By Teemu Virtanen
By now, all the Pro Team registrations have been submitted, and as always there are new entries, familiar faces and a lot of changes within the teams. Last season’s best Pro Team Team Koteng is going to have seven skiers for Season X, and all of them are experienced athletes and well-known Pro Skiers in Visma Ski Classics.
The Vasaloppet podium performers; Tore Bjørseth Berdal, Stian Hoelgaard and Torleif Syrstad are still in the group, and Chris Andre Jespersen, 10th at Vasaloppet, 6th at Reistadløpet and 7th at Engadin Skimarathon, continues wearing the team’s yellow racing suit.
On the women’s side, Astrid Øyre Slind gets great support from Kari Vikhagen Gjeitnes who transferred from Team Ragde Eiendom. Both of these athletes are going to be podium skiers next season. Interestingly, Masako Ishida is not within the team anymore, or at least she hasn’t been registered yet.
But who is their seventh skier? That’s the big question. According to their Pro Team registration form, there is one more skier whose name hasn’t been revealed yet. The team promises to let us know the identity of this athlete in a couple of weeks, but this is what we know so far. The person in question is a male skier, and he will do four races; Marcialonga, Vasaloppet, Reistadløpet and Ylläs-Levi.
So, it’s time to be engaged in a guessing game and let your imagination run wild. Who could he be? The former Team BN Bank skier Simen Østensen hasn’t signed in yet as none of the Pro Teams have his name on their roster. Maybe it’s him, or is the 7th one going to be a superstar of the sport? Stay tuned for the breaking news soon!
