Cross-country skiing: World Cup start for Russian cross-country skiers still open

Only one week before the start of the World Cup season, the six Russian cross-country skiers around Sochi winner Alexander Legkov, who have been banned from competing in the Olympics, are still open. Following the annual autumn meeting of the FIS Council in Oberhofen/Switzerland, the FIS announced a press release for Thursday. One day later, the first World Cup races will take place in Kuusamo, Finland.

At the weekend, the Russian athletes again took part in official test races. Amongst others, Jewgeni Below won a ten-kilometre victory in Gällivare, Sweden.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had recently suspended six Russian athletes for life in all functions for Olympic Games. For the World Cup, however, the sextet is entitled to take part according to the current state of play, because the provisional FIS ban on 31. October has expired.