Parasport at the Nordic Ski World Cup: a cross -country trail for everyone

An encounter in the snow, not yet everyday on the edge of a World Cup trail. Kathrin Marchand from Cologne, 34 years old, had just finished her para qualification run when a young opponent, also with the start number on the jersey, came up with her. “Hey, good race!” Said the Swede, who has a similar restriction. Then they both chatted for a few minutes that the faster Marchand could not be obtained on the lane. “We talk to each other in parasport,” said Marchand amused: That was “different in the Olympic field”.

They are just starting to get to know each other better, the para-skiing runners and the Olympic cross-country skiers. At the Nordic World Championships in Trondheim, they share the stage on two days. They even run in the same trail-one after the other, and only a competition discipline, the sprint in classic technology, is still intended for the para athletes. But a start is made. It is also about “breaking down contacts,” says Marchand, who as an Olympic rudder, as a para-rudder and now also as a para-long runner.

It is actually a novelty that the organizers in Norway invited the para-runners to their snow festival. The impulse came from the organizer, says national coach Ralf Rombach: “The World Cup in Trondheim wanted to involve the para competition”, the World Association FIS approved. “They also wanted to set an example here. To be inclusive and sustainable fits the concept well. ” The ski athletes with restrictions that are not located in Germany in the DSV but in the German Disabled Sports Association (DBS) is therefore a huge new forum. “It will be an incredible highlight for all of us,” said Anja Wicker, 33, from Stuttgart, who starts sitting in the sled in the class, at a press conference last week. “I just think it’s great that we can present ourselves and our sport on such a stage.” It is also time. At the Paralympics in Sochi 2014, she experienced once 8,000 spectators in the stadium: “Unfortunately, there have been no so many since then.”

On Tuesday morning at the prologue, the qualification for the World Cup races, as thick, wet flakes, only a few hundred visitors were present. Because all athletes use the same stressed trail, the para competition was stretched to two days. If this Wednesday goes into the gold lane, it could be tens of thousands in the stands as usual; Six World Cup titles in three classes (standing, sitting, with visual impairment) can be won. Of the eleven German athletes, nine made it into the main round on Tuesday, including Anja Wicker. Surprisingly, however, Marco Maier, defending champion with the men, and Nico Messinger with Guide Christian Winker did not get any further. The new snow was to blame, believes national coach Rombach: Both athletes “live from strength” – they could not implement the energy in the soft track.

Only the World Cup sprint, particularly suitable for television, is shown to a large audience in Trondheim. The Para World Cup is divided into two, the other competitions had organized the FIS in Toblach two weeks ago. Part of the German team came to Trondheim on Monday by special train from Steinkjer in Norwegian. In Steinkjer the World Cup end of the season should have taken place on Sunday. Permanent rain destroyed the plans. The FIS jury canceled the final competition over five kilometers in classical technology, for Rombach “the only right decision” because the cross-country ski run was “no longer running”. On Friday, also in Steinkjer, Leonie Walter had secured the overall World Cup with their guide with a second place over ten kilometers with their guide; Wicker became the overall World Cup second.

Another novelty: the same prize money for cross -country skiers

Arrived in Trondheim, the para athletes are not just about sport. But also about participation, visibility, equality. You will receive 60,000 Norwegian crowns (around 5100 euros) for a World Cup victory, a record prize money, as the FIS Ski World Association explains. The national coach recognizes these efforts. The associations and the FIS, he said, “are very hard -working”, a lot is done for the Parasport that there are full -time employees for the division. But he also sees the difficulties: At the moment, parasport “cannot cause so many returns” because the media presence is manageable. And you notice that “that the FIS is a super tanker whose maneuverability is limited. This is simply a multi-snow sports association ”. In the biathlon association, he had the feeling that “things are put on the track faster”.

The situation is similar to Kathrin Marchand, the former Olympic carer, who, after a stroke, qualified for the Paralympics in Paris and only seriously began cross -country training in autumn. In rowing, she says, the athletes, para or not, all competitions for years, including the World Cup. This inclusion is also available in canoe. “For me,” says Marchand, “it is only new that this is new in skiing.”

As is going on at the next Nordic Ski World Cup in Falun in Falun, the example also depends on the example of Trondheim. Kathrin Marchand would still have one idea: it would be nice, she says, if everyone in the World Cup athletehotel collects all of the meals. There are still separate dining rooms.