Olympic gold medalist Sandra Näslund and all other World Cup skiers went directly from Beijing to Solnetjnaja Dolina in Russia for this weekend's World Cup start.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, the Swedish Ski Association decided on Thursday that no Swedes will compete in Russia in the near future, which meant that they began to arrange a return trip for the Swedish ski cross-country skiers.
- I had talks with most major nations yesterday and all of them - Switzerland, Austria, Germany, France, Canada - have the same attitude as us, says Eliasson Winter.
- But Fis (International Ski Federation) can not set up so close if you have no reason to do so.
But if we do not show up, it will be difficult for the organizer to get competitions.
The qualifiers for this weekend's competitions were carried out as planned on Friday morning.
But only Russian skiers came to the start.
- Then the competitions will be canceled, then there is no sporting basis to drive, says Eliasson Winter.
Sandra Näslund leads the World Cup big and could have secured the World Cup title at the competitions in Russia.