Lahti may lose hosting of cross-country skiing World Cup events

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This weekend sees the 80th holding of the popular Salpausselkä Games in Lahti. The jubilee may be a bitter-sweet affair, however, as it could be the last occasion when traditional cross-country skiing events will be on the programme.
      The International Ski Federation (FIS) does not include Lahti in its list of venues to host cross-country skiing World Cup competitions for next season. Ski-jumping and Nordic Combined events will not be affected.
      Marjo Matikainen-Kallström, the Finnish member on the FIS Board, has done her utmost to turn heads and secure Salpausselkä's continued presence in the skiing calendar, and the Board has yet to give its final ruling, but there is little optimism.
     
One possible cause is the relatively poor international performances of Finnish cross-country skiers in recent years, particularly among the men, which have somewhat muffled Finland's voice in the sport, and it may also be that echoes of the doping scandal at the 2001 World Championships in Lahti continue to circulate in the FIS corridors.  
      Four years ago, six top Finnish skiers, among them Olympic and World Champions, were found to have used banned plasma expanders - all received two-year suspensions from international competition.
     
This weekend, however, there will be a full programme of skiing, Nordic Combined, and ski-jumping in Lahti, with a total of eight World Cup events being contested.
      From the Finnish perspective, the attention will be centred on Hannu Manninen in the Nordic Combined and Janne Ahonen in the ski-jumping. If the results go their way, both could wrap up the World Cup titles in their respective disciplines well before the season's end.
      Ahonen in particular is likely to be a big crowd-puller, as the new World Champion is a local boy and this is his first appearance this season on his home hill.


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