How Much Anti-Doping Efforts Cost? Now We Know

How Much Anti-Doping Efforts Cost? Now We Know

Money & Finance, Newsfeed
FIS just sent out a press-release according to which " the overall investment into the Anti-doping programme during the 2019/20 season is budgeted with approximately 1.5 million Swiss Frank's " That's 1. 4 million euros or 1.5 million dollars. Or the price of holding two very decent international skiing meetups. Or one lavish one. Mind you, that's excluding testing by the national Anti-doping agencies. Separately, FIS states that in out-of-competition period in April-November 2019 it conducted 1612 tests of which more than half, 824 to be precise were aimed at cross country skiers with Alpine skiers, jumpers, Nordic combines and snowboarders being another roughly half. You could read out story describing how doping control works in practice here Pictured: anti-doping officer keeping a close eye at " her" athlete before…
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Stars of 19/20 For You To Look At. Part 2 – Men

Stars of 19/20 For You To Look At. Part 2 – Men

Leaders, Newsfeed
Once again: the word "star" in our parlance does not just mean "the one who wins". Rather, it's the one who shines both on and off the tracks. Luckily for the sport, it's one and the same currently. Or, more accurately, two and the same since we have two amazing athletes who will surely take their fight for the title of the world's best skier to the new level [caption id="attachment_13797" align="alignnone" width="1920"] triple Olympic, triple World champion, the winner of the Crystal Globe of the last two season at the age of 23. What else could one desire for? Third one, we guess. He just can't bear losing[/caption] [caption id="attachment_13794" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Johannes Klaebo is once-in-generation athlete who rarely leaves his competitors any chance in sprints. Distance? He trained…
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Stars of 19/20 For You To Look At. Part 1 – Women

Stars of 19/20 For You To Look At. Part 1 – Women

Leaders, Newsfeed
And we mean what we sayin the title of this story: these are those who will star among the skiers. To be one these days it's not enough to win races. Clearly, it's a big part of it, hard to become an object of mass fascination if you keep in finishing at the bottom. But to become a proper star, you have to build a presence outside the tracks, to do and to say things people would notice - and luve or hate. Luckily, most of the World Cup's top contenders are just like that: [caption id="attachment_13771" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Therese Johaug is a red-hot favorite to win the Cup these year and for a good reason: when it comes to distance racing she's from a different planet compared to the…
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Anastasia Sedova Joins Good Company

Anastasia Sedova Joins Good Company

Newsfeed, Trivia
Bronze medalist of Seefeld'19 Anastasia Sedova will skip the upcoming season. The boss of the Russian cross country skiing Elena Vyalbe has (reluctantly) confirmed the news when asked whether there is any truth in rumours that Sedova is pregnant. Sedova,24, joins a fellow Seefeld medal winner Yulia Belorukova as well as two other Team Russia skiers, Elena Soboleva-Ustigova (wife of Sergei Ustiugov) and Tatyana Aleshina, who are all expecting. It's doubtful that any team in the history of cross country skiing ever had four of its athletes out through pregnancy.
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Meet Coaches Of 2019/20 Season

Meet Coaches Of 2019/20 Season

Leaders, Newsfeed
The FIS World Cup 2019/20 is about to kick off in Ruka, Finland. Tomorrow we will update you on those who we reckon got a shot on winning the Cup. But today we want to start by introducing (or reminding you) the people who make them athletes, who shape them and who send them to the battles for podium: Coaches It's not a definitive list, not every coach is mentioned below - mostly those we got to watch operating in the months between the end of the last season and now. [caption id="attachment_13733" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Eirik Myhr Nossum coaches men's side of Team Norway. Last season's clean sweep at the gold in Seefeld plus the WC 18/19 will be an extremely hard act to repeat for a 34 year old…
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