We Look At Those Who Trouble Comfortable And Comfort Troubled.

We Look At Those Who Trouble Comfortable And Comfort Troubled.

Leaders, Newsfeed
Yep, it's a quote. Attributed to the great Australian coach Ric Charlesworth: "The interesting thing about coaching is that you have to trouble the comfortable, and comfort the troubled" Here are some of the best of trouble dispensers & comforters in the great sport of cross country skiing. [caption id="attachment_10744" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Yuri Charkovsky, a doyen of coaching corps of the world is 77. He would still outrun vast majority of people half his age on the tracks/ Charkovsky is no longer coaching but he's director of Team Russia responsible for all the logistics of his 100+ people team[/caption] [caption id="attachment_10752" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Team Norway's manager Vidar Lofshus has had enough of his tough job. After dozens of golden medals won under his watch, Lofshus is resigning from the national…
Read More
Need To Know: Who’s Getting Married In International Skiing?

Need To Know: Who’s Getting Married In International Skiing?

Newsfeed, Trivia
The boss of the Russian national team broke the news that two of her skiers are planning to tie the knot - without quite revealing who. Now we are talking about something truly exciting! https://www.instagram.com/p/BvfBaGXhEH4/ Gold medals and Chrystal Cups are being won regularly – but actual marriages inside the International Ski Circus are exceedingly rare. Which gives us an excuse ( as if we needed one) to look at the couples in international skiing. https://www.instagram.com/p/BqjeSg_l7yu/ The Olympic champion of Sochi-2014 in sprint Ola Vigen Hattestad  turned out to be a geat combo of husband and coach. Just ask his wife Katja Visnar who brought home a silver medal from Seefeld 2019! In Sprint, of course, Team Sprint. https://www.instagram.com/p/Brn5WnhljRK/ Sometimes it feels that Anna Zherebyateva and Alexander Bolshunov separate only…
Read More
Cross Country  Is B-sport, You Know?

Cross Country Is B-sport, You Know?

Leaders, Newsfeed
"Cross country ( skiing) is a B-sport, you know? Thus spoke Wolfgang Pichler, quite possibly the world biathlon's most famous coach of our days ( 2'15" in interview) The German coach of the Swedish biathlon team then goes on talking about how Single Mixed Relay at the Biathlon World Champioship saw 29 nations – apparently, a record for countries' participation in any winter sport, ever. Pichler is wrong: a similar two-athlete event at Seefeld-2019, men's Team Sprint, also had same 29 entrants ( yes, that including now-infamous Austrians) . Ladies had 19. Yet Pichler is right – but a totally different way. [caption id="attachment_10696" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Biathlon prize money for last season was  7 000 000 €.For each victory on the World Cup - 15 000 € . World Championship made…
Read More
The International Season Is Over. Here Are Changes That Need To Be Effected – Or Else

The International Season Is Over. Here Are Changes That Need To Be Effected – Or Else

Leaders, Newsfeed
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Brilliant Norwegians once again wiped the floor with the competition, winning both ladies' and men's overall World Cup titles - and taking most of the places in Top Ten And taking overall Nations Cup, naturally. Optimists would say that this time around things were not as one way as in, say, 2015–16 FIS Cross-Country World Cup when Norway took 24234 points - almost as much as the rest of the world combined. This year it was "only" 12657 to Russia's 8636 and Sweden's 7015. A progress of a kind. [caption id="attachment_10602" align="aligncenter" width="1920"][/caption] In fact, it became yet another season pushing cross country skiing off the main plate towards also-run niche. Already…
Read More
Unorthodox Look At Why XCSkiing Is King In Norway

Unorthodox Look At Why XCSkiing Is King In Norway

Money & Finance, Newsfeed
The Norwegians took such a clean sweep at the golden medals at the Seefeld-2019, that it's almost embarrassing. Let's leave aside the issue of how good the Norwegian dominance is for the future of internation skiiing ( it isn't - and will be discussed in a separate story soon enough) Let's try to take a look at why a nation of 5.3 million came to dominate one of the most grueling yet the most technical sports - and expensive ones too. A word of pre-warning - you won't find here: photo & texts telling you how every Norseman ( and woman) puts skis on straight out of her/his cradle. Not because it is untrue ( and it actually isn't true - big west coast cities like Bergen and Stavanger simply…
Read More