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

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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04Feb 2022 by The Daily Skier Editorial
Meet Dinigeer Yilamujiang, future star of xcskiing. She lit the flame of the Olympics today – and she will light up your hearts with her track performances very, very soon.

Meet Dinigeer Yilamujiang, future star of xcskiing. She lit the flame of the Olympics today – and she will light up your hearts with her track performances very, very soon.

Leaders, Newsfeed
Dinigeer Yilamujiang made history today - and hit world headlines - by being the one of the two athletes to light the flame of the Beijing Olympics A ton of virtual ink already was and is going to be spent highlighting the fact that a 20 year old cross-country skier has Uyghur roots ( both Uyghur and Kazakh to the best of our knowledge - but it's not something we want to dwell on). The Olympics always were and will remain a political show where one side is on offense and the other is trying to find a fault with an opponent. We just want to bring up the fact that Dini as she is affectionately known on the world circuit is one of the most talented xcskiers of her…
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17Jan 2022 by The Daily Skier Editorial
Beijing Olympics ski tracks – what are they like? Tough with a capital T , says the man in the know

Beijing Olympics ski tracks – what are they like? Tough with a capital T , says the man in the know

Leaders, Newsfeed
Without further ado, we give the floor to Max Volkov, distance squad coach in Team China, who is currently at Kuyangshu Nordic and Biathlon Center in Zhangjiakou - the future Olympic venue : Overall,the Olympic tracks are quite balanced and harmonious for the lack of better description when it comes to a combination of uphills and descents. As one would imagine, there are no easy race profile configurations at the top level competitions in principle. But in Beijing there are added factors: The one that gets mentioned a lot is the altitude. The courses are laid on or above 1700m - that's higher than any FIS World Cup races in Europe. During the Olympic Games, the weather is expected to be cold and dry. That would make the snow slow.…
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27Dec 2021 by The Daily Skier Editorial
Two top female skiers announce break in their careers for medical reasons-just weeks before the Olympics. What’s going on and what’s to be done?

Two top female skiers announce break in their careers for medical reasons-just weeks before the Olympics. What’s going on and what’s to be done?

Leaders, Newsfeed
The Sunday news came as a bit of a shock https://www.instagram.com/p/CX8Ntt8LHnw/?utm_medium=copy_link And then again it didn't - Oestberg's struggles with her form & health were well publicised. Even still, those troubles seemed to be behind her. Ingvild came strong 8th in 10kF in Davos mere two weeks ago, just 28 seconds behind Therese Johaug. Since the Beijing 2022 distance courses seem to clearly favor light yet strong and technical athletes, many felt the ex-World Cup winner's place in the Norwegian line-up is all but guaranteed. Not so, alas A little less noticed by the media but nonetheless shocking was a similar announcement earlier last week by one of the most promising young Italian athletes: Francesca Franchi informed her fans via Instagram that doctors told her to stop competing, effective immediately.…
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25Dec 2021 by The Daily Skier Editorial
Max Volkov: no other team in the world has as much high-tech equipment to improve quality of the training process as we do in Team China

Max Volkov: no other team in the world has as much high-tech equipment to improve quality of the training process as we do in Team China

Leaders, Newsfeed
Max Volkov is not a household name among xcski fans the world over - yet. But the coaching prowess of a 31 year old from Moscow region is very well known in a tight circle of top specialists. No eyebrows were raised earlier this year when Volkov swapped the job of Alex Bolshunov's assistant coach to that of the national team of China, distance. [caption id="attachment_18958" align="alignnone" width="604"] Max Volkov and Alex Bolshunov at the FIS World Cup [/caption] When you read his (rare) interview below, keep in mind that Max is totally the opposite to someone given to exaggeration and hyperbolic assessments i.e. when he says " we've got best equipment" it probably means something like " the stuff we've got is leagues ahead of anything Norway, Sweden and…
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