Livigno opens the winter season with the Olympic champion Johannes Høsflot Klæbo

Livigno, 27.10.2022 - "I really enjoy being in Livigno. This is the third time I come back, after I came on two separate occasions last year. A wonderful place, where it is easy to do skiroll training, the weather is stable, and where everything is very functional for the athlete. Livigno is really the perfect place to do altitude training, and I am happy to be here" – said Johannes Klaebo, Norwegian cross-country skiing phenomenon, that opens Livigno's winter season by attending the ring opening, scheduled for Friday, October 28.

As is now customary, therefore, this year the Little Tibet will once again welcome the first snow training sessions of several international champions, starting precisely from the five-time Olympic champion and Sprint specialist, who will stay on site for almost four weeks. Thanks to its climatic and environmental uniqueness, Livigno confirms itself as a European reference point for altitude training, with an increasingly important list of athletes and federations choosing it to finalize their preparation. Excellence also certified by the recent investiture by CONI, which has made the location an Olympic Preparation Center.

Carlo Mornati, CONI Secretary General and Head of the Sports Office, recently commented: "Altitude training is a theme we have been pursuing for some time. We started in 2013 and with the Olympic Preparation Center in Livigno we have reached the goal. There are many federations that organize altitude training: we are happy to be able to offer, now, the opportunity to go to Livigno. Here we can concentrate all the summer federations, considering that the winter ones are already at home. We also want to bring a medical-scientific garrison there, a small cell of the Institute, because we need disclosure, knowledge and data collection. Livigno is a Center, unique in the world, that can accommodate all disciplines, and its climatic variety is decisive: every detail makes the difference."

Details that make the difference, such as that, another uniqueness, of Snowfarming, the snow-harvesting technique that allows a ring to be built as early as mid-autumn. The practice first involves collecting, between March and April, about 80,000 cubic meters of snow, which is then stored in the central plain, the heart of the cross-country track.

Here, the mountain of snow is covered with a layer of wood fiber and a geothermal sheet, which protect it respectively from summer air and sunlight. By doing so, the snow remains idle for the summer months, with an estimated loss of 20 percent maximum, ready for the August events (Gara delle Contrade and 1kShot) and for the cross-country track in late October. All this, of course, with a particular attention to sustainability, one of the most relevant issues for the future of the sport, which, as Klaebo himself admits, will have to face new challenges: "Cross-country skiing is going through a special period: one of the challenges of the future will be the lack of snow in several locations. I will do everything in my power to give attention to this sport. By traveling a lot and visiting many places, you can see how many people are in love with cross-country skiing. We need to continue to have the right thoughts."

Scheduled for Saturday, December 3, however, is the opening of the ski lifts: if winter is coming, it is already knocking at the door in Livigno.

For more information:

Daniele Pernella

APT LIVIGNO Press Office

danielepernella@dmtc.it

mob. +39 345 3733259

Thomas Confortola

Livigno Product Office

thomas.confortola@livigno.eu