Jaunumi

This Saturday in Lithuanian city Druskininkai indoor alpine skiing track “Snow arena” with the first stage will start the Baltic cup in alpine skiing organized by Latvian Skiing association. Two days competition this weekend on Saturday and Sunday will include slalom discipline for all groups, including all three youth groups – U12, U14, U16 – and also Elite and U21 group. First stage of Baltic cup in all groups will gather record number of participants – more than 250 alpine skiers from more than 12 nations. The Elite and also U21 group, which is actually juniors, will compete in FIS Entry league slalom races.

The eight’s season of several stage alpine skiing competition Baltic cup, which is the strongest and most prestigious in Eastern European region, will kick off this weekend, when several hundred alpine skiers from more than twelve countries will gather in Lithuanian south city of Druskininkai, which is very close to Belarus and not far from Poland’s border, and which has the indoor alpine skiing track “Snow arena”. This winter sports complex was built four years ago and is the only of such kind in the Baltic States. “Snow arena” has alpine skiing track of 50m width and 460m length, but the vertical drop is 60 metres.

In February Latvia for the first time hosted the FIS races in alpine skiing, and now it will be the turn for Lithuania to experience the same, but with the help of Latvian Skiing association, who are the organisers of Baltic cup. So the first stage, which consists of two competition days, will take place on the 7th and 8th November. Both days alpine skiers will compete in slalom discipline, youth and masters making two runs, but elite and U21 group as FIS Entry league race participants will have to complete three runs, in order to comply with FIS rules due to the course specification. Baltic cup in “Snow arena” will the third international competition this season in FIS calendar and second in Europe after the World cup in Soelden, which opened the new season on the 24th  and 25th October.

This year the competitors field in Lithuania promises to be much wider and stronger than in 2014, because besides the last years representatives of Baltic countries and Belarus, so far also participants of Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Turkey, Spain, Ireland, Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Roumania have announced about their participation this year.  Together in all groups more than 250 participants from 13 countries has registered for the first stage. At the moment number of athletes in the FIS race exceeds 70, but number of alpine skiers in youth and “Master” groups is approaching the 200. Besides organisers nation Latvia and local nation Lithuania also Russians and Belorussians will arrive with quite big squad.

Baltic Cup, Snow Arena, Druskininkai (LTU)