26Feb 2020 by DS News Team
Åre Uphill Sprint – Glimpse Into Future Of Skiing?

Åre Uphill Sprint – Glimpse Into Future Of Skiing?

Leaders, Newsfeed
Bad weather, fears of COVID-19, documented lack of enthusiasm by younger generation. Perfect storm for the venerable sport of cross country skiing? Indeed it is - that's why it's time to start looking at things under entirely different, more, you know, aggressively steep, angle. [caption id="attachment_14899" align="alignnone" width="1920"] To survive and thrive cross county skiing absolutely needs to come to places like Åre[/caption] What is Åre and what makes if special? It's a premier Scandinavian alpine skiing resort that has distinctly Swiss feeling: fancy cars parked outside swanky hotels, restaurants catering Nouvelle Cuisine, affluent downhill skiing crowd. The crowd that has little or no clue about cross country skiing ( Norwegians exempted). This is cross country skiing's biggest problem: 30 years ago urban kids were growing up much closer to…
Read More
24Feb 2020 by DS News Team
Gear Update: What New We Spotted At Ski Tour 2020

Gear Update: What New We Spotted At Ski Tour 2020

Gear News, Newsfeed
There wasn't a huge amount of premiers at Ski Tour 2020 when it comes to gear, yet some notable debuts were spotted: [caption id="attachment_14890" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Anamarija Lampic " podium walks" the newest One Way Diamond SLG20 poles [/caption] [caption id="attachment_14887" align="alignnone" width="1920"] At 50g/m SLG20 are incredibly light. One Way is only supplying its sponsored athletes with the new poles. Start of sales: fall 2020[/caption] [caption id="attachment_14885" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Swix is lagging a tad behind its Fischer-owned rival: Triac Aero 4.0s only appeared as non-foiled " Release Candidate" version...[/caption] [caption id="attachment_14886" align="alignnone" width="1920"] ..what's important is who had them: Alex Bolshunov is not exactly known for heaping praises on gear yet he says that Aero 4.0s feel really good. [/caption] [caption id="attachment_14884" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Rossignol S series hitherto camouflaged…
Read More
22Feb 2020 by DS News Team
You’ve Asked: Who Is That Bolshunov’s Sponsor?

You’ve Asked: Who Is That Bolshunov’s Sponsor?

Leaders, Newsfeed
Lately Alex Bolshunov have started to wear a sponsor logo that is not altogether familiar to the world of skiing. Let us try to fill that gap in your knowledge ULK Group is one of Russia's biggest wood processing companies. Their website announces that " The holding unites enterprises harvesting, shipping and processing of lumber as well as wood residuals processing" ULK is known for its support of youth sport in the region where the company is based - Archangel (a.k.a. Archangelsk) in Northern Russia. Last year the founder & CEO of ULK, Vladimir Butorin made an offer to Alex Alex Bolshunov and Natalia Nepryeva to switch residency to Archangel that they both accepted. " Residency" in that sense does not mean physical presence - in Russia competition in skiing…
Read More
21Feb 2020 by DS News Team
Ski Tour 2020 – Round Up

Ski Tour 2020 – Round Up

Leaders, Newsfeed
This is an effort to summarize impressions from the inaugural Ski Tour 2020. At least we hope it's inaugural and not a one-off event in the "gap year " when there are no Olympics or the world championships. We deliberately post this before the Tour's end as there is enough info to convey and the most novel races have happened already. Good: [caption id="attachment_14841" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Tour is happening in the geographic area that could be described as "heartland of cross country skiing", at least one of them. That's what sets it apart from a better known cousin, Tour de Ski. It translates into spectators' stands packed and general atmosphere of the big event[/caption] [caption id="attachment_14832" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ecology/ sustainability trend is not a fad - it's a fashion…
Read More
19Feb 2020 by DS News Team
Sweden Nominates Absolutely Cracking Squad For JWM2020

Sweden Nominates Absolutely Cracking Squad For JWM2020

Leaders, Newsfeed
Sweden seems to be aiming for a clean sweep at female distance races at FIS Nordic Junior & U23 Cross Country World Ski Championships 2020. Particularly in that U23 sub-division, where athletes 21 to 23 years old participate. See who are they sending to Germany next week: [caption id="attachment_14813" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Both Moa Lundgren and Emma Ribom are regular in Top 10 in the World Cup this season[/caption] [caption id="attachment_14814" align="alignnone" width="1920"] But particularly striking is the decision to send Ebba Andersson to Oberwiesenthal for U23 rather than giving her a shot a beating the Norwegians and/ or Natalia Nepryeava at Holmenkollen 30 that is happening at the roughly same time? Could it be Ebba's own decision? [/caption] [caption id="attachment_14809" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Sadly for JWM fans, perhaps the biggest discovery…
Read More