Although the winter was well on its way a couple
of days ago, autumn apparently isn't quite ready
to let go for this year as the Norwegian, French
and Austrian team who had picked Lillehammer as
their training/competition venue had to see. Due
to the warm temperatures of the last couple of days,
jumping on snow on Lysga*rdsbakken was not possible,
so a change of plans was due.
The Norwegian national championships, which will
take place on this upcoming weekend, will hold the
ski jumping part on Oslo's Midtstubakken on Friday
before going to Beitost?len on Saturday for the
cross-country part. (find more information regarding
the schedule here)
The French and Austrian team simply focussed on
the cross-country part:
Sjusj?en, located in the mountains about 20 kilometres
from Lillehammer, offered perfect conditions and
with the biathlon season opening taking place there
this past weekend, there certainly was no shortage
of qualified training partners.
Austria's Marco Pichlmayer who captured the picture
above offered a fitting summary of the situation:
"As you can see, we won't be jumping on snow
here in the next couple of days. But on the upside,
we're having perfect conditions for our cross-country
training in Sjusj?en. A good thing is worth waiting
for!"