I have had a chance to observe the last three main sprint races in the US and have some suggestions for how to make training for sprint racing more attractive and for North American sprinters to become better. There are not enough sprint races. Sprinters need more races and 1000-1500 meter individual start races should be a new event.
Facts:
1. Specializing in sprint is or might soon be necessary in order to become a good World Cup sprinter. This is already the case for the men’s World Cup racing. The sprinters are getting stronger and faster and fewer and fewer all-arounder's will make the top 16 or top 24 cut in the future.
2. You need to frequently race sprint races in order to become good at sprints. Long races will not prepare you for sprint racing.
3. Skiing very fast in the prolog is essential in order to be successful in sprint races and to make the cut in future World Cup races. It’s unrealistic to think that anything but a top three (or within 3 seconds) of the winner of domestic Canadian or US races will be close to making the top 16 cut in World Cup — and that’s when you are racing the country’s best sprinters. That has to be the mentality of adult skiers who want to succeed internationally in sprints. Juniors can modify this a little, but doing well at junior Worlds might require a top 10 performance among the seniors at Nationals? Â Â
4. Unfortunate incidents like crashes will happen in sprint, making it important to have many races to choose from and for the ski federation to select racers from.
 and 1000 meters (for men).</p>
<p>2. Sprinters need to have a possibility to race sprint races every weekend. They are training for sprints, not duathlons or marathons. “Short†races like 10 and 15-kilometers might benefit them, but not necessarily.</p>
<p>800 and 1500 meter runners only occasionally (?) participate in races that are longer than what they specialize in. If they race longer they step up one race length (800 to 1500 or 1500 to the 5000 meter).</p>
<p>3. “Prolog-only†or 1000-1500 meter sprint races should be included as a new event. Individual start, 15-seconds intervals and no finals. Fastest time wins the race. World Cup or FIS points scoring. Those who are good at this might have a future chance of making the World Cup cut. This “new†race format would make it possible to hold two sprint races on a weekend. Example:</p>
<p>Saturday: 1000-1500 meter sprint race<br />
Sunday: Regular sprint race with prolog and finals.<br />
Or<br />
Friday: Continental Cup 1000-1500 sprint race<br />
Saturday: Continental Cup skate or classic<br />
Sunday: Continental Cup regular length or traditional sprint race with prolog and finals.</p>
<p>I realize that my suggestions leaves many unanswered questions and only deal with a few aspects of sprint racing, but that’s how we get a discussion going.</p>
<p>Be creative and innovative, not critical — let’s hear from you! <BR><center><img decoding= "Edit/Preview")
