The Viessmann FIS World Cup Cross-Country season will start on 28th-29th October in Düsseldorf (GER). FIS Newsflash caught up with Jürg Capol, FIS Race Director Cross-Country, at the outset of the new season. He shared his thoughts into the winter that includes not only the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Sapporo (JPN) but also the premiere edition of the FIS Tour de Ski, a new multi-stage event that is part of the Viessmann FIS World Cup Cross-Country.
, Lahti (FIN), Nove Mesto (CZE), Gaellivare (SWE) and Cogne (ITA), to mention just a few, significant investments are being made in the facilities and tracks, often with government support. Rybinsk (RUS) and Changchun (CHN) are two venues I am glad to welcome on both distance and sprint World Cup schedules. Organizationally, the World Cup Organizer’s Handbook is now an official enclosure to the World Cup Organizer’s Agreement and will help us in many respects in the future.</p>
<p>FIS Newsflash: What is particular about this season?</p>
<p>Jürg Capol: Despite this being a year of World Championships and Sapporo represents the main season goal for many athletes, we can see an increased emphasis on the overall World Cup, and specifically the FIS Tour de Ski as part of that. There are a large number of athletes willing and able to put up a real fight for the overall crystal globe!</p>
<p>The debut of indoor sprint races at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Sapporo, the first FIS championships in Asia, will provide a great stage for bringing our sport in front of a large number of people. We can also look forward to great broadcasting and fascinating pictures. The EBU host broadcast team from the Norwegian NRK with their Japanese colleagues are doing a great job in planning the production and otherwise, too, I am convinced we will see wonderful championships on demanding tracks and with a special Japanese character!</p>
<p>The ultimate goal of the FIS Tour de Ski is to increase the interest in the sport of skiing. Several details, such as the timing at the turn of the year and the first-across-the-line-wins rules have been designed with that in mind. I find that the Tour has great potential and we are well on our way in establishing the new event among the media and the public-at-large. The top athletes, too, are excited and organizationally we are just refining the final details.</p>
<p>FIS Newsflash: Are there any changes we should note?</p>
<p>Jürg Capol: There are limited rule changes being introduced this season. The only real change is that the sprint races will now be raced with six athletes in all the final rounds. I think this will lead to more exciting semi-finals as the two best Lucky Losers – based on their semi-final racing time – will now make it to the final!</p>
<p>There will also be two trials during this season: At La Clusaz (FRA), we will test the so-called “Nations' Boxes” for feeding, as opposed to any official feeding stations. The focus will especially be on security aspects of the concept as we want no accidents. In Oslo (NOR) in March, we will trial changing skis during the race at a fixed “Nation's Box” in the stadium.</p>
<p>Our overall goal is to make the overall World Cup more exciting and any future rule changes will aim to have the best racers in the same races. In our Fall meetings in Zurich we discussed the options for a special combination weekend with sprint and distance races awarding additional World Cup points. This idea will in a sense be trialed at the FIS Tour de Ski and then re-evaluated in our sprint meetings in Portoroz (SLO) in May.</p>
<p> Source: FIS</p>
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