As opposed to many similar winter sports, Cross Country Skiing generates a strong level of TV exposure – particularly around the World Championships and the Winter Olympics.

The popularity of Cross Country Skiing is generally confined to Northern Europe and Scandinavia and being a winter sport, the Cross Country Skiing calendar is often over quite a short period meaning punters need to be on the ball to get their bets in.

Here is our guide to how bet on Cross Country Skiing intelligently:-

• Keep Tracks on the Tour
The FIS Tour that Cross Country Skiers compete on is an extensive and attritional, multi-race tour that sees competitors battle it out at different venues on a weekly basis. Each race is a real slog and a test of endurance and speed and often throws up some crazy results due to the variables each course and race can provide. Punters must keep an eye on previous results for each competitor, in both the male and female fields in order to make an informed decision on whom to back in each race.

• Target the Big Events
The lack of diversity in cross country skiing enables competitors to target the big events such as the World Championships or Winter Olympics to arrive in their best form. The Winter Olympics in particular are often the culmination of 4 years of planning and training for Cross Country Skiers and is the pinnacle of the sport therefore each competitor will be looking for every possible advantage in preparation for the event.

• Back the Straight Wins
Inevitably, there are always favourites in any race that takes place – in any sport but the unpredictable nature of Cross Country Skiing adds to its betting appeal with often up to 100 competitors taking part in any race, picking a winner can be a very difficult task but a very lucrative one for the punters who makes the correct selection.

The very nature of Cross Country Skiing, with its congested field often allows punters to bet on heavily inflated prices on the straight win market – allowing big wins to take place from minimal stakes.

• Bet on the Each Way Places
With so many competitors in any given Cross Country Skiing race field, the aforementioned lengthy odds can provide lucrative wins for all levels of punter. In addition, many bookmakers offer each way bets for the competitors who finish on the podium but don’t quite manage to get the win. With odds on Cross Country Skiing races often being as high as 40/1 on the straight win market, an each way win (at ¼ of the odds) can yield a handsome profit – for a minimal stake, with limited risk.

• Cross Country Skiing Knowledge is Key
As with most winter sports, knowledge of which skiers have performed well throughout the seasons, awareness of athletes that may be recovering from injury or which participants are part of a strong team, are all key considerations when staking on Cross Country Skiing. In addition, finding specific niches in the betting market can be the deciding factor when looking to win big with bookmakers generally not being too reliably informed on Winter Sports – particularly in the UK and the US.