The Tour de Ski of cross-country skiers may not stop in Germany in the long term. That’s what the sports director for cross-country skiing in the German Ski Association, Andreas Schlütter, told the “German Press Agency”.
First it became known that Oberstdorf would no longer be available as a venue from next winter. Reasons are organizational problems, since in addition to the men’s Four Hills Tournament, a women’s New Year’s competition is also planned in Oberstdorf. In addition, the snow situation at the beginning of January in the Allgäu has been precarious for years, which means additional organizational and financial effort when preparing the cross-country ski runs in the Nordic Arena in Ried.
Since the world association Fis requires long-term planning security, but other potential German venues such as Oberhof, Oberwiesenthal or the Bavarian Forest are not yet an option for a variety of reasons, Germany could not appear on the tour calendar for years.
In the 17 years that the Tour de Ski was held around the turn of the year, Germany has only been missing once. In the 2013/2014 season, Oberstdorf had to pass. As a result, the Fis awarded the stages to Nove Mesto in the Czech Republic. So far, in addition to Oberstdorf, only Oberhof and, on the first stage, Munich had welcomed the tour. Other host countries are currently Italy and Switzerland, including the Czech Republic on several occasions.