May 2020 Archives

25May 2020 by DS News Team

Blinkfestivalen 2020: Out Of City Center, No Spectators And No Foreign Athletes. But With Lysebotn Uphill And Norwegian Stars

Blinkfestivalen, one of the world's best organized, best funded and best attended xcski/biathlon events will be held this August but out of town and with massively altered program. With large crowds banned, the competition is now mostly held for the sake of television broadcast. A long time must-have for the national broadcaster NRK, Blink is coming to the rest of Europe this year for the first via EBU (but biathlon races only - the European Broadcastng Union is interested in promoting biathlon, doesn't care about xcskiing) The venue of the Blink events is now Sandnes Arena. Which is not a bad thing at all, neither from athletes point of view, nor television viewers'. The newly built 4.2k facility with a full-size shooting range might be the best rollerski track stadium…

24May 2020 by DS News Team

Team Russia Manager Turns 80!

Leaders, Newsfeed

Yuri Charkovsky most likely is the busiest man in the international cross-country skiing world. [caption id="attachment_15861" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Yelena Vyalbe and Yuri Charkovsky form a rock-solid team. Charkovsky is used to be Vyalbe's coach in 1990s and for the last decade is Vyalbe's closest partner and confidant [/caption] As a manager of the world largest team (the Russians have 40 skiers in the national squad plus roughly equal amount of coaches & support personel) he is in charge of all the logistics. As the de-facto team captain he's present on most of the race-related meetings with the FIS & local organizers. As a coach with decades on international experience ,he is involved in mentoring athletes. And when all of the above is said and done, he's doing media interviews (Charkovsky's…

22May 2020 by DS News Team

German Skier Injured In Training Accident

Newsfeed

Jessica Löschke injured her leg badly in training accident in Oberwiesenthal, the local media reports. A German Junior Team member's pole snapped while bounding with a broken tip piercing the flesh so deep that local paramedics couldn't remove it. Löschke, 20, had to be airlifted to the clinic in Dresden where trauma specialists performed an emergency surgery. " Jessica was very lucky - neither key blood vessels, nor nerves were damaged " team doctor Tom Kastner told German media. Löschke is one of the big up & coming talents in the German team - even if the Juniors' World at home in Oberwiesenthal didn't exactly go her way this March. Wish Jessica a speedy recovery and comeback to the tracks! Source: https://www.focus.de/sport/wintersport/schmerzhafter-unfall-langlauf-star-jessica-loeschke-rammt-sich-bei-trainingsunfall-ski-stock-ins-bein_id_12018941.html

20May 2020 by DS News Team

Ola Vigen Hattestad Will Work With Johaug & Co

Leaders, Newsfeed

Ola Vigen Hattestad is a surprise late addition to the Team Norway coaching staff who's appointment was announced on Wednesday. Just a few months ago Hattestad sounded very content at his job with Team Slovenia. There he was coaching among the others, his wife Katja Višnar as well as Janez Lampic, Anamarija Lampic's younger brother and Eva Urevc, who is returning to competitive skiing in the upcoming season, . Katja won the surprising silver medal at the World Championships last year (together with Anamarija in team sprint) while Eva and Janez are considered to be huge talents. [caption id="attachment_15834" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hattestad trains with Janez Lampic [/caption] But when Team Norway calls - it's hard to say no. At his new job Hattestad will work together (or under? It wasn't…

19May 2020 by DS News Team

Lillehammer World Cup Stage’ 2020 Cancelled

Newsfeed

Rain or sunshine, one FIS World Cup stage normally guaranteed proper funding is the one in Lillehammer, on a legendary Birkebeineren Ski Stadium. It's not for nothing exceedingly rare skiathlon competitions are held there - what's overwhelming expense/ effort for other venues is nothing out of ordinary for the Norwegian hosts. Therefore in these times of financial crisis and uncertainty Lillehammer was a sure bet to hold its races in December. Alas, that was until Norway's Minister of Justice Monica Mæland have announced the governorment's decision this week: foreigners' entry ban to the country until January 1- nd no exception to athletes. Which means FIS now has to find a new host to arrange the competitions on December 5-6, 2020. It looks like Prémanon and Nove Mesto that were supposed…

Month: May 2020