26Mar 2020 by DS News Team
Hard To Believe But FIS Congress In Thailand Still Not Cancelled

Hard To Believe But FIS Congress In Thailand Still Not Cancelled

Leaders, Newsfeed
Yes, the International Ski Federation Congress in Pattaya, Thailand due to kick off in 8 weeks is still on. Possibly, the last international event with 1000+ participants in the foreseeable future. It might be just a formality - yet still the fact worth noting and, some would say, symbolic. It was meant to be a special one: after 22 years as the FIS President Gian-Franco Kasper was going to retire with the Congress choosing his replacement. A new boss of international snow sports would only become fifth helmsman in more than a century of the FIS existence. As late as last week Kasper still insisted the Congress and,therefore election of his replacement would go on, but the world has changed massively since. Looking at the situation with corona pandemics at…
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23Mar 2020 by DS News Team
Gus Schumacher, 2020 Junior World Champion – Interview You’d Want To Read

Gus Schumacher, 2020 Junior World Champion – Interview You’d Want To Read

Leaders, Newsfeed
Honestly, we do not think Gus Schumacher needs long introductions. A 19 year old from Anchorage, Alaska is a true leader of the extremely talented crop of US Juniors that collectively holds the best promise of breaking that Norwegian-Russian duopoly in male skiing - in a few years. We talked to the double gold medalist of the recent FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships with one big question in mind: when does he think he will start taking on Klaebo and Bolshunov & what's needed to make it happen? You are the first American to win a gold medal in an individual race at the World Juniors. What does it say about the relative strength of the youth ski system the US? - I think this first individual gold by…
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19Mar 2020 by DS News Team
Coronavirus: How’s Your Business Affected?

Coronavirus: How’s Your Business Affected?

Money & Finance, Newsfeed
"How's Your Business Affected?" - that's the question we put to people directly involved in making things tick in the cross country skiing sector: gear manufacturers, retailers and coaches. The caveat that needs to be applied: different countries are on different stages of being hit be the coronavirus. This, alas, is not a subject that will go away any time soon so we shall update with reaction from the other captains of the industry when we hear from them. [caption id="attachment_15236" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Aki Tuovinen, country manager for Swix/Toko, Finland"At the moment in Finland it's still quite OK. In Lapland and Vuokatti regions are actually really well, since many ski enthusiasts went there for "remote working". But it strongly seems that within the week all shops (except grocery shops) will…
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17Mar 2020 by DS News Team
Petter Northug Got Stuck In Russia Indefinitely. Or Not

Petter Northug Got Stuck In Russia Indefinitely. Or Not

Leaders, Newsfeed
Dagbladet reports that Petter Northug has got stuck in Moscow without means of coming back home as air travel between two countries has been shut down. Coronavirus-situation moves fast, faster even than the Norwegian double Olympic champion ever did. When Northug went to Moscow last week to star in the Legkov Race, the planes were still flying and rhe trains were still chugging along. Now it's all shut down except for a very few remaining flights from the Russian capital to places like Berlin or Paris...but those tend to put all the arrivals on quarantine the lenght/ severity of which varies. Or not to accept third country citizens at all. The situation (that is, if you are not following and we reckon you do) is very dynamic and is changing…
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11Mar 2020 by DS News Team
Reactions To Norwegians Dropping Out Of North American World Cup Stages

Reactions To Norwegians Dropping Out Of North American World Cup Stages

Leaders, Newsfeed
[caption id="attachment_15179" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Yuri Borodavko, Alexander Bolshunov's coach: "That's not how we would like to get the World Cup! The fact that the Norwegians are not coming is a show of disrespect towards other nations. And a big hit on the FIS standings [/caption] [caption id="attachment_15180" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Gjøran Tefre, part of Team Norway's selection for the North American WC stages:" I am very sorry and very sad that we have to stay home. But then we have to take our and the all Norwegians' health seriously and stop the spread of the virus. So when they have decided that the best thing is to stay home, we just have to respect that. And with all races in Norway beeing cancelled, the right thing probably is not to race…
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