By the way, I wanted to say thanks for starting this thread. I don't particularly enjoy the format for pro level skiing in that it is always national teams. I kind of like the format for pro cycling better with athletes from many countries on trade teams. Of course that has the scenario of the best sponsored teams having the deepest payrolls. But I do really like the sport (the actual act of skiing, just did a virtual 50km skate ski race today), so in spite of not liking the format of national teams, I do like the actual sport.

Cool image from the relay (thanks fasterskier.com)