21Apr 2019 by DS News Team
Sergey Ustiugov Proposes! Here Are Other Couples Looking Ready To Get Hitched

Sergey Ustiugov Proposes! Here Are Other Couples Looking Ready To Get Hitched

Newsfeed, Trivia
It finally happened! Sergey Ustiugov bent his knee and proposed to his long-term girlfriend Elena Soboleva. Ustiugov, double world champion -2017 and TdS winner, does not need much presentation. Sovoleva, ex-U23 world champion in sprint, has moved to distance skiing recently and just became a national champ on 50k ( yep, that's fifty - they compete in that ultra-long distance in Russia) Characteristically for the couple, social media accounts of both stayed silent - luckily for humanity, many of their friends felt it's their duty to inform the world about the big event. The occasion gives us all the excuses we need to present you other long-term & public in their affections couples in the world's best sport: [caption id="attachment_11000" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Biathlete Monika Hojnisz and Poland's best male skier…
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05Apr 2019 by DS News Team
Petter Northug Is Calling On You!

Petter Northug Is Calling On You!

Newsfeed, Travel & Mass Sport
Yes, you! Because you don't want to just let this winter slip away. And because you want to witness gathering of stars like nowhere else in the this part of the Universe. [caption id="attachment_10821" align="alignnone" width="1240"] Hafjell is a ski resort about 20 minutes drive from Lillehammer or around two hours from Oslo airport. World-class skiing in Norway is always close to " modern civilization" [/caption] World's fastest skiers Emanuele "Lele" Becchis and Ludvig "Ludde" Søgnen Jensen expect to throw gauntlet to Johannes Klaebo himself at 100m Supersprint. Becchis is the current world record holder at 10.78 ( clock your own 100m on skis, freestyle - see how good you are.) In 30k freestyle race Alexander Bolshunov will meet Sjur Røthe and Hans Christer Holund - how's that for a…
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29Mar 2019 by DS News Team
We Look At Those Who Trouble Comfortable And Comfort Troubled.

We Look At Those Who Trouble Comfortable And Comfort Troubled.

Leaders, Newsfeed
Yep, it's a quote. Attributed to the great Australian coach Ric Charlesworth: "The interesting thing about coaching is that you have to trouble the comfortable, and comfort the troubled" Here are some of the best of trouble dispensers & comforters in the great sport of cross country skiing. [caption id="attachment_10744" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Yuri Charkovsky, a doyen of coaching corps of the world is 77. He would still outrun vast majority of people half his age on the tracks/ Charkovsky is no longer coaching but he's director of Team Russia responsible for all the logistics of his 100+ people team[/caption] [caption id="attachment_10752" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Team Norway's manager Vidar Lofshus has had enough of his tough job. After dozens of golden medals won under his watch, Lofshus is resigning from the national…
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25Mar 2019 by DS News Team
Cross Country Is B-sport, You Know?

Cross Country Is B-sport, You Know?

Leaders, Newsfeed
"Cross country ( skiing) is a B-sport, you know? Thus spoke Wolfgang Pichler, quite possibly the world biathlon's most famous coach of our days ( 2'15" in interview) The German coach of the Swedish biathlon team then goes on talking about how Single Mixed Relay at the Biathlon World Champioship saw 29 nations – apparently, a record for countries' participation in any winter sport, ever. Pichler is wrong: a similar two-athlete event at Seefeld-2019, men's Team Sprint, also had same 29 entrants ( yes, that including now-infamous Austrians) . Ladies had 19. Yet Pichler is right – but a totally different way. [caption id="attachment_10696" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Biathlon prize money for last season was  7 000 000 €.For each victory on the World Cup - 15 000 € . World Championship made…
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24Mar 2019 by DS News Team
The International Season Is Over. Here Are Changes That Need To Be Effected – Or Else

The International Season Is Over. Here Are Changes That Need To Be Effected – Or Else

Leaders, Newsfeed
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Brilliant Norwegians once again wiped the floor with the competition, winning both ladies' and men's overall World Cup titles - and taking most of the places in Top Ten And taking overall Nations Cup, naturally. Optimists would say that this time around things were not as one way as in, say, 2015–16 FIS Cross-Country World Cup when Norway took 24234 points - almost as much as the rest of the world combined. This year it was "only" 12657 to Russia's 8636 and Sweden's 7015. A progress of a kind. [caption id="attachment_10602" align="aligncenter" width="1920"][/caption] In fact, it became yet another season pushing cross country skiing off the main plate towards also-run niche. Already…
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