesture was regarded by media as disrespectful, most notably towards his most fierce rival, Marcus Hellner. At the end of the season Northug also won the Season Finale in Sweden, beating his compatriot Finn Haagen Krogh. In the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2013, Northug won the 15 km freestyle for the first time at a World Championships, completing his collection of World Championship gold medals. He again beat the Swedes on the sprint of the 4x10 km relay, securing Norway's 7th World Championship gold medal in a row in the relay. Northug also won a silver in the individual sprint. He was less successful on the team sprint, where he and his teammate, Pål Golberg, went out in the semifinal. Despite being a favorite before the 50 km, Northug finished 21st. He gave the winner, Johan Olsson, his jersey after the race as a gesture of respect. Northug had an impressive ending to the 2012–13 season. He won the 15 km individual classic in Lahti by over half a minute before being victorious in the famous classic sprint in Drammen. In the Season Finale in Sweden, Northug won first two stages, the prestigious classic sprint in Stockholm and freestyle prologue in Falun, then finished fourth in the penultimate stage, 15k classic mass start, and closed the season by winning the whole mini-tour. Before Lahti, Northug was in the third place in the World Cup, 226 points behind the lead; by the time it finished, he stood in first, 180 points ahead of second place. The 2013-14 season saw Northug struggle with an illness which severely impacted his performance. Particularly frustrating for him was his inability to fight for medals in the skiathlon and individual sprint of the Sochi Olympics. His relatively lackluster performance in the 50 km event, which saw him finish a distant 18th in a race he had definitively won four years earlier, meant he left a major world event without a single medal for the first time in eight years. Northug looked to be in better physical shape in the 2014/2015 season, and proved to be