SkiTrax har publicerat en längre intervju med FIS race director Pierre Mignerey om de föreslagen ändringarna av tävlingsprogrammet.
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Our goal is to streamline and simplify our race program. We want to use our traditions as a base and to make Cross-Country Skiing as attractive as possible for all the key stakeholders (fans, TV viewers, television, sponsors), as well for kids and young skiers.
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[T]he current proposal was drawn up by a small group of FIS and FIS Marketing Agency staff after discussions with many different stakeholders over the last two years.
[Om borttagandet av skiathlonen]:
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It is definitely not easy, sometimes even painful to remove a format from the programme. But at the same time it is necessary. If we want to change our sport, we cannot always create new formats, implement new distances, new elements in our World Cup calendar. We are convinced that Cross-Country Skiing must be easy to understand for the largest possible audience.
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Skiathlon was introduced to bring both techniques together in one race and to create lead changes, race drama after the ski exchange. The concept is good but it doesn’t really work and for the most part of the skiathlon has become nothing more than a Mass Start with a ski exchange in the middle of the race.
Skiathlon is very demanding in terms of infrastructure, courses, stadium and snow
[Om borttagandet av den klassiska sprinten och införandet skicrosselement i fristilssprinten]:
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[W]e strongly believe that Cross-Country Skiing needs to be, and can be more attractive for kids and young athletes. Today there are a lot of attractive formats such as XCX (Cross-Country Cross) organised for the kids in many countries. But what we have been missing is the link between these formats and competitions at the top level. We need a better connection between what kids do, what they can see on TV and what their stars are doing. We all know the power of YouTube, social media and TV pictures. Some people would like to introduce the XCX as a new format.
From our point of view it makes more sense to integrate some technical elements in our existing sprint competitions. We are not speaking here about artificial elements. We would like to play more with the terrain, with waves, banked curves or even small jumps. Obviously it is almost impossible to implement these elements in classic technique.
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[T]he evolution of classic technique is each year creating challenges in sprint competitions. On the World Cup level we still have a few good sprint classic courses but what about competitions at the lower level, for kids and youth? It has become more and more difficult to guarantee fair competitions. One of our main principles is that Cross-Country Skiing must not become a sport where the Jury decides the final result.
It is also a fact that sprint courses are basically designed around a stadium with 1 or 2 uphills. It is a challenge to find proper climbs not far away from our stadiums. The consequence is that classic sprints will be more and more only double poling with running on skis. Is it really where we want to go? Is it the best way to promote the coexistence of both techniques and especially of diagonal technique? We don’t think so.
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[W]e believe that in terms of idea of a sprint means speed. And when you want to go fast, you are using the fastest possible technique and that’s skating.
[Om den klassiska stilens framtid]:
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We strongly believe that having two techniques is a part of our DNA and that our race programme should include both techniques. But I’m convinced that the best possible way to preserve and promote the diagonal technique but also as a consequence for the classic technique is to concentrate our efforts on the most favourable formats and the most favourable venues. Maybe less classic technique but higher quality will be much more efficient than a dogmatic 50-50% rule in all formats and/or all seasons, all competition levels.
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Yes, we are facing some challenges with classic technique. I think the correct description would be the disappearance of diagonal technique, but we need to choose a pragmatic approach without dogma.
[Om införandet av en mixad team sprint]:
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The opportunity to replace the team sprint per gender with a mixed team sprint needs further evaluation.
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The biggest challenge would be on the World Cup level. Having only one relatively short event on competition day would create challenges for the organizers and their financial income. One competition means less income. One race means also a shorter entertainment platform for the spectators on site.
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On the other hand, mixed team events have become very popular and might help more nations to participate and have good results. As you know, having more nations participating and competitive at the highest level is one of the key goals for the future.
Jag tycker själv att såväl skiathlonen som den klassiska sprinten bör behållas man jag tycker samtidigt att Mignerey har vissa poänger, särskilt om den klassiska sprinten. När det gäller en mixad team sprint är jag också tveksam om det skulle bli så mycket bättre jämfört med idag.
Länk till intervjun:
http://skitrax.com/interview-with-fis-xc-race-director-pierre-mignerey-skiathlon-out-and-is-classic-skiing-dead/
