The World Cup continues this weekend in Val Di Fiemme, Italy. Snow conditions are very good and the US Ski Team has been in town preparing for the races for a few days. They skipped last weekend's sprint races to focus on training and should be geared up for some good performances in the pursuit on Saturday.
You can follow the races live on the internet here: http://www.sportresult.com/sports/cc/cc.asp
or just click on the link on our homepage.
From the organizing committee:
The courses of the cross country stadium of Lago di Tesero in Val di Fiemme, where the four World Cup races will take place on Saturday and Sunday, are ready to go.
The track 2,5 Km West for the classic technique and the 2,5 Km East for the free technique tomorrow morning are open for the athletes, who can test the courses and the skis.
The average thickness of the snow is 40 cm, composed of artificial and natural snow, and so the courses are in very good conditions to host the double pursuit of Saturday (7,5 + 7,5 Km women and 15 + 15 Km men) and the relay races 4×5 km women and 4×10 km men of Sunday. The temperatures, near to zero degrees, are keeping in good conditions the tracks.
The favourite athletes, after the World Cup results at the beginning of the season, are the Germans with Axel Teichmann in the lead. Russian, Swedish and Norwegian athletes will be strong adversaries, especially in the individual races.
Giuseppe Chenetti, the Italian trainer, is trustful after the tests of these days in Val di Fiemme. He says Di Centa, Piller Cottrer and Zorzi are in very good shape and thinks they will classify among the first 10. Fulvio Valbusa trained by himself and he confirms to be very concentrated and in good shape. His goal is to reach the perfect shape for the World Championships of next February, but in Val di Fiemme he trusts to place among the first 10 in the double pursuit. The other Italians in the races will be Santus, Checchi, Schwienbacher, Di Santo ,Moriggl, Saracco, Kostner and Theodule.
Gianfranco Pizio, women’s trainer, says the podium will be played by Smigun, Neumannova, Bjoergen and Kuitunen, the protagonists of the beginning of the season. He confirms that Gabriella Paruzzi will be at the start with Sabina Vabusa, Arianna Follis, Magda Genuin, Antonella Confortola, Anna and Stephanie Santer and Karin Moroder, fourth in the sprint race of Berna.
The programme of the races:
Saturday 11th December
11:00 Â Â Â 7,5 + 7,5 Km Ladies – Double Pursuit C/F
12:15 Â Â Â 15 + 15 Km Men – Double Pursuit C/F
Sunday 12th December
11:15 Â Â Â 4 x 5 Relay Ladies C/FÂ
13:00 Â Â Â 4 x 10 Relay Men C/F
Info: www.valdifiemme2003.com
