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Best of YouTube: Nordic Skiing Edition
By:  Karl Saidla   (2013/09/13)

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I have to admit that I was really struggling to find some subject matter for this week’s article. In cases like that, sometimes it is best to steal other people’s work that you admire while giving them credit.

In that vein, I am providing below some links to what I find are some very entertaining videos of cross-country skiing and racing. Of course, I know you are all too dedicated to your jobs or schoolwork or whatever it is you do besides skiing to really sit down and watch all of these from start to finish (I will certainly never admit to having done that), I think that these are actually good enough that you don’t have to. If you open them and watch virtually any segment, you will likely think it was worth the trip.

So, here they are, with some very limited introduction from yours truly.

The following video appears to be a Swedish documentary features on team Sweden’s training camp in Silver Star leading up to the 1988 Olympics. It includes footage of stars like Svan and Wassberg training in Silver Star, as well as an explanation from Norm Crerar about how this training camp was the catalyst for a major expansion of Silver Star’s trail network. I wish I could speak Swedish….

Continuing with the Swedish-Canadian theme, the next one is of the men’s 50km race from the Olympics in 1988. The way I recall, the Swedes struggled in the early part of the Calgary Olympics, but Svan found his game in the relay and carried it through to the 50k. This video is interesting in that all the all the skate techniques we use today are evident..but you can see some people weren’t comfortable with all of them, and there wasn’t exactly consensus about when to use each one.

The following is some footage from the 1972 Olympic Men's 50km race. The camera work and the music are certainly notable for their artistics, as is the fact that some people are racing in wool sweaters. Watch for the great segment where they show the course profile and then some skiers struggling over the high point.

The following was obviously put together by a Bente Skari fan. Given that her skiing is what I picture when I think of good classic skiing, I am going to include the following:

Raisa Smetanina raced in 5 Olympics starting in 1976 and finishing in 1992. In the process, she won 10 Olympic medals including the last one at age 39 as part of the Unified Team’s relay. The following video appears to be the 5k from Innsbruck in 1976, in which she won a silver medal.

Everyone from around here has something to say about the Canadian Ski Marathon. I doubt many of us have watched this documentary footage. I personally really like the “ski pole as rudder/brake” technique.

For this next one, I’ll quote description on the YouTube page :

“Bill Koch doing his springtime ski thing, living the dream and kicking a little butt while doing it”
Buy the whole video, all the while supporting some American skiers by going to:
http://www.nensa.net/store

Buy the whole video, all the while supporting some American skiers by going to:
http://www.nensa.net/store

Finally, no cross-country ski video collection could be said to be complete without some footage of Jackrabbit. This Radio Canada archived footage is in French, and features Jackrabbit himself (speaking French, no less) and encouraging vigorous exercise and moderation in eating, drinking and smoking.

 


 
Interesting Reading. . .
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