Welcome To Whistler!

FasterSkier is en route to Whistler, British Columbia to cover this weekend’s World Cup races. In addition to reports on the main site, we will be updating the World Cup blog with all sorts of information, so be sure to check back frequently.

If you have any specific questions for athletes or coaches, or would like to see coverage of something specific, e-mail us at info@fasterskier.com, and we will do the best that we can!

There will be quite a lot going on in Whistler as this is the pre-Olympic World Cup. Apparently requests for media credentials for surpassed the expectations of the organizers. The media is also looking at these events as an opportunity to prepare for next year’s Olympics.

In addition to three Cross-Country events, there will also be two Nordic Combined events and the following week, Whistler will host the pre-Olympic SKi Jumping World Cup.

Schedule of Events:

Friday, January 16
09:00 – 09:45 NC Trial Round HS 140
09:30 – 10:15 CC Individual Sprint Qualification Men/Women
10:00 – 10:45 NC HS 140
11:30 – 13:00 CC Individual Sprint Finals Men/Women
13:30 – 14:00 NC 10 km

Saturday, January 17
09:15 – 10:45 CC 15 + 15 km Pursuit Men
10:15 – 11:00 NC Trial Round HS 140
11:15 – 12:00 NC HS 140
12:45 – 13:30 CC 7.5 + 7.5 km Pursuit Women
14:00 – 14:30 NC 10 km

Sunday, January 18
10:00 – 11:15 CC Team Sprint Qualification Men/Women
12:00 – 13:00 CC Team Sprint Finals Men/Women

Both Canada and the United States will have large team present, as both Nations will be able to start skiers as part of the Nations Group. The Nations Group is an additional allotment of start spots granted to the host nation. Points requirements are less stringent for these spots.

It is likely that the rest of the field will be relatively weak when compared to a European World Cup, and even in comparison to last year’s Canmore World Cups. For Cross-Country, the events fall in between the grueling Tour de Ski and the Nordic World Championships in Liberec, Czech republic. Many of the top athletes have chosen to take this time to recover and prepare for Liberec. Additionally, with only two individual events (the sprint and the pursuit) there are fewer scoring races than the four in Canmore last season.

There will still be plenty of fast skiers and competitive races. It is an excellent opportunity for top North American skiers to score World Cup points, and a chance for younger skiers to gain valuable experience.