November 20, 2009 (Beitostoelen, Norway) – Nearly all cross-country stars will be on the start line with 103 men and 91 women in Beitostoelen, Norway for the kick of the Veissemann XC FIS World Cup. Lukas Bauer is not taking part in Beitostoelen due to a autumn illness (3-week break). He decided to concentrate on training for this weekend but is planning to start in Kuusamo.

The jury agreed that biathlete Lars Berger is allowed to start in the individual start. Due to the fact that he has no FIS points so far, he has to start as first. Chandra Crawford is making her comeback in the World Cup after a longterm injury. She had ankle problems in the past two years. Find the women’s start list click here. For men’s start list just click here.

“The course is quite tough. I think the race will select quite well. We expect for the entire race good weather and conditions around with 0°C which could create some difficuties in waxing. The last will be decisive. In general we have great conditions in a beautiful winterlandscape with 50 cm of natural snow.” quoted FIS Race Director Cross-Country Jürg Capol.

Training Day in Beitostoelen
Nice weather and winter countryside welcomed all teams in Beitostoelen. Temperatures around +2°C, perfectly groomed tracks, such conditions were during the first official crouss-country training from 10.00 till 12.00 today. Click here for a video. Before the start of the new season FIS organized Athletes and Coaches meeting yesterday, November 19.

The aim was to introduce to team members all the news for upcoming season and activate them regarding FIS promotion activities. Athletes’ Committe representative Kikkan Randall (USA) had a presentation as well. Today’s program continued with the press conference of the Norwegian Cross-Country team, FIS and Organizing Committe of Oslo 2011. Busy schedule of Friday, November 20 follows up with the first Team Captains’ Meeting at 18.00.

Interview with Jurg Capol

What do you expect from this season?
Jürg Capol: An Olympic season always receives higher media attention, we have an attractive World Cup calendar and we are convinced to take the next developmental step with our World Cup premium product, the Viessmann FIS Tour de Ski performance by Craft Sportswear. All our OC’s were again prepared to invest and improve and we already kicked off the season with a common fire spirit at the autumn meetings in Zürich.

Is there something particular this season?
JC: We would like to further improve our communication tools and we will introduce new elements for the sport. In particular, we will try to improve the presentation of our athletes. The sport and outdoor business is moving ahead and we should make sure, we won’t miss the train.

What is new for this season?
JC: The removal of the small final in the sprint from this season on will be a welcome development and an important breathing space in which we can present the stars of the sport, their preparations for the finals and of course the celebration of the winners in a better way. After the successful trial in Trondheim (30km and 50 km), we will have bonus World Cup points in all mass start including the pursuit competitions. The men, for example, can win over 200 World Cup points on the way to the Final, so beware, a lot of action will be in store during all the mass start events. And at the Tour de Ski we will debut an “A to B” Stage, starting from the town of Cortina and skiing on the old railway trail to Toblach. I can only recommend not missing it on 6th January, 2009.

German Squad Ready
For upcoming two FIS Cross-Country World Cups in Beitostoelen (NOR) and Kuusamo (FIN) the German national coach Jochen Behle nominated 9 ladies and 6 men. “The last few weeks of preparation have gone according to our plan. In October we spent a few days on Dachstein and in Muonio. There were great conditions so we could focus on our targets.” said Mr. Behle. Not everything is though optimal in the German team.

Franz Goering will miss the start of the Cross-Country World Cup in Beitostoelen. The 25-year-old from the SCM Zella-Mehlis was in training camp in Munio in early November. He slipped on icy ground and injured his ankle. Magnetic resonance imaging, which was carried out a day later in Munich, revealed a tear between the inner and lateral malleolus.

Goering was subsequently operated using a new method that could allow him partial training load after three weeks from operation. When Franz Goering can jump back in the World Cup races remains still unclear. National coach Jochen Behle said: “I assume we will miss Franz for a while.

After all, we must be satisfied with the current status and the healing prospects. So I am quite confident that latest at the end of the year he is fit again to one hundred percent. ” Another German team member has had health problems. “Renè Sommerfeldt is unfortunately still suffering from joint problems that make a running training impossible. But I am confident that we can compensate with other training activities and achieve with Rene good results in his last year” said Jochen Behle.

The rest of the team is in a good shape. The team underwent two internal test races in Muonio. Based on results Tobias Angerer appears to be in a good shape. He won competitions both in skating and in classical technique. Among women, Steffi Böhler convincingly won the skating race before Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle and Denise Hermann. In the classic test victory went to Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle.
“Now of course we hope that we can implement the good training into performance at first World Cup races. We did not have direct comparison with other nations during the entire preparation period. Therefore we are excited how the international field will look like.” added Jochen Behle.
Composition of the German team:

WOMEN: Lucia Anger, Steffi Böhler, Nicole Fessel, Manuela Henkel, Denise Hermann, Claudia Nystad, Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle, Monique Siegel, Katrin Zeller

MEN: Tobias Angerer, Jens Filbrich, René Sommerfeldt, Axel Teichmann, Tim Tscharnke, Phillip Marshall

More news and videos from Beitostoelen here.