Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[May0maniac]

Yes, you could aalso add Dyrhaug to that list and I actually forgot about Olsson.
I just saw that Klaebo is on the startlist, if you consider all the other guys that could get his spot (Iversen, Roethe or even Holund) that's a bit of a suprise, even if he's a huge talent.
On another note, will Sedov even get a chance to start at the WC?
Not having him race the skiathlon was a bit of a surprise for me, of course Bolshunov is a huge talent, but Sedov showed great form before the WC and it's not like he just beat a few nobodies in PyeongChang, Stock and Yoshida are both really strong and had great results in Ulricehamn (Yoshida was also really impressive in the WC Skiathlon) and he just dominated the race.

 

[roundabout]

Sedov was pretty awful in Otepää though

 

[May0maniac]

Yes, but I wasn't talking about letting him race the 15km, not selecting him for that race is reasonable, but he would have been a good pick for the skiathlon and he could be a good pick for in the third leg of the relay.

 

[BullsFan22]

I don't know what happened to Sedov in Otepaa. I wonder if that's the reason they didn't put him in the skiathlon, thinking that his classic skiing isn't good enough to hold on to the leaders and have a shot in the skate portion. All of the Russians had great skiathlon races. Ustiugov obviously won, but Larkov was in that pack of 6 or so guys sprinting for the bronze. He ended up in 8th, only a few seconds behind Krogh. Bessmertnykh was in the mix in the classic, then made a comeback to join the leaders after he was temporarily dropped in the first portion of the skate leg, but ultimately lost contact when he tangled with Yoshida and fell. Bolshunov also fell, but he was just as impressive, finishing 15th and actually picking up a few others in the final couple kilometers. I don't know what Sedov would have done. Not racing the skiathlon makes me think that the Russians are saving him for either the third leg of the relay or the 50km, which is in the skate this year. Tomorrow it's Bessmertnykh, Vozhentsev, Larkov and Turyshev. I am thinking two of these guys will race the relay. My money is on Bessmertnykh (no reason to not have him in one of the classic legs) and Larkov is in good shape as I mentioned above. Volzhentsev, if he is in good shape, can definitely race the other classic leg. Larkov can ski either classic or skate. Turyshev likewise, but I'll put a wager on Chervotkin or Sedov for the third leg. Ustiugov is the obvious anchor leg. Funny enough, Sundby joked that if they have a gap of at least 30 seconds on Ustiugov at the start of the last leg, they'll win. Ustiugov joked back and said that his teammates have other plans, essentially saying that scenario will be different.

 

[python]

...just over one hour to the start.

will sundby be able to annihilate the world's very best with the incredible margin of almost 3% bjoergen did yesterday ? seems like the only question a norwegian fan would ask...

those of us from the rest of the world are going to tensely compare sundby's splits to those of olsson, poltoranin, heikkinen, niskanen, bessmertych, halfvarsson, manificat and even lukas bauer...yep, the czech veteran will be in the mix, but frankly i dont expect much b/c he did not show much this season.

but larkov, toenseth, richardsson and even klaebo may...

 

[markene2]

Fun to see that Poltaranin found some form!

 

[kingjr]

Mother of God that timecheck by Niskanen

Heikkinen waiting for Sundby again

 

[meat puppet]

Niskanen has had an excellent start. Beat MJS by 10sec in the first 4,1km.

25sec at 9,5 ks. Think this is a done deal. Bessmertnykh might take silver.

 

[kingjr]

Interesting fight between Bessmertnykh and Dyrhaug for Bronze.

The Russian fading towards the end, lost time to Toenseth who didnt have a great finish. Dyrhaug already aahead.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

What a finish from Dyrhaug! Great

 

[kingjr]

So happy for Niskanen after that crash. Well earned.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Epic, performance by Niskaanen.
So now only Ustiogov has to be the Norwegian cheat in the 50km, and he'll probably stay without a Gold throughout hs career. Fantastic.

 

[kingjr]

Epic, performance by Niskaanen.
So now only Ustiogov has to be the Norwegian cheat in the 50km, and he'll probably stay without a Gold throughout hs career. Fantastic.

If he even runs in the 50k.
Markus Cramer said maybe, last I heard.

 

[python]

Bravo, niskanen !

Ustiuogov almost certain to run the 50k. Sundby does not desrve the ind.gold.

 

[MrRoboto]

Well, that was impressive. Almost as crushing as Marit's win.

 

[meat puppet]

Impressive, yes, but not björgenesque by any means. 1 sec per km faster than MJS or thereabouts.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

See, this is what I wanted at the weekend. All hail King Iivo!

 

[BullsFan22]

A dream scenario would have been Niskanen, Poltoranin and Bessmertnykh on the podium, no matter the order. Poltoranin was sick and missed a lot of training in the fall and had to delay his start to the WC season, missing quite a few races in the process to get into shape. A 7th today is solid, given where he's been. Niskanen is arguably the best classic skier in the world when he is in good form and it showed today. Actually it showed in the team sprint as well, but we know what happened there. Bummer that Sundby and Dyrhaug got on the podium, but Sundby was safe in the podium for the entire race. I am bummed for Bessmertnykh. I had high hopes for him to be on the podium today. I watched the race and followed the FIS-SKI live splits and he was inching ahead of Dyrhaug. By 11-12 km, I thought he was moving clear of Dyrhaug, but he lost 15 seconds in the last 3km. He is a skier that usually picks up the pace and finishes strongly at the end of races, but that wasn't the case today. Larkov was a bit of a surprise to me. Tied Toenseth for 5th. I always felt he was stronger in skating, but he finished 8th in the skiathlon and 5th today...obviously in good form. The Russians will have Larkov, Bessmertnykh and Ustiugov for the relay. The fourth skier is yet to be named. My guess is it's between Chervotkin, Bolshunov and Sedov. That could very well end up being the key leg for them. The Norwegians said that Dyrhaug is now a lock for one of the classic legs. That means Dyrhaug, Sundby, Toenseth and likely Krogh for the anchor. Gloeersen sounds like he is only in Lahti for the 50km. Northug will race the 50km, but not the relay. Klaebo is likely out. Iversen is already back in Norway. The other option is Roethe, but I doubt it. It's likely Dyrhaug, Toenseth, Sundby and Krogh. I wonder where they will put Sundby. The second classic leg or the first skate leg. The Swedes have disappointed so far. They were 'ok' today, but again no medals. The relay figures to be a fight between the Scandinavian countries and Russia. The Finns will no doubt have Jauhojaervi and Niskanen in the first two legs, with Lehtonen and Heikkinen doing the skate legs. The obvious 'weak link' is Lehtonen. If he can hang to on to the leaders, they have a chance. The other teams just don't have depth in numbers.

 

[May0maniac]

Ivo was great, he really deserves it!
The thing that really hurts Italy is De Fabiani's horrible form, otherwise they'd have a good team for the relay, not good enough to get a medal, but strong enough to get a top 5.
Nöckler and Salvadori are both in geat shape and they have Pellegrino for the final, if De Fabiani had th kind o form that h had durning the 2nd half of the TdS it would actually be a pretty good team.

 

[Singer01]

Norway 1-7 against the field. Then again they were 1-33 for the Olympics, that didn't turn out so well.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Well Norwegian Gold in the women relay is probably the safest bet of the winter. Finns getting silver would be sweet for the audience.

 

[meat puppet]

Looking at the startlist I think Kalla might be able to break away on leg two.

But I expect that at least fin, nor and swe will start the last leg very close to one another if not together. If this is the case, then björgen takes gold and Pärmä will drop nilsson unless she has improved her this far subpar form at least some.

Hopefully this prediction - courtesy of the spirits talking! - is wrong and we get a more interesting race. That is, it does not go according to the script for the faves and other teams such as eg USA, russia and germany will shuffle the deck.

 

[python]

this 4x5 was the most boring race in lahti so far. i feel sorry for parma but stina is a better sprinter, period. ebba andersson splendidly proved why she's a 19 yo rising star.

still no start lists on the fis page for the men relay tomorrow

 

[kingjr]

I think Norway will go 1 Dyrhaug, 2 Toenseth, 3 Sundby, 4 Krogh.

 

[python]

we finally have the relay teams posted.

on paper, the norwegians are unassailable, but nowhere near their ladies cosmic superiority.

sweden, finland and russia all have imo the optimum selections too. I would be surprised the least if france and even italy inject themselves into a fight for the bronze.

briefly, here is how it will look:

1st. toenseth, nor/richardsson, swe/larkov, rus/jauhojaervi, fin
2nd dyrhoug/olsson/bessmert/niskanen
3d the beard/the hell/chervotkin/lehtonen
4th krogh/calle/ustiougov/heikkinen

the rus chervotkin is not a surprize at all, but for instance larkov would have been a more proven/less risky value as a skating asset. i understand chervotkin was NOT all that impressive in the sochi military olympics a few days back...very interesting what cologna will have under his sleeve,

I say the 2 classic legs are a complete parity btwn the norges and the rus, thier 3d leg should go to sundby by say 10-15 seconds over everyone and in the 4th ustiougov should be able to get a 3d gold for himself and the team.