The 2017 edition of China Tour de Ski once again features a long list of international star skiers that will face the best of China and Northern Asia. The Czech Republic’s Daniel Maka returns and Veronika Mayerhofer represented Austria at the latest Olympic Games in Sochi and will challenge Lisa Svensson
The stage race will begin on new year’s day on the slopes of Changbai Shan on the border between Jilin Province and North Korea. The Luneng Shengdi Scenic Area will host the first of all together six stages in the 2017 China Tour de Ski. Races will be held in four different locations and three regions of northern China: Jilin, Inner Mongolia and Beijing.
As we are approximately one month before the start of the event, the list of participants is gradually taking shape. The women’s competition may see a nice battle between defending champion Lisa Svensson (Sweden) and Austria’s Veronika Mayerhofer. Mayerhofer skied at the Sochi olympics and also represented her country as part of the national team at the world championships in 2013. She should certainly be in a position to give Svensson a challenge, although the latter of course has accumulated a lot of experience already skiing in China. Also American Lauren Fritz should be a presence on one or more stage podiums next month.
The men’s competition will see the number 2 from last year return and vie for victory: Daniel Maka from the Czech Republic scored four stage podiums but no stage win last year, and therefore lacked points to topple Emil Johansson from the top step of the final GC podium. Maka will face other fast skiers such as Norway’s Kent Ove Clausen, a regular presence at World Cup events, Niklas Persson (Sweden) who has achieved many podium places in the US SuperTour , and Germany’s Max Olex, who was a highly successful roller skier this season.
In the next weeks more names will be presented, as well as the names of the athletes in the Chinese team.
