November 27, 2009 (Kuusamo, Finland) – World Cup Nordic fans will be rockin’ the house in Ruka, Finland over the next few days with three days of crazy-fast skiing and flights of fancy on the jumping hills are set to take place at the official FIS Nordic Opening featuring xc skiing, Nordic combined and ski jumping. Break out the fireworks, along with the techno DJ’s at clubs like Rantiasipi Rukahovi or the Pub Zone.

About 25km north of Kuusamo, Finland is the winter resort town of Ruka, which will play host to the second round of cross-country ski racing and the opening event for the jumpers and combiners of this early world cup season. By air it’s only an hour’s flight to Kuusamo from Helsinki. This has been the 8th world cup that the Kuusamo area has organized, and it also marks the only time until the 2010 Vancouver Olympics that all of the Nordic disciplines will be at the same place, at the same time.

Approximately 320 athletes will take part in a combined total of eight world cup events; the tracks are open for training, as well as the ski jumps on HS 142 hill. A dedicated group of nearly 700 volunteers will ensure things run just right.

After week one of racing, it’s clear that the Scandinavians are largely in the xc driver’s seat. Norwegian Ronny Andre Hafsaas, a talented biathlete and a great skater, took the win in the men’s 15km event. Afterwards he told the press that he had no expectations of even being in the top ten. He expects to continue in biathlon this season and will attend the upcoming opener Dec. 2-6 in Ostersund, Sweden.

Vincent Vittoz of France showed great early season form in second, while Finland’s Matti Heikkinen was third. Norwegian star Petter Northug was fourth and will likely be a factor this weekend and all season long. He was second overall last season on the Viessmann World Cup tour. Watch for Norway’s great talent Ola Vigen Hattestad in the men’s 1.5km sprints.

The men’s relay last Sunday was yet another great, gritty race for team Norge as they captured gold with Eldar Roenning, Martin Johnsrud Sunby, Hafsaas and Northug who dealt an extraordinary anchor leg for the win. The Russians claimed second five seconds back, however they’d been in the lead for much of the race. Germany took third. The Finns will be expected to match the magic of the season as well. Look for Ville Nousiainen, Sami Jauhojaervi, Teemu Kattilakoski and Heikkinen to be inspired at home near the Arctic Circle. Last week the Canadian men, with a strong leg by Devon Kershaw, placed a commendable 10th.

A dominant performance was also delivered by Norway’s ski queen Marit Bjoergen last weekend. With a revised training regimen including less intensity she was brilliant and her countrywomen Anna Haag and Kristin Stoermer Steira are also in fine form. The tracks at Beitostoelen were full-on winter; icy, rock hard and fast.

Charlotte Kalla, Sweden’s star, took the silver in the 10km free technique, and anchored the squad of Lindborg, Olsson and Haag to give Sweden a gold in the women’s relay over Norway. The Finn’s were third, but at home this weekend the strong duo of Virpi Kuitunen and Ritta-Lissa Roponen along with Aino Kaisa Saarinen and Pirjo Muranen are likely to be very strong, even transcendent.

One must also look to a pair of outstanding women in xc skiing this weekend – the defending World Cup champion Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland and the equally talented Petra Majdic of Slovenia, who gave us epic battles last winter.

For the USA we look to the strong duo of Kris Freeman and Kikkan Randall as both had solid performances in Beitostolen, Norway last weekend. Coach Pete Vordenberg said after the races that, “Kikkan Randall showed she has made another forward step in her skiing by having her best distance race, and Kris is about on par with our expectations of him.”

Also racing for the USA women will be Liz Stephen and Morgan Arritola. Sprinters like Andy Newell and Torin Koos did get some racing in the relay last week, as well. USST Sprint coach Chris Grover, told us by email that the skiing in Ruka was quite good, and a little new snow overnight had fallen. Grover said, “The USA sprinters are all set and ready to go. Kikkan has been working hard on her classic technique and we feel she’s ready to make a breakthrough in classic sprinting. Torin is also very strong right now and this is a good course for him because of the large amount of striding. Andy’s in good shape and had success here in 4th two seasons ago.”

Canada’s Devon Kershaw displayed fine form in Norway, along with men like distance ace Ivan Babikov, Alex Harvey and Graham Nishikawa. Their 10th place relay finish was just 1:36 back behind the winning team – a good start. Meanwhile Canada’s women hope to rebound following their team relay DNF – look for Sara Renner, Chandra Crawford, and Perianne Jones to rev things up this weekend in Kuusomo.

Team USA’s Nordic Combined squad is not attending the Kuusomo Nordic season opener preferring to start at round two in Trondheim, Norway on Dec. 5-6, which has been cancelled (as of today) due to technical problems and rescheduled to Lillehammer. The US team is currently training in Lillehammer so that could play out well for the strong team.

In ski jumping watch for a return to WCup action from Finnish legend Janne Ahonen who is coming out of retirement for Janne Vaeaetaeinen’s flyboys. Harri Olli also should be flying well.

Many eyes will be transfixed upon the Austrians with the overall world cup winner from last year, Gregor Schlierenzauer, along with Four Hill winner Wolfgang Loitzl and reining Olympic champ Thomas Morgenstern on the hills in Ruka. They will also feature a strong Nordic combined team led by the returning Felix Gottwald, and they also have a strong bench.

For Norway, reports say that Anders Jacobsen is jumping well enough to win, and in combined Magnus Moan and Petter Tande are always among the favorites.

The jumpers and combiners from Japan are also very strong, fresh from a medal in combined in Liberec and flyers Noriaki Kasai and Takanobu Okabe are veterans, but still as good as ever.

Robert Kranjec of Slovenia ranks among the world’s best and could always sneak in there for a high-ranking jump.

In Switzerland the even money is on summer grand prix winner Simon Ammann, Olympic gold medalist eight years ago in Salt Lake City. While top xc Swiss ace Dario Cologna, is still bouncing back from injury, but a slow start to his season, may reap rewards in February.

The Germans have strong programs in all Nordic events, yet head jump coach, Werner Schuster told a German website this week that of all his charges, perhaps only Michael Neumayer has a chance at a top-10.

The USA’s Project X, will have four jumpers in Finland this weekend, lead by New Hampshire jumper Nick Alexander.

Let’s get ready to enjoy the Northern Lights!