The event will be held tomorrow at the Meteor Sports Complex in Peresvet with anyone eligible to enter.

Medals and gifts will be awarded with fans able to ride dog sleds and take part in various competitions.

Demonstration performances and a concert will also be part of the day.

The event is being held amid the doping crisis which is embroiling Russian sport.

Earlier this month, the International Olympic Committee ordered the country to compete neutrally at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics due to evidence of systematic cheating at their home Sochi 2014 Games.

Legkov has been stripped of the 50 kilometres and 4x10km relay gold medals he won in Sochi but will be appealing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport alongside several of his compatriots who have been similarly banned.

"I invite you together to open the ski season - there will be a ski race, we want to support our Olympic team, the guys go to Korea with Russia in their heart, they go to win and only win," Legkov said on Instagram. 

Both Legkov and Zimyatov, who won four gold medals across the Lake Placid 1980 and Sarajevo 1984 Winter Olympics, have joined the "Team Putin" organisation. 

This was created by ice hockey player Alexander Ovechkin as part of a bid to "unite" those who are proud of Russia and its President Vladimir Putin, while wanting to make the country stronger.

Team Putin has also advertised tomorrow's skiing race.

"I am glad to inform you that I join the friendly team of the Putin Team," Legkov added.

"We have common values, the main of which is pride in our great motherland, for Russia."