KONONOVSKAYA (Arkhangelsk region), June 15, Sergey Smyshlyaev. Three-time Olympic champion Russian skier Alexander Bolshunov in an interview criticized the decision of the International Ski Federation (FIS) to change the length of competitive distances. The FIS Council approved the equal length of distances for women and men in cross-country skiing on Wednesday at a meeting in Milan. Starting from the start of the new season's World Cup, women and men will run the same distances — 10, 20 and 50 km. «Such changes are not normal,» Bolshunov emphasized. «It seems that cross-country skiing is heading in the wrong direction. Then they want to remove distances with «classics», and this is what ski racing started with, I don't see the point in it at all. When making such serious changes, you need to first ask the athletes themselves, from that! But it turns out the other way around, one person from FIS takes global decisions that really do not suit 80-90% of athletes. And a maximum of 10 people who run the stages of the World Cup can support this.» mass start of one and a half kilometers and leave the sprint. Even when we run a 15 km mass start, then 15-20 people come to the finish line in the lead, the distance is short, and many are ready to withstand these speeds. These changes are wrong. «At 15 km she always showed all the qualities of an athlete, and now she is being cut. It does not suit me,» the athlete admitted.
