It was good news that landed in Gällivare just before lunchtime on Thursday.
The Congress of the International Ski Federation (FIS) established the calendar, which means that the first rounds of the World Cup begin in Ruka, Finland, and continue to Gällivare, Östersund and Trondheim.
Want to reduce climate impact
The World Cup is thus back in Gällivare after an eleven-year break.
The background is that FIS wants to reduce travel between competitions as part of the work for the climate.
"Previously, people have travelled from the Nordic countries to Central Europe and back to the Nordic countries. In this way, you want to reduce the climate impact, says Leif Johansson, chairman of Sportevent Gällivare.
500 skiers make demands
But travel is only part of the discussion about skiing and climate impact.
Recently, 500 athletes in various ski disciplines have written to FIS demanding that the season be postponed in time.
Not least in alpine competitions in Central Europe, early competitions have had to be cancelled or run on narrow strings of artificial snow.
Resting under cover at Hellnerstadion
The competition in Gällivare takes place on 2-3 December and even there you dare not rely on sufficient natural snow. Therefore, a layer of 15,000 cubic metres of artificial snow is now under cover and peat at Hellnerstadion.
This at a cost of between SEK 300,000-400,000.
In the video, Leif Johansson explains what it means for Gällivare as an organizer – and why FIS does not want competitions in April when winter is at its best.