FIS Skiweltcup Dresden : Show Will Go On!

FIS Skiweltcup Dresden : Show Will Go On!

Leaders, Newsfeed
The international ski season still looks ...how shall we put it? Iffy? But that doesn't mean it won't happen at all. Skiweltcup Dresden looks set to host the world's best for the fourth time in a row despite all the current upheavals. We talk to the Dresden's competition spokeswoman Daniela Möckel who explains what the optimism is based on: [caption id="attachment_17039" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Daniela Möckel with the last season's Team Sprint winners[/caption] The International Ski Federation and the German national ski association, DSV, aim to hold a normal sport winter including the well-known World Cup events. This also includes the FIS Ski World Cup Dresden on December 19 and 20. As an organization team, we are currently actively planning the event, which will then take place on the 4th Advent…
Read More
XCSki Dream Job – Explained

XCSki Dream Job – Explained

Leaders, Newsfeed
...You obviously noticed them guys with enigmatically looking SRS letters on their bibs, that are a fixture of any FIS World Cup stage. Looking trim and fit enough to be taking part in the races themselves, they are most often seen doing what looks like interval training , visibly oblivious to the hustle & bustle around them. Those are "company test pilots" - the people who help develop & test world's most advanced skis at any given moment in time - and prototypes for the future big events. Their job is easy to define yet extremely difficult to implement: to make sure that their firm's athletes have absolutely best skis at all times. The skis that will sail them to the podiums. Today we talk to Simon Caprini, Rossignol' senior…
Read More
U.S. Ski & Snowboard Effectively Cancels All National Competitions For 2020/21

U.S. Ski & Snowboard Effectively Cancels All National Competitions For 2020/21

Leaders, Newsfeed
" The U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Sport Committee has voted to formally restructure many of our national-level competitions for the 2020-21 season. This includes the SuperTour, U.S. National Championships, and the Junior National Championships. These events will be replaced with high-level regional and divisional competitions-including season ending Regional Junior Championship in each Region of the country, at the discretion of local organizing committees and regional governing bodies..." That's from the letter by U.S. Ski & Snowboard President and CEO Tiger Shaw & his colleagues from the so-called Discretionary Selection Review Group, basically a task-force created to deal with 2020 challenges. The reasoning used: "...Even in individual start racing, social distancing challenges exist in race formats where athletes are in close proximity (i.e. passing each other) .."Also regional restrictions,…
Read More
Spine That Does Things Differently (But Finally Launches Its Website)

Spine That Does Things Differently (But Finally Launches Its Website)

Leaders, Newsfeed
Spine Sports is perhaps the oddest company there is in the whole of the xcski industry. Yet their market strategy seems to be working as more and more athletes and serious amateurs are being seen in Spine's marquee lapis-lazuli boots. [caption id="attachment_16860" align="alignnone" width="616"] Company is often defined by its boss - and Spine Sports offers proof of that postulate: Dmitry Vargin, Spine's co-founder and CEO, is mercurial and ambitious. As a man who built a multimillion dollar company from total scratch would be expected to be [/caption] Here's what makes them so different: - They are the world biggest cross-country boots producer by volume, churn out hundreds of thousands of them every year and operate large and well equipped factory in outskirts of the city of Yaroslavl in Russia…
Read More
Nejc Brodar: Slovenians Are Sporty Nation. People Put Heart Into It

Nejc Brodar: Slovenians Are Sporty Nation. People Put Heart Into It

Leaders, Newsfeed
Petra Majdič, Vesna Fabjan, Katja Višnar, Anamarija Lampič...how does the nation of two million people, where national sports are football, basketball and Alpine skiing, keeps on producing not just world-class xcskiers - but regularly medals in the most important races? We went to Pokljuka, where the country's national teams are summer-training and talked to the head coach Nejc Brodar: How does Slovenia manage to have not just one, but a steady supply of world class skiers? We are one sporty nation. People put heart into whatever sport they chose to practice. On the other hand, expectations are high. You qualified for the Olympics? It's not something you would brag about. Came strong 20th. or something? People back home would not care, media wouldn't even mention that. You have to be…
Read More