September 19, 2014 (Gällivare, Sweden) – Canada’s national cross-country skiing team is coming to Gällivare for performance fine-tuning, in the lead up to the upcoming 2014–2015 World Cup season! The squad includes World Cup stars  such as Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw. They will be using the Hellner Stadium as their training base and will also take part in the international FIS competition, Gällivarepremiären, on November 22–23.

“We chose Gällivare for our World Cup pre-season training because of reliable snow, good tracks and the opportunity to put our form to the test in a FIS competition ahead of the World Cup premiere,” explains coach Tor-Arne Hetland.

The Canadian World Cup team, which has around 15 members, is arriving in Gällivare in the middle of November and will be training in the terrain around Dundret right up to the final days before the World Cup premiere in Kuusamo, Finland, on November 29–30.

“We are really looking forward to our stay in Gällivare because we know that the service there is excellent, and we can put on our skis right outside the front door, which is just perfect for fine-tuning our World Cup form,” adds Hetland.

“We are pleased and proud that the Canadian team has chosen Gällivare for its World Cup preparation, and we will pull out all the stops to make sure that team makes the most of its time here. The presence of several international teams means we can look forward to a truly top class international starting line-up at Gällivarepremiären, which is just great,” commented Stefan Nieminen, head of SportEvent Gällivare Lapland.

The Czech Ski Team, with leading international star Lukas Bauer, will be training in Gällivare for most of November as well.

The competition season at the Hellner Stadium kicks off with Gällivarepremiären on November 22–23, following the same programme as the World Cup premiere in Kuusamo – sprint (classic) and 15 km (classic).

Read more about SportEvent Gällivare Lapland here.