January 15, 2010 (Otepää, Estonia) – On January 16-17 the Viessmann FIS World Cup Cross Country stage is set for Otepää, Estonia. According to the latest information there are 206 registered skiers from 21 countries participating with recent Tour de Ski winners Lukas Bauer (CZE) and Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) headlining the start lists.

Petter Northug (NOR) and Dario Cologna (SUI) are among many notable absences from the start list. Certainly, many athletes who competed in the Tour de Ski will skip Otepää, to recover and prepare for the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver next month. Also, both the Norwegian National Championships in Stokken, NOR, the next World Cup stop in Rybinsk, and the ski-MP in Piteå, SWE, are competiting for the athletes participation. Other absentee skiers include Therese Johaug (SWE) and Vibeke Skofterud and Kristin Steira Stoermer (NOR).

FIS cross-country committee chair Vegard Ulvang admits that the competition program is hard. ”The competition program is a bit hard starting in January. We anticipated that some will want to skip this weekend’s races in Otepää. But I do know that others will compete.” TdS winner Kowalczyk said last Sunday, ”Otepaa is one of my favourite sites, the ambience is magnificent and the track excellent, that is why I don’t want to miss it.”

Also at this weekend’s races is Norway’s Marit Bjoergen returning to competition, along with Tour de Ski Sprint jersey winner, Petra Majdic (SLO). Finns Aino-Kaisa Saarinen and Virpi Kuitunen, and Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla and Anna Haag, could surprise the favourites. And with the home course advantage, Estonia’s Kristina Smigun will be in the sportlight.

For the Canadians, Dasha Gaiazova, Stefan Kuhn, Phil Widmer, Brent McMurtry, Sean Crooks and Graham Nishikawa are raring to go on Saturday, while for the U.S. Andy Newell is ready to rock Sunday’s sprints.

The Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Alar Arukuusk says that today’s decision to run the race was easy to make, because the snow conditions in Estonia are excellent. “(We are) also organizing the FIS Continental Cup Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined (so) many things are ahead of the time schedule and ready for competition,” says Arukuusk.

The weather forecast predicts temperatures around -10 to -15 for the weekend and the sky should be sunny or partly cloudy. The wind will be quite weak. Organizers ask all the spectators to dress warm and to be ready for a memorable skiing event.

Start List for Women’s 10km Classic here.
Start List for Men’s 15km Classic here.