December 11, 2008 – The FIS Nordic World Cups continued in La Clusaz (Fra) for Cross-Country and in Trondheim (Nor) for Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined. The season’s first mass start races, held in heavy snowfall at the high altitude French resort, saw two Norwegian winners: Kristin Stoermer Steira returned to top of podium after more than three years after she distanced herself clearly over the ladies’ World Cup leader Aino Kaisa Saarinen (Fin). In the men’s race, Petter Northug outsprinted Dario Cologna of Switzerland who claimed his first career podium. Sunday’s relays saw teams from Norway and Finland as winners under beautiful blue skies. The Viessmann FIS Cross-Country World Cup will continue in Davos (Sui) this weekend.

Excellent conditions characterized the Trondheim World Cup weekend. In Ski Jumping, the top favorites Gregor Schlierenzauer (Aut) and Simon Ammann (Sui) took turns on top of the podium, in setting new hill records and in leading the overall World Cup. They were joined by newcomer Ville Larinto (Fin) in second place on Saturday. Schlieranzauer has made the podium in all competitions so far this season and looks forward to next weekend’s events in Pragelato (Ita).

In the DKB FIS Nordic Combined World Cup, 20-year-old Anssi Koivuranta (Fin) has had a stellar season start with four podiums in as many competitions. In Trondheim, he added a second win to his career first victory captured at the Nordic Opening. Magnus Moan (Nor) claimed a win on Saturday after a break of almost exactly a year. With the cancellation of Liberec (Cze) competitions, the Combined athletes have a break until the World Cup continues in Ramsau (Aut) on December 20-21.

La Sgambeda Opens the FIS Marathon Cup

La Sgambeda will again mark the start of the FIS Marathon Cup season this coming Sunday, December 14, 2008. La Sgambeda will also launch the cross-country ski marathon season in Central Europe as some 1000 competitors will test their early shape on the 42 km free technique course. The high altitude (1800m over sea level) will like pose one of the biggest challenges, partially made up by the beautiful surroundings around Lago di Livigno and along the so-called Small Tibet valley on the Italian side of the Swiss-Italian border.

Excellent conditions with 1 meter of snow are awaiting the skiers in Livigno. Among the more or less ambitious leisure skiers, a number of World Cup stars will also be at the start. They include Kristin Steira (Nor) who won last weekend’s mass start race in La Clusaz along with Lada Nesterenko (Ukr), Anders Aukland (Nor), Andrus Veerpalu and Jaak Mae (Est), to mention just a few.

La Sgambeda is the first of the ten ski marathons that belong to the 2008/2009 FIS Marathon Cup. The second race in this year’s Cup is the Jizerská padesátka, scheduled for January 11, 2009. For more information on the FMC, please visit www.worldloppet.com