Lahti,  Skiing,  COVID

Lahti, Skiing, COVID

Leaders, Newsfeed
The Lahti Ski Games, one of the most storied stages of the FIS World Cup, feels massively different this year. COVID re-writes the rules in this year of 2021. The organizers do what they can - all arriving athletes, officials and media are subjected to compulsory antigen throat swab with test facility open through the night. [caption id="attachment_17637" align="alignnone" width="1731"] ...the precautions are justified: at least one ahthlete tested positive on arrival to Lahti: first with antigen test, than more precise PCR one. Absolutely asymptomatic, apparently...[/caption] [caption id="attachment_17643" align="alignnone" width="1920"] ...Eirik Nossum, Norwegian head coach has a different story to tell. Or several. For reasons not entirely clear, he keeps on getting false-positive antigen test results. First time it happened the whole team was isolated - but by now the…
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Meet New OW Boss, Not Same As Old Boss

Meet New OW Boss, Not Same As Old Boss

Gear News, Newsfeed
Some 14 months after purchasing One Way back in May 2018, Fischer Sports have appointed a new manager for the brand. Severin Lehner is a long-time Fischer Sports employee but his background appears to be fully in Alpine rather than cross country skiing. Whether it indicates any change of strategy or will OW continue to be producing stuff primarily for "skinny skiing" shall be seen. What's clear, however, is that Fischer Sports, the world's biggest xcski equipment producer and one of the biggest overall in winter sports, has decided to keep One Way separate rather than amalgamating it into its own brand. Many a star who used to run with SLG 10 poles have continued to do so after the ownership change last year - although there were some who…
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Competition Season is NOT Over For Johaug, Kalla, Iversen etc

Competition Season is NOT Over For Johaug, Kalla, Iversen etc

Newsfeed, Trivia
How do you reckon the Norwegians turn their stars of skiing into " Stars. Period"? Easy - by having them on television screens as much as possible. And when there is no snow - well, there's always something else. Where there's a will, there's a way! Therese Johaug, Emil Iversen and - hold it - Petter Northug himself are currently on Rhodes competing against Charlotte Kalla and Calle Halfvarsson. Yep, on the Greek island of Rhodes. [caption id="attachment_10890" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Therese is first on a climb. No surprises there [/caption] Because that's where Norway's top broadcaster TV2 is currently filming an adventure show. Details are, predictably, kept under wraps but the show, named Landskampen, appears to be a cross between the Wipeout and the Fort Boyard. With a distinct difference…
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Daily Skier’s Weekly Digest

Daily Skier’s Weekly Digest

Newsfeed, Trivia
Starting this week, we try a new format: compilation of the ( subjectively chosen) best stories related to cross country skiing & everything that is happening around it, featuring both the topics we covered throughout the week - and those we didn't. Read, share, comment - and let us know what you think. - The corporate owner of Salomon and Atomic may be sold to Chinese investors. Finnish Amer Sports has revealed that it has been approached by a consortium of Chinese sportswear company Anta and FountainVest Partners, a Hong Kong private equity group with an offer of €4.6 billion in all-cash buyout. Or over 25% more than the market value of the company was before the announcement ( Amer Sports is a publicly traded company) https://dailyskier.com/2018/09/17/atomic-and-salomon-to-be-sold-to-chinese-investors/ - Charlotte Kalla beat the pack…
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Northug Is King – Of Instagram + Other News About Most Important Social Media Net

Northug Is King – Of Instagram + Other News About Most Important Social Media Net

Newsfeed, Trivia
It would be silly to equate a popularity of sportsman or woman with amount of Instagram followers he/she has. Silly – but we will nonetheless. Because how else is to gauge the said popularity across the board? Generation Z is in love with Snapchat and VSCO while Gen X seem to prefer FB and/or Twitter. Where do they all meet? On Instagram with its one billion+ subscribers. And as to why is it important – here's just one piece of data that should remove any need for further explanations: 44% of young folks of Gen Z indicated that Instagram influences their shopping decisions. With Millennials it falls to 21% but nobody would dispute it's still huge. We have looked at the Instagram accounts of world's top skiers – and those…
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