What am I expecting from the new year? Chronicle of Veronika Stepanova

What do we do there at the end of the year? In summary, thanking everyone for their help and expressing the hope that next year will be better?

I try to thank you right away, I’m not interested in summarizing the results, but let’s talk about plans and expectations.

I play an incredibly controversial sport. On the one hand, it seems that everyone has already heard, read, understood that there is nothing more useful than ski racing. The maximum number of muscles is worked, the cardiovascular system is trained, you spend time in the fresh air while satisfying your passion for shopping. We don’t have a race, thank God – to look decent on a ski slope in a fashionable Moscow park with the letter M, you need twenty different equipment and clothes.

Seriously, the popularity of cross-country skiing among people is increasing – every year I see more and more people on the ski slopes, it makes me happy.

In theory, if sport is popular as entertainment, then its stars should be popular. At the very least, companies should pay attention. Earn on Sunday, sell on Monday. Have you ever heard such an expression?

But here we are not like that.

Unfortunately, there are few people who are interested in our results and who skate there. Tens of thousands, maybe a few hundred thousand at the peak. In any case, much less than those who themselves ride on skis.

And don’t blame TV for that – TV in general doesn’t care what it shows, as long as it watches it. We don’t have public TV channels like in Norway or Germany. And it will never be – who will pay a special tax on the content of these channels?

I want more people interested in cross-country skiing. And I’m trying to do something in that direction.

Unfortunately, this is not enough. No matter how much Dmitry Guberniev and I try to talk a lot and loudly, boldly and brilliantly, the process moves by one teaspoon per hour.

Medals do not like silence, they like shouting, noise and emotions. We’ve seen some movement in that direction in 2022 – more media mentions, more interest in athlete personalities off the ski slope (special thanks to Alexander and Sergey!).

A bright future will start to come when TV channels give us more attention and our schedule is built so that we can also participate in TV shows.

I heard that Zagitova and Buzova will meet in a duel in the ring. I have other candidates too! Will you be a promoter?

The most interesting thing is that practically the same thing is needed at the international level.

World cross-country skiing almost lies. There is no money to organize World Cup stages, no snow, no public. Yes, Russian skiers have been temporarily excluded from international competitions. But they expect it in return, they even send gifts. A careful look will see, appreciate what I mean.

But I’m not sure I want to come back to such a World Cup. And here there is absolutely no hostility towards the West – there are a lot of absolutely adequate and competent people and well-organized competitions. Blink in Norway, for example. Or the World Cup stage in Davos in the form in which I found it.

But most of them are real nonsense. Well, how do you imagine 70 skiers on a two kilometer mass start circle, as the organizers have planned for the Tour de Ski this year? I’m not against thrash shows at all, but it would have to say this: “Today we have a parody of cross-country skiing on the air with epic collisions, falls, skis and poles broken, maybe fights.”

Want another fresh story from those who haven’t heard? At the competitions in Lillehammer, none of the skiers could sleep half the night before the race, because the organizers could not bring up athletes and ordinary tourists in the hotel, who celebrated something violently (those who have been to Norway know how they celebrate there). In richer sports – in the same biathlon – the organizers redeem the whole hotel in advance, and one can only dream of such a thing.

Can our sport be saved? You can, but you need an initiative leader who will find a team of professionals. Yes, it will take a lot of money. Patronage? But there are no such leaders in Europe, otherwise it would have happened a long time ago.

Yes, while the level of competition in Asia is even lower than in the Russian Cup. We were convinced of this by looking at the results of the Russian-Chinese Winter Games. But Asia is a potential platform for the development and even the creation of an alternative.

It is necessary to start building, not starting from the place that someone occupies in the current FIS ranking. I will not watch an exotic sports competition based on who won how many medals among the participants. I’m interested in a well-directed show – with emotions, struggles, surprises. When you’re in the lead, and then raaaz! – fell, and you are the last. In cross-country skiing, this already exists – it’s a sprint. And yes, in such a show, participants will have to sign a contract in advance, which will state that you are obliged to answer all questions from the broadcaster, whether you like it or not.

As a spectator, it would be important for me to have convenient parking and to have the choice between a hot buffet with plasma, on which the race is broadcast live, and held in the cold.

But as an athlete, it would be important for me to have a convenient transfer from the nearest airport, a modern and always quiet hotel with direct access to the ski slope, suitable catering and a departure city and arrival well thought out. Yes, with warm and clean toilets. But whether it’s a “legendary” ski slope or it was built yesterday, I’m absolutely purple.

I now see opportunities to organize something like this only in our country and in Asian countries. The elements are already there. Not yet a full house, but already a flush. Let it begin to gather in 2023!