Newsfeed

01Jul 2022 by The Daily Skier Editorial

The BLINK Skifestival is back in full strength this year after last two editions hampered but not broken by COVID

The BLINK at the beginning of August is one of those rare stories worth talking about, year after year. Why do we at The Daily Skier pay so much attention to it? Because the competition is evolving, growing in strength, getting more spectators, better sponsorship and more media attention. Because it's the world's first real fusion of xcskiig and biathlon (others are trying to imitate now) Because of its festive, celebratory atmosphere that is difficult to convey unless you are on the ground ( and if you haven't made up your mind about vacations yet, BLINK is on August 3-6 thus year!). In short, BLINK is bluntly showing what a successful cross-country skiing competition should be like, narrow skis or those wheeled. We talked to Arne Idlamd, the guy created…

20Jun 2022 by The Daily Skier Editorial

Valentina Vuerich makes history by signing with Team Norway

Leaders, Newsfeed

Vale is special, there is probably no one else like her on the World Cup circuit: We profiled Ms.Vuerich more than two years ago on dailyskier.com : "..a former athlete herself, Valentina is a lot more than a ski technician. She is a training partner and, judging by amounts of smiles & giggles, one of the close friends to her Team Slovenia athletes…" The Italian specialist was instrumental in success of the Slovenian team in the recent years - but this month Valentina has signed a contract with none less than Team Norway. Thus becoming, we believe, the first foreign female ski specialist with them. She would be primarily responsible for making sure the skis of Heidi Weng, Julie Myhre and Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget are flying in every race. We…

13Jun 2022 by The Daily Skier Editorial

Xcskiing 2022 – a list of woes goes long

Leaders, Newsfeed

Do you like understatements? Here's one: The times ain't easy for the international cross country skiing. If you read this, you most likely have your own reasons to think so. Nonetheless, let us list them: The bosses of the most powerful national ski associations are in open revolt against the FIS boss Johan Eliasch and his radical reforms. The World Cup 22/ 23 schedule is a very illustration of the word " lopsided": 4 out of 15 competition venues are located in Norway - while one of the most important markets , Germany, hosts only one. There are zero races in the Central Europe ( Poland, Czechia, Austria, East Germany etc.) and there are zero races outside of Europe in general. Neither are the things shiny when it comes to…

04Mar 2022 by The Daily Skier Editorial

Was there ever such a sad FIS World Cup season as this one?

Leaders, Newsfeed

Was there ever such a screwed up FIS World Cup season as this one? Two WC stages scrapped- ostensibly - because of Covid, while every other snow sport was happily competing at the same time, even in the same countries. The World Cup final cancelled because of the politics - and what's most telling, not a single serious candidate sprung up to fill the void despite a three week notice. “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark" That's not us here saying - that's murmurs we increasingly hear among stakeholders of all hues. And it might get worse. It almost certainly will get worse. We are not privy to exact statistics, but one does not have to be a genius to see that a loss of the market of…

07Feb 2022 by The Daily Skier Editorial

Ustiugov deserves Olympic medal more than anybody else in cross-country skiing – as a compensation for the 2018 Olympics that never happened in his career – Markus Cramer

Leaders, Newsfeed

There will be an Olympic debut like no other in the Olympic Sprint competitions on Tuesday. Well, technically Sergey Ustiugov had his first Olympic race 8 years ago in Sochi where then-21 year old was one of the hot Sprint favorites. But the chaos in the Sprint finals with many a fall led to Ustiugov tripping over a Swedish skier, breaking his pole and finishing - if you could call it that - a minute behind the winner, Ola Vigen Hattestad of Norway. Ustiugov hasn't started in any other race in Sochi. In the years between Sochi'14 and Pyeongchang'18 the Russian "Moose", as his domestic fans call him ,established himself as a dominant force in the international cross country skiing, winning anything from sprints to 50k and was gearing up…

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