Cross-country skiing: the FIS launches a new format, the heat-mass-start
Last week, when the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS ) unveiled the calendar for the 2025/2026 cross-country skiing World Cup, a new format was unveiled: the 5km mass-start heat.
Scheduled for 31 December in Toblach (Italy) for the third stage of the Tour de Ski, it will shake things up. As the FIS announced at the beginning of the week, this innovative race is the brainchild of the Polish and Swiss federations.
“In each heat, there will be around 20 to 25 cross-country skiers per gender – determined by the general ranking and with a maximum of three athletes per country – who will compete over a distance of 5 km. As soon as the first heat is over, the second will start, and so on,” it says.
In all, around ten races will take place on the same day. The winner will, of course, be the cross-country skier with the best cumulative time in all the heats, and the final ranking will also be determined according to this logic. All the times will count towards the overall classification of the Tour de Ski.
