Vegard Ulvang, one of the developers of the Tour de Ski, does not see the need to change the point practices of the tour, even though the number of skiers in the women’s race was the second lowest in the history of the tour.
57.1 percent. This is how the largest percentage of women left the game at this year’s Tour de Ski.
Of the 70 women who started the tour a week ago in Toblach, only 30 finished in Sunday’s final race in Val di Fiemme.
The Tour de Ski was held for the 18th time. The percentage of women who drop out is historically high, when comparing years when there have been no value races on the calendar.
46.8 percent of women dropped out of play in 2020 and 39.4 percent in 2016. In 2012, the percentage of dropouts was 37.8, and four years earlier it was only 16.7.
The total number of female skiers who dropped out has been higher than this year only once: 62.7 percent in 2019.
This year, the proportion of those who dropped out, 47.5 percent, did not rise as much for men as for women. However, it falls short of the top reading of men’s non-ranking years, 48.0, from 2016.
When comparing the suspension rates of women and men in the 18-year history of the Tour de Ski, men have stopped more than women 12 times. However, out of the last seven years, women have dropped out five times more often.
“Dropouts are not a problem”
When the final ascent of the Tour de Ski, Alpe Cermis, was climbed for the first time in January 2007, the dropouts were nowhere near the majority. The same thing happened again in 2008 and 2009.
As the dropout percentages show, the game changed in 2010 when Vancouver hosted the Winter Olympics. Several skiers considered that the passage of the heavy Tour was a threat to Olympic success. Marit Björgen was something of a precedent at the time: he skipped the Tour entirely and won three golds, a silver and a bronze on the Olympic tracks in Whistler.
After 2010, the proportion of those who dropped out has been less than a third only in 2013. At that time, one influential factor could have been that the host city of the final climb, Val di Fiemme, organized the World Championships in February of the same year.
Tour de Ski of the Swiss Jürg Capolin developed with Norwegian Vegard Ulvang doesn’t feel that high dropout rates are a problem for the Tour’s credibility.
– I have never been worried about those who interrupt the Tour. The idea of the concept is to focus more and more on those who are fighting for the top spots, Ulvang told Urheilu before the final stage.
Ulvang, who celebrated three Olympic victories and two world championships in the 1990s, regretted that several top names did not participate in this year’s Tour due to illness.
Men’s World Cup top ten (points after the Trondheim mc races) Johannes Hösflot Kläbo (1.) and Simen Hegstad Krüger (7.) dropped out of the tour due to health problems. Illness also happened Iivo Niskanen as fate.
British from the top 10 Andrew Musgrave (6.), of Norway Didrik Tönseth (8.) and the Czech Republic Michal Novak (10.) stopped the tour – although not due to illness.
In the women’s category, all the top ten skiers of the early season participated in the Tour. Among them, the gold medal group of the last World Championships Ebba Andersson (4.) and Lotta Udnes Weng (9th) left the tour already after the Toblach Games, but the remaining eight top names competed in the tour, titled as the main event of the season.
Finns featured strongly Lauri Vuorinen voluntarily withdrew from the Tour before the final climax of Val di Fiemme. So did they Jasmi Joensuu and Joni Mäki.
Ulvang doesn’t warm to the idea of skiers having to race through the Tour de Ski to get half the World Cup points they earn from the Tour events.
If conclusions can be drawn from the previous value competition years, next year’s tour may see tactical omissions again.
– It is a problem that some of the top athletes say before the season that they will ski these and these competitions, and some those and those, Ulvang said.