[ad_1]
The Swiss ski president does not like Norway withdrawing from the Tour de Ski. The marketing director of the International Ski Federation believes that Norway’s decision is strange.
Goal photo after the runners have completed the final of the Tour de Ski on the slalom track in Cavalese. The Tour de Ski has been one of the most popular television products in cross-country skiing. Now, the FIS marketing director fears that the gutters that provide 40 percent of cross-country ski turnover will lose steam. Photo: MATHIAS BERGELD / BILDBYRÅN
It was no surprise. Tuesday night it was clear: Norway assumes crown consequences and withdraws its team from the Tour de Ski. It has turned on the Swiss candidate for the presidency of the FIS, Urs Lehmann.
– First they start running the World Cup normally, then they retire from competitions. I do not understand that. Kill cross-country skiing, says the former high-level alpinist for the Swiss news agency CH Media.
Lehmann has run as a candidate to assume the presidency of the International Ski Federation (FIS) after Gian-Franco Kasper. He is also president of the Swiss Ski Federation.
Now he’s thundering against the Norwegian cross-country leaders. Two racing sites in Switzerland lose attractive cross-country skiers when Norwegians don’t team up. First in Davos this weekend, then in Val Müstair at the opening of the Tour de Ski in the first days of January.
Lehmann calls the Norwegian decision too shortsighted.
-
Jürg Capol is FIS Marketing Director. Photo: ANDREAS PRANTER / BILDBYRÅN
-
Urs Lehmann is a candidate to assume the presidency of the FIS. He is very critical of Norway’s withdrawal from the World Cup and the Ski Tour. Photo: CHRISTIAN WALGRAM / BILDBYRÅN
Fear of money
Jürg Capol is not so firm in his statements. He is the Marketing Director of FIS. But he thinks it strange that Norway does not come to the World Cup when other Norwegian athletes participate in most of the other World Cups.
– There is nothing that is 100 percent safe, but I think the scheme for infection control is safe enough, he tells Aftenposten.
As a marketing manager, you are of course also concerned about what it will do to revenue.
– We probably won’t see any loss of income in the short term. In case there is a pattern that some countries do not want to participate in, it will have an impact on revenues in the long term, says Capol.
The former cross-country skier from Switzerland fears that a winter sport that is struggling to make its way in Central Europe will become even less attractive. The Tour de Ski is also an important source of income for cross-country skiing in FIS. Capol estimates that 40 percent of the turnover in the Cross-Country Skiing World Cup comes from the Tour de Ski.
About doing the right thing
The Norwegian cross-country coach, Espen Bjervig, calmly faces doubts and criticisms from outside.
– I respect the fact that people are critical and raise objections. But I stand very well in the decision we have made. That is what we think is right for us in this situation, Bjervig tells Aftenposten.
Now what worries him the most is that Norwegian athletes will make good careers in Norway and be better prepared for the World Cup in Oberstdorf in the change of month from February to March.
– We prioritize the World Cup, and it may well be that we will go to the World Cup in Sweden and Finland before the World Cup, says Bjervig.
