Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[BullsFan22]

Is there anything that makes him sus outside of him being Austrian and him becoming better this season?

I’ve been listening to his podcast and he’s very open about the problem with being Austrian and that the historic shadows that hangs over him and that was one of the reasons why he left Austria and moved to Norway.

Norway? Even better.

 

[Mayomaniac]

The Norwegians are just too fast when it comes to their skiing.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Jacquelin's pacing strategy is still absolutely perfect.

 

[titan31]

Laegreid and Christensen still keep the race alive longer for podium. Can't see either beating JTB

 

[titan31]

Norway going to lock out the podium here now. Laegreid might win this but JTB did seem to do a good last lap

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Looks like JTB has it, unless Lægreid has a sprint left in him.

Which he had!

 

[KZD]

Looks like JTB has it, unless Lægreid has a sprint left in him.

He had, quite happy for Lægreid

 

[titan31]

Ooh Laegreid done it. Was not expecting that considering his form ski wise all year

 

[kingjr]

Yeah, I think Norway's gonna be alright for this WC. (Top 5 skiing times)

 

[titan31]

Unlike the women's, looks like a decent pursuit coming. 9 under 1 minute and Ponsilouma is just outside of that

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Only 3.5 Norwegians in the top 4, so the French women were still stronger 😉

 

[titan31]

Few kind of random results here. Giacomel only missed 1 but he's 1.40 off which is odd considering ski speed he's shown recently so maybe wax gone very wrong.

Hartweg is 2 minutes off with only missing 1 so maybe he paid for skiing behind Dale for a whole loop.

 

[BigCoward]

Very happy for SHL. Makes relay selection even harder now, as if anyone was for the chop for Dale he was.

 

[titan31]

Eder won't make the pursuit

 

[search]

Looks like JTB faded a bit in the end. On the final 900m, he was among the slowest of those in contention for a Top 10.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The Norwegians are just too fast when it comes to their skiing.

Men's biathlon needs a longer penalty loop, the shooting is just not decisive enough with the ski speed advantages that we're seeing. Women's biathlon is balanced nicely but the men ski further and take less time to negotiate the penalty loop so it is less of a punishment to them to miss a target than it is in the women's races, and the standards have reached the level where somebody who is a strong shooter hitting 10/10 has to also be a top 5 skier, it should for ideal weighting of the skills against each other be balancing, on this results sheet, the likes of Rastorgujevs on 10/10 (19th best ski time) against the likes of Tarjei Bø on 8/10 (4th best ski time) - Rastorgujevs is not as quick as he used to be, but he's still in the highest quartile of the startlist for ski speed and hitting 10/10, but he's being demolished by somebody on 8/10 who isn't even an outlier for ski speed.

 

[BigCoward]

Men's biathlon needs a longer penalty loop, the shooting is just not decisive enough with the ski speed advantages that we're seeing.

In the sprint in particular. Feels like 200m for the sprint, 175 for mass start and 150 for the Pursuit would be about right.

 

[KZD]

Really surprised to see Barp reaching the sprint final today.

Tiril Weng seems to be improving.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Really surprised to see Barp reaching the sprint final today.

He managed to get really great speed on the finish both in the quarter and semi, I didnt know he is THIS quick. Shame he got blocked by Anger in the final, he could’ve definitively fought for the third place with a free lane.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Karlsson continues to be an absolute menace to herself and others. I mean, she's fun and all, but she kind of needs to be supervised at all times to prevent her being a danger to all and sundry.

 

[BullsFan22]

Didn’t watch the races, but Sundling not making it to the final is surprising. She does go out and hammer a little too hard, and she’s been outdone by both Skistad and Svahn the last couple seasons. Maybe a change in tactics is in order.

 

[nightowl]

I swear when I used to race in Canmore the uphill drag to the finish line was the most energy sapping thing in the world, but the pros make it look basically flat 😭

 

[nightowl]

Didn’t watch the races, but Sundling not making it to the final is surprising. She does go out and hammer a little too hard, and she’s been outdone by both Skistad and Svahn the last couple seasons. Maybe a change in tactics is in order.

She and Skistad both went for a finishing lane in the semi and she lost, from there she lost momentum and was boxed in

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Didn’t watch the races, but Sundling not making it to the final is surprising. She does go out and hammer a little too hard, and she’s been outdone by both Skistad and Svahn the last couple seasons. Maybe a change in tactics is in order.

This time the problem was that she didn’t hammer it.
I don’t understand why she thought age could beat Skistad and Svahn in a finish like this (big downhill and long flat finish stretch) in a “slow” heat.

I think her change of tactic should probably be to try semi final two next time it’s a skating sprint. She’s struggling to beat Skistad and Svahn in semis and with Diggins “always” pushing hard in semi 2 there is more likely 4 finalists from that heat.
So Sundling should try to pick heat 4 to avoid Diggins there, get an easy quarter final m, then just follow Diggins in semi 2 and then try to attack Svahn and Skistad in the final.

 

[Mayomaniac]

This time the problem was that she didn’t hammer it.
I don’t understand why she thought age could beat Skistad and Svahn in a finish like this (big downhill and long flat finish stretch) in a “slow” heat.

I think her change of tactic should probably be to try semi final two next time it’s a skating sprint. She’s struggling to beat Skistad and Svahn in semis and with Diggins “always” pushing hard in semi 2 there is more likely 4 finalists from that heat.
So Sundling should try to pick heat 4 to avoid Diggins there, get an easy quarter final m, then just follow Diggins in semi 2 and then try to attack Svahn and Skistad in the final.

Yeah, trying to win a fight for position with Skistad is usually a bad idea, not to mention her topspeed. Kinda funny how Skistad seems shy and akward off the tracks, but once the race is on she hits the switch and even talks a bit of smack.

Elia Barp was not happy with his performance in the final, he thinks he could have podiumed, but made some stupid mistakes. They asked him if he had a problem with Anger, but according to him Anger didn't do anything that he wouldn't have done himself and he only has to blame himself.
That said, this sprint course with the long finishing straight after a long downhill was perfect for him, he has a great V2 topspeed.