Leaders

17Nov 2020 by DS News Team

Gjerdalen Takes Over Long-distance Team, Two Maverick Skiers To Assist Him

Tord Asle Gjerdalen is back in the saddle - and he's got two major names to assist him. A 37 year old Norwegian who, among other achievements, won Marcialonga three years in a row , in 2015, 2016 and 2017, but who was made redundant by Team Ragde Eiendom in April this year has announced his arrival to the long-distance ski outfit "Team XPND Fuel of Norway" It clear that Gejerdalen will be the driving force and the main sponsors ' attraction ( we don't know if Ray Ban has signed but they totally should! ) of the Team XPND. Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen and Eirik Brandsdal are presented as new "mentors" of the team. Not sure what sort of mentoring they could deliver but presence of such freshly retired household…

16Nov 2020 by DS News Team

Engadin Refuses To Give Up!

Leaders, Newsfeed

Here's the latest from Engadin Ski Race organizers" "...the second Corona wave is completely mixing up our planning and organization. The current ban on events with more than 50 people calls into question the implementation of the Engadin Skimarathon 2021. That is why we have temporarily closed the registration for all events of the Engadin Skimarathon Week until the beginning of next year. We will decide by January 6th at the latest whether and in what form we can organize the events in March 2021." Well, at least there is still hope. The organisers of Vasaloppet have already cancelled the main event, offering to " spread " participants over several days instead.

14Nov 2020 by DS News Team

Peter Schlickenrieder: There Is No Way This System Can Continue. Big Changes Need To Happen

Leaders, Newsfeed

The tensions that were/are simmering in the top-level international skiing seemed to have reached the boiling point. Late on Friday, Peter Schlickenrieder has thrown the gauntlet, publishing the Instagram post in which he openly calls for "Big changes" Earlier the same day Yelena Vyalbe has threatened to withdraw the Russian squad from the World Cup should the authorities somewhere try to quarantine an entire team if one team member gets a positive Covid test - apparently, that happened to the Russian Alpine skiers earlier this month when a waxer got corona-positive: everyone was ordered to stay indoors for over a week & not allowed to compete. Both Schlickenrieder and Vyalbe are far bigger personas in their home countries than the actual sport of cross-country skiing. Schlickenrieder, a very successful businessman,…

13Nov 2020 by DS News Team

Vuokatti Will Host FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships In February 2021

Leaders, Newsfeed

The FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships 2021 has finally found its home - fingers crossed. It was an unusually long and dramatic story: two initial locations in Poland had to withdraw even before Covid-19 pandemics in favor of Zakopane. Then Zakopane asked FIS to move it's hosting bid to 2022. Then there was a bit of confusion when FIS officially named the Italian town of Pragelato as the JWC'21 - unbeknownst to the Italian hosts. Finally Viokatti stepped in and saved the day. Unlike fairly exotic Zakopane and Prageloto, the Finnish town is a total mainstream location for the most if not all elite skiers, not the least because of its ski tunnel. Lahti, Finland was the location of JWC 2019 ( junior ski jumpers and Nordic combiners will…

30Oct 2020 by DS News Team

Natalia Nepryaeva: I Don’t Do Screaming, Shouting Or Public Breaking Of Poles

Leaders, Newsfeed

Natalia Nepryaeva doesn't really need introductions in 2020. But just to refresh you memory: the 3d overall in the World Cup 2019/20, arguably the most universal female skier of our times ( 4h in both Distance and Sprint ratings) and Russia's best hope for women's program at Oberstdorf-2021. We spoke in Ramsau , Russians' traditional October training camp - and their first on snow this season. The pandemics wreaked havoc with all of my spring plans. I was planning to do some downhill skiing with friends, to visit St. Petersburg - instead had to stay at parents’ countryside cabin, “ dacha”, in more or less full isolation - the only positive side was spending more time with the family! The summer training wasn’t too good either. Long, very long training…

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