The FIS Cross-Country World Cup presented by Viessmann will kick off in the North of Sweden in Gällivare in just a few days, from 20th-21st November. The town with some 18'000 inhabitants is situated about 70km north of the Arctic Circle, in the middle of Lapland, and will organize the Cross-Country World Cup for the fifth time.

"We already got snow in October, and currently have about 40 cm on the cross-country tracks," stated Kjell Nordmark, chief of course. "The weather forecast is predicting more snow towards the weekend and we will have cold weather below -5 C. So we are positively looking forward to our World Cup weekend and are pleased to welcome the Cross-Country World Cup family back in Gällivare."

A total of 26 nations are expected to take part in the FIS Cross-Country Opening which features interval start competitions over 10 km (ladies) and 15 km (men) in the free technique on Saturday and relay races on Sunday.

Among the starters are the local favorites and 2008 winners Charlotte Kalla and Marcus Hellner. Kalla grew up in Gällivare whilst Marcus Hellner moved to Lapland from the south of Sweden to have better training conditions and has lived there for a while now. So far only Aino Kaisa Saarinen of Finland is expected to miss the World Cup start in Gällivare due to a shoulder injury sustained in a fall during training. Regardless, great competitions can be expected in a beautiful winter landscape.

For more information visit www.worldcupgellivare.com

Contributed by Sandra Spitz
FIS news
17/11/2010

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