By Teemu Virtanen

Russian Winter, the Pro Team from Russia, performed well in Livigno when the new season started with two Prologue races; Pro Team Tempo & Livigno Prologue.

Alexander Grebenko was 13th in the men’s 35 km individual mass start race, 12 seconds behind the winner Emil Persson, Lager 157 Ski Team. Alexey Shemiakin was 26th, 41 seconds behind, Alexey Dvoskin 28th, 45 seconds behind, and Maxim Vylegzanin 29th, a bit over a minute behind, but he had some problems along the way that prevented him from performing at his usual capacity. In the women’s race, Anastasia Rygalina finished 9th, 47 seconds behind the winner Britta Johansson Norgren, Lager 157 Ski Team.

After Livigno, the team traveled to Ramsau in Austria and has been there training for La Venosta. For that particular race, Russian Winter is going to have the largest number of participants ever in a Visma Ski Classics event; 7 Pro Skiers of whom five are men and two women. Additionally, Ermil Vokuev became a father when his new-born daughter saw the light of day yesterday. The team hopes that this happy occasion will boost his motivation for the hard fight for the three podium places.