June 1, 2008 (Cape Town, SA) – Welcome to the 21st edition of the FIS Cross-Country News! The 46th International Ski Congress, which took place this week in Cape Town (RSA), brought many updates for Cross-Country Skiing. Before the FIS Cross-Country News takes a Å’summer break’ we would like to provide an overview of the most important Cross-Country news from the Congress and some updates on what’s going on in the Cross-Country family. Happy reading and enjoy the summer!

Busy XC World Cup calendar 2008/2009
From 26th to 30th May, 2008, the 46th International Ski Congress took place in Cape Town (RSA). Within Cross-Country, the members of eight different Technical Committees discussed the development and future of the discipline on the FIS level. One of the main topics was the Viessmann FIS World Cup calendar 2008/2009, which has now been approved by the FIS Council.

The Viessmann FIS World Cup Cross-Country 2008/2009 features a compact calendar with 35 races per gender including the third edition of the FIS Tour de Ski, the 2009 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Liberec (CZE), and the 2nd edition of the World Cup Final. For the first time since 2002, the World Cup will not kick off in October. The Cross-Country athletes will have their first World Cup competition in the middle of November in Gällivare (SWE), the region where the new Swedish star Charlotte Kalla grew up. Afterwards, the Nordic Opening will take place traditionally at Kuusamo/Ruka (FIN) together will the other two FIS Nordic disciplines. With La Clusaz (FRA) and Davos (SUI), the World Cup will continue in Central Europe in December. As a premiere, the December schedule includes two city sprint competitions shortly before Christmas in Düsseldorf (GER).

The third edition of the FIS Tour de Ski from 27th December, 2008 to 4th January, 2009 will consist of seven competitions in nine days and three countries. The host of the Tour kick-off will be Oberhof (GER), a newcomer on the Cross-Country calendar. The town in Thuringia is already a very famous winter sport village and has organized several Nordic and Biathlon World Cups as well the Biathlon World Championships. From Oberhof, the Tour family will move to Prague (CZE) where a city sprint will take place. However, due to the limited space in front of the Castle, the event will not be held on the same course as last year. After a rest day, the Tour will continue in Nove Mesto (CZE) on 31st December, 2008 and 1st January, 2009. Traditionally the great final of the Tour de Ski will take place on 3rd and 4th January 2009 in Val di Fiemme (ITA) with the Final Climb on the last day.

After a competition break, the World Cup family will travel to North America and have their pre-Olympic test competitions at the Olympic site in the Whistler Nordic Park in the Callaghan Valley near Vancouver (CAN). Back in Europe, Otepää (EST), Rybinsk (RUS) and Val di Dentro (ITA) will provide the fine-tuning for the 2009 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Liberec, which will take place from 19th February to 1st March, 2009.

The World Cup will conclude with the traditional Scandinavian Tour in Lahti (FIN), Trondheim (instead of Oslo, which will be preparing the venues for the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in 2011), and the World Cup Final series in Stockholm and Falun (SWE).

“I’m very satisfied with the final version of the FIS World Cup calendar 2008/2009. We will have a compact schedule with minimized logistical efforts, including all the top Cross-Country nations and a good balance between distance races and sprint competitions. All in all, this calendar is good for the promotion of our sport,” said Jürg Capol, FIS Race Director Cross-Country.

For World Cup calendar 2008/2009 click here.

What’s new in Cross-Country?
During the days in Cape Town (RSA), the members of the FIS Cross-Country Committee and its various Sub-Committees were working hard for the development of the discipline. Several new rules and adaptations of the regulations were prepared to make the sport more attractive, fair and more easily understandable. Here the most important changes:

While in the last several years the distance and sprint races were counting to the overall World Cup based on a 2:1 ratio, from next season on, every race, whether it is a distance race or a sprint race will count to the overall World Cup ranking; the team sprint and relay competitions will count, as before, only to the Nations Cup.

In the future, the athletes will start according to their FIS points and the red group according to their World Cup points. This means that the so-called national group will not be placed in the front, but that they, too, will start according to their FIS points.

A refinement to the Team Sprint was also approved: the team sprint will in the future consist of two qualification heats, a break of 45 min and after that a final heat. With this break, fairness for the athletes is guaranteed and all will have sufficient time to recover. For TV, FIS can provide an exact starting time of the final, which will help to have more live transmissions.

To make the mass start races more attractive, the FIS Council allowed a trial with intermediate sprints where the top three athletes can win World Cup points (15 -10 -5) in competitions over 30 km (women) and 50 km (men).

The Tour de Ski rules were amended as well. The time limit rules in interval start Stages were further specified, so that over distances up to 5 km the athletes may not loose more than 18% (women) or 15% (men) to the winning time to be allowed to continue in the Tour. In interval start competitions over 5 km, these time limits are 23% for the women and 20% for the men.

At the third Tour de Ski, the current Tour leader will receive prize money of CHF 2’500 at each Stage. The top three in the Tour Team Cup will be honored with prize money in the future as well.

During the Tour de Ski and the World Cup Final, the top 30 athletes (last season top 15) will earn World Cup points (1st=50 points, 30th =1 point) each day in addition to the World Cup points for the overall Tour. To receive these points, the athlete has to finish the entire competition series.

The World Cup Final will be hosted by Sweden and includes a sprint in Stockholm and then three competitions in Falun (a short interval start race dubbed “King of Bakken”, a pursuit and a handicap start race). The prize money of 320,000 CHF will be paid out to the 10 best in the overall ranking, the top five in the sprint ranking and the top three each day.

Furthermore, in order to make the sport more attractive for the spectators and athletes FIS also decided to change the rules for the team wax cabins which should make the working conditions for the service staff better. The space per athlete will be enlarged and a ventilation rule will be developed together with the FIS Medical Committee.

In order to provide more support to the Organizing Committees of the World Cup competitions, the role descriptions for competition management were revised. The Technical Delegate Assistant (TDA) will arrive earlier at the venues to help the OC prepare the field of play. During the entire World Cup season 2008/2009 three or four different TD Assistants (‘semi-professionals’) will share the job, transmit knowledge from venue to venue and assist the FIS Race Director in sport-technical questions. The role of the Race Director was newly defined and will focus more on marketing and event aspects.

All the rules and publications will be available soon on the FIS Website.

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2013
“And the winner is – Val di Fiemme, Italy” were the words of FIS President Gian Franco Kasper in Cape Town (RSA) shortly before 7pm last Thursday. These words were followed by loud cheering from the Italian corner around the President of the Organizing Committee Pietro de Godenz and Secretary General Angelo Corradini. Nearly speechless but very happy and almost with tears in his eyes, Corradini commented afterwards in an interview: “We are really looking forward to the 2013 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships.”

In 2013, Val di Fiemme will host for the third time (after 1991 & 2003) the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships and only 10 years after their last one. The valley in the Trentino region won the election against four competitors, Falun (SWE), Lahti (FIN), Oberstdorf (GER) and Zakopane (POL), in the third ballot.

Here are the detailed facts to the election:
– 1st ballot: Val di Fiemme (ITA) 6, Falun (SWE) 4, Zakopane (POL) 3, Lahti (FIN) 2, Oberstdorf (GER) 1
– 2nd ballot: Val di Fiemme (ITA) 7, Falun (SWE) 5, Zakopane (POL) 3, Lahti (FIN) 1
– Last ballot: Val di Fiemme (ITA) 8, Falun (SWE) 5, Zakopane (POL) 2

Schladming (AUT) was elected as the host city of the 2013 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, the host of the 2012 FIS Ski Flying World Championships is Vikersund (NOR), the 2013 FIS Snowboard World Championships went to Stoneham (CAN) while the 2013 FIS Freestyle World Championships will be held in Voss (NOR).

Inside Cross-Country

Interview with Lukas Bauer
30-year-old Lukas Bauer from the Czech Republic was the dominator of the Cross-Country season 2007/2008. He won the Viessmann FIS Tour de Ski performance by Craft Sportswear, the overall FIS World Cup as well as the distance World Cup title. The FIS Cross-Country News had the chance to interview the Czech ski star after his most successful season so far.

CCN: Lukas, after such an outstanding season that included the overall World Cup victory for the first Czech skier and the Tour de Ski title, what have you done in the last month or so to recover and recharge your body?

Lukas Bauer: I had just 3 training sessions since the WC Final in Bormio, but the reason was much more that I was quite busy ( with TV, journalists, sponsors, etc). My feeling is that everybody wants to shake my hand, take photos with me (smile). Yeah, I was the first Czech skier with the overall WC victory and the Tour de Ski title and that is the “result” of my super season. But, the first week of May, I had time for me and my family. We were together in Tunisia with a “switched off” mobile phone. It was a real vacation and great for recovery :-).

CNN: How has the life of Lukas Bauer changed with your success?

Lukas Bauer: During the previous 2 years, I was already a quite popular sportsman in the Czech Republic, but after my great successes last winter I think that 90% of the Czech people know me. It means that I have several duties such as signing autograph cards during shopping etc. But my life is still the same: I’m living in Bozi Dar on the German boarder very close to Rene Sommerfeldt, my trainer is still Miroslav Petrasek (he is also the head coach of the Czech men’s national team) and my personal serviceman is Vit Fousek as in the past.

CNN: How does your personal summer preparation look for next season and with whom do you plan to train?

Lukas Bauer: I started training during early May as always. My plan is to participate in each camp with the Czech national team. This includes also a high altitude camp in Passo Tonale (ITA) in June and skiing in the ski tunnel in Torsby (SWE) in July. When I am training at home, I want to have some training sessions together with Rene Sommerfeldt.

CCN: Next winter we will have two highlights: the third edition of the Tour de Ski with three Stages in the Czech Republic and the FIS Nordic Ski World Championships in Liberec. What are your main goals for next season?

Lukas Bauer: My goal for next season is to be in top shape during the WSC in Liberec and fight for a medal. I want a medal from an individual race and we (me and the rest of the Czech team) want to also fight for a medal in the relay competition. The relays are specific races, but I think that we can be strong and it has always been a big motivator for us in the last 3 years.

CCN: Last, but not least, a look into the future: What will Lukas Bauer be doing in ten years?

Lukas Bauer:….Still be on the WC scene as an active skier (big smile)….No, I’m sure not, but maybe there will be some possibilities to continue as part of top level skiing. We will see what will come, but now, I’m looking forward to next season with WSC in Liberec and also to my university studies where I want to complete my Bachelor title this summer.

News from the Cross-Country family
Under the newly introduced News from the Cross-Country Family’ topic, we write about the changes in the family life of the athletes and staff around the Cross-Country circus, as reported to the FIS Cross-Country News.

This week, we have the pleasure to report about the growing CC family: On 20th May, 2008 little Gianluca, son of the 2007 Team Sprint World Champion and Rybinsk 2007 World Cup winner Renato Pasini and his wife Daniela, first saw daylight in Clusone (ITA).

Congratulations and all the best wishes from the FIS Cross-Country News to Daniela and Renato!

Important dates
26th June 2008: Start of the Roller Skiing World Cup
30th September ˆ 05th October 2008: FIS Autumn Meetings in Zuerich (SUI)
(preliminary, more information here.