To save the classical technique, Germany proposes to limit the length of the sticks

Keep coming proposals for groped to safeguard the classic technique cross-country skiing. In June, the FIS Congress in Cancun, had been rejected, at least for the next season, l & rsquo; possibility of introducing areas in which it would be mandatory alternating step. Germany now part of a new initiative, to be discussed this week in the autumn meeting of the International Federation in Zurich: the limitation of the maximum length of the sticks.

Thursday 29 September 2016 4 minutes reading time

& Ldquo; On the table c & rsquo; & egrave; a detailed proposal by the Germans to limit the length of the sticks to & rsquo; 85% of & rsquo; height of & rsquo; & rdquo ;, explains athlete Vegard Ulvang, head of the FIS cross skiing Committee. & Aring; ge Skinstad, that all & rsquo; internal committee is Norway, has gi & agrave; announced that if l & rsquo; initiative sar & agrave; carried forward, will push & agrave; to bring all & rsquo; 86-87% limit. Ulvang stated that, in any case, l & rsquo; s going to preserve the classic & egrave; shared by the various national federations: & ldquo; Overall, l & rsquo; cross-country skiing Environment wants to keep the two techniques. If anything, c & rsquo; & egrave; the disagreement on the measures to be taken. & rdquo; On the substance of the German proposal, the three-time Olympic champion appears possibilist: & ldquo; The very fact that this proposal be debated suggests that & rsquo; imposition of a maximum length for sticks & egrave; acceptable. After that, you can memorize options discuss where to go fixed & rdquo ;. Among the athletes, he said his & Ã˜ ystein Pettersen, gold in Vancouver in the team sprint, paired with Petter Northug: & ldquo; I am fundamentally opposed to measures that impede progress, but I would be much more & ugrave; open to a reduction of the length of the sticks that & Outdoors; introduction of zones with obligation to alternating step. & rdquo; The matter could perhaps appear at first sight marginal; studies conducted by Professor Thomas Lonsnegard, the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, however, show otherwise. Referring to the case of Martin Johnsrud Sundby, that last season he used sticks of length equal to & rsquo; 87.5% of his stature, Professor Lonsnegard said: & ldquo; Sundby gets in this way a gain of a few seconds in the uphill sections. Our research shows that the benefit & egrave; particularly significant uphill, while not & egrave; yet clear what the & rsquo; effect when the speed & agrave; & Egrave; pi & ugrave; high. & rdquo; The decision that will be & agrave; taken in Zurich, in short, it could have an impact tutt & rsquo; more than negligible effect on classic technique races of the 2016-17 season.

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