Doping in XC skiing

[BullsFan22]

Re:

Should have been penalized. But that's not a topic for the Clinic. And this screaming? Hardly a result of PEDs. More a result of wearing her heart on her sleeve. It was cute the first time, in Holmenkollen, but it's getting too repetitive. Like she was almost as happy over making it to the semis in a TDS sprint as she was winning the 30km in Kollen. Really?

Johaug screaming and barely out of breath is not what I expect after going all out for 3 minutes on a hard track that was made harder by the rough and choppy/soft conditions.

As far as the skating is concerned, there is nowhere else to put the topic. This is the only (to my knowledge) xc topic on the cycling news forum. The point is, the powers that be are afraid to penalize the top athletes, particularly the Norwegians. Remember, a few years ago, Rickardsson was penalized a few minutes for doing a similar move that Northug made? Northug was given a warning. Seems like FIS is afraid of even touching the Norwegians.

 

[MrRoboto]

Re: Re:

As far as the skating is concerned, there is nowhere else to put the topic. This is the only (to my knowledge) xc topic on the cycling news forum.

Look in the general forum.

The point is, the powers that be are afraid to penalize the top athletes, particularly the Norwegians. Remember, a few years ago, Rickardsson was penalized a few minutes for doing a similar move that Northug made? Northug was given a warning. Seems like FIS is afraid of even touching the Norwegians.

It has, as you say, probably more to do with the top racers than they being norwegian (which isn't very surprising). Dyrhaug was relegated for skating f.ex. When that is said, it would be interesting to see what he did and compare it to Johaug and others.

 

[python]

johaug's screaming definitely irritating. but that's her and nothing against the rules or relevant to doping. it's only relevant to my sympathy for ANYONE capable of beating her.

regarding her skating, i'd say she was on the limit w/o crossing the line. this year the new, tougher rules for the style violation have been enacted. my understanding of the changes is that anything beyond a 3d step, unless its a turn will be a DQ. including the frequent lane changes.

can't say if the norwegians are getting an easy ride, but i would feel confident to say that both sundby and johaug are conscientiously playing at the rule limits to gain an advantage.

 

[Trond Vidar]

Re: Re:

I'd like to ask someone (anyone) with some insight on number of registered xc skiers in Norway and other countries, cause that is definitely something influencing performance of their athletes. I've heard that 4 out of 5 milion Norwegians are registered (that is huge relative number) and kids entering 4th class at primary school are mostly registered in not one, but two ski clubs. I wonder about about comparison with other nations. Thank you for your opinions!

To give you an idea. In my local county or region (one of 19 in Norway). There is about twenty times the amount of registered skiers in the age group between 13-19 than the in the same age group in the entire nation of Italy. On a typical wednesday in a small city like Tromsø more than 1000 kids meet up to compete every week. In most other countries the amount of registered xc skiers would be in the hundreds. So basically small Norwegian towns would crush entire nations when it comes to the amount of registered skiers.

I can only attest to this. Skiing is the national sport. It means that when we get into the junior years, those with a unique and raw physical/mental talent actually chooses XC-skiing moving forward. In almost every other country that talent pool would chose something else entirely, because of the low status of xc-skiing. Even Northug said so way back, that if Norway had a different national sport he would have gone that route instead.

In sweden, skiing is now losing their talent to bandy.

So all those great handball, soccer, hockey players, biathletes, nordic combined, ski jumpers, alpine skiers...are just a junk, what's left after greatest talent enters xc skiing.

Yes, they are all second rate

 

[Trond Vidar]

Re: Re:

Does it explain why Sundby – who was mediocre at World Cup level for five years – is suddenly crushing his countrymen and everyone else?

Rough diamond? Marginal gains?

We've been through this. It explains depth, but not freak performances.

It is interesting though. How do we explain the drop in performances by Swiss, Russian, German and Finnish skiers this season? They are off by minutes compared to what they used to perform. Negative Freak Performance.

Just off the drugs?

 

[Trond Vidar]

A little off topic. But for those that can't get a live feed or don't have cable: This plugin: https://hola.org/?utm_source=holaext works well. installs ie directly into Chrome browser. Choose Norway, and you can view the action here: https://tv.nrk.no/direkte/nrk1#

 

[goggalor]

Don't use Hola, people: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2928340/ultra-popular-hola-vpn-extension-sold-your-bandwidth-for-use-in-a-botnet-attack.html

 

[Trond Vidar]

ooops, thanks man. Let's find another free VPN then.

Personally I use unblock-us, but it's not free.

 

[BullsFan22]

Team Gewiss in full flight!! Or is it USPS? Astana? Lotto? Once? Kelme? Telekom?

 

[Trond Vidar]

NORstana!

 

[BullsFan22]

Poor HC Holund. Used as dummy for the Norwegian team tactic.

 

[Trond Vidar]

Sundby in trouble, 21 sec behind

 

[Trond Vidar]

Strategy (from the norwegian coach) is that there is no team strategy. Everyone for themselves.

26 sec @ 10.75km
39 sec @ 12.75km
56 sec @ Finish

Tough day for Sundby

Never been so happy to see a non-norwegian top 3! good for the sport.

Notes from the interview:
- Petter N said he really felt heavy after the sprint yesterday. Struggled through the last 2-3 rounds. Says the tour starts now.
- Niklas Dyrhaug was set to up the pace after the second sprint, and he felt good and strong - so he did. Got the word a 1km later from management that he needed to slow down because of Martin.
- Martin said he had a really bad day. Loses lots of seconds. No excuses, just crap form.

 

[python]

it's really up to you guys where to post, but it seems if there is no doping context, there is a lively thread here:
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=19375

 

[Trond Vidar]

thanks! Never been in the General forum, will post race stuff there instead.

 

[BullsFan22]

Re:

it's really up to you guys where to post, but it seems if there is no doping context, there is a lively thread here:
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=19375

Thanks. Had no idea this thread existed! Now I know where to post non-Norwegian stuff!!

 

[kosmonaut]

EPO-convicted Dürr is planning a comeback. His ban ends late February and he wants to be back in March for Ski Tour Canada. Austrian team trying to stop him, as they have banned him for life from the team. Northug reacts and promises to knock him out if he comes back.

Good scoop by Expressen.

http://www.expressen.se/sport/langdskidor/dopingavstangde-durr-nara-comeback/
http://www.expressen.se/sport/langdskidor/petter-northugs-ilska-mot-dopade-durr/

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

EPO-convicted Dürr is planning a comeback. His ban ends late February and he wants to be back in March for Ski Tour Canada. Austrian team trying to stop him, as they have banned him for life from the team. Northug reacts and promises to knock him out if he comes back.

Good scoop by Expressen.

http://www.expressen.se/sport/langdskidor/dopingavstangde-durr-nara-comeback/
http://www.expressen.se/sport/langdskidor/petter-northugs-ilska-mot-dopade-durr/

Northug is one who should know thing or two about forgiving... Norwegian image of cream of the crop

 

[BullsFan22]

Re: Re:

EPO-convicted Dürr is planning a comeback. His ban ends late February and he wants to be back in March for Ski Tour Canada. Austrian team trying to stop him, as they have banned him for life from the team. Northug reacts and promises to knock him out if he comes back.

Good scoop by Expressen.

http://www.expressen.se/sport/langdskidor/dopingavstangde-durr-nara-comeback/
http://www.expressen.se/sport/langdskidor/petter-northugs-ilska-mot-dopade-durr/

Northug is one who should know thing or two about forgiving... Norwegian image of cream of the crop

Seriously though. Driving while intoxicated is just as 'frowned upon' as doping is in Norway. Northug shouldn't the one talking about breaking the rules. I am glad no major injuries occurred in the car accident, but he is a very fortunate individual. Something that I wondered, do we know who the passenger was? If I remember correctly, the passenger was, at the time, 22-23, and they were leaving a party or club. Now, I am aware that Iversen is close with Northug, being from the same area in Norway and they've trained together often, being roommates, etc...I wonder if it was him. Would the Norwegians that comment on these threads know more?

 

[Blaaswix]

Another vote here for Johaug being v. irritating with the screaming. The Norwegians do indeed push the rules to the limits, which makes one wonder what limits are being pushed that we don't see. There doesn't seem to be too much team spirit in there either. It all feels a bit industrial, for want of a better word.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Northug can f*** off with his words about Dürr. Should Dürr be welcomed back? Of course not. But Northug has absolutely no right to be passing judgement on Hannes. After all, unlike Prince Prison Avoider, the only person Dürr endangered was himself, and it was calculated, not reckless.

In the grand scheme of things, regardless of whether or not he is clean, Petter is to the best of my present knowledge a far more reprehensible person than Johannes.

 

[Kokoso]

Re: Re:

EPO-convicted Dürr is planning a comeback. His ban ends late February and he wants to be back in March for Ski Tour Canada. Austrian team trying to stop him, as they have banned him for life from the team. Northug reacts and promises to knock him out if he comes back.

Good scoop by Expressen.

http://www.expressen.se/sport/langdskidor/dopingavstangde-durr-nara-comeback/
http://www.expressen.se/sport/langdskidor/petter-northugs-ilska-mot-dopade-durr/

Northug is one who should know thing or two about forgiving... Norwegian image of cream of the crop

Seriously though. Driving while intoxicated is just as 'frowned upon' as doping is in Norway. Northug shouldn't the one talking about breaking the rules. I am glad no major injuries occurred in the car accident, but he is a very fortunate individual. Something that I wondered, do we know who the passenger was? If I remember correctly, the passenger was, at the time, 22-23, and they were leaving a party or club. Now, I am aware that Iversen is close with Northug, being from the same area in Norway and they've trained together often, being roommates, etc...I wonder if it was him. Would the Norwegians that comment on these threads know more?

Of course I was sarcastic, but totaly serious and what you are talking about was exactly my point.

 

[Discgear]

Re:

Another vote here for Johaug being v. irritating with the screaming. The Norwegians do indeed push the rules to the limits, which makes one wonder what limits are being pushed that we don't see. There doesn't seem to be too much team spirit in there either. It all feels a bit industrial, for want of a better word.

That's actually very well said and kind of give wings to my own thoughts.

 

[olhell]

Re: Re:

Seriously though. Driving while intoxicated is just as 'frowned upon' as doping is in Norway. Northug shouldn't the one talking about breaking the rules. I am glad no major injuries occurred in the car accident, but he is a very fortunate individual. Something that I wondered, do we know who the passenger was? If I remember correctly, the passenger was, at the time, 22-23, and they were leaving a party or club. Now, I am aware that Iversen is close with Northug, being from the same area in Norway and they've trained together often, being roommates, etc...I wonder if it was him. Would the Norwegians that comment on these threads know more?

Apparantly just a poker friend:
http://www.aftenposten.no/100Sport/langrenn/Pokervenn-var-Northugs-passasjer-434055_1.snd

 

[BullsFan22]

Diggins with quite a miraculous 2nd half of the race in the 5km today. I know she does really well on downhills and is in good shape, but overcoming the Norwegians? She also has gained quite a noticeable amount of muscle in the last couple years. Doping? Not sure. I will say however, that now that the roles have been reversed with Russia, you won't hear much from the US nordic community. The Russians used to dominate the women's races and people like Marty Hall were yelling bloody murder! Now he'll be praising the performances of the US women who've had 2 wins in a space of a few days.