Good Day For Norway, For International Skiing – Not So Much

Good Day For Norway, For International Skiing – Not So Much

Leaders, Newsfeed
...On that photo Therese Johaug and Heidi Weng are looking at a race results monitor. But they might as well be looking at the competition. Norwegian juggernaut is not just strong - it's overpowering and pretty much zapping the air from the sport. Occasionally during the season it seems that the Norwegian dominance is broken - by Swedes in female skiing, Russians in male - but then Bang! And we are back to Top 10 being 75% Norwegian. That's dangerous. The International skiing lives off the money it gets from selling television rights. Now, put yourself in shoes of a national TV executive who is trying to decide: spend on skiing or on some Spartan race or whatever? There is 99% chance that yhe said executive would choose the sport…
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Ski Tour 2020 – Round Up

Ski Tour 2020 – Round Up

Leaders, Newsfeed
This is an effort to summarize impressions from the inaugural Ski Tour 2020. At least we hope it's inaugural and not a one-off event in the "gap year " when there are no Olympics or the world championships. We deliberately post this before the Tour's end as there is enough info to convey and the most novel races have happened already. Good: [caption id="attachment_14841" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Tour is happening in the geographic area that could be described as "heartland of cross country skiing", at least one of them. That's what sets it apart from a better known cousin, Tour de Ski. It translates into spectators' stands packed and general atmosphere of the big event[/caption] [caption id="attachment_14832" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ecology/ sustainability trend is not a fad - it's a fashion…
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Secret Of Why Norway Is So Strong In Skiing Is Revealed

Secret Of Why Norway Is So Strong In Skiing Is Revealed

Newsfeed, Training & Outfitting
As 21 year old Johannes Klaebo was busy crushing his opponents in sprint freestyle finals in Seefeld this weekend, just a few hundred meters from the stadium Agnete was polishing her freestyle skiing skills too. And it's a really big question who's got more spectators – so good was Agnete with her moves, so determined and ready to win. Agnete is 5 and, like Johannes, she is also from Trondheim, Norway [caption id="attachment_6568" align="aligncenter" width="1600"] Agnete's and her 3 year old brother's skis are cooling off. A little boy prefers classic style as he finds it more prudent to ski along the tracks. [/caption] There will be no pictures of Agnete in this story because filming & posting pictures of children should be left to their parents should they so…
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Petter Northug Crushes Competition In Style Department By Arriving To Race On Private Jet

Petter Northug Crushes Competition In Style Department By Arriving To Race On Private Jet

Money & Finance, Newsfeed
Petter Northug is never out of headlines. And it's not about King of Skis finishing in 48th place in Sunday's 30-kilometer classic race, over five minutes behind the winner. It's about arriving to that race in style. Anybody ever heard of jet-setting cross country skiers? Well, they do now - it was a private jet that brought Petter and his trainer Vidar Undebakke to Luleå Airport near Piteå. It was only two of them that descended from the stairs of Cessna C560 Citation Encore that is outfitted to carry eight in comfort and luxury. [caption id="attachment_6308" align="aligncenter" width="747"] bird that carried Petter Northug to Scandinavian Cup last weekend[/caption] To hire an American-built C560 Citation would cost anything between 3000 and 3500 US dollars per flight hour in the US –…
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Northug Fan Goes On Epic Rant, Wakes Up Famous

Northug Fan Goes On Epic Rant, Wakes Up Famous

Leaders, Newsfeed
You reckon cross country skiing fans are some cold, reserved, distant bunch - a bit like their beloved sport? Think again then. Meet Lars Erik Saltrø, a home repair contractor from Trondheim in Norway who woke up famous this week after an epic rant he posted on his Facebook page. Over 100.000 people in Norway ( and, presumably Sweden and even Finland) viewed the video in which Lars Erik in rather animated fashion wishes “Merry Christmas to everyone – except two people” Those unfortunate two happened to be some household names in Norway: cross country ski team's manager Vidar Løfshus and team trainer Tor-Arne Hetland. So what's caused the ire of good ole Mr. Saltrø? In his minute long speech that invokes, among other things, names of Pol Pot and…
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