Re:
Nice write up. I agree with your statement on sprints. It's sad how many races are decided by either falls, obstruction, unnecessary tactics, over-aggressive moves and in some cases, courses that hardly allow for position change. Plus FIS needs to have more classic races and individual races on the WC calendar. You can add more of that type of racing and cutting a few mass starts/skate races down. It's actually pretty easy to make an even schedule. There are too many 'lotteries' as you and others have mentioned.
Another thing that's been talked about quite a few times on this board: the amount nations contending has decreased noticeably. I know Norway has absolutely dominated the WC this season, and that the Russian men, Pellegrino, De Fabbiani, Nilsson, the US women, the Finnish women (a little bit)...but where is everyone else? The Germans, to my knowledge have had only one podium, in a team sprint in Planica where their women finished 3rd. That's it. No individual podiums. Where are the French women? Where are the Italian women? There is only one Czech woman, one Swiss woman and one Austrian woman getting into the top 30 in the WC these past couple seasons. Slovaks have hardly had top women, and that woman, Prochazkova, is still competing, but is way off her best and not skiing that well. The Russian women we've talked about as well. They have their own issues, and there are several reasons why they are not that good at the moment. They have plenty of good young skiers, but transitioning from juniors/u23 to the WC circuit has proven to be tough for most of them. Slovenia is actually doing ok. They have about a half dozen women who can score WC points. It'll be interesting to see how much their U23 and Junior skiers are able to improve. I think they could be ones to watch out. The men: Finnish men!?!? Only Heikkinen is competing on a regular basis at this season. Niskanen has barely raced. Did ok at Holmenkollen, but hardly anything before and has he even raced since then??
I don't think we can excuse all of the non Norwegian federations of losing talented athletes to biathlon. Is there a lack of funding? Are they tired of seeing the Norwegians winning 80% of the races? Are the warm and dry winters playing a part as well? Is it something else? The German TV stations would put entire races on. Now they don't even show some of the races. The Canada Tour hasn't been streamed live and only short reports have been written. Not even short highlights of the races!! I know Biathlon has always been more popular, but they have almost totally ignored cross country. Yes, the Germans are not what they were 5-15 years ago. Behle and his men and women had a great run. A phenomenal run, one could say, but they were fortunate that those talented skiers all came up at almost the same time and were able to sustain good form enough to win wc titles, olympic medals, TDS stage wins, one overall TDS title, world championship titles, etc. I don't see too many good youngsters coming out of the juniors or u23's either. Only a select few. I may be wrong, but that doesn't bode well for them.
The North Americans, considering that this is such a fringe sport over there, are doing well. Ok, so the US women have done really well and have improved step by step since Vancouver. They too, like the Germans of the past, are relying on having talented women that have good camaraderie and are very close in age. Plus it's a country of 300 million+, so the chances of at least four or five good skiers are pretty good. The Canadian team, despite Harvey, are in trouble. Babikov and Kershaw are well into their 30's and they don't really have youngsters that make you say 'wow, that guy or girl is gonna be one to watch out...' Harvey, who is into his late 20's now, is more or less in his prime, and will probably be competitive for the next few years. He's been flying the flag the last four years. Kershaw had a few brilliant seasons, particularly 2011 and 2012, but he's gone downhill slowly but surely.
To conclude. It's a little bit disappointing to not see more of a representation of different countries at the top. At least in the top 10 or so.
Libertine Seguros said:
Nice write up. I agree with your statement on sprints. It's sad how many races are decided by either falls, obstruction, unnecessary tactics, over-aggressive moves and in some cases, courses that hardly allow for position change. Plus FIS needs to have more classic races and individual races on the WC calendar. You can add more of that type of racing and cutting a few mass starts/skate races down. It's actually pretty easy to make an even schedule. There are too many 'lotteries' as you and others have mentioned.
Another thing that's been talked about quite a few times on this board: the amount nations contending has decreased noticeably. I know Norway has absolutely dominated the WC this season, and that the Russian men, Pellegrino, De Fabbiani, Nilsson, the US women, the Finnish women (a little bit)...but where is everyone else? The Germans, to my knowledge have had only one podium, in a team sprint in Planica where their women finished 3rd. That's it. No individual podiums. Where are the French women? Where are the Italian women? There is only one Czech woman, one Swiss woman and one Austrian woman getting into the top 30 in the WC these past couple seasons. Slovaks have hardly had top women, and that woman, Prochazkova, is still competing, but is way off her best and not skiing that well. The Russian women we've talked about as well. They have their own issues, and there are several reasons why they are not that good at the moment. They have plenty of good young skiers, but transitioning from juniors/u23 to the WC circuit has proven to be tough for most of them. Slovenia is actually doing ok. They have about a half dozen women who can score WC points. It'll be interesting to see how much their U23 and Junior skiers are able to improve. I think they could be ones to watch out. The men: Finnish men!?!? Only Heikkinen is competing on a regular basis at this season. Niskanen has barely raced. Did ok at Holmenkollen, but hardly anything before and has he even raced since then??
I don't think we can excuse all of the non Norwegian federations of losing talented athletes to biathlon. Is there a lack of funding? Are they tired of seeing the Norwegians winning 80% of the races? Are the warm and dry winters playing a part as well? Is it something else? The German TV stations would put entire races on. Now they don't even show some of the races. The Canada Tour hasn't been streamed live and only short reports have been written. Not even short highlights of the races!! I know Biathlon has always been more popular, but they have almost totally ignored cross country. Yes, the Germans are not what they were 5-15 years ago. Behle and his men and women had a great run. A phenomenal run, one could say, but they were fortunate that those talented skiers all came up at almost the same time and were able to sustain good form enough to win wc titles, olympic medals, TDS stage wins, one overall TDS title, world championship titles, etc. I don't see too many good youngsters coming out of the juniors or u23's either. Only a select few. I may be wrong, but that doesn't bode well for them.
The North Americans, considering that this is such a fringe sport over there, are doing well. Ok, so the US women have done really well and have improved step by step since Vancouver. They too, like the Germans of the past, are relying on having talented women that have good camaraderie and are very close in age. Plus it's a country of 300 million+, so the chances of at least four or five good skiers are pretty good. The Canadian team, despite Harvey, are in trouble. Babikov and Kershaw are well into their 30's and they don't really have youngsters that make you say 'wow, that guy or girl is gonna be one to watch out...' Harvey, who is into his late 20's now, is more or less in his prime, and will probably be competitive for the next few years. He's been flying the flag the last four years. Kershaw had a few brilliant seasons, particularly 2011 and 2012, but he's gone downhill slowly but surely.
To conclude. It's a little bit disappointing to not see more of a representation of different countries at the top. At least in the top 10 or so.
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