Apparently, we won’t get to the World Cup in the near future.
A year ago there were more opportunities, but now the opponents of our participation have increased their influence. I think it’s about the endless campaign against everything Russian in the Western media. If they had “covered” the Americans or the Israelis in the same vein, then the Scandinavian athletes would have refused to compete with them. As my coach Yegor Sorin aptly put it in an interview: “If I read and listened to this every day, I would also be against Russia’s participation.”
Even if the International Olympic Committee finally admits that it was wrong from the start and invites us to come back, it will not change much in cross-country skiing. About two-thirds of all IOC member countries are in favor of Russia’s participation, but there are hardly any ski countries among them.
Even if the IOC still issues a recommendation to lift the restrictions, for us Russian skiers it will only be a moral victory.
What is happening now with the fencers shows what will happen in training: the authorities of Sweden conditionally can cancel the whole tournament so as not to let us in. Or they will introduce entry restrictions for Russian athletes – Schengen rules allow this. As a last resort, refuse to provide additional security. And then a small but very aggressive crowd of haters is guaranteed to be right under the hotel windows, at least (did you know, by the way, that all Israeli athletes are still additionally guarded in Europe?).
Moreover, we have a kind of very old organization system in ski racing, where the World Cup stages are not held by the FIS, but by the local federations that they organize and, for that reason say, invite the athletes (and the FIS only observes and has very few levers of influence). It’s not the WTA, which fined Wimbledon for not allowing the Russians. I would like to see how the FIS will try to fine the Norwegians for the same!
It makes no sense to talk about taking into account some “special conditions” that they can offer us – the president of our sports federation has already said it all. She’s the captain of our ski boat, and I’m just one of the sailors, but I totally agree with her. Let the options “skier Masha be allowed in, but not Lena” remain the talking point of all pricked vests – now they have moved from the virtual embankment of the city of Chernomorsk to ski cats. The place has changed, the mentality has never changed. Let them discuss.
In general, we won’t see the 2023/24 World Cup. Yes, you know, and figs with him, as they sometimes say. I just don’t understand why I should be upset (spoiler – at the end of the column I always list why and what to do about it).
About the fact that I won’t see a deaf Finnish village? I have been in such villages, lived, trained more than a dozen times.
In the Finnish countryside, you can at least get out of the hotel and immediately get on the skis. But the same can be done in Tei, Tyumen, Malinovka. The hotels themselves and the food they contain will at least not be worse. Yes, not for all skiers, but I’m talking about my situation. Remember, girls: the incentive to get into the national team is and always will be decent conditions – just the ones that are now created for us. I have something to compare, six years on the road nonstop, in training camps and competitions.
But in the beautiful city of Davos, by the way, go to the ski slope. And the Americans, and the Swedes, and us. At the Alpen Gold Hotel (it’s the former InterContinental Davos, you can see it in all the photos, it’s next to the stadium) only Teresa Johaug could afford to stay. And what do I care about the beauty of Davos, if before and after training I have to stand in traffic for half an hour?
Maybe I miss the competition on the track? Absolutely not. Here Natalia has the right to be bored – and I have not yet learned to beat her for real. This season, Natalia is again the strongest skier in the world, it is quite obvious to all her rivals and coaches. I can’t imagine how I see Tiril Weng (or is it Lotta?) warming up and thinking “I’m going to show you today at the ‘ten’!” Does not motivate.
Prize money? In parallel, I’m trying to write a column where everything will be about the most popular topic in sports – money. In the meantime, briefly: I’m not worried and I honestly don’t understand why I should do this. I have enough to live on.
If you’ve read this far, you probably have a logical question – why, Veronika Stepanova, are you talking about the World Cup here? Convinced that you don’t need it, run all your life in Siberia!
There are, there are things that I miss. And I write because I hope to start a serious conversation about how this important thing, the best thing to take and transfer to us.
Firstly, television, as the main factor that brings our sport to the masses and to the headlines. This is how it happened at the “Champion’s Heights” in Malinovka and at the Russian Championship in Tyumen. And so that not only Dmitry Guberniev was a commentator, but also Alina Zagitova in a relationship with him. Why not? It will definitely add popularity. And let MakSim sing the ski fan anthem! However, in real life, not fantasy, we had no federal TV shows for two-thirds of the season. And that, from my point of view, is the main drawback of our season.
No, and in general, the main thing why fans watch the sport is not yet visible: “ours versus not ours”. Not all “true aesthetes, connoisseurs of Niskanen skiing” will be impressed even at a stand of Holmenkollen or the “Pearl of Siberia”. They have to accept that and not try to push their wish list for the voice of the masses. Most of them watch any competition to cheer on their chosen ones: Russians against Norwegians, Real against Barcelona, Saint Petersburg against Muscovites… we have something similar that has started to take shape in the spirit of “Sasha vs Serezha”, but it’s not yet “Sasha vs Johannes” and certainly not “Khabib vs Conor”…
I still have a few ideas and suggestions, but I’ve already exceeded the 5000 character column format, so I’m postponing them until next week. See you soon!
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shows Alfa-Bank Russian Ski Championship (March 18-26, Tyumen region). Watch live broadcasts of the tournament on the federal channel and thematic channels of the holding, as well as on the sites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.
Source : MatchTV
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
