Beijing Winter Olympics 2022

[BigCoward]

Individually Boe probably isn't a big loss but his experience in relays is very important, though Laegrid is an able deputy for the mixed. Are they likely to be able to make any events? I assume they will be OK for the mens/womens relay. And I thought most of the NC was towards the end, could Riiber still make some of it?

Separately, how can you not avoid getting flagged as a close contact for just 2 weeks before the Olympics?

 

[KZD]

Individually Boe probably isn't a big loss but his experience in relays is very important, though Laegrid is an able deputy for the mixed. Are they likely to be able to make any events? I assume they will be OK for the mens/womens relay. And I thought most of the NC was towards the end, could Riiber still make some of it?

Separately, how can you not avoid getting flagged as a close contact for just 2 weeks before the Olympics?

But is anyone stopped from racing the Olympics because they are close contacts or only if they are positive?
And the all notion of close contacts for a mild virus like this one (omicron variant) is kind of stupid but we know how the Chinese are sadly. This also shows that the Norwegians weren't exactly intelligent for sending their three biggest male contenders (Klæbo, Johannes Bøe and Riiber) in the same flight.

 

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But is anyone stopped from racing the Olympics because they are close contacts or only if they are positive?

close contacts can participate if they keep delivering negative results, but need to isolate before (single transfers, eat alone, 2m distance to anyone else, afaik) and also train alone. Halfvorsson and Grate for example are still stuck at training on small parts of the course only, not to get in touch with others. So it's definitely gonna be a disadvantage.

Same rules apply for everyone who gets back to the village (two negative tests 24h apart) after initially testing positive, afaik.

edit: same flight alone doesn't count as close contact, btw, so they also must have been seated almost next to each other, or spent time together before/after

 

[Samu Cuenca]

But is anyone stopped from racing the Olympics because they are close contacts or only if they are positive?
And the all notion of close contacts for a mild virus like this one (omicron variant) is kind of stupid but we know how the Chinese are sadly. This also shows that the Norwegians weren't exactly intelligent for sending their three biggest male contenders (Klæbo, Johannes Bøe and Riiber) in the same flight.

Røiseland and Eckhoff obviously made the right decision to fly out early, though as I understand it was paid for by sponsors.
The Swedish biathletes did the same thing.

Even if every guideline has been followed and everyone has been as precautious as possible, it was probably still a mistake that the Norwegians were travelling on the same plane as athletes from Denmark, Greenland and Sweden.

 

[Jagartrott]

A Belgian skeleton racer who had covid early January, tested covid-positive upon arrival, then negative twice, which indicates the PCR picked up on the old infection. Still, she was placed in quarantine, tested negative again, but is still a week in isolation with only limited training allowed.

 

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A Belgian skeleton racer who had covid early January, tested covid-positive upon arrival, then negative twice, which indicates the PCR picked up on the old infection. Still, she was placed in quarantine, tested negative again, but is still a week in isolation with only limited training allowed.

yeah, this is what I indicated above. Same for everyone who comes from quarantine (or was a close contact).

In her case the issue was, that (for whatever reason, either a misunderstanding, or due to a lack of single rooms) they didn't bring her back to the olympic village but to another isolation hotel. She's back in the village now though, in an isolation wing of the normal hotel

 

[OJRvE]

Ustiugov will not race the Skiathlon surprisingly. He was out training today so not ill though. Cramer has not commented why Ustiugiv is out, just that Maltsev will race instead.

I figured the Skiathlon was his biggest chance, so I guess he messed up his preparations somehow.

 

[DenisMenchov]

Prognosis for tomorrow:

Skiathlon, women:

1. Johaug
2. Karlson
3. Anderson

dark horse for podium: Sorina

Biathlon, mix relay:

1. Norway
2. France
3. Sweden

dark horse for podium: everyone else but mostly Belarus, Russia, Italy, Germany...

Ski jumping, women:

1. Klinec
2. Kriznar
3. Takanashi

dark horse for podium: Avakumova

 

[KZD]

I will go with

Women's Skiathlon

1° Karlsson
2° Johaug
3° Nepryaeva

Karlsson beating Johaug in a sprint, Nepryaeva beating the best of the rest the same way

Mixed relay:

1° Norway
2 ° France
3° Russia

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I think Althaus has to be a decent shot for the women's hopp, but the Slovenes will probably take this in the absence of Kramer who was the obvious favourite and it's just really sad that she has been withdrawn leaving a huge question mark over the competition result, a situation which I think nobody except maybe David Goldstrom will be happy with. I think Norway France Sweden and Belarus are the four teams that will fight out the biathlon. Germany's team has too many question marks and Russia have no weak points, but nobody as strong as some of the other teams have to offer either. Belarus are a bit of a wildcard but they're 2nd in the rankings for the format for a reason.

 

[BullsFan22]

Ustiugov will not race the Skiathlon surprisingly. He was out training today so not ill though. Cramer has not commented why Ustiugiv is out, just that Maltsev will race instead.

I figured the Skiathlon was his biggest chance, so I guess he messed up his preparations somehow.

Has back problems, again. Nothing serious, but they don’t want to risk it with the sprint only two days later and the other races he’s planning on doing.

 

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I think Norway France Sweden and Belarus are the four teams that will fight out the biathlon. Germany's team has too many question marks and Russia have no weak points, but nobody as strong as some of the other teams have to offer either. Belarus are a bit of a wildcard but they're 2nd in the rankings for the format for a reason.

As impressive as Sola's start to the season was, as bad was her performance recently, though. No idea if it was related to her illness (DNS in Oberhof), and not properly recovering from it - but she'd definitely need to up her game considerably again for Belarus to stay in contention.

If Nigmatullina doesn't lose too much, I actually do think the Russians have quite good a chance, btw.

Sweden - Russia - Norway for the Biathlon, due to the problems the Boe's had over the past days. Karlsson - Johaug - Pärmäkoski for the Skiathlon. Althaus - Takanashi - Bogataj for the Ski Jumping.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Has back problems, again. Nothing serious, but they don’t want to risk it with the sprint only two days later and the other races he’s planning on doing.

That sucks, I expected a lot from him in this race...

 

[BullsFan22]

That sucks, I expected a lot from him in this race...

Me too. With much different snow conditions than continental Europe, cold weather, altitude, I thought he could even challenge for the win in the skiathlon, given how well he looked early in the season. Focusing on the sprint, is, in my opinion, wrong. If he was confident in doing really well in the sprint, that means he should be in good form, which makes the decision to miss the skiathlon all the more perplexing, unless of course the back problem is worrying enough for him not to risk anything. Plus looking at the team sprint, the relay and likely the 50km. Surely they would have had him race in everything that he’s got a shot at medal in, which is basically everything but the 15km classic (though in great form he could certainly challenge in that as well). Cramer said that the tracks good but tough and the snow conditions very demanding, and that with the sprint only two days after, they felt the need to recover from the back problem and focus on the sprint more. I mean if his back is bad enough that they decided to skip a race that he’s traditionally done very well in, and skipping it in the Olympics, which he hasn’t raced in since 2014, then it wouldn’t shock me that it’ll cause him problems the entire two weeks. If he’s able to race the sprint, then he should be able to do the skiathlon as well. Going up against not just the Norwegians, but the French and Pellegrino, guys that are specifically preparing for that sprint will be tough.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Carlton Kirby is on the speed skating. FML.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Well the opening ceremony was underwhelming. Not that I was expecting anything extravagant because covid is still with us, but the Olympic cauldron especially was, um, demure. Maybe if the commentators hadn't hyped it up as much as they did...

I'm watching a replay of the women's skiathlon at the moment, the course looks like an airport runway. It's about as lovely as the xc races held in Dresden... at least Dresden has some historical buildings and monuments one can learn about. And I think there's even a river one can look at if bored with the action on the course. Regrettably I can't say the same about the course in China so far.

 

[Jagartrott]

I don't really understand short track. People/teams have been disqualified for next to nothing. It really is annoying that after every result, there is always uncertainty whether it will stand. It's a 'fast' sport, but the refereeing makes it slow and tedious.

 

[SafeBet]

Carlton Kirby is on the speed skating. FML.

That sounded like a familiar voice.

 

[Red Rick]

I'm honestly not really feeling the winter Olympics that much.

Could be that for The Netherlands it's basically mostly just another speed skating event lol.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Love how you guys mostly talk about XC, biathlon, speed skating. Probably the most exciting events in the winter games, if you ask me. We can get those too in the US, but you really have to dig to find it on TV. Sometimes, like the way the women's MTB XC race was last year, they just show us the last half-hour of some events.

Here in the US it is figure skating carpet bombing more than anything, by far.

 

[Koronin]

Love how you guys mostly talk about XC, biathlon, speed skating. Probably the most exciting events in the winter games, if you ask me. We can get those too in the US, but you really have to dig to find it on TV. Sometimes, like the way the women's MTB XC race was last year, they just show us the last half-hour of some events.

Here in the US it is figure skating carpet bombing more than anything, by far.

It'll stay that way for prime time NBC coverage. Thankfully USA is showing at least some of the other things. It appears the Olympic channel is showing "Olympic news" and not actually showing events. UGH!!!!!!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Love how you guys mostly talk about XC, biathlon, speed skating. Probably the most exciting events in the winter games, if you ask me. We can get those too in the US, but you really have to dig to find it on TV. Sometimes, like the way the women's MTB XC race was last year, they just show us the last half-hour of some events.

Here in the US it is figure skating carpet bombing more than anything, by far.

A lot of places are just a bombardment of the X Games crap like Slopestyle and Big Air, because the television producers want to appeal to what they think the youth are interested in. But as I pointed out with the similar trend in the Summer Games, if those sports were really as appealing as they think, the X Games would draw much bigger audiences.

However, we are also not a particularly representative group either - we are on this forum due to a shared interest in an endurance sport, so it's not surprising that those sports which have similar characteristics to the sport that unites us are the most popular ones on this board.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Carlton has never seen Nils van der Ploeg before clearly, he was going nuts about how far he was back when he was 1,5 seconds down at halfway, but he ALWAYS puts the big gains in at the very end of the run. He left it really close today as Roest put in a great time, but took a whole 1,5 seconds on the final lap alone due to that negative split and endurance.

 

[KZD]

A Van der Poel winning an Olympic gold medal, too bad it wasn't Mathieu last year in Tokyo. Still great performance from Nils.

 

[Red Rick]

Roglic apparently gave the Jumbo skaters behind the scenes tips on how to snatch defeat from jaws of victory.