I really thought this was Panzhinskiy's race. He looked so good all day and then fluffed up the final. He is notorious for this. He'll qualify among the first few places, look good and then come up with a big fat zero in the finals. Sometimes it's bad tactics, sometimes it's a fall, sometimes it's getting tangled up with another racer, but most of the time it's because he runs out of gas. He's 27 now, certainly not old, but it's crazy that he hasn't won a single world cup race in his career. He won at World Juniors, won at U23's, won a silver in Vancouver at 20, won bronze with Kriukov at World's in Oslo 2011, but no individual win, not even a podium!!! He's gonna break that soon, right?!?
Yes, it was nice to Nilsson get one on the Norwegians, in particular Falla, who dominated last year. It's too bad for Finland, at their home tracks, not have had podium finisher in either the men's or women's races. It's been a while since they had a podium finisher at their home world cups in sprints in particular.
Matveeva is an experienced and consistent sprinter, the best the Russians have had in the last few years, but she didn't quite have enough to challenge the Scando's. Belorukova is very talented. One of the best juniors and U23 skiers (still a U23 at 21) in the world, particularly in classic. This may be a good a omen for the Russian's. Their women haven't had much to celebrate over the past few seasons, mostly due to overtraining and the core of their national team is very young, so experience is key for them now.
Klaebo's form is very high right now, to say the least. I don't think he'll keep it for the rest of the season, but the fight for spots on the Norwegian men's sprint team will be fascinating. Neither Northug or Brandsdal raced today. Hattestad didn't qualify and you still have guys like Krogh, Golberg (coming back after two down seasons), Fossli, Iversen, and a plethora of other skiers that didn't even make it to Kuusamo. Since Northug won in Falun, they'll have an extra spot (5) for that sprint team, so that makes it slightly easier, but we'll see how long they are in form.
Surprised to see Kowalczyk not make it out of her quarterfinal heat. I don't know why she chose heat 1, seeing how both Parmakoski (1) and Nilsson (2) both chose that one. More rest for the semi and final? Still, I would have picked another heat.
Bjoergen may not have looked great, but let's be honest, 20 months since she last raced world cups? Can you blame her? She'll be ok later in the season, no doubt.
I second what python said, glad Sundby didn't qualify. Though I think he'll be good tomorrow. As will Vylegzhanin for the Russians.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram