Who will compete on the FIS Tour de Ski?
Sun, Dec 26, 2010 - By FIS
The Tour de Ski is the first season highlight and traditionally draws a lot of attention to Cross-Country Skiing. With only 4 days to go, the final entry list for the Tour is complete.
95 men and 67 ladies from nineteen countries will be at the start of the first Tour stage on 31st December in Oberhof. However, the final number of competitors may still change as some athletes may become ill or decide to skip the Tour.
There are no big surprises in the teams’ line-ups. The current overall World Cup leader Marit Bjoergen already announced earlier she would skip the Tour, to train at home for the World Champs in Oslo. The defending Tour champion Justyna Kowalczyk will be at the start, as will Charlotte Kalla, who returns after a year’s absence. The Swedish Olympic medalist won the Tour de Ski in 2008.
On the men’s side, Italy’s Pietro Piller Cottrer decided to sit out the Tour de Ski but will be present as an expert of Italian TV RAI. The men’s defending champion Lukas Bauer declared a clear target to be in top three on the top of Alpe Cermis. The two-time winner of the Tour aims for a third victory and could become the first triple Tour de Ski champion.
The runner-up from the last Tour edition Petter Northug is back in World Cup racing and will be among the biggest favorites for victory. He is hungry for success as he is still missing the Tour title in his collection. Sweden will come with Marcus Hellner, Daniel Rickardsson, Johan Olsson or Emil Joensson.
With the yellow bib for the current World Cup leader we will see Alexander Legkov of Russia. The Russian has been in great shape and it will be interesting to see if he can carry on the momentum from the pre-Christmas World Cup period.
The 2009 Tour de Ski champion will also be there at the Tour kick-off in Oberhof: Swiss Dario Cologna dominated the multistage event two years ago and must be included in the list of Tour favorites.
Australia will take part for the first time, sending Callum Watsum. Also Japanese skiers are lined up with three athletes. Team USA will send a lady for the first time. Kikkan Randall showed great form in the sprint, as well as having distance abilities, and will represent the USA, together with Andy Newell and Kris Freeman.
Germany’s head coach Jochen Behle sends a large field of athletes to Stage 1 in Oberhof. Tobias Angerer who won the inaugural Tour in 2007 will lead the German men. On the ladies’ side, we can look forward to Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle, Stefi Boehler, Nicole Fessel and Katrin Zeller.
For a complete list of Tour de Ski entries please visit: http://www.fiscrosscountry.com/fis-tour-ski/tour-ski-athletes-2009-2.html