Cross-Country Skiing 2018 - 2019 Discussion Thread

hckošice · December 15, 2018

Justina Kowalczyk destroyed the competition today https://www.fis-ski.com/DB/general/results.html?sectorcode=CC&raceid=33441

Wumo · December 18, 2018

In the recent days, there have been many articles about the future of Tour De Ski on Swedish and Norwegian sport sites. Kalla and Ebba Anderson have already announced they will not start in this year’s TDS. In Norway, Johaug is also quitting this year’s edition to focus on the WCH in Seefeld.

Martin Johnsrud Sundby has been quite vocal about the many top skiers who choose not to participate in TDS. He means that it heards the integrity of the Cross-Country World Cup, if so many top skiers choose not to participate in one of the biggest events of the World Cup.

All of this has made me think of solutions that could make Tour De Ski more relevant for the top skiers in the Cross-Country World Cup.

My first suggestion would be to place TDS in the end of the season (in March). TDS will be held every year, maybe with the exception in an Olympic year, after a WCH where many skiers are most focused on this event. The Nordic Ski World Championship could be held in the beginning of February, which would give the skiers some rest before TDS in March. The structure of the TDS will remain the same (7 stages over 8/9 days). The idea of putting TDS in the end of the World Cup season is to have an incentive for most skiers in the WC to participate because the points are so many that it is still possible to win the Overall WC, if a skier wins TDS.

My second suggestion is more radical. TDS will only be held every fourth year, all non-Olympic and non-WCH years, which thereby will create more focus on TDS. In my suggestion, I would reconstruct TDS. TDS will be held over 15-16 days, with 10-11 stages.

How a Tour De Ski could be constructed:

5 or 6 destinations

4 Sprint stages

2 freestyle and 2 classic for each gender.

3 Individual stages

Women: 10km F, 5km F, 5km C

Men: 15km F, 10km F, 10km C

2/3 “Mass start” stages

1 Skiathlon

Men: 30km (15km F/15km C)

Women: 15km (7.5km F/7.5km C)

Mass start/s

Women: 15km C, (10km F)

Men: 30km C, (20km F)

1 Pursuit stage

The alpine stage in freestyle for both men and women.

This makes a total of 10-11 stages over 15-16 days.

The style of the individual stages and mass starts can be switched every fourth year. Skiathlon can also be switched, where they start in freestyle in one year and classic in another year.

The TDS can be held outside of Europe.

I haven't giving the point system much thought. I would keep the same overall point distribution. More bonus points could be put into more stages.

At the moment TDS have more pursuit stages, personally I'm not a big fan. Pursuit is a great format for viewers when a competition is going to be decided because it's clear who is the winner. In the middle of a stage tour I feel it doesn't add any more excitement, but this is of course my own personal opinion.

Edited December 18, 2018 by wumo26

heywoodu · December 18, 2018

Boooo for the idea of once every four years. And that's too many sprints. I definitely agree about pursuits in the middle of a stage race being annoying though, it's doesn't only 'not add more excitement', it also makes it more complicated. Either normal interval starts or mass starts all the way, kinda like in cycling.

Wumo · December 18, 2018

5 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Boooo for the idea of once every four years. And that's too many sprints. I definitely agree about pursuits in the middle of a stage race being annoying though, it's doesn't only 'not add more excitement', it also makes it more complicated. Either normal interval starts or mass starts all the way, kinda like in cycling.

An idea could be to hold Tour De Ski every year. Years with Olympics and WCH, TDS is held in the end of the season in March with 7 stages. In Non-Olympic and non-WCH years, TDS is 11 stages.

Sprint is a big part of cross-country skiing in my opinion, so 4 stages out of 11 is not too many. Sprints also bring variation to the many individual and mass starts, and in a long stage tour you would like to see a more "complete" skier to win overall. Sprint stages also make an opportunity for smaller destinations to hold a stage in Tour De Ski (example Liechtenstein).

heywoodu · December 18, 2018

11 stages:

- Classic sprint

- Freestyle sprint

- 5/10km classic interval

- 5/10km freestyle interval

- 20/30km classic interval

- 20/30km freestyle interval

- 10/20 km classic mass start

- 10/20km freestyle mass start

- 20/30km mass start (different style per year)

- Skiathlon

- Final pursuit

Edited December 18, 2018 by heywoodu

heywoodu · January 4, 2019

Two days of cross-country skiing in the last days of December in Iran. On the first day, athletes were really...really slow, even much slower than what one might expect from Iranian cross-country skiers (the winner of the women's race competed at the 2017 world championships and though she didn't come close to qualifying, she was not an eternity behind or something).

https://www.fis-ski.com/DB/general/event-details.html?sectorcode=CC&eventid=44702&seasoncode=2019

On the second day however, both men and women were incredibly much faster. As in, more than 20 minutes faster than their time over the same distance a day earlier. That's not normal, especially for relatively experienced athletes like the women's winner. So, @MHSN, any idea what could have happened? Was there some sort of horror blizzard from hell on 30 December and perfect weather on 31?

MHSN · January 5, 2019

9 hours ago, heywoodu said:

Two days of cross-country skiing in the last days of December in Iran. On the first day, athletes were really...really slow, even much slower than what one might expect from Iranian cross-country skiers (the winner of the women's race competed at the 2017 world championships and though she didn't come close to qualifying, she was not an eternity behind or something).

https://www.fis-ski.com/DB/general/event-details.html?sectorcode=CC&eventid=44702&seasoncode=2019

On the second day however, both men and women were incredibly much faster. As in, more than 20 minutes faster than their time over the same distance a day earlier. That's not normal, especially for relatively experienced athletes like the women's winner. So, @MHSN, any idea what could have happened? Was there some sort of horror blizzard from hell on 30 December and perfect weather on 31?

at first I thought maybe they made a mistake and I checked the Ski federation website . no mistake. the distance was the same (both classical) and the time result is the same as what I read in the Iran federation website :mumble: we are talking about few days ago I can't remember any big weather change in that day (I might be wrong though) even though I live a bit away from that place in Tehran mountains.

they only posted one or two pics from the 2nd day where the weather looks perfect .so I have no idea :dunno: the only answer is probably the snow/weather condition. or maybe someone made a mistake about the distance and they had to go few more kilometers