August 30, 2010 – Swedish National Team Coach Joakim Abrahamsson has countered the recent comments by Marcus Hellner regarding pursuit and mass starts, saying that, while cross-country ski racing is indeed in a constant state of flux, “It’s only for the athletes to adapt.” – read Hellner’s comments HERE.

He may have a point, because the coming World Cup season is dominated by mass starts, pursuits and sprint races, the former two of which Heller has openly criticized in the Scandinavian media. For the organizers, these formats are the best for drawing large crowds, but they also put the impetus for results on a powerful sprint and less on an athlete’s overall endurance.

“Large crowds and tight sprint runs will attract a larger and wider audience. If you do not have a sprint finish today, you have much less chance of winning the race than a few years ago,” Abrahamsson told Langd.se.   “Just look at Anders Södergren, who is one of the world’s best in the individual starts, but has had difficulty achieving the same success in mass starts.”

One other new trend on the FIS circuit that may help shift some of the advantage back towards endurance racers is the adoption of more min-series races, inspired by the Tour de Ski. Abrahamsson went on to suggest that he thinks ski fans and racers can expect to see more and longer tours like this in non-championship seasons.

With files from Langd.se