In the annual FIS Roller Skiing World Cup, three stages with distance and sprint races have already taken place in the last two months, beginning with races in Piglio in Italy, followed by Villard de Lars in France and Markkleeberg/Leipzig (GER). The Italian Roller Skiing team led by the men’s 2006 overall Roller Skiing World Cup winner Alfio Di Gregorio, the strong Russian team with the current men’s overall leader Igor Glushkov and the 22nd-year-old Maria Magnusson from Sweden have been the series dominators until now. As a result, they can confidently look forward to the highlight of the season — the FIS Roller Ski Championships in Oroslavje (CRO) from 28th August to 2nd September.
 from the 10th to 12th August has had to be cancelled due to logistical problems. The FIS Roller Skiing World Cup will then continue in Samsun (TUR) on 15th-16th September, the last stage in the series.</p><p><center><img src=)
 and the invitational Roller Ski Races in Sandes (NOR). The third edition of the ‘Aateli Race’ consisted of a running race followed by an uphill roller skiing race. By contrast, the competition in Sandes was only a roller skiing race. Both races have traditionally been used by top Cross-Country athletes for their summer training. The 2007 Aateli Race was won by Aino Kaisa Saarinen (FIN) in the ladies’ race and by Maxim Odnodvortsev (KAZ) in the men’s race. In Sandes, the Norwegians Marit Bjoergen and Oeystein Pettersen were successful in both races.</p><p><center><img src=)
Source: FIS
