How to watch cross country ski racing on TV
With the Olympics comes increased tv viewership for cross country skiing. When you are new to watching cross country skiing you may not notice some of the different strategies and tactics that are at play with the different teams and athletes.
Drafting
The first key thing to know about is drafting. Drafting on skis is very similar to cycling or car racing except it has slightly less of an effect due to the slower speeds. It is slightly easier to ski behind another skier and have them block the wind. When skiers are in the classic tracks and to a lesser extent in skating, it can be faster to ski in someone tracks since the snow is slightly warmer and transformed by every skier that skis over it. So, the skier who is 4-5 skiers back from front is not working quite as hard as the skier out front. There also seems to be some phycological benefit and to being tucked in the draft of a group of skiers.
Skis
Every team and skier is looking for the fastest skis possible and most of the time there is not much difference between skis. There are days however when one skier or team does end up with a slight advantage because of the skis and you can see that athlete pull ahead on the downhills or if someone misses the grip they may struggle uphill in the classic events. Take note of the skis on the downhills this ski speed can play a factor in the sprint to the finish. Often, it is one skier or team who uses the wrong skis or wax for the day.
Position in a group of skiers
Being in a group comes with some risks such as a skier crashing in front of you or the inability to get past a skier if they cannot keep up with the pace of the group leader leaving you left behind. For example, if you get stuck behind a skier who cannot maintain the groups speed you may lose contact with the skiers who are at the front of the group as the group splits into smaller groups. You will then have to bridge the gap to the group in front who maybe working together taking turns leading the group and sitting back in the draft.
Watch for little gaps
When skiers skiing in a group there are often signs that one skier is weaker or having trouble with the pace. Watch for a skier who ends up a little bit behind at the top of a hill or drops back on the flats and must make up time to the group on a downhill. Skiers just hanging on at the back generally end up getting dropped but some skiers also drop back in the pack to take advantage of the draft especially early in a race.
Pitch
Watching skiing on a flat screen tv makes the terrain look much flatter than it really is. Because the top skiers ski so much faster than most of us the length of the hills can also be deceiving. It may look like a short hill because it takes the top skier one 90 seconds to climb but for most people skiing recreationally it could take 3-4 minutes or more. The downhill sections also look way easier on the tv compared to if you were trying to navigate the corners 50km per hour.
Pace
The pace within the race is not as consistent as most people might think. The speed of the front of the group will go up and down. Part of this is that the speed changes get magnified as you move back in the pack of skiers. These pace changes work as a tool to break a pack of skiers. As you get towards the end of a race you will see some of the poorer sprinters try to push the pace up to drop the better sprinters. You may also see some skiers boost the speed up to a km from the finish to try and fatigue the sprinters, so they don’t have the same final kick at the finish. The pure sprinters will of course try to keep the pace of the group slow to make sure they are in the mix for the final sprint.
Watch the head and shoulders
As skiers fatigue you may notice they put their heads down or you will see more side-to-side motion especially in the shoulders. You may also see their technique or general body movements look a bit sloppier. Skier now are more physiologically trained so the visual clues of fatigue are becoming less and less evident.
The final few corners
Position on the track becomes increasingly important in the windup to a sprint finish. Being on the inside of the final corner can be an advantage for the final sprint plus the person in front going into the final straight gets to pick the best lane in.
Sprint races
Sprint races are not that different from distance races. They are faster and everything is magnified, especially the position in a group where crashing or even being gapped by a few meters can be the difference between winning and 6th place.
Individual start – Time trials
Individual start or time trails where every skier ski the course individually with the fastest time winning. You will see that some skiers start too fast and end up falling back at the end while other skiers build their pace as the race goes on. Usually, the better skiers start near the end, so the early results are often vastly different from the final results. You will also notice that there are skiers that are better at the individual start format.
Enjoy the show
Ski racing is unpredictable. Crashes happen, skiers collide, poles get broken, and skiers sometimes just run out of steam, so you never know until the race is over who is going to be the winner. Sit back, relax, have a coffee or a drink, and enjoy the show!
