December 21, 2009 (Oberhof, GER) – It’s less than two weeks until the start of the Tour de Ski in Oberhof, GER, and one of the most frequently asked questions is: Who will compete? So far we have 22 nations at the start with 85 ladies and 101 men. This number may change if an athlete for example gets sick. The Tour is a tough race and the nations only enter the best athletes in it.

There were no big surprises in the nomination of the participants for the Tour de Ski. Nearly all “big” names are included, with the exception of few of the sprinters, and Charlotte Kalla, Anna Haag and Marit Bjoergen who will be at start in Oberhof on January 1st.

The participating nations are:

* Austria with Manuel Hirner and Katerina Smutna in the ladies;
* Belarus
* Canada with Sara Renner, Devon Kershaw and neo-Canadian Ivan Babikov in the lead
* China
* Czech Republic, with Lukas Bauer, the Tour de Ski winner 2007/2008
* Denmark with Jonas Thor Olsson and Sebastian Soerensen
* Estonia, with Aivar Rehemaa and Kristina Smigun-Vaehi, who just made her comeback
* Finland, with the two-time Tour de Ski winner Virpi Kuitunen, Aino Kaisa Saarinen and Matti Heikkinen as well as Sami Jauhojaervi
* France, with Vincent Vittoz, World Champion from Oberstdorf
* Germany, with World Champion Axel Teichmann; Tobias Angerer along with Claudia Nystad, Jens Filbrich and Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle.
* Italy, with Olympic Champions Giorgio Di Centa and Pietro Piller Cottrer and, for the ladies, Arianna Follis and Marianna Longa
* Kazakhstan
* Norway, with the big names including Kristin Steira, Viebeke Skofterud, Therese Johaug, Petter Northug, Eldar Roenning and Simen Oestensen, to mention just a few
* Poland, with reigning overall World Cup champion Justyna Kowalczyk
* Russia, starting for example Alexander Legkov
* Slovenia, led by Petra Majdic
* Switzerland, including Seraina Mischol and the 2008/2009 Tour de Ski champion Dario Cologna
* Slovakia with only Alena Prochazkova at the start
* South Africa with Oliver Kraas
* Sweden, with a strong team including Anders Soedergren and Anna Olsson
* Ukraine, led by Valentina Shevchenko
* USA with Andrew Newell at the start

These are only some examples. The complete list of the participating athletes is available here.