The program of the Tour de Ski tour of cross-country skiing has been significantly disrupted over the years. The athletes tell how they would modify the classic tour.
Joel Sippola,
Laura Arffman
Skiing’s first Tour de Ski was organized in the 2006–2007 season. The event held at the turn of the year has held its ground, but the competition program has been changed a lot over the years.
There are fewer races, and especially on the men’s side, the distances have shortened. The men once had a 35 kilometer race in the program. In the beginning, there were competitions where you skied from one place to another.
Urheilu found out from the athletes at the Tour de Ski how they would change the tour.
Restoring the Prologue
– Sometimes the prologue started the Tour. It was a nice race. It is suitable for both distance and sprinters, Perttu Hyvärinen remembers.
It is an intermediate start race a few kilometers long.
There was also a prologue Iivo Niskanen mind. The man with three Olympic gold medals reached the top three at the previous Tour de Ski. The shortening of the distances has fallen to the sprinters.
– They (the prologues) were a nice change. It has gone in the right direction. But since men’s distances have decreased, sprints certainly have a bigger benefit compared to before. It doesn’t only favor endurance athletes so much.
Niskanen, who stopped this year’s tour, hopes that in the future the Tour will include more towns. It is already certain that Oberstdorf will not be in the program of next year’s tour.
– You no longer go to the places where you have been before. Many times in Oberstdorf too, the conditions have not been terribly good. This Tour would also have been very meaningful for me, says Niskanen.
“A real Tour de Ski”
This year’s Tour de Ski has been a hit with Finns, as four of the seven races are in the traditional way. In addition, a 20-kilometer long pursuit race was skied on Tuesday, which favored hard Krista Pärmäkoski.
Norwegian Anne Kjersti Kalvå was in the women’s top fight until she had to stop because of the corona virus.
– I think this year’s program is functional, because there are two sprints for short distance skiers and 20 kilometers for normal distance skiers and 15 kilometers in Val di Fiemme. This is a good program for us women, but maybe men don’t agree, Kalvå stated.
Anne Kyllönen, 35, is one of the Tour de Ski’s conquistadors. He was once on the podium.
Kyllönen has a clear wish for development.
– I would definitely like more races and a longer tour! At some point there will probably be nine races and several countries for 11 days. It was the real Tour de Ski.
Pärmäkoski’s wish
As a cross-country skier, Krista Pärmäkoski misses the race where she skied from Cortina to Toblach in Italy.
– I have never been able to ski Cortina-Toblach myself. I’ve joined at the point when women have been skiing it.
– Maybe there could be a certain kind of transition competition. Especially now, when the women have a 20 kilometer race. It is an exceptionally long race for women.
Hyvärinen also misses that event.
– Cortina–Toblach is a legendary race that I haven’t been able to ski. It would be a pretty tough race. Maybe in a year without a value competition, it could work just fine, Hyvärinen states.
One of the most significant innovations in recent years has been changing the legendary ascent of Alpe Cermis, which ends the tour, from a chase to a joint start race. On Sunday, the final stage will be skied for the fourth time in a row as a joint start race.
Sweden, which is second in the overall competition Calle Halfvarsson not a fan of the current decision stage.
– Whoever crossed the finish line first on the last day was the winner. It was more interesting to watch.