Lahti is preparing for the Salpausselänkisat

Thu, Mar  5, 2009 - By FIS

Right after the 2009 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Liberec the Lahti Ski Games (Salpausselänkisat) will be held for the 84th time with a full Nordic World Cup program (Cross-Country, Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined). The event will take place from 6th to 8th March.

Within the Viessmann FIS World Cup Cross-Country, the athletes will compete in a free technique Sprint on Saturday and race an interval start race over 10 km (ladies) and 15 km (men) in the same technique on Sunday. The courses for the sprint were reviewed and increased in length. This year, the female athletes will race on a 1,4 km course while the men will fight for the victory on a 1,6 km course.

Team Finland achieved 8 medals at the World Championships in Liberec, half of these were won by Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (three gold and one bronze medal) with amazing performances throughout the event. Also the men did well and took, for the first time since 1999, medals at a World Championships event. The Cross-Country fever is very high in Finland at the moment and organizers of the Lahti Ski Games are expecting big crowds to attend cross- country races in Lahti next weekend.

In Lahti, Finland's seventh-largest city, everything is prepared for the World Cup circus. The snow conditions on the courses are good and the tracks are well prepared. Beside the sports program, several side-events will be offered for all target groups by the organizer of the Lahti Ski Games. A great weekend is waiting for you!

More information: http://www.lahtiskigames.com

Starting times:

Saturday, 7th March
Sprint F ladies/men Qualification 11.00h* (10.00h CET)
Sprint F ladies/men Finals 13.00h* (12.00h CET)

Sunday, 8th March
10 km interval start F ladies 10.45h* (9.45h CET)
15 km interval start F men 13.00h* (12.00h CET)
*local time

Top three in March 2008

Sprint F ladies
1. Chandra Crawford (CAN)
2. Natalia Matveeva (RUS)
3. Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle (GER)

Sprint F men
1. Anders Gloersen (NOR)
2. Andrew Newell (USA)
3. Ola Vigen Hattestad (NOR)

Interval start C ladies
1. Virpi Kuitunen (FIN)
2. Valentina Shevchenko (UKR)
3. Katrin Zeller (GER)

Interval start C men
1. Lukas Bauer (CZE)
2. René Sommerfeldt (GER)
3. Sergey Cherepanov (KAZ)