Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[Kokoso]

Krista is our last hope (except probably for Norwegians here). So far she looks she doesn't have problem to keep up with Bjoergen.

Edit: Weng riding like a coward

I think Krista will attack uphill.

 

[meat puppet]

Thought Kalla would be better tbh.

I fancy pärmäs chances for now. The hype will be nauseating if she wins though.

 

[Kokoso]

Bjoergen slowing down to decide it in the sprint. Krista must go now and wait for nothing.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Looks like Weng was running on empty rather than cowardly, clearly can't stay with Kalla who's opened up a huge gap on her. Trying to perform a tribute to Kristin Størmer Steira with a splendid isolation 4th place.

 

[meat puppet]

Pärmä tried but Björgen was simply too strong on the "Intiaanikukkula" climb.

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

Looks like Weng was running on empty rather than cowardly

That was a joke. I thought two smileys will make it clear.

Krista probably messed it. Nilsson and Oestberg surprisingly bad.

 

[Singer01]

Even though the Norwegian women have won both events at least they aren't dominating, with only 2 medals instead of the 4 or 5 they would normally have.

 

[python]

the sport could be so unpredictable...compared to themselves, parma a better strider, performed splendidly in skating and kalla a better skater could not hold to parma and bjoergen in skating.

must be the issue of energy spent/left. zero surprise at heidi's collapse. in one of my earlier posts someone was surprised me not mentioning her among the potential medal winners.

that was why.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Diggins clearly overexerted herself for this race with her sprint success, and surprising disappointment from Østberg too. Like Weng not surprised she wasn't at her best, but how far back she fell and how quickly she did so was more than expected. Quite impressed by Victoria Carl to take some of those scalps and finish top 15 after crashing on the very first corner, but apart from obviously Pärmäkoski, the star of the day for me is Nathalie von Siebenthal, a storming race from her and 4th place is a great statement. She's a proper distance specialist, and that wins my fandom because my stance on the sprints (that there are far too many of them and too much luck involved and especially among the women's races it has a detrimental effect on athlete development because the women's distance races are often not sufficiently long to really separate sprint specialists from distance specialists the way the men's competition does) is well known.

 

[kingjr]

Tbh I didn't expect much of Ugstad Flöstberg after the sprint, she just didn't look sharp.

Now, if the German team could just combine Hennig's classic skiing with Carl's skating...

 

[Norbea]

Bjørgen did her usual high altitude preparetions. The rest of the Norwegian girls dropped it. Now they should listen and learn from the champ.

 

[kingjr]

I keep thinking they're using the Interstellar soundtrack during the slowmo's.

 

[Kokoso]

Bjørgen did her usual high altitude preparetions. The rest of the Norwegian girls dropped it. Now they should listen and learn from the champ.

Maybe it's little bit more complicated than that, because Bjoergen had very different season from the rest of Norwegian women; she didn't race Tour de Ski.

 

[Norbea]

Bjørgen did her usual high altitude preparetions. The rest of the Norwegian girls dropped it. Now they should listen and learn from the champ.

Maybe it's little bit more complicated than that, because Bjoergen had very different season from the rest of Norwegian women; she didn't race Tour de Ski.

True. Weng and Østberg have probably not had the ideal prep with TdS. But then again, Parmakoski have been working hard in the World Cup circuit as well.

 

[ToreBear]

Could you elaborate on your feelings towards the Norwegians in XC skiing? I have heard some similar sentiments before, but when asked to elaborate, the answers are not rooted in what I see as reality.

Simply put, it is a perception of Norwegian skiers getting preferential treatment to an extent where effectively a different set of rules are applied to them compared to their rivals. Asthma-gate is a perfect illustration for this.

The same impression of one athlete or team dominating with a help of powers that be, was the thing that mostly influenced my opinion about Armstrong and also does now with Sky and Froome.

Reality is available in the CAS judgement. Hard to change perception. But lets just say they keep changing the rules in order to keep the Norwegians down. (less, wax testers allowed, and this year a reduced world cup quota). I'm fine with it. FIS has got to do as FIS has got to do.

That is definetely true, and applies to both of us.

Parts of your post about CAS decision and specially FIS keeping Norwegians down is blatant fanboy BS. And that is a generous verdict on my part. With that I'm done with this topic.

i dont think there is even a single poster here or particularly on that other xc ski thread, who hasnt saw thru his virulent, arrogant, self-righteous fanboyism. he tries to bait the relatively new posters into an exchange, but the majority just ignore him.

I had a look in the world politics thread, and can see people disagreeing with you make you quickly react with personal attacks. Meaning it's not just with me you are like that.

People disagreeing with you is not a personal insult.
It is not baiting.
It is not people questioning your intelligence.
It is not a threat to your identity.


People correcting you when you are wrong is not a personal insult.
It does not mean they are baiting.
It does'nt mean people will think you are stupid.
It does not mean they are trolling.
Being wrong is a normal part of learning, not a failure to be perfect.

Threads that you frequent are not your territory.
You do not own them.
People with difffering opinions from you, posting in that thread is not a personal insult to you.
It is them posting in a thread.

 

[John de Savage]

Bjørgen did her usual high altitude preparetions. The rest of the Norwegian girls dropped it. Now they should listen and learn from the champ.

Kalla and Pärmäkoski prepared at altitude as well.

 

[Blaaswix]

Don't know if this has already been done, apologies if so: The Norwegian women are not all wearing the same suit. Not all of them like the world championship suit (the one Bjørgen wore), saying it feels very thin. The new WC suit apparently has some sort of aerodynamic golf ball pattern on it. Kind of like the sharkskin pattern swimsuits. The other suit, the one that's been worn throughout the rest of the season, doesn't. I think they should all be wearing the same suit, it can be confusing for spectators and it may even give a tactical advantage. Details here. Says it can give a 10% speed advantage. http://www.langrenn.com/norges-skidress-vm-2017-dahlie-race-suit-lahti.5961718-1743.html

Edit: See now that the men are also wearing both suits in the 30k.

 

[python]

it is half the classic almost over...sundby tried, is trying but so far it is ustiougov who sets the pace often. the conditions are harder that the 1st day...

added: the classic is almost over. sundby still cant shake of ustiougov. moreover the russian team work is ruining his everything.

 

[meat puppet]

Ustiugov and sundby breaking away a bit. Heikkinen cracking.

 

[python]

if i was interpreting their fatigue by the cleanness of style, sundby looks slightly better...besides, martin is having a great ride behind a bigger opponent for almost 10 miles now. an attack from sundby should flollow soon.

 

[kingjr]

In terms of cleanness of style I wager Sundby looks better than anyone most of the time. His style is excellent.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Sundby breaks his pole . . game over

 

[Blaaswix]

Re:

In terms of cleanness of style I wager Sundby looks better than anyone most of the time. His style is excellent.

Ustiugov + clean technique (could) = consistent peak Northug

 

[python]

who thinks that sundby could gain the front had he not fallen and broke the pole ?

by my preliminary look, he seemed pulling away, but the top of the hill was just there and ustiuogov at worst would have been right behind to win the sprint w/o much trouble. me thinks.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Re: Re:

In terms of cleanness of style I wager Sundby looks better than anyone most of the time. His style is excellent.

Ustiugov + clean technique (could) = consistent peak Northug

Ustiugov is stronger than Northug ever was.