Source: Langrenn.com — Translated by Torbjorn Karlsen
 want to avoid too much specializing in cross country skiing. The Norwegian sprint coach Ulf Morten Aune says that it’s impossible.</p><p>FasterSkier.com reported yesterday (Changes In World Cup Sprint Racing <a href=http://www.fasterskier.com/racing2271.html)
http://www.fasterskier.com/racing2271.html) that FIS has decided that 30 skiers will advance from the prolog is most competitions starting next season and two sprint World Cup races will have prologs that are twice as long as the finalsRelated Fasterskier.com articles: FIS Might Make Changes In Sprint Racing http://www.fasterskier.com/racing1025.html
The recent changes are a result of FIS’s desire to make it possible for the distance skiers to succeed in sprint races as well.
Norway’s sprint coach for the men’s team believes that the development in sprint racing has gone too far to be reversed.
– Specializing has already happened. FIS is trying to stop something that has already happened. This should have been discussed more before it was decided, so that new rules suddenly don’t just appear, says Ulf Morten Aune.
Aune says that you can see specializing in all areas, both within the different techniques and distances, and that this is a result of higher level.
– These changes are strange, says Aune.
 is on the other hand more positive to the changes and sees a possibility for (personal) future sprint participation as a result of the new rules.</p><p>– It’s positive, less separation between sprint and regular cross country skiing, says Hofstad.</p><p>Hofstad believes that cross country skiing should try to avoid a split between sprint and regular racing, and that it’s not good when you have totally different skiers on top in the two events. He believes that the prolog is the biggest hinder and that the solution to improvements lays in the prolog.</p></div><div class=)
– The prolog has for me personally been an impossible hinder to pass, but you can imagine that two laps in the sprint course in Oberstdorf would be something totally different than the current prolog (one lap).
Isn’t it an argument that the specializing has gone so far that you can’t reverse it?
— It’s hard to get the same winner in the 30-kilometer as in the sprint, but let’s say that if you had ten good distance skiers advancing from the prolog in sprint, you would see more of the same people in the top.
Sprint relay World Champion Hofstad is realizing that everyone is trying to look after themselves.
– It’s obvious that everyone is thinking about themselves and what’s best for them. But I feel regardless that this is exciting and worth trying to see how it works.
Editor’s note: it seems like FIS has the interest for the sport in mind as far as TV interest goes. Less well known skiers participating in the sprint mean less viewer interest and makes for a product that’s harder to sell to advertisers.
