The last weekend in January will be without FIS Cross-Country World Cup events. Before the teams travel to Russia next week national champions will be found in Sweden, Germany, Norway, Austria and Finland.
Swedes begin on Wednesday in Östersund
Swedish nationals take place this year in Östersund. Sweden's national championships kick off with skiathlon over 15 and 30 km, which will be carried out this afternoon and evening. Team sprint is on the program on Thursday. Individual sprint is to take place on Saturday. All the big names of Swedish Cross-Country skiing are taking part except Anna Haag.
German nationals in Oberwiesenthal from Thursday
German skiers will be fighting for national champions titles in Oberwiesenthal from Thursday on. The Cross-Country skiing center in Erzgebirge will be hosting the three-day championships. Free technique sprint is on the program as the first title event followed with skiathlon and classical technique competitions.
Norwegian championships in Voss
Norwegian nationals are annually one of the biggest winter sport events in Norway followed by huge number of journalists and complete TV coverage. Ola Vigen Hattestad's and Heidi Weng's participation is in jeopardy due to illness and injury but other top Norwegian skiers will be competing in Voss. Petter Northug will take part only in the opening free technique competition on Thursday as he is then traveling to Italy to compete in Marcialonga.
Austrians to compete in Bad Ischl
Austrian championships takes place from Friday in Bad Ischl. Three competition are on the program. Friday will be featuring free technique sprint, on Sunday classical technique competition will take place. Austrian nationals will be concluded with handicap start competition in free technique.
Finnish titles to be distributed in Keuruu
Aino Kaisa Saarinen, Riita-Liisa Roponen, Matti Heikkinen or Sami Jauhojaervi will be competiting for Finish titles in Keuruu, which is located close by Jyväskylä, central Finland. Two competitions on Saturday and Sunday are scheduled. Saturday will be featuring a classical technique prologue and on Sunday new Finnish champions will be found after free technique handicap start race.
Contributed by www.xc-ski.de
