Seefeld-2019. Curtain-Raiser. In Pictures

Seefeld-2019. Curtain-Raiser. In Pictures

Newsfeed, Travel & Mass Sport, Trivia
We have made an effort to convince you using stats & figures, that Seefeld-2019 has a promise of becoming the best world championship ever. Here's a glimpse of how the Tirolian resort looks on the eve of the tournament kick-off [caption id="attachment_10281" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Nour Keirouz, Lebanon xcski champ, will compete in sprint at Seefeld[/caption] Focal point - the newly built Seefeld Ski Stadium https://www.instagram.com/p/BuE1oCFhi5D/ ...where swarms of waxers and technicians are busy selecting the winning wax formulas [caption id="attachment_10282" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] "dude, did you bring enough planks along?" [/caption] https://www.instagram.com/p/BuE3Tkfhl27/ ...Total "my wax truck is bigger than your wax truck!". Or, at least, my flag is higher https://www.instagram.com/p/BuEkQGPhhVK/ ...These guys look like they also care about chemicals - but of entirely different type. Just a guess - police forces…
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Skiing In Brazilian Favela: How One Man Decided To Change Lives And How Whole World Is Now Helping

Skiing In Brazilian Favela: How One Man Decided To Change Lives And How Whole World Is Now Helping

Newsfeed, Trivia
Well, it's Christmas, finally. Time for what psycologists call "optimism bias" – the state of mind when we all want to hear something positive, something that makes us to believe in good Santa – and humanity as a whole. Here's a ski related story that has the right vibe. ...When Leandro Ribela, a former Olympian cross-country skier from Brazil, who took part in Vancouver and Sochi Olympic Winter Games, had decided that skiing could be something favela kids in his native São Paulo could practice, there were only four boys that had agreed to give it a try. That was in 2012 Just five years later the Ski Na Rua project that Leandro launched, lists 92 of what is known as "underprivilege kids" from São Remo favela doing rollersking AND…
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Great Britain Makes Quantum Leap in XC Ski Business. At Least in Eurostat Data

Great Britain Makes Quantum Leap in XC Ski Business. At Least in Eurostat Data

Money & Finance, Newsfeed
A million dollar question from our very own version of Trivial Pursuit: name one brand of cross country skis that are produced in Great Britain Scratching your head? So do we Yet it is Britain that tops the official Eurostat data as the EU top xc ski exporter. No kidding. The United Kingdom had somehow managed to export a whopping 941.476 pairs of narrows skis in 2016. Austria, the country of Fischer and Atomic, had only sent some 300.000 pairs France, a birthplace of Salomon and Rossignol brands, is a distant third with 56.000 followed by Finland ( Karhu, Yoki, Peltonen) with 45.000 Italy ( SkiTrab) exported less than 5000. Even Portugal managed to export 25 pairs, while Croatia did 4 ( four) pairs Britain's phenomenal exporting prowess could only…
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Post-trip Musings: Why You Should Consider Going To Gällivare

Post-trip Musings: Why You Should Consider Going To Gällivare

Newsfeed, Travel & Mass Sport
It's standard procedure to write stories about events before they happen – "upcoming event intro" as it's known in business. Helps to remind the audience what to expect - and when, There is one fault with that – a writer/reporter rarely sees & feels the atmosphere of the event ahead of time. So, today we are going to try the other formula – telling you about the event after it happened, in due hope that you'd consider visiting the said event (or indeed the venue of thereof) in the future. [caption id="attachment_5939" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Crowds gather for 10/15 k classic race at the Gallivare Premiere[/caption] So, the Gällivare Premiere http://www.sporteventgellivare.com/en/the-gallivare-premiere/, the cross country skiing event that gathered ( and, one hopes, will continue gathering) the world skiing elite in the…
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Upshot Of Decision To Ban Legkov/Belov

Upshot Of Decision To Ban Legkov/Belov

Leaders, Newsfeed
Yesterday's verdict of The IOC Disciplinary Commission, handing out a lifetime Olympic ban and stripping medals off the Russian skiers Alexander Legkov and Evgeniy Belov will go down in history. Regardless of which side of the argument you're on, the history is made because for the first time ever in sport a doping ban is given in the case where there is no direct evidence of actual doping, no evidence of sportsmen being involved and still no clear understanding of what had actually happened. The formula under which international sports bureaucrats judge sportsmen is notoriously vague and deserves to be quoted in full: “...The standard of proof shall be whether the IOC has established an anti-doping rule violation to the comfortable satisfaction of the hearing panel bearing in mind the…
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