In front of Visma Ski Classics season XII, a new bib is launched for veterans, defined as 44 years and older. The Veteran Bib is worn by the male or female athlete with most SC Ranking points.
When season XII starts the Veteran Bib will be worn by the legend Anders Aukland from Norway.
“We have had a Youth Bib for athletes under 27 years of age for a long time. It's no more than right that even the slightly more established athletes also get their own bib to fight for. They are great profiles and legends for our sport and this is a way to give something back to them. What is special with the veteran bib is that it is decided from our gender free ranking in which also non Pro Team skiers are in. So potentially it can be worn by a recreational skiers as well in the future, but I think Anders Aukland will have a hard time retiring now for the coming ten or twenty years, at least that is our goal with the Veteran bib...” says Visma Ski Classics CEO David Nilsson.
The rules for the Veteran Bib is the following: The veteran bib is worn by the male or female athlete with most SC Ranking points of age 44 or above. The age of the athlete is determined by the year when the Ski Classics final of the season take place. Awards will be handed out to the Veteran bib leader at the Ski Classics Final Gala.
The SC Ranking is for all skiers in the Visma Ski Classics races, men and women in the same ranking list. The best 12 event points last 24 months are counted in the total points.
The SC Ranking points are calculated on the percentage time a skier is behind the winning time in their gender with an exponential drop of points. In a Pro Tour event the winning athletes receives 2.200.000 points, in a Challenger event the winners collect 500.000 points.
There are in total about 17,000 skiers in SC Ranking competing for the Veteran Bib, see top 20 list below.
On top there are two of the legends of the sport, who are also still fighting in the top of the Pro Tour. The soon to be 50 years old Anders Aukland, born 1972, leads the Veteran competition is 21st overall in SC rankning before Stanislav Řezáč, born in 1973, is 31st overall and second on the Veteran Bib list.
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| Veteran Bib standing: | Points |
| 1. Anders Aukland, NOR 1972 | 22,072,007 |
| 2. Stanislav Řezáč CZE 1973 | 20,248,901 |
| 3. Florian Göbel GER 1972 | 14,364,169 |
| 4. Michal Sedláček CZE 1975 | 8,753,698 |
| 5. Stefan Palm SWE 1970 | 6,049,595 |
| 6. Ragnar Crona SWE 1972 | 5,663,520 |
| 7. Lubos Krejza CZE 1971 | 4,528,642 |
| 8. Øyvind Tormod Wennersberg NOR 1955 | 4,134,927 |
| 9. Björn Haring SWE 1972 | 3,978,564 |
| 10. Heikki Isoranta FIN 1974 | 3,939,018 |
| 11. Anders Böhlmark SWE 1973 | 3,896,700 |
| 12. Alexander Bochkarev RUS 1970 | 3,875,179 |
| 13. Björn Wennblom SWE 1975 | 3,789,473 |
| 14. Marco Crestani ITA 1964 | 3,674,858 |
| 15. Marco Mosconi ITA 1971 | 3,553,515 |
| 16. Karin Weltert SUI 1976 | 3,544,317 |
| 17. Ulf Jansson SWE 1968 | 3,537,894 |
| 18. Fredrik Wallström SWE 1978 | 3,369,189 |
| 19. Dan Moberg SWE 1977 | 3,343,621 |
| 20. Roberto Fraboni ITA 1974 | 3,252,262 |
