September 2019 Archives

12Sep 2019 by DS News Team

Josef Fischer Celebrates 90 Today!

Josef "Pepi" Fischer, the last great Austrian ski manufacturer, celebrates his 90th birthday on 12 September 2019. His is a story of business acumen mixed with technical knowledge and athlete-like endurance that spans decades. The company was founded by the father of Mr. Fischer, Josef Fischer, Sr. back in 1924 in Ried im Innkreis where it still resides. [caption id="attachment_12736" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Fischer skis at the beginning of the long & storied path[/caption] "Pepi" Fischer who gradually replaced his father at the helm, had steered the family outfit from relatively remote Austrian town to the ultimate success: by mid-1970s Fischer Sports became world's biggest ski manufacturer bar none. In cross country skiing Fischer Jr. had realized the potential of fiberglass for manufacturing early on ( most Scandinavian brands hitherto dominating…

11Sep 2019 by DS News Team

Johannes Bo Talks About How He Spends His Money – And How He Doesn’t

Money & Finance, Newsfeed

World Biathlon #1 Johannes Bo has got 460k euros from IBU in prize money last year, but that's a fraction of what he makes from various endorsements. He is happy to pay ( astronomical) Norwegian taxes and would not consider moving to a more tax-friendly to millionaires locale e.g. Austria the way the previous leader of the world biathlon did. As a consequence (probably ) he couldn't afford to buy Bjorndalen's famous camper van. He also owns a house plus an appartment, flies economy but once spent several thousand euros in one go picking up the tab at a dinner. He is also not immune to gambling. All that is in interview Bo Younger gave to the Russian sports channel Match TV. Them folks are consistently and successfully develop profile…

09Sep 2019 by DS News Team

Peek Inside Cologna Ski Center

Gear News, Newsfeed

The town of Davos has two claims to fame: the annual World Economic Forum and the fact that Dario Cologna for the last circa ten years lives there. The latter is actually more obvious throughout the year - even if not as well-covered by media. [caption id="attachment_12678" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Swiss national performance center for cross-country skiing is located right in the middle of the Alpine resort town[/caption] [caption id="attachment_12682" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The fact that last year it was named after Dario is significant in itself - not exactly a Swiss tradition to name facilities after active athletes[/caption] [caption id="attachment_12681" align="alignnone" width="1920"] but the fact that they - wait for it - allocated a separate, personalized parking space for the quadruple Olympic champion speaks volumes of his status in town [/caption][caption…

08Sep 2019 by DS News Team

Meet New OW Boss, Not Same As Old Boss

Gear News, Newsfeed

Some 14 months after purchasing One Way back in May 2018, Fischer Sports have appointed a new manager for the brand. Severin Lehner is a long-time Fischer Sports employee but his background appears to be fully in Alpine rather than cross country skiing. Whether it indicates any change of strategy or will OW continue to be producing stuff primarily for "skinny skiing" shall be seen. What's clear, however, is that Fischer Sports, the world's biggest xcski equipment producer and one of the biggest overall in winter sports, has decided to keep One Way separate rather than amalgamating it into its own brand. Many a star who used to run with SLG 10 poles have continued to do so after the ownership change last year - although there were some who…

06Sep 2019 by DS News Team

Summer Skiing Shatters TV Ratings In Norway

Newsfeed

More than 350,000 viewers turned their TV sets on to watch Toppidrettsveka's Aure-Brekka race thus setting an overall audience record for the summer broadcasting in Norway. Overall, Toppidrettsveka led the ratings battle with 1,426,000 viewers over six events broadcasting with Blinkfestival being second with 1,245,000 over seven. In the country of 5.3 million people, babies included! Even in Norway ratings like this are far from automatic - on the contrary, it requires a careful choreography of schedules, venues and budgets . And, of course, making sure that the stars - both domestic and foreign - come to participate and not elect to hop off to some distant camp. Kudos to Harald Fladseth & team at Toppidrettsveka and Arne Idland & team at Blinkfestivalen - you really built great events worth…

Month: September 2019