Cross-country skiing in crisis? Most things are not in Germany – the national team has no sponsors and no coaches: “Three can’t take it anymore – they were burned” | Sports

Money, coaches, ice training, interest ோது When the national team manager lists Germany’s absence from cross country skiing, the uncertain future for the sport in the big country is drawn.

A game in crisis?

At least there are no happy faces in cross country skiing. Norway dominates and interest is actually declining, especially in Central Europe – the most important area for sponsors.

In an interview with VG Gives a dark statement to Germany national team manager Andreas Schletter.

– I lost three coaches after the World Cup. They could not take it anymore. They were burned. Schlatter says I can’t bring in good foreign coaches.

In the early 2000s, Germany was a major power on the ski tracks, but the times when skiers like Tobias Anger, Axel Teachman and Rene Somerfeld were at the forefront are far away.

At home WC in Oberstarp, medals came in a combination of ski jumping and Nordic.

– There are more Norwegian skaters in the lead. Schlatter says cross country skiing on television in Germany is not interesting.

– Cross-country skiing should be a lot of fun. When Better North left, the children became interested in him.

Norway’s economy so far

According to the national team manager, German cross-country skiing could not get its own sponsors. Instead, you get a piece of cake for ski jumping and alpine collecting for the Sky Association.

VG says the German cross-country national team has a budget of nearly two million euros – the same amount as the Finnish national team, according to the Norwegian newspaper.

Sweden, for example, has a budget of around 4.5 million euros for its national team. The total budget of the Norwegian national cross country team is over 9 million euros.

Schletter believes the lack of a coach is one of the main reasons why it is so difficult to try to eat at the Norwegian front.

– We cannot hire a coach from Norway, Switzerland or the United States. One of our national teams will need snow training in the fall and May and June, but it was very expensive.

UK without sponsorship

Germany does not have to feel lonely. VG writes that Slovenia, the host of the next World Cup, has a budget of less than 200,000 euros.

Twice as much in the UK.

– We have no sponsors. Coach Jostin Wijerui says he has no interest in sponsoring British cross-country skiing.

The United Kingdom has saved costs by cooperating with Norway. The Norwegian service team is allowed to bring in three additional skiers as they also take care of the skiers of British skiers.

– We earn a lot from that collaboration. Winjerui says Norway is the best of all and has not lost anything.

Norway national team captain Espen Bjervic believes that interest in the countries will vary with the results, but agrees that it is important to develop the game.

– We can spice up the World Cup, for example, with evening races and prologues, but big jumps and falls do not make our game fun.