Nordic Ways has received confirmation from some international top skiers that they will take part in Summer Ski Sprint 2009.
One of them is Hilde G Pedersen, a veteran on the international cross country skiing scene and winner of Summer Ski Sprint in 2008. Others are Swedish skier Bjorn Lind, double sprint Gold medalist in Torino Olympics and Thobias Fredriksson, also a World Championships sprint gold medalist.
Later in this article, you can read a background on these skiers, but first, let us mention that Summer Ski Sprint also gathers many talented junior skiers who are just starting out their carreer..
To further promote Cross-Country skiing and encourage especially young skiers, Nordic Ways invited the winners of both the Swedish and the Norwegian Junior Championships in the Men’s and Women’s category to a free trip to China and Summer Ski Sprint. This is a good opportunity for young skiers to develop and at the same time gain a useful and interesting experience of skiing as far away from home as Asia.
The winners of the Swedish Junior Ski Championships that are coming to Inner Mongolia in June are Simon Persson who took part in the Men’s 17-18 yrs Class for Spölands IF, Johan Eriksson, Men’s 19-20 yrs class , Åsarna IK and Evelina Settlin in the Women’s 17-18 yrs Class who competes for Hudiksvalls IF
From Norway, Kari Slind from the Women’s 18 yrs class and Maiken Kaspersen Falla, 19-20 yrs class will be attending as well as Kjetil Ims in the Men’s 18 yrs class. Hopefully they will do well in the competitions that are held in beautiful Aershan and Yakeshi, Inner Mongolia from June 6-14th
Ski Profiles Background – Summer Ski Sprint 2009
Name: Hilde G Pedersen
Born: 1964
Country: Norway
Club: Nybygda IL
Hilde Gjermundshaug Pedersen has an Olympic Silver medal from the Salt Lake City 4x5km relay and an individual Bronze in the 10km Classic in the Torino Olympics 2006. Pedersen is the oldest woman ever to win a cross country skiing World Cup race, which she did at age 41 in January 2006 in Otepää, Estonia.
In addition, she has 122 WC starts, has been on the podium 13 times individually, and has numerous first places with the Norwegian relay team.
Hilde also performs as a top level ski orienteer and has taken three silver medals and two bronze medals in the World Championships. She was also the winner of the overall Ski-Orienteering World Cup in 1997.
Results – World Ski Championships:
Gold, 2005, Oberstdorf, 4x5km Relay
Gold, 2005, Oberstdorf, Team Sprint
Silver, 2003, Val di Fiemme, 4x5km Relay
Bronze, 2003, Val di Fiemme, Sprint
Bronze, 2003, Val di Fiemme, 10km Classic
Results – Olympic Games
Silver, 2002, Salt Lake City, 4x5km Relay
Bronze, 2006, Torino, 10km Classic
Name: Björn Lind
Born: 1978
Country: Sweden
Club: Hudiksvalls IF
Bjorn was in his first Olympics in 2002, Salt Lake City, but his Olympic gold medals came in the 2006 Torino Olympic Winter Games in Italy where he took an individual gold in the 1.4km Sprint Final (Freestyle), he also took an additional gold that Olympics together with the Swedish team in the team sprint classic style.
Bjorn has been on the World Cup podium 8 times individually and has 3 Sprint victories from 2005-06
Results – World Ski Championships
4th, 2005, Oberstdorf, GER, Sprint
4th, 2007, Sapporo, JPN, Sprint
Results – Olympic Games
Gold, 2006, Torino, Sprint
Gold, 2006, Torino, Team Sprint
Name: Thobias Fredriksson
Born:1975
Country: Sweden
Club:Axa Sports Club
Results – World Ski Championships
Gold,2003,Italy, Sprint (Freestyle)
Bronze, 2005, Germany, Sprint
Results- Olympic Games
Gold, 2006, Torino, Team Sprint
Bronze, 2006, Torino, Sprint