Winter wonderland with cold temperatures, blue skies and lots of snow welcomed all teh participants at the World Cup season opener in Gällivare, Sweden. Ideal snow conditions with hard and compact, 40 cm natural of snow on the course will provide best possible background for the opening race of the new season.

World's Best on the Start Line

World's best athletes will hit the trails of Gällivare in the opening fight for first World Cup points. However, the organizers had to accepte a few withdrawals. World Cup winner Petter Northug will not compete in Gällivare as he is still recovering from a sickness. Lukas Bauer is early back in racing from a break due to a cold as expected. Aino Kaisa Saarinen will not be at the start as she suffered injury while on training last Sunday. All other favourites from last season seems to be healthy and ready for the kick off.

FIS Race Director expects big fight

FIS Race Director Jürg Capol is satisfied with the level of preparations in Gällivare. "We have a great winterlandscape here for the World Cup kick off in Gällivare. The OC made good improvements on the course which SVT will show tomorrow in their beautiful TV pictures" he said. Many athletes say that the course in Gälliaver counts among the toughest in the World Cup circuit. "The course is of a 5 km loop and is quite technical with many curves. In this free technique competition we expect a hot fight with a huge and selective starter field" said Jürg Capol. There are no doubts which athletes are about the biggest candidates for the first World Cup victory. "Home stars, Kalla and Hellner are among the biggest favourites" confirms Capol.

Hellner and Kowalczyk ready

If there is one name which should be mentioned as the top favorite, that would be Marcus Hellner. World Cup opener takes place in his backyard as he moved to Gälliaver when 14-15 years of age to study at the local ski gymnasium. “It is my home course here in Gällivare and the track fits me well. I feel really ready for the World Cup kick off and want to be on the podium tomorrow,” said Markus Hellner to fiscrosscountry.com

Defending Overall World Cup Winner Justyna Kowalczyk admitted that courses in Gälivare are not her most favorite. “I am happy that the World Cup starts again and for sure I will try my best to defend the overall World Cup. The course is not my favourite one but I will hope I can finish among the top five,” commented Justyna Kowalczyk.

Maps and Profiles

Follow the Races Live

If you cannot follow the races live on TV fiscrosscountry.com brings you exclusive chance not to miss a single moment. You can follow all the races LIVE. All you have to do is to click on http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/disciplines/live-timing/live-cross-country.html and then select "RACE LIVE COMMENT".

Start Lists

86 ladies from 23 nations will take part in the World Cup opener. For the complete start list click HERE.

There are 104 men from 26 countries at the start. Study the whole start list HERE.