Simen Hegstad Krüger criticises new Tour de Ski format: "Ridiculous"

Simen Hegstad Krüger criticises Tour de Ski novelty: “Ridiculous”

Report from Toblach, Italy

On New Year’s Eve the Tour de Ski presented a brand‑new race format: 5 kilometres, four heats and a single combined result list. The novelty drew sharp criticism from several of the world’s top cross‑country skiers even as it produced an unexpected winner.

Gus Schumacher took a surprise victory and halted Norwegian dominance; the top seven places were occupied by seven different nations. Lars Heggen was the best Norwegian in third, while overall leader Johannes Høsflot Klæbo finished 12th.

But it was the format itself that provoked the strongest reactions, with athletes using words like “ridiculous”, “bingo” and “not fair”.

Simen Hegstad Krüger, who finished 24th, told NRK: “I think this is a somewhat silly format… it feels like we are racing a show event and not a World Cup race.”

Erik Valnes was equally blunt: “This should just be scrapped. I hope this is the first and last time. It separates very little. You have no overview and must hope those who work do a good job. There are many random factors.”

Emil Iversen (8th place) said the format might be exciting on TV but that it felt like “bingo” and was tiring for the athletes.

NRK expert Fredrik Aukland speculated that FIS may appreciate the new format because it broke Norwegian dominance and produced more exciting racing; he believes the distance could appear again in the future. FIS had not responded to the criticism at the time of reporting.

The competition was hectic at times, with numerous falls and broken poles on the fast course in South Tyrol. Klæbo described the race as demanding that required teams to work together and be ruthless; if your group failed to contribute you risked losing out.

A number of athletes welcomed the chaos and the wider spread of nations on the podium. Gus Schumacher said it was fun to see more competitors succeed and that some athletes truly enjoyed the format.

The winning time was about 9 minutes 30 seconds; several skiers were exhausted after the short but intense race. Lars Heggen summed it up as “really hard”.

The Tour continues the next day with stage four, a 20 km pursuit start. Follow via NRK Radio or NRK Sport coverage.