"Now we are..." New details of the disappearance of the Ukrainian national team in Italy at the prestigious Tour de Ski have emerged

The head coach of the Ukrainian national cross-country skiing team, Oleksandr Putsko, has apologized for the incident with the team's refusal to start the pursuit race at the fourth stage of the Tour de Ski. The blue-and-yellow coach noted that the decision to withdraw from the competition was made because of the calendar.

Putsko said this in a comment to the Swedish edition of Expressen. The Ukrainian coach noted that the busy schedule of various tournaments requires a huge amount of effort from the athletes, so it was decided to save some energy and focus on other starts.

"We decided against the Tour de Ski because we wanted to make adjustments to our competition calendar. Now we will focus on preparing for the Junior World Championships and the remaining World Cup stages. There was a misunderstanding with the organizer. We apologize for the situation," Putsko said.

Earlier, he criticized European journalists for "blowing up the scandal" of the disappearance of Ukrainian skiers during the Tour de Ski, which took place in Toblas, Italy, from December 28 to January 1.

"From the very beginning, we planned to finish the Tour de Ski after the first stages. Everything was done in accordance with the documents," commented the national team coach.

The Ukrainian team will not take part in the second part of the Tour de Ski, which will be held in Val di Fiemme. The next start for the national team will be the World Cup stage in Engadin, Switzerland, scheduled for January 22.

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