The cross-country skiing World Cup heads to Tallinn for a sprint race on Tuesday evening. There, only fluor-free products will be used; common waxing is also being tested.

During the World Cup competitions in Falun, the equipment was tested before the coming season’s introduction of fluor-free waxing. At Tuesday’s World Cup sprint in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, a couple of other skiing innovations will be tested.

Each nation may have a maximum of four people on its service team:

“A wax supplier leads the work on the common waxing. We get equipment and wax products from them, then stand in a large common room and wax. And our work will look very different to normal as we are not allowed to be out on the track and test,” says the Swedish waxing manager Petter Myhlback.

Here, all products will be fluor free, but there will be no tests for fluor or not on the skis.

“Each skier is allowed to bring two competition skis, but here there will be a huge difference if it is a pair of brand-new skis compared to a pair that has been raced on for a long time and is already ‘saturated with fluor.’ It creates great uncertainty.”

How do you see this agreement?

“I am a little worried that this is the beginning of a scheme that will be run in the future. I see waxing as part of the sport. After all, there is a moment of tension whether you hit it right or not. And then this can only be run when it is freestyle.”

If I understand it correctly, the idea was that all waxing would be done by “external waxers.”  

“It is true that the plan was like that. But we from the different nations’ service teams have been active in that we really want to take care of our skiers’ skis. It’s mainly about us borrowing the skis from the manufacturers, and who is responsible if a skier were to get back a worn ski that someone made a big scratch in,” says Myhlback.

See below the complete program with facts, start lists, and results for the World Cup in Tallinn.

FACTS Tallinn World Cup Season 2022/2023

• When: Tuesday, March 21
• Who: Elite national skiers
• Where: Tallinn, Estonia
• What: FIS Cross-Country World Cup in Tallinn, Estonia

PROGRAM

Tuesday, March 21: Sprint F (Find more details here)

• 16:00 CET: Sprint F Qualification, Men
• 16:00 CET: Sprint F Qualification, Women
• 18:30 CET: Sprint F Final, Men
• 18:30 CET: Sprint F Final, Women

New this season is the same race distances for women and men in all World Cup events, as the International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS) decided in May. Several other changes have also been introduced to the World Cup.

Read More: Cross-Country Skiing Changes And World Cup Calendar For The 2022/2023 Season

Also Read: New Distances At The Cross-Country Skiing World Cup