The study gives an overview of the winter sports research projects of Saint Petersburg Scientific Research Institute of Physical Culture (SPSRIPC) with a special emphasis on the versatile tactics of the elite cross-country skiers in simultaneous-start and pursuit ski races for the competitive performance improvement purposes. Objective of the study was to analyze the modern cross-country skiing tactics most efficient in contact races. 30 elite national cross-country skiers were sampled for the study of their competitive performance in 11 events of the 2017-18 World Cup finals. The study profiled the interval speed and speed variation ranges in the events including the simultaneous-start and pursuit races to find the speed sagging trend in the middle-distance section and rate accelerations in the final section. The leading athletes were tested with the highest speed variation range on the middle-distance intervals - from 3.33% to 8.35% in the 15km races to 6.1% to 10.7% in the 30km skiathlon. The leaders` competitive performance was found largely determined by the speed controls on the difficult terrains in the middle to final sections of the distance. The study data and analyses may be beneficial for the initiatives to improve the elite cross-country skiers` training systems. It should be mentioned that most important for success in the simultaneous-start and pursuit races is the ability to speed up on the distance and fast recover thereafter, plus prudently save necessary energy resource for the finishing spurt.
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