Sandnes

25May 2020 by DS News Team

Blinkfestivalen 2020: Out Of City Center, No Spectators And No Foreign Athletes. But With Lysebotn Uphill And Norwegian Stars

Blinkfestivalen, one of the world's best organized, best funded and best attended xcski/biathlon events will be held this August but out of town and with massively altered program. With large crowds banned, the competition is now mostly held for the sake of television broadcast. A long time must-have for the national broadcaster NRK, Blink is coming to the rest of Europe this year for the first via EBU (but biathlon races only - the European Broadcastng Union is interested in promoting biathlon, doesn't care about xcskiing) The venue of the Blink events is now Sandnes Arena. Which is not a bad thing at all, neither from athletes point of view, nor television viewers'. The newly built 4.2k facility with a full-size shooting range might be the best rollerski track stadium…

27Apr 2020 by DS News Team

Blinkfestivalen’ 2020 Will Be Held But Without Spectators

Leaders, Newsfeed

In 14 years of its existence, Blink Festivalen in Western Norway has grown from a decidely local affair to one of those world's premier competitions in both xcskiing and biathlon, offering an absolutely unique blend of top stars presence and amateur, mostly kids, competitions at the same tracks. Last year figures: 3000 participants, 100000 spectators and the budget well over NOK 20 million. Plus prime time on NRK. That's the World Championships level! Good news: the anniversary 15th edition this year will happen as planned on August 5-8. Bad news: without the audiences on purpose-built terraces in Sandnes. Gatherings of more than 500 people are currently banned in Norway. Good news: it all will be televised by NRK with the signal distribution across all of Europe via EBU (biathlon races…

25Jul 2018 by DS News Team

Arne Idland: Blink Skifestival Could Become Start Of FIS World Cup Season

Leaders, Newsfeed

Arne Idland is a legend. It's under his stewardship that the Norwegian biathlon, featuring great Ole Einar Bjørndalen & Co, became the world's best. Twice Idland was in charge of the Norwegian team this century - and twice it was on top of the podiums. Last year a 49 year old native of Sandnes resigned his commission as a top coach of the Norwegian national biathlon team to concentrate at his other job - that of the Sports Director for Blink Skifestival ( Idland is also a coach for Figgjo IL, local sports club) International experience and energy of Idland is in no small part a reason why a summer sporting event in relatively "non-skiing" part of Norway have gradually became an absolute must-go for the world's best skiers and…

19Jul 2018 by DS News Team

Why Upcoming Blink Skifestival Might Be World Most Exciting Ski Event

Leaders, Newsfeed

For our money, Blink Skifestival is one the most exciting & anticipated ski-related events in the world. What makes us rank Blink on par and perhaps, higher than traditional “snow ski” events e.g. Tour de Ski? Let's see if you could convince you with the following arguments: a) It is the only event in the world featuring both the strongest skiers and bi-athletes starting in the same race. Last year Henrik L'Abée-Lund beat both Martin Sundby and Sergei Ustiugov in the Lysebotn climb, for instance. As a result, there will be close to 40 ( your read it right – forty!) medal winners from the Olympics in Korea in February. Actually, it's easier to list those who will not be there, than who will be – sadly, Number One of…

Tag: Sandnes