The first Sunday of the WC in Planica could have been the perfect sign that skiing has realized that it has to change in order to remain relevant in the future as well. Kombinert has, for the first time, a mixed team competition in the World Cup, i.e. with women and men on the same team. Later in the day, the jumpers will compete in the same form. In jumping, this was already a WC exercise in Val di Fiemme in 2013, when Maren Lundby, Tom Hilde, Anette Sagen and Anders Bardal took 4th place for Norway. MIXED TEAM: Tom Hilde, Anette Sagen, Maren Lundby and Anders Bardal came fourth in the WC in 2013. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB During Sunday there are also two cross-country exercises, both in team sprints. One for women – and one for men. But not together. The team sprint is cross-country skiing’s newest exercise. But since it appeared on the WC program in 2005, far too little has happened in terms of format development. Instead, the warning lights are flashing ever brighter for the international support for the sport that we Norwegians love so much. Therefore, it is even more surprising that those responsible in the International Ski Federation, FIS, have not done more to adapt the sport to what is otherwise the obvious trend in winter sports: More gender-mixed competitions. Of seven new exercises that were introduced to the Olympics in Beijing last year, four were mixed exercises. In short track skating, jumping, snowboard cross and freestyle. None in cross-country skiing. Cross-country skiing holds its own. And conservatism can have its price. TEAM SPRINT: Erik Valnes and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo won WC gold in the team sprint in 2021. Photo: Lise Åserud / NTB Olympic signs in the times Because if you don’t follow the trends of the time, i.e. as the IOC believes they should be, there may soon be consequences. Cross-country skiing is already under critical scrutiny from the Olympic managers. The lack of will for development, combined with the fact that too much gold is distributed to too few nations. With Russia also out indefinitely, this will become even clearer – and easier to change. Cross-country skiing’s Olympic appeal is simply becoming too narrow. Then there will soon be consequences. A working group led by our then skiing president Erik Røste came up with a report to the FIS board about the future of skiing last year. One of the clearest recommendations was the introduction of more mixed relays in cross-country skiing. Without violent response. So far, there has only been one, during the World Cup at Beitostølen. There will be another one in Falun in March. But this is far from enough. The mixed relays must be on the championship program in cross-country skiing – and they must do it quickly. Because it appeals to several nations – and creates a new and more unpredictable dynamic. Hopp has figured it out. Combined has figured it out. And to take it out of the purely Nordic skiing sphere: Biathlon has understood it for a long time. MIXED RELAY: Lotta Udnes Weng, Silje Theodorsen, Mikael Gunnulfsen and Simen Hegstad Krüger won the mixed relay in the World Cup in cross-country skiing at Beitostølen. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB Biathlon under development Biathlon also struggles with an inherent mixture of conservatism and greed. Because here, too, the competition program is far too tightly packed, as we saw in the recently concluded WC in Oberhof. But biathlon was early on in introducing chase starts and joint starts – and followed up with a mixed relay, where they also got the best to participate almost immediately. This creates development. The latest innovation is the pairs relay, which Marte Olsbu Røiseland and Johannes Thingnes Bø won for Norway in Oberhof. PAIRS RELAY: Johannes Thingnes Bø and Marte Olsbu Røiseland won the pairs relay in the WC in Oberhof. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB An immediate, suitably concise and extremely easy-to-understand concept, which many nations can claim – and which, not least, is created for modern, restless TV viewers. So the sport of biathlon will soon have to decide what needs to be done. In any case, they should make the start of the hunt more real, by dropping the awarding of double sets of medals there and in the sprint. The natural choice after that would be the normal distances, i.e. 15 and 20 km. But perhaps the traditional relays are a more reasonable sacrifice. They are time-consuming – and with four runners from each nation, they make a big difference between the best and the second best. To use an example from the WC: In the women’s relay there were 16 participating countries. 9 of these were within 5 minutes of the winner Italy finishing, only 4 within 2 minutes. There were 26 participating countries in the mixed relay. 18 of these were within 5 minutes of the winner at the finish line, while a total of 7 of these were less than 2 minutes behind Norway. In the pairs relay, the numbers are even clearer. 27 started, 21 were within 5 minutes, 8 within 2. It goes without saying that this is more attractive for organizers who want to sell the product to several nations. And one of the most immediate challenges for the IOC is that the number of exercises must be limited, both in the summer and winter games. Then 12 golds in cross-country skiing, as in Beijing, is in the long run too much. Something has to come out. The sort of relays Therefore, the relays are the exercise that is becoming more and more relevant to cut out as the new Olympics approach. The IOC’s word is very soon law, no matter what sport you are talking about. In alpine skiing, the very TV-friendly parallel disciplines are disappearing from all championships after the lords of the rings decided that they did not want these disciplines in the next Winter Olympics in Italy in 2026. For us Norwegians, the thought of removing the relays hurts more than anything else. But that may become the reality, when the demand for renewal becomes even more urgent. To look at the figures from the Olympics in Beijing, there were only 15 starting countries in the men’s cross-country relay. Only 3 of these were within 2 minutes of the winner. DISAPPEARING: Parallel slalom is disappearing from the Olympics. Photo: Torstein Boe / AP In the team sprint, by comparison, there were 25 nations at the start. The exercise is then also the most popular of all among TV viewers internationally. One result of the aforementioned report to Erik Røste and his group has been to standardize the relay distances for both sexes. This has meant that the men have also walked 4 x 7.5 km in the World Cup. With the obvious result that it has become smoother at the top. But it becomes even more even when mixed relays are also introduced in cross-country skiing, well into overtime. The thought of a WC in Trondheim in two years without traditional relays is unbearable for many. But what one should most of all wish for is that a WC in Norway gives optimism for the future of skiing. Then it is a small price to pay that the relay is no longer just a relay.
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