Cross-Country Skiing Discussion | Qualification to Winter Olympic Games Milano Cortina 2026

[heywoodu 16,435]

4 hours ago, Grassmarket said:

oK, so for, hypothetically, famous  musicians trying to qualify for the Olympics......

Not really working, cross-country has that in order a lot better than alpine skiing  

 

Nowadays if you're able to get 300 FIS points, you're certainly able to ski a decent race at least. The athletes you might see at world championships, where some of them might be in one of their first ever races on snow and they are still learning basic technique, definitely won't be able to get 300 points or better.

 

Spoiler

To be clear, this is not meant in any way negatively about those athletes, obviously they too are trying hard and putting in work within their capabilities and available time, knowledge and infrastructure.

 

[heywoodu 16,435]

Totally forgot, but Sunday was the 10k classic in Santa Caterina. Tougher race for Bruna both because of it being a back to back 10k (which she hadn't done before, especially not this early in the season when still building up racing rhythm), and because classic style is the one where the foot she crushed in 2022 is far and away the most painful. Managed to bite through it though and got an excellent 269 FIS points  

https://www.fis-ski.com/DB/general/results.html?sectorcode=CC&raceid=47720

 

Yesterday she drove to Schlinig/Slingia on the / border, where next weekend there'll be the first FESA/OPA/Alpencup of the season, generally an excellent opportunity for good points.

[rafalgorka 1,820]

38 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Yesterday she drove to Schlinig/Slingia on the / border, where next weekend there'll be the first FESA/OPA/Alpencup of the season, generally an excellent opportunity for good points.

Good luck next weekend then!!!

[heywoodu 16,435]

Hello from Oberwiesenthal, where there will be FESA Cup races tomorrow and Sunday

 

Spot the Brazilian, I assure you she's on the photo

 

[Swewi 502]

I really hope they Will rebuild this Val de Fiemme course before the olympics. Especially the sprint is just a race of positioning and a final downhill race

[Grassmarket 4,251]

22 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Hello from Oberwiesenthal, where there will be FESA Cup races tomorrow and Sunday

 

Spot the Brazilian, I assure you she's on the photo

 

Yet another place which usually has marginal snow with great snow!  

Edited January 3, 2025 by Grassmarket

[rafalgorka 1,820]

@brunamoura @heywoodu How the season unfolds? Happy New Year for both of you!!!

[heywoodu 16,435]

On 1/5/2025 at 9:04 AM, rafalgorka said:

@brunamoura @heywoodu How the season unfolds? Happy New Year for both of you!!!

Happy New Year to you as well!

 

So, we got back from Oberwiesenthal Sunday night, after an adventurous drive in the snow and a long road back home. It went well there: the classic sprint on Saturday resulted in 314 points, which improved her own position towards the team sprint in the world championships (being in the team sprint is potentially very important towards the Olympics). She beat her main rival by a whopping 11 seconds, so that was awesome.

 

20k mass start classic on Sunday wasn't that good: in the first of six laps, some athletes around her fell, one of them hit her left foot (the one that got injured in the accident 3 years ago) and that resulted in quite some pain. I was waiting with my drinks in the coaching area, but after the field passed there in lap two, she didn't appear, so I knew something was up. Walked back and saw her walking towards me, then she explained what had happened. The pain after being hit in the foot was too much to keep going for 16km, especially in a race that wouldn't count for the Olympic ranking anyway and was only meant for 'racing rhythm', continueing could do more damage than good.

 

That's a shame, but no problem, the sprint went well and that was WAY more important. Also: the day before the race we went to the Polish wax cabin to ask for help, because she does always need someone to wax her skis and 'Team' Brazil isn't really an option. The Polish very gladly helped (and were paid with a nice 12-pack of beer we brought for that occassion) and the skis were really good, so that was fantastic. Even better: after the mass start, and explaining why being hit in the foot was such a problem and so on, the wax guy - without us even asking - offered to also help at the world championships, and invited her for a training camp with the team in the summer  

 

December had gone very well as well, right now (with still this entire season and half of next season to go) she is leading the Brazilian Olympic ranking by a nice margin. Of course many races to come for everyone, but so far, so good!

 

Next option is 17-19 January, FESA Cup in Falcade. Financially it's a bit tough, since that is yet another 2300km with the rental car (with which we already did 1600 now, and we only have 2000 on the contract, so every km outside of it costs 20 cents), plus another accomodation needed. We're looking into the options, because Falcade has a classic sprint AND a 10k freestyle, which is the absolute perfect combination considering those are the things that count for the Olympic ranking. We're trying to scrape enough together, so...we'll keep you updated  

Edited January 7, 2025 by heywoodu

[heywoodu 16,435]

Meanwhile, a bit of a request for help: I have been trying, but if anyone can find the qualification rules for the world championships in Trondheim, specifically the requirements to be allowed to start in all races, that'd be great, I can't find it anywhere yet..

 

Edit: of course I found it right after asking for help

 

Spoiler

Competitors who have 150 Distance FIS points and less on the last FIS points list 
published before the start of the FIS World Championships will be allowed to start 
in the distance competitions (Interval Start, Skiathlon and Mass Start).  

A qualification competition will be scheduled for the athletes who did not meet 
these requirements. The athletes who have reached the above requirements are 
not allowed to start in the qualification race. The top 10 ranked competitors will 
be allowed to start in the Interval Start competitions as part of their nation's quota. 
The top 10 ranked competitors will be allowed to start in the Skiathlon and Mass 
Start competitions as part of their nation's quota under the condition that they 
have fewer than 200 FIS Distance points in the current FIS Distance points list. 

 

Only remaining question is: does 'current' mean what at that moment is the current list (the 6th FIS points list) or the one that is used for the eligibility for the WSC 2025 as listed on the 'Dates of the lists' document (5th FIS points list)?

 

Spoiler

 

Edited January 7, 2025 by heywoodu

[heywoodu 16,435]

 Falcade FESA Cup is ON  

 

Just need to make sure the federation registers her in time. They're trying, but they sent it to the wrong email address, even though the correct one is very clearly listed in the easy to find invitation...oh well, I guess it'll work out  

 

Bruna will by then be basically the only athlete from a small nation who has competed in every single FESA Cup race this season so far, that's quite nice. It'll end there though, since the 5th and 6th stages (Planica and Premanon in March) seem quite useless for the Olympic points, and not really worth the investment.

Edited January 10, 2025 by heywoodu