The FIS delegation carries out a working visit to Khanty-Mansiysk  

Today, on July’26, technical delegate of the International Ski Federation (FIS) Martins Niklass, as well as the technical delegate of the Cross-country Ski Federation of Russia Victor Grigoriev, arrived in Khanty-Mansiysk with a working visit. The inspection began early in the morning, while the roads of the city were not yet loaded with transport. The technical delegates accompanied by the Vice-President of the Cross-country Ski Federation of Ugra Sergey Kryanin inspected the future tracks and determined the most dangerous parts of them.

In the Alexander Filipenko Winter Sports Center where the prologue will take place some parts of the track will be widened to make downhills safer. Athletes from Ugra Anton Gafarov and Yevgeny Dementiev, who are going to participate in the competition, helped to find the most problematic areas. “Our goal is avoid injures of athletes, for that purpose we will expand some parts of the tracks. Works will start at the stadium in the nearest future”, — noted Sergey Kryanin.

Anton Gafarov and Yevgeny Dementiev agreed with him. “I would like the World Cups and World Championships to be held regularly in Khanty-Mansiysk, so in order to be ready to host international competitions at any time some changes shall be made,” — says Anton Gafarov. According to the athlete, the races will be even more exciting and interesting than a year ago. Soon the skier will join the national team, where they will continue to prepare for the World Cup.

The inspection continued with a working meeting with representatives of the organizing committee of the competition. “First of all, I want to note that last year the leg in Khanty-Mansiysk was one of the best and I would like us not to stop at this, — adressed Martins Niklass. — Your colleagues and athletes have visited the first leg of the World Cup in Beijing and we all noticed that China is reached made a perfectly organized event, therefore we have to hold the upcoming competition at the proper level”, — the technical delegate added.

The FIS technical delegate also noted that the presence of a large number of spectators at last year’s races was a pleasant surprise for him and he expressed the hope to see many city dwellers attending the upcoming competitions. “I have never seen such a number of fans in other places where competitions were held. I have been involved in organising Roller Ski World Cups since 2002, and this is already 17 years for now. I think success lies in teamwork, from the work of the judges to the coverage of competitions on the Internet and on television. Khanty-Mansiysk has both the experience and the necessary infrastructure for holding competitions of this level. I want to note that Khanty-Mansiysk is one of the potential candidates for the World Championships 2021”, — added Martins Niklass.

To date, the organizing committee has already received entries of six teams — Italy, Latvia, Norway, Russia, Slovakia and Sweden. The total number of participants in the competition is 102 people. The program of the competition will include three disciplines: prologue, 200m sprint and mass start.