News

Today, June 17th, the member races of Worldloppet – the worldfederation for marathon skiing – gathered for their Annual General Meeting. For the second time in history, the delegates met online, due to the pandemic. This also was the main topic of the meeting: The impact of the pandemic to the sport of popular cross-country skiing. The conclusion was, that we all survived the past two winters and that we can look positively into the upcoming winter: All races are working with high pressure on preparing their massstart events in 2022.

“All races are working with high pressure on making the upcoming cross-country skiing winter happen. We feel positive vibes for the coming season.”

Epp Paal, Worldloppet CEO

Calendar approved: These are the dates of the big ski marathons 

In order to give skiers enough time to plan their winter, the Worldloppet family has confirmed the race calendar for the upcoming 2 seasons. All 20 Worldloppet races, their main events and side events, can easily be checked on Worldloppet’s website.

Virtual Racing League is going into another season

When the project gathering all virtual events to one league started, it was planned as a one-year-project to overcome the pandemic-winter. But as the success of the league was quite big and the cross-country skiing community liked it a lot, Worldloppet has decided to extend the Virtual Racing League until the end of the winter season 2021/22. 

Already 130 people have become a Virtual Racer – the title one gets, after participating in 7 different virtual events. More are expected already over the summer time, as the first Worldloppet races announced the organization of more virtual events. 

Cancellation in Argentina & family help from Worldloppet member races

The big bad news at this year’s AGM was the announcement of Ushuaialoppet, that they have to cancel their race also in 2021. It was planned for August 2021, but the COVID-situation in Argentina and the local authorities let the organizers no other chance. 

Cancelling their race for the second time in a row now, brings the Argentinian Worldloppet race in a tough financial situation. To help them out, the family of Worldloppet races has agreed on standing together and help their Argentinian friends out. The Worldloppet member races are now supporting the Ushuaialoppet financially, so they can work on. 

Now the OC is working on a virtual event as replacement for this year’s cancelled in-person race.