Norwegian cross country sport chief Bjornar Hakensmoen wants fewer nations in cross country skiing. He hopes that this will increase the quality of the sport.
Source: Langrenn.com
 skiers from the big ski- nations.</p>
<p>– We need to differentiate the number of skiers from each nation, says Hakensmoen who agrees that this can weaken the interest further in nations that doesn’t have the best skiers.</p>
<p>– Yes, but they can get a basic quota, he says.</p>
<p>52 nations participated in World Cup or Worlds last season. This is too many, says Hakensmoen.</p>
<p>– We have to decide if it’s right to have this many nations that contributes to reducing the quality of the competitions. 30 nations would for example be better. That would raise the quality, says Hakensmoen and compares this to how nations are divided in other sports.</p>
<p>– The weakest nations are not playing the best in Hockey. They are divided into A- and B Worlds, he says.</p>
<p>– The best ski nations need big quotas in order to let all the best skiers’ race international competitions.</p>
<p>— This is a choice the sport needs to make, says Hakensmoen.</p>
<p>Skiers from nations that are not placing in the top can through World Cup participation and championships that are televised possibly make the sport more popular in their home countries. That’s not an argument, says Hakensmoen.</p>
<p>— Those skiers are never shown on television. They are skiing at the tail-end in mass-start races and are often lapped. All nations are not contributing to the sport. All nations should climatically not be a part of cross country skiing, claims Hakensmoen.</p>
<p>– I want the sport to remain international and I’m a supporter of testing out new things so lets see how the new quotas works this season, says Hakensmoen </p>
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Bjornar Hakensmoen Wants Fewer Nations In World Cup
FasterSkierJuly 18, 2005
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