Watch 2018 Winter Olympics Cross-Country Skiing Live TV>>>>>
The 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea are right around the corner! That means it's time to watch sports you might not have seen in four years. To help you feel at least a little more informed—either to impress your friends or fake your way through a conversation with an actual expert—SI will be providing rookie's guides to each of the 15 sports. These will be published daily, Monday through Friday, from December 4-22. Cross-country skiing has been a staple at the Winter Olympic Games since the first competition in 1924 in Chamonix, France. However, the women's events did not begin until 1952. In 2018, the events will be held at the Alpensia Cross-Country Centre in PyeongChang, South Korea. The competition will consist of 12 events from February 10-25. Here's everything you need to know about one of the most exciting and physically demanding events at the Games. So, what is cross-country skiing? Cross-country skiing is to skiing as cross-country running is to running. That is to say, it's pretty much the same thing as normal skiing, except it takes place on a flat plane rather than an inclined hill. In cross-country skiing, competitors use ski poles and strength to propel themselves across long (usually flat) distances. This form of skiing forces competitors to propel themselves either by striding forward (classic technique) or by a side-to-side skating motion (free technique). Professional racers average 15 miles per hour for continuous distances up to 35 miles.
What is the history of the sport?
In Northern Europe, Canada and even the United States, cross-country skiing is a common hobby and competition. It is also the oldest type of skiing, emerging from a method of travel to a sport at the end of the 19th century.According to the Olympic website, "For centuries in the snow-covered North, skis were required to chase game and gather firewood in winter time. With long distances between the small, isolated communities and hard, snowy winters, skiing also became important as means of keeping in social contact. The word “ski” is a Norwegian word which comes from the Old Norse word “skid”, a split length of wood."The earliest form of the sport emerged in the 19th century. The first race on record is 1842 and the famous Holmenkollen ski festival started in 1892, with the focus initially on the Nordic combined event. In 1901, a separate cross-country race was added to the festival.
What are the rules of the event?
Officials will be spread across the race course looking for technique violations, which occur in the following situations: On the corners - If a track exists on a corner, racers must stay within those tracks by using classical technique. Switching tracks - In classic cross-country skiing, there are usually multiple tracks to ski on (depending on the number of athletes). Skiers change tracks in the middle of the race to efficiently pass another skier. However, if a racer repeatedly changes tracks, especially on hills, they will be given a violation. In the video below, you can see how these athletes change tracks during the race. Disqualification - A racer that is assessed two violations in a race will be disqualified from the event.
Is there a technique that goes into it?
Yes. There are two different skiing techniques (mentioned above) that are used for cross-country skiing: the free technique (side-to-side skating) and the classic technique (striding forward). In the classic technique, the toe and heel of the foot are secured in the ski and the athlete moves his or her skis back and forth in a parallel motion.In the free technique, only the toe is secured to a shorter ski and the athlete moves his or her feet from side to side to propel them forward. The free technique is considerably faster than the classic.Well, first of all, it's scientifically proven that if you cross-country ski you get jacked as hell.It's also one of the most contested sports at the Winter Olympics and can provide some intense and exciting finishes, like this one.How do athletes qualify for the event? Olympic qualification for cross-country skiing began on July 1, 2016 and will conclude on January 22, 2018. In total, 310 athletes will compete in the event. The International Ski Federation (FIS) allocated places for athletes to compete based on point totals accrued by athletes at FIS events. Countries can be awarded up to 12 places for men or 12 places for women, but teams cannot exceed 20 athletes. An athlete with a maximum of 100 FIS distance points will be allowed to compete in both or one of the event (sprint/distance). An athlete with a maximum 120 FIS sprint points will be allowed to compete in the sprint event and 10 km for women or 15 km for men provided their distance points does not exceed 300 FIS points.NOC's that do not have any athlete meeting the A standard can enter one competitor of each gender (known as the basic quota) in the sprint event or 10 km classical event for women/15 km classical event for men. They must have a maximum of 300 FIS distance points at the end of qualifying.
What are the events for the 2018 games?
There are six different events in cross-country skiing at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, with each event having a men's and women's competition. The FIS designates which technique will be used for each event. At the 2014 Sochi Olympics, the men's 50 km mass start was raced using the freestyle technique but in PyeongChang, the 50 km race will feature the classical technique. The Individual Sprint (classical technique) competition will take place on a course that is 1.4 km long for men and 1.2 km long for women and usually takes around 3-4 minutes for men and 2.5 minutes for women. It is set up similar to a track competition, beginning with a qualifying round. The top 30 finishers will make it to the quarter-finals, where the top two finishers in each heat will proceed to the semi-finals and finals.Team Sprint (freestyle technique) consists of two skiers. Each skier will ski six full laps around the sprint course, with each contestant skiing two laps at a time. The first team to cross the finish line wins. In 2014 in Sochi, the Finnish men's gold medal team finished with a time just over 23 minutes. Individual Start (freestyle technique) begins with a staggered start. One skier starts every 30 seconds and the skier with the best time wins (not necessarily the one who crosses the finish line first). The men's individual start course is 15 km long, which usually takes athletes around 38-40 minutes to complete, while the women's is 10 km and lasts around 28-30 minutes . Mass Start (classical technique) is the longest cross-country skiing event at the Games. All of the skiers start together and the first to cross the finish line wins. This event is usually one of the most popular at the Games because of extremely close finishes and physically demanding workloads. Men race for 50 km in this event (around 1 hour 45 minutes), while women race for 30 km (around 1 hour 15 minutes).Relay (both techniques) is similar to the team sprint. The men's race is a 4 x 10 km race, which lasts for about 1.5 hours, and the women's is a 4 x 5 km race for about 55 minutes. Each team consists of four members, rather than two, and the race begins with a mass start, meaning the first skier to cross the finish line wins. For the first two legs of the race, athletes use the classical technique, and for the final two legs, they use the freestyle technique. The event is a breathtaking display of the physical and technical skills of the athletes. Skiathlon (both techniques) is another event that combines the two skiing disciplines. The skiathlon is a cross-country skiing race in two stages. The first stage is done with the classical technique, after which racers can change skis at a transition area and continue racing using the free technique. The race is 22.5 km and around 40 minutes long for women and 30 km and one hour long for men. It can be extremely exhausting, as you can see here.All events outside of the individual sprint consist of a single competition, with the medals awarded at the end.
How many athletes participate?
There is a maximum of 310 spots available for athletes to compete in the sport. A maximum of 20 athletes can be entered by a National Olympic Committee. In 2014, 310 athletes from 54 nations participated. Norway and Russia led the way with 20 athletes each, followed by Sweden (19), Germany (18) and Finland (17).
Do they wear cool uniforms?
Yes! They usually wear tights and a bib with their number and country on top. Also, they're decked out in some pretty cool shades and either a helmet or a bandana to complete the outfit. I would argue their uniforms are the best in sports. Everyone looks fly.How many medals are given out? In total, from the six events, twelve gold medals are given out (six to men and six to women). 36 total medals will be given out across the event.
Who are the favorites?
Swiss skier Dario Cologna won two gold medals in Sochi (15 km classical, 30 km skiathlon) and is among the favorites to claim a gold medal in PyeongChang. Marcus Hellner, of Sweden, and Ola Vigen Hattestad, of Norway, are also expected to make noise. In the women's competition, Norweigan skier Marit Bjørgen has dominated the sport. She won three gold medals at the 2014 Winter Games and is widely considered the most successful sprinter in Cross-Country World Cup, with twenty-nine victories. She, alongside Raisa Smetanina and Stefania Belmondo, is the most medaled female winter Olympian. Polish athlete Justyna Kowalczyk also won a gold medal in Sochi and is expected to be successful in Korea.Data analysts Gracenote have estimated 21 medals that would have been won by Russian athletes will be redistributed - although this model does not take into account that some may compete as neutrals. Of those 21 medals, 15 would be won by nations already expected to feature prominently in the medal table. Britain's women's curling team could benefit with an extra bronze, according to Gracenote.Twenty-five Russians were already banned for doping before Tuesday's blanket decision. And with the whole Olympic team now barred, only those Russian athletes who can prove they are clean will be allowed to compete in South Korea under a neutral flag. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said there will be no boycott of Pyeongchang 2018, allowing Russians to compete as as 'Olympic Athlete from Russia' under a neutral flag - provided they can satisfy strict criteria to prove they are 'clean'. Here are some of the stars who now might not appear at next year's Games.At the past six Winter Games, Russian figure skaters won 14 of the 26 gold medals available and occupied 26 of the 75 podium places. Gracenote's head of analysis Simon Gleave said: "Figure skating is the key sport at the Games which will miss Russia - including the unified team - as they have won 57% of all gold medals and 36% of all medals in the sport since 1992." That supremacy had looked set to continue in the pairs with Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov, plus Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev in the ice dance.
Two-time reigning women's singles world champion Evgenia Medvedeva is recovering from a broken foot - but the 18-year-old is unbeaten in two years and was a firm favourite to win gold on what would be her Olympic debut.
Alina Zagitova was another podium contender - aged just 15 she won the Cup of China on her Grand Prix debut in November and followed it up with victory in the Internationaux de France.bMedvedeva and Zagitova were 14 and 11 respectively during Sochi 2014 and there are no figure skaters in the 25 Russian athletes banned from the Olympics for life.The most intriguing reception to a Russian athlete in Pyeongchang would quite possibly have been reserved for one that was born in South Korea. Ahn Hyun-soo claimed three golds and a bronze for his native country at Turin 2006 but failed to qualify for Vancouver 2010 and fell out with the Korean Skating Union (KSU). He subsequently took Russian citizenship, changing his name to Viktor Ahn and making a stunning comeback in his adopted country at Sochi 2014 by winning another three golds and a bronze.
In reaching eight overall medals, he drew level with Apolo Ohno as the most decorated Olympic short track speed skater, while his six golds are more than any other athlete in the sport.At 32, he had planned to retire after Pyeongchang and said he expected to be booed at the Games, even though most of the Korean animosity over his defection is directed at the KSU. Absolution? Jeers? More medals? We might never know.Speed skater Pavel Kulizhnikov - a gold medal favourite for the 500m and also expected to win a medal in the 1000m - could have had his Olympic bid ended sooner than Tuesday's vote.
The 23-year-old missed Sochi 2014 during a two-year ban for testing positive for methylhexanamine, which also led to him being stripped of his 2012 World Junior Championship 500m title. After a successful return to the sport, he then tested positive for meldonium in March 2016 and faced a potential lifetime ban for a second offence. However, he was cleared after the World Anti-Doping Agency announced it was not clear how long the drug took to leave the body and the concentration of meldonium in Kulizhnikov's sample was below the threshold. That temporary ban over, Kulizhnikov has looked strong this season, winning 1000m gold in a track record time at the World Cup event in Heerenveen last month.German Felix Loch has dominated men's luge since becoming the sport's youngest Olympic champion at Vancouver 2010 aged 20, going on to defend his title at Sochi 2014. The 28-year-old has won 12 World Championship gold medals across three events and claimed five successive World Cup titles from 2012 to 2016 - a run that was ended in February by 21-year-old Russian Roman Repilov. Repilov is a two-time junior world champion and also won silver in the singles and sprint events at the World Championships in Iglis, Austria in January, with Loch failing to make the podium in both.
Loch is back on top of the World Cup standings after four events this season, with another Russian - European champion Semen Pavlichenko - second as it stands. Without Repilov and Pavlichenko in Pyeongchang, it appears reigning world champion Wolfgang Kindl of Austria would be the most likely man to prevent Loch winning a third successive gold.One of the biggest talents in cross-country skiing, Sergey Ustiugov won two gold and three silver medals at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland in February. Notable for his versatility, the 25-year-old would be a contender in both the long distance and sprint categories at the Games. If he does not compete, expect Canada's Alex Harvey and Norway's Martin Johnsrud Sundby to battle for the 30km skiathlon and 50km freestyle, while Federico Pellegrino will be favourite to win sprint and team sprint gold for Italy. Russia will now not be able to defend their biathlon relay title, with the potential absence of Anton Shipulin likely to benefit France's Martin Fourcade as he looks to add more golds to the two he won at Sochi.The biggest stars in men's ice hockey were already due to miss out, after the National Hockey League (NHL) said in April it would not allow its players to compete at the Games for the first time since 1994. Club owners were unhappy at having to halt their season for the Games.
That left Russia - one of the few teams still able to field superstar players - among the favourites for gold, with its Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) regarded as the strongest domestic league outside the NHL. While a team could compete under a neutral flag, early reports are that the Russian government is not keen on that option, according to BBC Sport's Seth Bennett. And Russia's ban could also further weaken the depleted squads of two-time reigning champions Canada and rivals USA, with the KHL suggesting it could withdraw all its players of all nationalities in protest. Exactly who will be on the ice remains unclear, but - with Canada and the USA now perhaps having to resort to calling up out-of-contract veterans and college players - the standard is sure to be lower than previous Games. The women's competition should be unaffected, with Canada and USA the favourites. GANGNEUNG, Korea, Republic Of -- South Korean officials have ruled out turning a state-of-the-art Olympic skating arena into a giant seafood freezer. Other than that, not much is certain about the country's post-Winter Games plans for a host of expensive venues. As officials prepare for the games in and around the small mountain town of Pyeongchang, there are lingering worries over the huge financial burden facing one of the nation's poorest regions. Local officials hope that the Games will provide a badly needed economic boost by marking the area as a world-class tourist destination. But past experience shows that hosts who justified their Olympics with expectations of financial windfalls were often left deeply disappointed when the fanfare ended. This isn't lost on Gangwon province, which governs Pyeongchang and nearby Gangneung, a seaside city that will host Olympic skating and hockey events. Officials there are trying hard to persuade the national government to pay to maintain new stadiums that will have little use once the athletes leave. Seoul, however, is so far balking at the idea. The Olympics, which begin Feb. 9, will cost South Korea about 14 trillion won ($12.9 billion), much more than the 8 to 9 trillion won ($7 to 8 billion) the country projected as the overall cost when Pyeongchang won the bid in 2011.
Worries over costs have cast a shadow over the games among residents long frustrated with what they say were decades of neglect in a region that doesn't have much going on other than domestic tourism and fisheries."What good will a nicely managed global event really do for residents when we are struggling so much to make ends meet?" said Lee Do-sung, a Gangneung restaurant owner. "What will the games even leave? Maybe only debt."The atmosphere was starkly different three decades ago when grand preparations for the 1988 Seoul Summer Games essentially shaped the capital into the modern metropolis it is today. A massive sports complex and huge public parks emerged alongside the city's Han River. Next came new highways, bridges and subway lines. Forests of high-rise buildings rose above the bulldozed ruins of old commercial districts and slums. The legacy of the country's second Olympics will be less clear. In a country that cares much less now about the recognition that large sporting events bring, it will potentially be remembered more for things dismantled than built. Pyeongchang's picturesque Olympic Stadium -- a pentagonal 35,000-seat arena that sits in a county of 40,000 people -- will only be used for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics and Paralympics before workers tear it down. A scenic downhill course in nearby Jeongseon will also be demolished after the games to restore the area to its natural state. Fierce criticism by environmentalists over the venue being built on a pristine forest sacred to locals caused construction delays that nearly forced pre-Olympic test events to be postponed. Gangwon officials want the national government to share costs for rebuilding the forest, which could be as much as 102 billion won ($95 million). Despite more than a decade of planning, Gangwon remains unsure what to do with the Olympic facilities it will keep. Winter sports facilities are often harder to maintain than summer ones because of the higher costs for maintaining ice and snow and the usually smaller number of people they attract. That's especially true in South Korea, which doesn't have a strong winter sports culture. Gangwon officials say they never seriously considered a proposal to convert the 8,000-seat Gangneung Oval, the Olympic speed skating venue, into a refrigerated warehouse for seafood. Officials were unwilling to have frozen fish as part of their Olympic legacy. Gangwon officials also dismissed a theme park developer's suggestion to make the stadium a gambling venue where people place bets on skating races, citing the country's strict laws and largely negative view of gambling. A plan to have the 10,000-capacity Gangneung Hockey Center host a corporate league hockey team fell apart.
Even worse off are Pyeongchang's bobsleigh track, ski jump hill and the biathlon and cross-country skiing venues, which were built for sports South Koreans are largely uninterested in. After its final inspection visit in August, the International Olympic Committee warned Pyeongchang's organizers that they risked creating white elephants from Olympic venues, though it didn't offer specific suggestions for what to do differently. Cautionary tales come from Athens, which was left with a slew of abandoned stadiums after the 2004 Summer Games that some say contributed to Greece's financial meltdown and Nagano, the Japanese town that never got the tourism bump it expected after spending an estimated $10.5 billion for the 1998 Winter Games. Some Olympic venues have proved to be too costly to maintain. The $100 million luge and bobsled track built in Turin for the 2006 games was later dismantled because of high operating costs. Pyeongchang will be only the second Olympic host to dismantle its ceremonial Olympic Stadium immediately after the games -- the 1992 Winter Olympics host Albertville did so as well. Gangwon has demanded that the national government in Seoul pay for maintaining at least four Olympic facilities after the Games -- the speed skating arena, hockey centre, bobsleigh track and ski jump hill. This would save the province about 6 billion won ($5.5 million) a year, according to Park Cheol-sin, a Gangwon official. But the national government says doing so would be unfair to other South Korean cities that struggled financially after hosting large sports events. Incheon, the indebted 2014 Asian Games host, has a slew of unused stadiums now mocked as "money-drinking hippos." It would also be a hard sell to taxpayers outside of Gangwon, said Lee Jae-soon, an official from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Unlike the 1988 Olympics and the 2002 World Cup, which were brought to South Korea after bids driven by the national government, the provincial government led the bid for the Pyeongchang games and it did so without any commitment from Seoul over footing the bill. Under current plans, Gangwon will be managing at least six Olympic facilities after the games. These facilities will create a 9.2 billion won ($8.5 million) deficit for the province every year, a sizable burden for a quickly-aging region that had the lowest income level among South Korean provinces in 2013, according to the Korea Industrial Strategy Institute, which was commissioned by Gangwon to analyze costs. Hong Jin-won, a Gangneung resident and activist who has been monitoring Olympic preparations for years, said the real deficit could be even bigger. The institute's calculation is based on assumptions that each facility would generate at least moderate levels of income, which Hong says is no sure thing. He said that could mean welfare spending gets slashed to help make up the lack of money. South Korea, a rapidly-aging country with a worsening job market and widening rich-poor gap, has by far the highest elderly poverty rate among rich nations, according to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development figures. If Seoul doesn't pay for the Olympic facilities, and Gangwon can't turn them into cultural or leisure facilities, it might make more sense for Gangwon to just tear them down. Park said the national government must step up because the "Olympics are a national event, not a Gangwon event."