Norway calls for transfer of all competitions’ stage from Russia

President of the Norwegian Ski Federation Erik Roste has appealed to the International Ski Federation (FIS) with a call to move the stage of all competitions from Russia due to the situation in Donbas, Report informs citing RIA Novosti.

Earlier, fasterskier.com, citing the director of FIS cross-country skiing Pierre Minieri, said that the organization is studying options for postponing the 2021/22 World Cup final, which is to be held in Tyumen, against the backdrop of fears of rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

After that, the FIS press service told RIA Novosti that they did not intend to change the calendar of the World Cup in cross-country skiing, as long as the safety of the participants and normal logistics are maintained.

“The dramatic development of events happened very quickly. Therefore, early this morning I sent an email to the FIS asking for a quick decision. The safety of our athletes is the most important thing, but there is something more. Now sport cannot be neutral,” NRK quotes Roste as saying, with reference to the NTB channel.

In February, “Solnechnaya Dolina” and Yaroslavl are to host the freestyle World Cup, and Moscow is to host snowboard competitions. In March, a stage of the Freestyle World Cup is planned in the capital, and in ski jumping in Nizhny Tagil and Tchaikovsky.