Norwegian cross-country skier Johannes Hösflot Klaebo agrees with the revolutionary idea.
Vlastimil Vacek, Right
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The revolutionary idea came from Uno-X boss Vegar Kulset, who in an article for the Adresseavisen server suggested that in the Cross-Country Skiing World Cup, existing national teams replace private stables following the example of cycling or a series of long-distance skiers.
The idea was also supported by three-time Olympic champion and six-time world champion Johannes Hösflot Klaebo, according to whom the idea is “exciting”. It should be added that Uno-X is the main sponsor of Klaeb, who collects about 25 million Norwegian kroner from the company in five years. CZK 65 million.
“National team quotas can be replaced by licensing requirements for private teams in the World Cup. One of the conditions may be that the team must have competitors of at least two nationalities, “Kulset outlined the possibilities.
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According to him, even currently weaker ski nations can benefit from such an arrangement. And he gives the example of the already mentioned cycling, in which the Norwegians were not strong at all before, and yet in recent years they have grown world aces such as Thor Hushovd or Alexander Kristoff.
“A talented cross-country skier from a weaker ski country may have better conditions for growth in a private team than in current national teams, and at the same time may increase interest in the sport in his country,” he explained.
Sponsor wants private teams in the World Cup – gets support from Klæbo https://t.co/fom77AIQqS
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According to him, the parallel with cycling is entirely appropriate.
“Of course. Cycling is a much bigger sport. The biggest innovation in skiing was the introduction of the Tour de Ski, which was directly inspired by cycling. And I think there are a number of other aspects that have contributed to the development of cycling and are applicable to classic skiing. By the way, the Tour de France was run until 1963 as a national team race, “Kulset pointed out in an interview with the Verdens Gang.
He would not be afraid of certain losses of Norwegians, for whom the ski team is a national pride.
“Part of the interest in skiing undoubtedly stems from feelings of national pride, but Norwegians are a very competent ski audience who are interested in sports as such. We can appreciate great skiers regardless of their nationality, “he continued.
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“When I was young and finished Oddvar Braa, (Swedish) Gunde Svan was a role model for us. Not to mention the immense popularity of (Kazakh) Vladimir Smirnov among the Norwegians during the Olympics in Lillehammer (1994) or (Fina) Mika Myllylä at the World Championships in Trondheim (1997). We love (Sweden) Charlotte Kalla, “he cited illustrative examples.
Both Kulset and Klaebo believe that the World Cup model with private teams would have more potential to popularize sports in other European countries and could help talent development outside Scandinavia, which would increase the attractiveness and cost of television rights from races.
And how will it help?
Of course, the revolutionary idea also has its opponents. For example, the ski expert of Norwegian TV 2, Petter S. Skinstad, mentions several counter-arguments.
“If you take the FIS ranking as a starting point, you will find that 50 percent of the best men in sprint and longer runs are from Norway or Russia. When you have a starting field of 100 competitors, it is clear that 50 percent of them will have a Norwegian or Russian passport. I am not sure how this will contribute to the development of skiing in other countries, “Skinstad doubts.
The comparison with cycling is also lagging behind, in which there is a much larger number of competitions with a great reputation, such as titles for the best climbers, spurters, timekeepers, domestic athletes, etc.
On the contrary, only a very small group of individuals can succeed in skiing, and in addition, in his opinion, it will always be a much more individual sport than, for example, cycling.
In addition, Skinstad argues that Norwegian skiing as a whole would be a great waste of the new model, as huge sponsorship money tied to the biggest stars is wasted due to the redistribution of the union to lower floors for education and development of new talent, which would probably not be the case with private teams.
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