The Skiing World Cup hadn’t even had time to start when the first buzz of the season was over.
The international skiing federation Fis announced on November 21 that a 20-kilometer co-start with traditional skiing will replace the 20-kilometer skiathlon, the culmination of the Lillehammer cup weekend, on December 4.
The reason for the change was reported to be the weak snow situation in Lillehammer, due to which the Norwegian organizers would not be able to make enough snow for the runs of traditional and freestyle skiing.
At the same time, Fis announced that instead of the 1994 Olympic landscapes of cross-country skiing, the competitions would be held on a brisk three-kilometer section of track that was built into the biathlon stadium.
This is how Fis and Lillehammer operated last year as well, citing the same reasons – albeit with the difference that a year ago, only two individual races were contested in Lillehammer, a sprint and an intermediate start in freestyle skiing.
When the awakened skiing circles found out what kind of track would be skied on Sunday, it was not clear to anyone that the men’s 20 km joint start, which ends the competitions, would be a farce.
An impossible equation for men
Over the years, the international skiing association Fis has increased the number of joint starts in cross-country skiing.
Short mass starts, normally 15 kilometers in length, have been a problem, especially for men, whose races have, with the exception of a few cases, been stalling in the crowd waiting for the last kilometer to finish.
After all, differences have emerged for women, even though the distance has been five kilometers shorter than for men.
Fis decided to unify women’s and men’s race distances for this season. If Holmenkollen’s legendary fifty is separated into its own island, only one of the common starts is 15 and three 20 kilometers long.
However, the change is only cosmetic, if the competitions are not held in sufficiently challenging terrains.
Why wasn’t the original snowed in?
At this point, the question arises as to why the Lillehammer race organizers snowballed the biathlon stadium instead of the ski stadium located less than half a kilometer away – that is, the stadium where the competitions were originally awarded.
The terrains in the ski stadium are among the toughest on the World Cup tour. Making a difference in them is possible thanks to the long work periods. For one reason or another, this did not suit the Norwegian organizers and the Fis delegation that blessed the decision.
The end result on Sunday was harsh to watch and read. Among the women’s top finishers, it was within ten seconds, while the men’s finished in 30th place Andrew Musgrave lost to Norway, who claimed to be the winner For Pål Golberg a measly 10.1 seconds.
In biathlon, which is ahead of cross-country skiing on TV, only 30 athletes qualify for the line in joint starts. Yesterday, cross-country skiers competed in biathlon fields with 69 men and 56 women.
You didn’t have to be a forecaster to see that such a number of skiers on an easy trail would mean wrecks.
– It was such a mess, Sweden had to stop the race due to a broken ski Calle Halfvarsson summed up his feelings about the joint start of 20 kilometers.
The surprise at the choice of terrain doesn’t end there. A Viaplay expert who worked in Lillehammer Sami Jauhojärvi told Urheilu that the organizers would have had snow in stock for the needs of several more kilometers.
Where is the flexibility?
Regardless of the conditions, one thing did not change on Sunday: the Norwegian men took their second quadruple victory of the season from the joint start and got eight skiers into the top ten.
Despite the success, the Norwegian organizers and Fis decision-makers should look in the mirror: if the races are deliberately taken to easy terrain, the joint start is the last option as a form of competition.
In terms of competition, a better option than a joint start would have been a 10-kilometer intermediate start in traditional skiing – that is, a distance that will be competed in a week later in Beitostölen.
When the weak snow situation in Lillehammer was already known weeks in advance, why couldn’t the skiathlon in Lillehammer and the intermediate start in Beitöstölen have been switched? In this way, the athletes and spectators would have been saved from yet another shameful show where cross-country skiing is the biggest loser.
Or does anyone really claim to enjoy a 20 kilometer race, where during the 19 kilometers they only search for stations for the last kilometer massacre?
The biggest question is why, for the second year in a row, Fis gave the Norwegians the opportunity to compete in biathlon terrain.
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