The FIS World Cup 2019/20 is about to kick off in Ruka, Finland.
Tomorrow we will update you on those who we reckon got a shot on winning the Cup.
But today we want to start by introducing (or reminding you) the people who make them athletes, who shape them and who send them to the battles for podium:
Coaches
It’s not a definitive list, not every coach is mentioned below – mostly those we got to watch operating in the months between the end of the last season and now.
Eirik Myhr Nossum coaches men’s side of Team Norway. Last season’s clean sweep at the gold in Seefeld plus the WC 18/19 will be an extremely hard act to repeat for a 34 year old coach ( yes, he’s actually younger than Martin Sundby) – but he will sure tryElena Vyalbe and Yuri Charkovskiy: two bosses of the Russian skiing that are willing and able to challenge Norwegian dominance, especially in men’s skiingMeet Yuri Borodavko (L) and Oleg Perevozchikov. With Vyalbe doing “heavy administrative lifting” and setting general course , these two gentlemen are in charge of day-to-day coaching of their respective groups. The internal competition for the right to compete in the WC inside the Russian team is enormously high.Peter Schlickenrieder is in charge of Team Germany for the second year and the expectations are rather high that the Schlickenrieder’s re-organization plus serious resources that German Ski Union is contributing would bring resultsFinnish coaches led by Matti Haavisto will once again count on talent of Iivo Niskanen and Krista Parmakoski. The former has already shown that he’s in a brilliant form in November
…Everybody understands that in this day & age to win or just to be in Top 10 at the finish of the World Cup season one has to invest – a lot. From operating your own wax truck that doubles up as equipment storage to hiring doctors and massage therapists. Only top 5-6 teams could afford that properly.
The others have to be crafty and concentrate all available resources on a relatively small group of selected athletes. And that strategy starts to bear fruits.
Ola Vigen Hattestad is an Olympic champion in sprint and he is process of proving his mettle, long term, as a coach. Slovenian female sprinters under his tutelage were the only skiers who managed to snatch a medal from Big 6 ( if you include Team US) in SeefeldJostein Hestmann Vinjerui does to Team GB what Hattestad does to Team Slovenia except that Vinjerui’s squad is even smaller – and all male. And all ready to fight for the podiums in the upcoming season – just ask Andrew MusgraveJustyna Kowalczyk is shaping her own team and on her own terms. Together with her former coach Alexander Wierietielny, the best winter athlete of Poland has selected around 10 most promising then-16/17 year old skiers ( all female) after the Korean Olympics and is steadily, surely nurturing them to future victories. The results are already impressive and we expect them to grow
