There are many fans of winter sports, their number is growing by leaps and bounds. World Championship ski racing- this is a spectacle for real “gourmets”. The strongest and most titled skiers annually compete for the title of the fastest on the planet in every discipline, the abundance of which makes it possible to choose your favorite distance and feel comfortable on it. It’s no secret that representatives of the Scandinavian countries are “mastodons” in skiing, because both the nature and climate of the countries contribute to this, every year the range of participants expands and we see many new faces on the track. Obviously, no one from the elite agrees to give up positions, but this is a race, and it happens in different ways, and the intensity of passions on the ski track until the very finish is guaranteed for us at the upcoming forum. What sensations can we expect and important point We will try to figure out where to wait for them in more detail.
History of the World Ski Championships
The debut competitions of skiers took place in Norway in 1767. The Swedish and Finnish neighbors took the “fashion” from the Norwegians, then cross-country skiing spread throughout the countries of Central Europe. Starting from the end of the 19th century, national ski clubs began to open. This was followed by the creation of the International Federation skiing what happened in 1924. At the time of the year two thousand, the organization consisted of 98 federations.
The World Ski Championships are included in the program of the general championship in ski disciplines. In addition to racing, the championship features ski jumping and Nordic combined. The forum is being held in odd-numbered years for the first time since 1985, since the championship coincided with the Olympics. The 2016 competition was an anniversary competition - the fiftieth. The most titled countries based on the results of the championships are:
- Norway;
- Finland;
- Russia;
- Sweden;
- Germany;
- Austria;
- Italy;
- Czech Republic;
- Japan;
- Poland.
"Classic skiing"
Disciplines of the World Cup in cross-country skiing
There are two styles of covering a distance on a ski track: “classical” and “free” (skating) styles.
The “classic” style is the movement of a skier along a pre-prepared road, which consists of two parallel tracks. An alternating and simultaneous move is used, in which the skier pushes off the snow with sticks.
“Free” style is a move when the skier has the right to choose his own method of movement along the track; due to its similarity, it is called skating. It was first used by the Finn Pauli Siitonen and won a distance of fifty-five kilometers.
There are six disciplines in cross-country skiing:
- separate start;
- mass start;
- pursuit or skiathlon;
- Relay;
- individual sprint;
- team sprint.
In races, when skiers start separately after a certain interval and sequence. The interval is exactly thirty seconds, and who will start at what number is decided by lot or the position of the skier according to the rating. The strongest, as a rule, go on the ski track last. The athlete who completes the course the fastest wins.
In a mass start, everyone starts the race at the same time, with the highest ranked skiers starting in front. The winner is the skier who finishes first.
The pursuit race is divided into two parts. In the first, skiers go through a separate start, then the start protocol for the second stage is formed based on the results. How much the skier lost to the leader, with such a lag he enters the track. The winner of the first stage has a handicap over everyone else, which is equal to his time gain in the first race. Skiers run the first race in the “classic” style, the second in the “free” style. Previously, the discipline was called duathlon, now it is skiathlon. Following the new rules, after the first part of the distance, skiers change their skis in a specially equipped area and run the second half in a different style. The first racer to reach the finish line wins.
At the World Cross-Country Championships there will be a relay race. Each team has four skiers who, at the end of their distance, pass the baton by touching their partner with their palm. All teams will start together; the best ranked teams will be in the forefront. The relay can take place either in a “free” or “classical” style (all skiers run at a comfortable pace, or the first and second numbers are “classical”, and the third and fourth are “free”).
The individual sprint starts with a prologue with a separate start, the field of which is followed by a sprint final with four skiers. More than thirty runners cannot qualify for the decisive races. The system consists of quarter-finals, semi-finals and the main final. The best runner in the final, A, wins.
The team sprint is carried out in a similar way to a relay, but the fundamental difference is that two skiers take turns changing for two or three to six laps around the track. If there are many participants, then two semi-final heats are created, the best of which will “pave” the way to the final. They start according to the mass start principle, the team that reaches the finish line first wins.
The duration of the distance varies, from eight hundred meters to fifty kilometers. Each type has its own distance size:
- separate start - 3, 5, 7.5, 10, 15, 30 and 50 kilometers;
- mass start - ten, fifteen, thirty, fifty, seventy;
- pursuit race - five, seven and a half, ten and fifteen kilometers;
- Relay (one stage) - two and a half, five, seven and a half and ten km;
- individual sprint - 1-1.4 for men and 0.8-1.2 for women;
- team sprint - two (three to six) 1-1.6 km each for men, 0.8-1.4 km for women.
Ski slope in Lahti
2017 World Ski Championships schedule
For the seventh time, the World Ski Championships will be held in Lahti, Finland. Last time the city hosted the forum sixteen years ago. Lahti was ahead of Planica (Slovenia), Obersdorf (Germany) and Zakopane (Poland). The championship will begin on February 22 and end on March 5. Twenty-one sets of awards will be up for grabs, including two more disciplines.
Lahti has a luxurious winter resort base and modern infrastructure for holding large-scale competitions. Interestingly, the city tried three times to hold Winter Olympics and all attempts were in vain. One hundred two thousand people live in Lahti.
On at the moment famous for cross-country skiing. It will look like this:
- February 23 - women's and men's free style sprints;
- February 25 - skiathlon 7.5 plus 7.5 km. for women and 15+15 kilometers for men;
- February 26 - women's and men's team sprints in the “classic” style;
- February 28 -10 kilometers for women “classic”;
- March 1 - 15 km. “classic” style for men;
- March 2 - women's Relay 4 x 5 kilometers;
- March 3 - men's Relay 4 x 10 km;
- March 4 - mass start “free” style, 30 km. in women;
- March 5 - men's mass start 50 kilometers "free" style.
2017 World Ski Championships favorites
Most attention will be focused on Norwegian skiers. The main contender for the awards will be the absolute winner of last year's World Cup, Martin Sundby. Martin won fourteen races, which became unattainable for the rest. He will compete with his compatriot Peter Northug, who won only once last season, which is unusual for him. As always, Russian Sergei Ustyugov, who won three times last season, will be dangerous. The Italian Federico Pellegrini can be a surprise; he is in second place in victories for the season, although apart from five victories, he was no longer on the podium.
Frenchman Maurice Manifica has had a great year and can take his shot in Lahti. A number of Norwegians: Emil Iversen, Hagen Krof, Niklas Durhaff and Thorvall Sondre Fossli are vying for awards. We cannot write off the Kazakh Alexey Poltoranin, the Frenchman Baptiste Gros and the Finn Matti Heikinen, who will certainly try to please the audience on his home track. Russian skiers Maxim Vylegzhanin and Nikita Kryukov are also contenders for the podium.
The undisputed leader in all rankings in the Relay is the Norwegian team. The Russians and the hosts are capable of giving a “fight” to the Norwegians, while the Germans and Swedes can “catch on” to the medal.
The women's battles have a smaller circle of favorites, but the intensity on the track promises to be off the charts. Last season's leader, Teresa Johaug, will be aiming to repeat all her achievements, namely seventeen wins per season. And again her rivals will be representatives of Norway Caspersen Falla, Heidi Veg and Flugstad Ingvild Ostberg. Stina Nilsson will “dilute” the company with Swedish flavor. Americans Jessica Diggins and Sophie Caldwell will go to Finland with great ambitions. At home, all hope will be for Finns Krista Parmakoski, Anea Kulonen and Kertu Niskanen.
The Finnish city of Lahti will host World Ski Championships 2017, which starts on February 22. Note that the world championship will last two weeks and end on March 5. During the 2017 World Ski Championships, 21 sets of medals will be competed in three sports - cross-country skiing, ski jumping, and Nordic combined.
Cross-country skiing World Championships 2017: schedule
Now more about the schedule of the 2017 World Ski Championships in Lahti. Finnish time is currently one hour behind Moscow time, but for your convenience we will provide the schedule according to Moscow time.
So, on February 23, 2017, the opening ceremony will take place, and at 16:00 Moscow time the ski sprint will begin - men's, 1.5 km classic, and then women's, 1.2 km freestyle.
The next day, February 24, biathletes and ski jumpers will enter the battle. At 11:30 a.m. the combined competitions will start with small ski jumping (HS100), who will then run the 10-kilometer distance at 2:30 p.m. Well, at 18:30 on the same small springboard the ski jumpers will compete for medals.
Two cross-country ski races will take place on February 25. At 13:00 the women will run the 15-kilometer skiathlon, and at 15:30 the men's 30-kilometer skiathlon will take place. Both races include both classic and freestyle. On the same day at 18:30, male jumpers will compete on the small springboard.
On February 26 at 12:30 Moscow time the team sprint in skiing will begin. Distance – 6 x 1.2 km classic, both men and women participate in the race. At 13:00 the springboard will begin team competition biathlete, and at 16:30 km the same biathletes will run a 4 x 5 km relay race. In addition, on the same day at 18:30 the mixed (men and women) team competition in small springboard jumping will begin.
On February 28 at 14:45 the women's 10 km individual classic race will take place, and on March 1 a similar race, only 15 km, will be held by men (14:45). On the same first day of spring, at 13:00, the double-event competition starts on the large jump (HS130), which then continues at 17:15 with a 10-kilometer cross-country ski race.
On March 2, skiers will run the 4 x 5 km relay (K+S), and in the evening, at 19:30, men's competitions will take place on the large springboard.
On March 3 at 14:30 the men's ski relay 4 x 10 km (K+S) will take place, and at 17:00 (large jump) and 19:15 (2 x 7.5 km) the team sprint will end the combined program.
On March 4, at 15:30, the women's 30 km race starts with a freestyle mass start, and a little later, at 18:15, the last award will be won by the ski jumpers - in the men's team competition on the large hill.
Finally, on March 5 at 15:30 there will be a men's 50-kilometer freestyle ski marathon with a mass start.
Watch cross-country skiing - World Championships 2017
The Match TV channel plans to broadcast the 2017 World Ski Championships from Lahti on a large scale. In addition, the channels “Eurosport” and “Eurosport 2” will actively show the competitions of biathletes and ski jumpers.
Russian team at the 2017 World Ski Championships
In conclusion, we present full composition Russian national team at the 2017 World Ski Championships in Lahti.
The composition of the Russian national ski jumping team: Evgeny Klimov and Irina Avvakumova.
The composition of the Russian national team in Nordic combined: Ernest Yakhin, Niyaz Nabeev, Vyacheslav Barkov, Timofey Borisov and Samir Mastiev.
The composition of the Russian cross-country skiing team: Denis Kornilov, Mikhail Maksimochkin, Alexey Romashov, Alexander Bazhenov, Anastasia Barannikova, Sofya Tikhonova, Alexandra Kustova and Ksenia Kablukova.
In this online section of the site you will find the most complete results from the latest skiing events. A detailed calendar of all stages of the World Cup this season. Online ranking of top KM skiers 2019-2020 (FIS Cross Country World Cup). Detailed protocols and results of all cross-country skiing World Cup competitions 2019-20 season for men and women. In addition to the results, our sports portal always contains the latest news, schedules of broadcasts and live broadcasts for all channels, photos and videos from the largest international competitions, fan reports from trips to the Olympic Games, World Cup and World Cup, interesting blogs from readers and much more. We try to cover the entire spectrum of Olympic ski types: cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, ski jumping, combined event, freestyle and snowboarding for which we have created a separate section. Our project is social network, here readers can independently post news and articles that interest them, write blogs, publish the results of domestic and international competitions, qualifying starts for the World Cup and the World Championship, make reviews, upload your videos and photos, share links to online broadcasts and most importantly, here you can find friends and have a pleasant conversation on any topic.
Ski racing as a sport originated in the 18th century in Norway and quickly began to gain popularity, first in the Scandinavian countries, and later throughout Europe; the 20th century became the heyday of its popularity around the world. Today, the International Ski Federation FIS (Federation Internationale de Ski) has more than a hundred national associations from many countries around the world. In Russia olympic disciplines skiing sports such as cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, ski jumping, alpine skiing, snowboarding and freestyle are developed by the Ski Sports Association (RSA). Russian skiing has a rich history spanning more than a century, and our fans can rightfully be proud of their heroes. Despite the fact that during the “Iron Curtain” Russian skiers missed 6 Olympics and 19 world championships, later the Russian team not only significantly surpassed all competitors, including Norway, Finland, Sweden, but also became the world leader in ski racing country). Russian skiers have outstanding achievements, including many bright victories at major world competitions: Olympics, World and European Championships, World Cups, and others international starts. The most famous of them: Lyubov Egorova (6 Olympic gold medals, 3-time world champion), Larisa Lazutina (5 Olympic gold medals and 11 World Cup titles), Elena Vyalbe (3-time Olympic champion and 14 victories at the World Cup). Elena Vyalbe holds the world record, listed in the Guinness Book of Records for the most large number world titles won by a woman. We won gold at the World Championships many times and became Winter champions four times. Olympic Games our famous athletes: Galina Kulakova, Raisa Smetanina, Nikolai Zimyatov.
To these most popular ski competitions, which has a hundred-year history, has attracted the attention of millions of fans, including professionals, amateurs and fans of skiing around the world! Considering that our team traditionally performs strongly in winter species sports, performed triumphantly at the Olympics in Sochi, it’s a pleasure to root for our team! We discuss the results of skiers at the KM, read ski sport news, write blogs, watch live broadcasts together, communicate amicably in our online chat and root for our athletes with all our hearts! Russia forward!