With the Blinkfestivalen coming up from 3rd to 6th August, the Rollerski competition season goes into full swing. The prestigious event takes place annually around the city of Sandnes, located around 500km west of Oslo, close to the south-western Norwegian coast. It marks the beginning of the Rollerski competition season and welcomes international skiers from 21 countries for its 17th edition this year.

Wednesday, 3rd August - Lysebotn Opp

The international line-up of top athletes will first meet at the traditional “Lysebotn Opp” race. A 7.5km track with an altitude difference of 640m.

No one less than Cross-Country icon Therese Johaug has set the track record of 30:45 minutes at last years competition. The runner up, Heidi Weng, is entered to defend her superb result as well as last year’s third placed Delpine Claudel from France. The course track - that reminds of the prestigious Alpe Cermis race during the Tour de Ski - might just be of Claudel’s taste, as the 26 year-old has repeatedly showed impressive performances on the “Final Climb”.

Getting to race the Lysebotn Opp competition, along a road that impressively meanders up the hill to the mountain top, surely found its place on the “to do” list of many athletes. Therefore, also the mens starting field is announced to be the meeting point of Norwegian national athletes, competing against their opponents from the winter races from national teams of France, Great Britain, Sweden and more.

A special edition of the Lysebotn Opp race marks the double poling event and is directed to the Cross-Country specialists who compete at the Visma Ski Classics. But the record holder of this discipline can be followed at FIS Cross-Country World Cup competitions in winter and comes from the British Team. Andrew Musgrave is the defending champion – and entered to defend his title, even after suffering a shoulder injury at the beginning of the past season.

Thursday, 4th August - BLINK Classic

The world's Cross-Country elite and Distance competitors will have their eyes set on Thursdays BLINK Classic 50km Mass start race in Classic technique. It is the grand gathering of the international elite for the first time during their summer training and may indicate where they are performing at in a direct comparison.

"Cross-Country skiers are made in summer" - and as the saying goes, four rounds of 13km each are on schedule, making the athletes complete a 52km course track. With an impressive starting field of 40 women and a large number of 125 male competitors signed up, the long-distance competition will truly be the place to meet.

Friday, 5th August - 10km/15km F

A 10km, respectively 15km Mass start in Free technique will be held as an evening event in the city center of Sandnes. The competitions will be accompanied with a full folks fest around town, including concerts, daytime activities for children and a great atmosphere to celebrate the worlds top Cross-Country, Biathlon and Rollerski athletes.

Saturday, 6th August - Sprint day

Almost as a showdown, the Sprint competitions will conclude the week of high level competitions. Along with his team colleagues, the latest Sprint Crystal Globe winner, Richard Jouve from France has signed up and ready to defend his title from last year. Last year’s finalists Lucas Chanavat (FRA), Renaud Jay (FRA), Andrew Young (GBR), among other international stars such as Federico Pellegrino from Italy, are looking to challenge the national Sprinters of Sindre Bjørnstad Skar, Pål Golberg, and Håvard Solås Taugbøl.

The participation field for the women’s Sprint is still open but no less than Swiss Sprint ace Nadine Fähndrich, Czech’s sprint expert Katerina Janatova along with Slovenia’s best sprinter  Eva Urevc are already signed up for the challenge.

All competitions will be broadcasted on NRK 1. Click here to see the full schedule of Blinkfestivalen 2022.