As a basic sport in snow sports, cross-country skiing is known as "snow track and field" and will produce 12 gold medals at the Beijing Winter Olympics. According to the latest version of the Beijing Winter Olympics schedule, if the weather and other natural conditions are controllable during the games, the first and last gold medals will be produced in cross-country skiing, which shows that cross-country skiing has an extraordinary status on the Winter Olympic stage.
— Competition: The first prize came from cross-country skiing —
There are 12 sub-events in the cross-country skiing project of the Beijing Winter Olympics. The six men's events are 15 km, 15 km + 15 km double chase, individual sprint, group sprint, 4x10 km relay and 50 km group departure. The six women's events are 10 km, 7.5 km + 7.5 km double chase, individual sprint, group sprint, 4x5 km relay and 30 km group departure. There are 296 seats for cross-country skiing at the Winter Olympics, 148 for men and 148 for women, and each team can send up to 8 men and 16 athletes. Cross-country skiing has two different skiing techniques: free techniques and traditional techniques. The FIS specifies which techniques will be used for each event (which may vary from Winter Olympics) and both technologies must be used in relay races. In addition to the 12 sub-disciplines of cross-country skiing, cross-country skiing is also an important competition in Nordic biathlon and biathlon winter.
The first gold medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics was produced in cross-country skiing, which was won by Sweden's Charlotte Carla in the women's 7.5 km + 7.5 km double chase, when China's Li Xin and Chi Chunxue also competed in the event. Judging from the currently announced schedule, the first gold of the Beijing Winter Olympics will be generated on the afternoon of February 5, and will still come from the women's 7.5 km + 7.5 km double chase. On the afternoon of February 20, the last race day, the women's 30 km collective start gold medal will be produced. At the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the last gold medal came from the women's 30 km group, and the winner was Norway's Björggen.
Norwegian star Björggen in the competition
~ Development pattern: Norway still has obvious advantages~
Cross-country skiing originated in Northern Europe and was included in the first Winter Olympics as early as 1924. Norway has long been an absolute protagonist in cross-country skiing at the Winter Olympics. In addition, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, the United States, Russia, Italy and other European and American countries also have good strength. From the perspective of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the fierce competition in cross-country skiing competitions represented by Norway and Sweden has become the main theme throughout. Norway is still in the first echelon with 7 of the 12 gold medals, Sweden two and Finland, the United States and Switzerland one each. Judging from the 2021 FIS Nordic Ski World Championships, Norway has successfully continued its strong position in cross-country skiing. Not surprisingly, the Nordic teams represented by Norway will also harvest medals in cross-country skiing at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Norway's Kleber, who won three gold medals in the individual sprint, 4x10 km relay and team sprint at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, has maintained the world's top competitive status for a long time during the Beijing Winter Olympics, and he also won the above three events at the 2021 World Championships. Another Norwegian star, Kruger, won the gold medal in the 4x10 km relay with Kleber at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, in addition to the gold medal in the 15 km + 15 km double chase and the silver medal in the 15 km free technology. Kruger won two silver medals in the 15 km free technique and 15 km + 15 km double chase at the 2021 World Championships, and he will also be another eye-catching star player in the cross-country skiing arena at the Beijing Winter Olympics. In addition to Norway' players, Sweden's Charlotte Carla, Switzerland's Colonia and other experienced players are also worth paying attention to, and they are expected to continue to lead their teammates to launch a new round of attack on Norway's supremacy.
++ The current situation in China: Consolidate the foundation and strive to be brilliant++
Since the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, the Chinese team has continued to participate in the cross-country skiing competition of the Winter Olympics, but has never won a Winter Olympic medal. At the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, four athletes from the Chinese team competed in 10 minor events in cross-country skiing. The best place in the women's individual event was Li Xin's 36th place in the women's 10 km free technical competition, and the best place in the men's individual event was Wang Qiang's 59th place in the men's 50 km collective departure traditional technical competition.
Judging from the achievements of previous Winter Olympic Games, especially the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, in this overall highly competitive foundation event, the foundation of China's cross-country skiing is relatively weak. Because there were very few professional athletes engaged in this sport in the past, the national training team faced relatively large difficulties in selecting materials and forming teams, with fewer people to choose and a relatively small range. However, in the process of preparing for the Beijing Winter Olympics, the national cross-country skiing team not only expanded the selection of materials through cross-border cross-sports selection, but also formed a composite coaching and support team including Chinese and foreign coaches and experts. With the "south exhibition of ice and snow sports expanding from the west to the east" over the years, many ice and snow projects, including cross-country skiing, are attracting more and more teenagers to participate, providing a possibility for further consolidating the construction of talent echelons. At present, the national cross-country ski training team has shown some distinctive new characteristics in terms of personnel composition and distribution, in the past, athletes mainly came from the three northeastern provinces, and now athletes come from 14 provinces, autonomous regions and cities such as Shandong, Yunnan, Xinjiang and Tibet, and the distribution is more extensive. In particular, the rapid growth of young athletes from some ethnic minorities, such as the Uyghur Diniger Yilamujiang, the younger Pumi boys gulong Zeren, the Tibetan Solang Quzhen and the Kelsang Quzhen, have made a deep impression in a series of recent competitions.
DiNigel celebrates the match with Ni Minzhe photo
At present, the first-line team of the cross-country skiing national training team is participating in the competition of the International Snow Federation FIS points competition in Xinjiang Hot Spring Station, and the second-tier team with young players is mainly in Northern Europe for external training. With the continuous improvement of echelon construction, the competitiveness of the Chinese team in this project is steadily improving. At present, the Chinese team has obtained the qualifications of all 12 young players, which can achieve the goal of participating in the whole project.