04Sep 2020 by DS News Team
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,…
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03Sep 2020 by DS News Team
Art Of Thermobelt Or Creativity Takes Courage

Art Of Thermobelt Or Creativity Takes Courage

Newsfeed, Trivia
What's a thermobelt in the life of a skier? A utilitarian convenience? Yet another place for advertising messages ? That's where things stood for decades. But with the advent of weather resistant highlighters & stickers , it is slowly turning into a canvas to show off one's creativity. [caption id="attachment_16009" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Team Sweden juniors are in avantguard of the new trend, judging by this impromptu exhibition worn by their coach Ida Ingemarsdotter[/caption] [caption id="attachment_16006" align="alignnone" width="1379"] Linn Svahn goes for laconic yet classy golden L [/caption] [caption id="attachment_16016" align="alignnone" width="1360"] Emma Ribom uses the whole allotted space to create her art[/caption] [caption id="attachment_16011" align="alignnone" width="1920"] " Thermobelt Art" is quickly catching on outside Team Sweden: here's Hristina Matsokina with her message to the world [/caption] [caption id="attachment_16014" align="alignnone" width="1757"]…
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01Sep 2020 by DS News Team
Sponsors Seriously Pimped Skiers’ Rides Recently

Sponsors Seriously Pimped Skiers’ Rides Recently

Newsfeed, Trivia
We register a trend that we like: top xcski stars drive fancier and fancier cars. Why are we happy? Easy: because in all cases here we are talking sponsors-provided vehicles and it is as clear as day that the said sponsors appreciate influencer-potential of best skiers more and more. Otherwise, why would they hand over the cars the sticker prices of which are seriously north of 50k and in some case close to 100k euros, the threshold of elusive "luxury vehicle" category? Let's look closer: Heidi Weng and Volvo XC60 T8 Hybrid R-Design. One of the top models in the Swedish car maker's line-up, sporting 0-100 km/h acceleration of some 5.3 second. https://www.instagram.com/p/CDrVZo5joyS/?igshid=1jkzer5psecis =========================================== Ebbа Andersson and VW Tiguan R-Line. The whole Swedish team has VW as a sponsor so…
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30Aug 2020 by DS News Team
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…
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28Aug 2020 by DS News Team
Finland, Norway Start Closing Borders Again. Will There Be Season?

Finland, Norway Start Closing Borders Again. Will There Be Season?

Newsfeed, Travel & Mass Sport
This week on Wednesday Norway announced that it's tightening cross-border admissions policy - again... ...Two days earlier Finland went even further, bringing back travel restrictions in the form of quarantine for several countries , including Germany and, ironically, Norway. The COVID-19 is officially back to Europe. Not that it ever got open this year to either the North American or Russian skiers who traditionally train in Europe, at least part time. To remind you,the first stage of the FIS World Cup is supposed to be held in Ruka, Finland in three months with Lillehammer, Norway to follow. So, back to question we put in headline: will there be the international race season in cross country skiing? Nobody would tell for sure, but if you asks us the prospects for a…
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