April 06, 2012 (Switzerland) – The FIS Continental Cup series all over the world are some of the most important Cross-Country competitions whilst they allow the younger athletes to prepare themselves for the World Cup level. Here follows an overview of the final results of the Cross-Country COC series 2011/12.

The OPA Cup season concluded in Toblach (ITA) from 16-18th March. The OPA Cup was a great success this season with 36 events in seven different venues and six countries taking place. The winners of this Cup, and therefore holders of a fixed starting place during the first World Cup period next year, are France’s Celia Aymonier and Marco Muehlematter of Switzerland. Amonier won the OPA Cup ladies’ ranking 203 points ahead of Italy’s Lucia Scardon and 206 points ahead of the German skier Sandra Ringwald. Muehlematter took his first overall victory with 778 points, ahead of Frenchman Ivan Boiteux Perrillat as Jonas Baumann (SUI) finished third, 112 points behind the winner.

This season’s Scandinavian Cup included five different venues. The Norwegians dominated the top of the series having six skiers in the men’s top 10, and seven among the top 10 on the ladies’ side. John Kristian Dahl (NOR) and the U23 world champion Martine Ek Hagen (NOR) clearly won the overall rankings. Ek Hagen also proved that the Scandinavian Cup represents a reservoir of young and talented skiers by claiming two medals at the U23 World Ski Championships in Erzurum (TUR). She became world champion in 15km skiathlon and claimed the bronze medal in the 10 km classic. The Scandinavian Cup top three on the ladies side was purely Norwegian business. Behind Martine Ek Hagen, Maria Nysted Groenvoll and Britt Ingunn Nydal rounded out the podium. Kristian Tettli Rennemo is the runner-up in the men’s Scandinavian Cup standings, 76 points behind Dahl, whilst Sweden’s Fredrik Karlsson ranked third with 302 points.

The US SuperTour was concluded in Craftsbury, Vermont, 24-28th March 2012 together with the US Nationals. The finals were carried out in Tour de Ski style, a four-day final event ending with a hill climb. In total nine venues in six U.S. states were on the calendar 2011/12. Amongst the ladies’ Jessie Diggins, shooting star of U.S. Cross-Country skiing topped the Overall podium with 670 points having left behind Jennie Bender (556 pts) and Caitlin Gregg (472 pts). On the men’s side Sylvan Ellefson took the overall US Super Tour title, Karl Nygren claimed the runner up position 70 points backand Brian Gregg took third place with 307 pts.

The second North American COC series, the NorAm Cup came to an end with four races at Parc du Mont St. Anne. Kevin Sandau collected 1,080 pts over the season and grabbed the NorAm Cup title ahead of Brent McMurtry (960 pts) and Jesse Cockney (689). Alysson Marshall claimed victory in the ladies NorAm Cup series with 1,080 pts a mere 20 points ahead of Emily Nishikawa in second place with Kate Brennan finishing third overall.

The Far East Cup 2011/12 featured three venues this season. It made stops in the Alpensia Resort, Korea, which will host the Nordic events at the Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang 2018, as well as in Otoineppu and Sapporo in Japan. On the ladies’ side, Yuka Kobayashi claimed the Overall Far East Cup victory with 420 points. Nobuko Fukuda finished second, 80 points behind the winner while Michiko Kashiwabara took third with 325 points. Amongst the men, Hiroyuki Miyazawa was strongest and won the series with 505 points. Runner-up Nobu Naruse picked up 378 points. Akira Lenting who made impression at the U23 World Ski Championships in Erzurum with 8th place in 15 km classic finished third in the overall standings of the Far East Cup with 260 points.

The Balkan Cup was concluded in the well-known Cross-Country skiing resort of Erzurum, which also hosted the Junior/U23 World Ski Championships in February. On the men’s side, Romania’s Paul Constantine Pepene clearly won the series ahead of compatriot Petrica Hogiu and Bulgaria’s Veseiin Tzinzov. Romania topped the ladies’ ranking too as Monika Gyorgy collected 600 points. Timeea Sara claimed the runner-up position 40 points behind the winner. Bulgaria’s Antoniya Grigorova-Burgova finished third overall with 450 points.

The Eastern Europe Cup included only two venues as competitions in Kharkov scheduled on 20-22 January were cancelled. After races in Vershina Tea and Krasnogorsk, Gleb Retivykh claimed the Eastern Europe Cup victory with 340 points. Stanislav Volzhentsev finished in second place and Sergey Shiriaev third. On the ladies’ side, the silver and gold medallist from the Junior World Ski Championships Elena Soboleva won the Cup ahead of experienced skiers Olga Rotcheva and Evgenia Shapovalova.

This season’s Slavic Cup that was concluded in Kremnica-Skalka was all about Poland’s Cross-Country skiers. Six venues hosted competitions in the series as Agniszka Szymanczak topped the ladies’ ranking with five Polish skiers in top five. Szymanczak won with 721 points, Anna Starega finished second and Justyna Mordarska claimed third place. Ales Razym of the Czech Republic won the men’s standings with 540 points, Poland’s Maciej Starega trailed behind by 31 points and took second place and his compatriot Jan Antolec finished third with 488 points.

Contributed by Michal Lamplot