The Valtellina ski area (Italy) is hosting the 2008 FIS World Cup Grand Finals this weekend. Bormio is already a regular host of World Cup Alpine skiing competitions, and is now making a welcome return to the cross-country World Cup. This same event was held in 2000 with a series of races that witnessed successes by athletes such as Bente Skari Martinsen, Erling Jevne, Julija Tchepalova and Italian Stefania Belmondo.
Three days of cross-country skiing will take place in Santa Caterina Valfurva — the town that brought us the finest female Italian ski champion of all time, Deborah Compagnoni. The 2.5 and 3.3 km freestyle prologue is scheduled for Friday, March 14th, the 10 and 20 km classical mass starts on Saturday, March 15th, and the 10 and 15 km freestyle pursuits will be held on the Sunday — the last World Cup races of the 2007-2008 World Cup season.
A “special†race formula has been designed to create a type of “mini†Tour de Ski. The lead times registered in Friday’s races will be added to those from Saturday’s races to create a starting order (handicap) for Sunday’s race. So the first to cross the finish line on the last day will be the winner of the “mini tour.†No WC points are awarded for Saturday’s competition, but Sunday’s points will be doubled, and the points for Friday’s prologue will only be awarded to the athletes that cross the finish line on Sunday. This is a slightly unusual formula, but it will certainly jazz things up a bit for this season’s World Cup cross-country skiers.
The competitions will use the same track as 2000, but with a slight variation — a mid-course climb. It’s a tough course with a height difference of 180 meters over 5 km.
