December 11, 2025
Winter arrived with a squeak, a thud, and a legal brief. First, the sport opened one door and slammed another: the International Ski Federation quietly waved in a tiny neutral trickle — yes, two Russian cross-country skiers, including Savely Korostelev and Daria Nepryayeva, can start chasing Olympic points in Davos — while biathlon, ever the stern schoolmaster, said absolutely not and marched off to court. The result is a traveling circus where skiers may be neutral but emotions are not. Sweden’s Elvira Öberg wondered aloud if it’s wise to have Russians roaming Europe with rifles, which sounds less like sport and more like the plot of a Nordic noir (her comments). Meanwhile, Russia’s biathlon federation stuffed its grievances into a suitcase and headed to Lausanne anyway, appealing to CAS like a student asking for extra credit after skipping the midterm (the appeal).
On the course, the week’s most memorable human snowplow arrived from the tropics. A 48-year-old Filipino newcomer, Edward Limbaga, took the World Cup start in Trondheim and promptly auditioned for the role of “That Guy You Tiptoe Around on the Downhill.” He finished last, broke a pole, and detonated a powder keg about safety and entry rules. FIS’s special early-season clause let him in; gravity handled the rest. The old-timers harrumphed, the cameras rolled, and somewhere Eddie the Eagle winked.
Sweden, never short on plotlines, ran a whole season’s drama in one commercial break. Sprint queen Jonna Sundling politely asked for a seat at the distance table — “it’s easier to say no if you never speak up,” she said, which is also how leftovers go missing in shared fridges (her nudge at selections). Meanwhile, teenage thunderbolt Alvar Myhlback stood on a World Cup sprint podium and declared he’s “not afraid” of the Norwegian wolves. He then caught a cold, because the gods of hubris abide by FIS scheduling, and might miss the Ski Classics opener. His teammate Emil Persson swears the Olympic finishing straight would suit him like a tailor-made double-pole tuxedo (those compliments), while Sweden’s selectors practiced musical chairs so hard that fresh World Cup winner Johanna Hagström found herself without a team sprint seat in Davos (yes, really).
Across the valley, biathlon put on its own morality play. France welcomed back Julia Simon under a cone of silence and a mountain of fines — no questions, please, just targets and skis (the hush-hush return). Finland arrived with half the team coughing but still smiling (illness wave), and Germany left star names home to find their mojo by the woodstove (Preuß and Grotian out). Through it all, Norway’s Sivert Guttorm Bakken came back from myocarditis to stack three top-tens in Östersund like it was nothing more than a long winter nap (his remarkable return).
And for dessert, ski jumping served a soap opera: Germany’s Karl Geiger, world champion and fan favorite, was dropped before Klingenthal to reboot the technique, just as Austria’s new dad Stefan Kraft rejoined the tour with a fresh baby and, presumably, a new appreciation for sleep. Poland, meanwhile, reminded everyone that even if federations open the gates, border guards carry the keys: Russian jumpers won’t be entering Zakopane, full stop (the ministry’s stance).
So that’s the week: doors creaking open, others slamming shut, teenagers barking at the moon, veterans checking the compass, and one brave beginner discovering that ski hills are steeper from the top. Bundle up. The saga is just getting started.