The first Cross-Country competition at the 2005 Junior World Championship in Rovaniemi, Finland will be held on March 21st. The changes in event formats for this year are:
– The mass-start event will be changed to a pursuit event, where the women ski 5 + 5 km (classical then skate), and the men 10 + 10 km.
– The sprint event will qualify 30 skiers to the quarterfinal heats. Two skiers from each of the 5 quarterfinal heats (6 skiers in each heat) will qualify to the semi-finals (5 in each heat). The two best skiers from each of the semi-final heats will advance to the final heat. There will be no B-final as is practiced today.
The Organizer's home page can soon be viewed at www.jwsc2005.net
After next year, in 2006, the U-23 Championships will be held in connection with the Junior World Championship.