Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[Erwin]

Missed the women's relay. I suppose it's not a surprise to see the Norwegians winning this. Surprised to see Finland miss out on the podium. Just not the best day for the Finns and/or the other teams in front of them were better today?

Niskanen, who was supposed to ski the first leg, became ill overnight and skating specialist Roponen, who has been injured and still shouldn't ski classic because of the injury, had to replace her on the classic leg. The result was obvious, there was nothing the other skiers in the team could do.

 

[BullsFan22]

Missed the women's relay. I suppose it's not a surprise to see the Norwegians winning this. Surprised to see Finland miss out on the podium. Just not the best day for the Finns and/or the other teams in front of them were better today?

Niskanen, who was supposed to ski the first leg, became ill overnight and skating specialist Roponen, who has been injured and still shouldn't ski classic because of the injury, had to replace her on the classic leg. The result was obvious, there was nothing the other skiers in the team could do.

Thanks for the update. Yeah, I saw the results and was surprised to see Roponen ski the classic leg. I didn't know about Roponen's injury and just now finding out about Niskanen being sick. That's a real pity for them. I will say that Roponen, even in her best days and shape, she was always a much stronger skate skier, but I suppose the Finns had no choice. They had to make this sort of lineup or simply not start the race, which would have been disappointing. It's ok. Better for them to some problems now, then at home for the World's. If they are all in good health, they should be fighting for the top 3, if not for the outright win.

 

[kingjr]

Dahlmeier with the old Frank Luck tactic. if you are way ahead in the relay, miss enough targets to give the opponents hope, but not quite enough to throw away the win.

 

[search]

Thanks for the update. Yeah, I saw the results and was surprised to see Roponen ski the classic leg. I didn't know about Roponen's injury and just now finding out about Niskanen being sick. That's a real pity for them. I will say that Roponen, even in her best days and shape, she was always a much stronger skate skier, but I suppose the Finns had no choice. They had to make this sort of lineup or simply not start the race, which would have been disappointing. It's ok. Better for them to some problems now, then at home for the World's. If they are all in good health, they should be fighting for the top 3, if not for the outright win.

Norway II wasn't able to start in the men's relay btw because the guy who was supposed to replace Stock (Christian Nordkvelde - a physio, or some other kind of staff member I guess) didn't have enough (60) FIS points to be allowed to start. In le Clusaz the Norwegians did the same, but that was simply because neither them nor the FIS were aware of that rule.

I guess the first two runners could still have started the relay though (leaving Stock on the start list in position 3), but for some reason they decided not to.

 

[python]

anyone is following the falun sprints except me ? the ladies quals were exceptionally strong. i cant recall a single strong name missing. the muscle woman of course won. as did all the norwegian 'names' made it into the top 30.

happy to see stina qualifying so comfortably. a tiny surprise (by my quick count) that there are as many swedish girls as the norges (5+5). the american gals are also well represented (4). kikkan just made it. of the russ only matveva made it but she appears as strong as a week ago based on her comfortable qual time...

the men just finished their qual. it is also a parade of who is who in the sprints...klaebo, pelle, ustiuogov and krogh head the parade with just fractions of a second between them. calle and the french rising star chanavat are also comfortably in. perhaps kriukov is getting into shape as he (just) made it in this very fine company. i think it is his 1st qual in the skate this season. 3 more russians made it to total 4, which is good for them w/o petu...

at 1st i was surprised to see the cologna name at the start given he will run the 30 k tomorrow, but it turned out his brother... a second later i spotted dario too, but neither of the brothers made it. by the same token, i dont get why harvey and manificat wasted their energy today given the will start tomorrow :Question: sundby seems smarter ...

the finals promises to be verrry interesting.. the norges are fighting for the spots in lahti and ustiougov needs to get a win to lead the sprint cup.

ADDED: the weather seems perfect for big muscular types. packed. -4 C. cloudy. not that any good sprinter should be held back by the good conditions.

 

[python]

stina = gorgeous, falla = great fight !

frankly, after the semis i did not believe stina had it in her today. this was pure will.

 

[BullsFan22]

Ustiugov didn't make it out his quarter. The speed and power is still very much there, but he didn't play it well tactically speaking. His form might not be as good as it was three-four weeks ago, but that's not a surprise. Cramer said that his form will drop off after the tour and the ultimate plan is to have the second peak in Lahti. No surprise there. Still, I think it would have been nice to see him make the final again, at least. Good on Pellegrino, denying the Norwegians and winning his first race of the year. He's picking up his form. So many skate sprints so far this year. I am not a big fan of having so many in a row. Only one classic sprint so far, and that was the first race of the year, two months ago.

 

[kingjr]

For me they don't need hardly any classic races, to me it's not aesthetically pleasing, it just looks like you put fetters on a wild animal.

 

[Brullnux]

Re:

For me they don't need hardly any classic races, to me it's not aesthetically pleasing, it just looks like you put fetters on a wild animal.

Disagree, classic races done by professionals is a beautiful sight.

 

[kingjr]

Re: Re:

For me they don't need hardly any classic races, to me it's not aesthetically pleasing, it just looks like you put fetters on a wild animal.

Disagree, classic races done by professionals is a beautiful sight.

We'll have to agree to disagree then

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Re:

For me they don't need hardly any classic races, to me it's not aesthetically pleasing, it just looks like you put fetters on a wild animal.

lol, this is from the 80's, but we are dealing with real men in pristine surroundings here:

https://youtu.be/M9mYj4FKDtg

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

i dont get why harvey and manificat wasted their energy today given the will start tomorrow

Probably because it is not.

 

[kingjr]

Re: Re:

For me they don't need hardly any classic races, to me it's not aesthetically pleasing, it just looks like you put fetters on a wild animal.

lol, this is from the 80's, but we are dealing with real men in pristine surroundings here:

https://youtu.be/M9mYj4FKDtg

I've seen that finish many times, what are you trying to tell me? :geek:

 

[BullsFan22]

Re: Re:

For me they don't need hardly any classic races, to me it's not aesthetically pleasing, it just looks like you put fetters on a wild animal.

lol, this is from the 80's, but we are dealing with real men in pristine surroundings here:

https://youtu.be/M9mYj4FKDtg

What's the point? When skating came about in the mid-80's, people didn't exactly have textbook technique. Like many other things on this planet, ski technique evolves.

It doesn't look pretty when six people come so close to each other in skate sprints going uphill.

It's just like tennis. The one handed backhand is a beautiful shot to watch, particularly when someone like Wawrinka or Federer or Gasquet or Youzhny or Haas execute it well. I can't say the same about the two-handed backhand. There are some players that do have visually pleasing two-handed backhand, but the one hander always wins out, even though it's a bit of a 'dying breed.' Just like classic vs skate skiing in a lot of ways.

 

[kingjr]

A better tennis analogy would be to be forced to play tennis with one hand tied on your back.

 

[Põhja Konn]

It is not simply a matter of aesthetics though. For me at least, classical style is the very essence of cross country skiing. When there are no prepared ski tracks available, it is basically the only way one can practise the sport. Skate style is basically only suitable for racing and training, and has limited practical use without well prepared racing tracks.

Aesthetically, both styles can be extremely elegant and beautiful to watch, when executed well, but dropping classic style altogether would mean the sport would lose any connection to actual cross country skiing and would become just another type of sports entertainment.

 

[kingjr]

Which I wouldn't mind at all. Going back to tennis, I've played tennis for most of my life, the technique, on paper, is the same the professionals use, forehand, backhand, topspin, slice, yet beyond that it has absolutely nothing in common with the kind of tennis you see at the Australian Open right now. It's an entirely different sport.

 

[BullsFan22]

Re:

Which I wouldn't mind at all. Going back to tennis, I've played tennis for most of my life, the technique, on paper, is the same the professionals use, forehand, backhand, topspin, slice, yet beyond that it has absolutely nothing in common with the kind of tennis you see at the Australian Open right now. It's an entirely different sport.

The skiing that you see today (not just the formats) is much different from even 10 years ago, let alone 30-40 years ago.

Skiers ski much more upright (the Germans brought this style in the early 2000's with Teichmann at the forefront), much more snappy, shorter strides and obviously a lot more double poling. The tracks are prepared better, there is a bigger emphasis on strength training, particularly in the upper body...

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Nah, the sport needs Classic. It's also a way of breaking up the calendar, and at least providing some variation among the interminable parade of fricking Sprint races. It's not the fault of classic technique that they keep putting on easy rolling terrain that lets so many people double pole it. I would be mortified if Classic was killed off and every distance race became the same. It also gives us a chance to see a bit more variety in relay selection because you have to pick people based on their preferred style so it's not just the top names anchoring every single team. I'd even like, just once, the 'skiathlon' to be done in the reverse, so the skate goes first THEN the classic, just to see if it shakes up the order a bit, even if I accept that skate dominates the calendar.

And the day skaters set foot in the Vasaloppet, the sport has died.

 

[kingjr]

Re:

Nah, the sport needs Classic.

But I don't, which is all I meant to say. Just so there's no confusion I'm not arguing the sport would be better off if it was skate only ;P

 

[python]

1st of all, a suggestion for kingjr (along the line i once made re the ibu broadcasts) - turn your tv on only when the skate races are held. as far as i know, the fis races by style and place are scheduled well in advance. 100% satisfaction guaranteed

2ndly, - and this is in part a warning for kingjr - it's something like 40 min to the start of the falun 30 km classic.

the start list is impressive. poltoranin is there. his shape seems on the rise considering his skiing in one of the relay legs last week. too bad vyleg isn't allowed. it's his type of race...but there are plenty of excellent non-norges to keep sundby a good company. bessmertych and cologna would probably be among them as well as usiuogov and harvey with the ever proficient clasissists like niskanen, heikkinen. perhaps manificat would prefer a skate, but he too should do well in the classic when in shape.

a special attention will be kept on northug...after being refused a spot on their sprint squad yesterday, he will be looking to prove his long absence with a solid showing.

i will also be rooting for calle and richardsson... something tells me that danny is getting into a good form.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Petter's basically here because Tønseth dropped out, right?

 

[python]

the sick man of the peloton with the well documented lung, heart and immune problems was ....only second wtf is going on with him ?

i was right on the money about richardsson. he's too big a guy physically to keep up on the steep falun uphills.
good fight from ustiougov. i dont find his final gap to sundby alarming.

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

i was right on the money about richardsson. he's too big a guy physically to keep up on the steep falun uphills.

Matti Heikinen is pretty light guy and finished behind Daniel. Daniel kept up pretty well for long time. 7th is actually pretty good result for him, this season best one together with the other 7th place. More likely he just lacked bit of performance (in the finale). Calle or Emil aren't small guys either.

Ustiugov is disappointing this weekend.

 

[BullsFan22]

Re:

Petter's basically here because Tønseth dropped out, right?

Yes. Toenseth was sick. Should be safe for Lahti though. The Norwegian coaches said that Northug will race the sprint and 50km as he is the defending champion in both of those, and the Norwegians will get an extra spot because of that (so instead of 4, they'll have 5), but the other events they are not sure of. I am interested to see who they will take and who will race what. It's a tight schedule. Will Krogh be put in the sprint? Northug, Krogh, Skar, Iversen (won today, finished second in the sprint) and the last spot will probably be decided at Norwegian nationals next week. The distance racers are Sundby, Dyrhaug, Toenseth, Iversen, Northug (hasn't looked very convincing at any point, though he says he is getting in shape).