Final preparations for World Military Championship in Skiing

The best male and female skiers in the Serbian Armed Forces are finalizing on Kopaonik Mt. their preparations for the 52nd World Military Skiing Championship which will be held in Finland from 24 to 29 March.

The three-member men's national team in the giant slalom, a discipline in which two girls in individual competitions will also present us, and three Serbian athletes (two boys and a girl) in the Nordic disciplines are undergoing final training process in the period from 2 to 20 March before the very important competition.

Colonel Dragan Djini, Chief of the Serbian Delegation to the International Council of Military Sports (CISM), commended the hosts from the 51st ski range, as well as the Grand Hotel, which made available its infrastructure for fitness training and relaxation of the competitors, and PU Ski Resorts of Serbia, for allowing free use of slopes and lifts for our competitors.

– They have, each in their own way, contributed to the successful organization of the winter training camp, so that male and female skiers have optimal training in the morning and in the afternoon, on the eve of the very strong competition, in which many skiers who defended the colours of their respective countries at the Winter Olympics Games in Sochi will also take part. Experiences from the previous military world championships show that the thirty best placed skiers are holders of FIS points, which means that they are professional athletes.

Captain Daniel Pesic, Captain of the alpine team, said that he was satisfied with the preparations and that the initial problems with the snow, luckily, lasted for a short time.

– The conditions are good, at the moment there are no opportunities for better, and the only problem we have is with the equipment, because each contestant uses his own, and it usually is not at the necessary level for top-class competition.

Sergeant First Class Igor Vukovic, a member of the "Cobra" special purpose battalion, captain of the Serbian competitors in Nordic skiing reminds us that we, when it comes to the Nordic disciplines in the Serbian Armed Forces, began to compete in 2006.

– We participated in the World Championships in Switzerland and since then we have been active in this discipline, which is physically and technically demanding because it burdens all muscles of the body. Conditions at Kopaonik are great, we are in satisfactory physical condition and we will give our maximum in Finland and we will see where we are in relation to other sporting nations.

Our skiers have achieved the greatest success at the world championships, in Italy, in 2010, when the Serbian men's team won the bronze medal in the giant slalom.