January 16, 2009 (Whister, BC) – At this week’s pre-Olympic World Cup in the Callaghan Valley, the 2010 Vancouver Olympic venue, the Norwegians, the kings and queens of cross-country skiing, the way they see it, sent no women and only one man. The man, Ola Vigen Hattestad, is the current leader in sprinting and also last year’s sprint king and can probably sew up this year’s title with a win on Friday.The Germans, sent two men and two women, a token number and a token pair when it comes to ability. I could continue with the no-shows from all the other nations, but you get the point.

Who do we have to blame for this poor showing? I think mostly FIS, as a more complete schedule of sprint and distance events would force more of the good athletes to show up to defend their positions on the World Cup. But the scheduling for the World Cup for this year is way too full with the Nordic World Championships, the World Cup and the Tour de Ski – so the athletes had to give themselves a break somewhere and FIS knows this. It seems that they gave Vancouver a throw-away weekend, but not if the North Americans are ready to take advantage of the weak fields.

The men’s race has 47 entries, 21 of whom are Europeans and in the women’s race there’s a field of 58 women with 22 European skiers, so if the North Americans are ready there are points and money to be made.

But, I’ve said this before, it always amazes me how strong and deep so many of the teams over there are. The travel and jet lag are just topics for conversation and they don’t let it bother them. They just race through it!

Best of luck to you North American skiers – turn on the after burners!!!!!!