January 22, 2009 (Liberec, Czech) – In a month’s time, from February 18 to March 1, the 2009 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships will take place in the Bohemian city Liberec (Cze). After years of intensive preparations, Liberec is ready for its grand premiere and looking forward to the event. The forthcoming FIS Nordic World Ski Championships will be the most prestigious sports event to have taken place in the history of the independent Czech Republic.

The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 will be the first to welcome the female ski jumpers at the highest level of FIS competitions. The Nordic Combined mass start will also make its title event debut. Altogether, 20 medal events are on schedule in Liberec, which is a new record in the history of FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. Of those, Cross-Country will count for twelve (six female and six male) events, and Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined each for four. Needless to say, the 2009 Championships promise to be a superb spectacle with plenty of vivid experiences in store for about 600 participants from 59 nations, also a new record!

The Organizing Committee for Liberec 2009 and the competition venues – Vesec for Cross-Country and Je”tûd for Ski Jumping – are getting their fine tuning “The most important thing is that we have enough snow – about 70 cm. In these days, we are preparing the trails in Vesec. The Czech representation already tested it and they were satisfied. Je”tûd is already fully-prepared. Now, we are just refining details in the logistics and other areas,” stated Liberec 2009 President, former top skier Katerina Neumannova.

Beside the athletes, special attention is being paid to the Nordic fans who will visit these unique World Championships: “We have prepared a special social program for the fans. And I am pleased to be able to invite to the Official Opening of the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships at Tipsport arena. Probably the most famous name (not from sports, of course) that spectators and ski fans will get to see there is that of the legendary English rock band Deep Purple”, Neumannova added. “During the Championships, we will have theme days in Liberec. During these theme days, spectators will have the opportunity to meet cultures of countries such as Italy, Norway or Slovakia. A great attraction during the Slovak Day will be a concert of the popular Slovak band Elán. The Organizing Committee is preparing fan zones on the and Vesec grounds which will offer not only refreshments but also music productions. Nearly every day, concerts by Czech music stars will take place on the main square in Liberec where medal award ceremonies will be held.”

To get smoothly to the venues, the Organizing Committee is offering free public transportation in Liberec, as well transfers by tram from the neighboring town of Jablonec nad Nisou.

How to get there: Prague International Airport is the closest airport to use for Liberec, it takes about 1,5 hours to Liberec (depending on traffic), the distance between Prague and Liberec is a bit more than 100 km and is connected with a highway. For more information visit www.liberec2009.com

The reigning 2007 World Champions from Sapporo (Jpn)

Cross-Country

Ladies
Individual start 10 km free technique: Katerina Neumannova (Cze)
Mass start 30 km classical technique: Virpi Kuitunen (Fin)
Pursuit: Olga Savialova (Rus)
Team sprint free technique: Finland
Sprint classical technique: Astrid Jacobsen (Nor)
Relay: Finland

Men
Individual start 15 km free technique: Lars Berger (Nor)
Mass start 50 km classical technique: Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset (Nor)
Pursuit: Axel Teichmann (Ger)
Team Sprint free technique: Italy
Sprint classical technique: Jens Arne Svartedal (Nor)
Relay: Norway

Ski Jumping
Large Hill: Simon Ammann (Sui)
Normal Hill: Adam Malysz (Pol)
Team: Austria

Nordic Combined
Sprint: Hannu Manninen (Fin)
Gundersen: Ronny Ackermann (Ger)
Team: Finland