In cross-country skiing, it has become fashionable to ski without poles. Many think they can ski the entire Vasaloppet, but few manage to do so.
– It's a growing problem for us. Too many watch Ski Classics (the long-distance cup) and think they can do the same as the elite skiers. But at Evertsberg or Lundbäcksbackarna, before Oxberg, they can't anymore. Then many start cheating, which annoys fellow competitors who do it right and ski with poles. Moreover, they ruin the tracks for those who come behind, says Tommy Höglund.
Extended controls
He estimates that out of the 15,800 who start in Vasaloppet on Sunday, at most 2,000 can ski the entire race without poles.
But many more try to ski without poles, says Höglund.
In connection with the latest Ski Classics competition, which was held in Grönklitt outside Orsa, several elite skiers were disqualified for cheating.
It was nothing compared to what we see in our video recordings from Vasaloppet. Here it's much worse, says Tommy Höglund and explains that the organizer will increase the number of controllers against cheating. This year, there will also be controls further down in the starting field compared to before.
"Train double-poling"
Long-distance skiing queen Britta Johansson-Norgren, now an expert at SVT, was one of the first women to start skiing entire long-distance races without poles. She is positive towards skiers who try to learn double-poling, but emphasizes that Vasaloppet is a much bigger challenge compared to skiing nine miles in training.
I've seen many who will try to ski Vasaloppet without poles, but no one who thinks about how they will handle the situation if they can't ski without poles and therefore have trained proper double-poling. If you get tired and can't take it, you shouldn't ski without poles.
Many think they can take a few glide steps, as they've seen the elite do on TV. But they don't see that warnings and disqualifications are handed out outside the broadcast. It's never okay with cheating.
