February 14, 2012 (Poland) – Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk has been one of the top stars on the cross-country world circuit since a few years. Three times in a row, the likeable Polish skier has won the overall World Cup and is now helping to bring the FIS Cross-Country World Cup to Poland for the first time. In Szklarska Poreba, which is located in the south-western Poland, the World Cup elite will fight for World Cup points on Friday, 17th and Saturday, 18th February.

The Cross-Country venue at Szklarska Poreba, Jakuszyce, is well known among Cross-Country skiers as a great training venue with safe snow conditions as well as for the popular long-distance race Bieg Piastow. Currently with 2m of natural snow, a good weather forecast for the next few days with temperatures around -3 C and some snowfall, the OC is ready to host the sprint World Cup race in free technique on Friday, 17th and the individual start races in classical technique over 10 km and 15 km on Saturday.

On Sunday, some of the World Cup racers might take the chance to compete in a unique FIS competition – the World Uphill Trophy. This race, which is held in the alpine skiing area of Szlarska Poreba, features a climb of around 4km – and a 500m altitude gain – up the hill to the top of the Karkonoski mountain and then downhill along another alpine slope. The total length of the race will be 8km.

Race Schedule

February 17, 2012
– Sprint free technique Ladies/Men Qualification: 12:30h (CET)
– Finals: 14:30h (CET)

February 18, 2012
– 15km classic men: 12:30h (CET)
– 10 km classic ladies: 14:30h (CET)

More information: http://worldcup2012.pl/