Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[MrRoboto]

It seems that everybody just treats the classic part as a transport leg. Probably time to bring back the combination instead of this.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Sundby!

 

[Bavarianrider]

They are walking and yet they have an average speed of 24km/H.
Those loops are simply way to easy. No surprise, though. What a sad day for this beautiful sport

 

[Bavarianrider]

Well at least Cologna won and no medal for Northug

 

[jsem94]

Cologna deserved it. It was a great race, but could easily just have been a mass sprint. Mass starts suck.

Five out of six medals for Norway too, the Norwegian girls are just too strong - amazing athletes.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Too me it looked like some norwegians had amazing skis (rothe), while others (Nordthug) lost many spots in every single downhill

 

[python]

skiathlon impressions

- cologna was simply superior prevailing against some extra hurdles. despite having chased hard after an earlier mess-up, despite spilling his drink on the last skating lap, despite expanding a lot of energy chasing down sundby etc. he will SMASH this championship.

- northug looked tired to me. he did put a vintage last acceleration but the poor positioning can not be explained by a sudden loss of his superb tactical sense, rather by his fatigue.

-i did not get a feeling that there was ANY team work among ANY nation. everyone was out for themselves. in fact, it seemed like sundby did not care about northug's opinion when he attacked. yeah, the norwegians tried to 'block' for a short while when sundby soloed but it was timid and ineffective...

-hellner was visibly below his best in skating and likely is still paying for the cold he got 2 weeks ago.

-i expected more of legkov after reto hyped him...nah, don't see him offering much competition to cologna. probably peaked at the tds. vyleg, though, i think will medal at least once yet. the 50 looks like his best chance.

overall, agree with many - it was a tad more entertaining than a bore-fest.

 

[Tyler'sTwin]

Kalla would have medaled if 4 norwegians were attacked by a bear.

Decent chance Northug wont win a gold this WCH. I'm hoping for Emil/Hellner tomorrow and Grande Poltoranin in the 50k. They can give the 15k gold medal to Cologna already and have the others race for silver and bronze.

 

[jsem94]

Johan Olsson would like to have a word with you.

 

[Tyler'sTwin]

No one is beating Cologna in a 15k skate TT in this form. I forsee a comfortable victory. It's gonna be Vancouver 2010 all over again. Dario has never looked stronger.

 

[python]

if the worlds 15k skate itt was straight uphill only (like say mt cermis), i'd give it to several others (like bauer, hellner, legkov, babikoff...) before i'd consider cologna...

but it is NOT !

bar any unexpectedness, cologna is the MAN to BEAT in the 15K. agree with tt completely after his today's demonstration.

plus, we probably will not see northug in the 15k individual.

http://www.nrk.no/sport/northug-kan-droppe-renn-1.10924693

 

[Pazuzu]

How would you people rank Bjrogen against women like Valbe and others?

Bjorgen's better. She's simply off the charts in terms of talent. You have to compare her to people in other sports to find an equally dominant athlete. Michael Phelps and Lindsey Vonn come to mind.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

team sprint - between Norway and Sweden

15k . Cologna, perhaps Lekov and Olsson (SUndby?)

relay - Norway

50k - Pltaranin, Nordthug or a russian fella

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Bjorgen's better. She's simply off the charts in terms of talent. You have to compare her to people in other sports to find an equally dominant athlete. Michael Phelps and Lindsey Vonn come to mind.

yes, she is kinda amazing. How old is she now? 32/33 or something. Kinda starting to get bored by now . Hope she can win the tds next year

 

[Pazuzu]

yes, she is kinda amazing. How old is she now? 32/33 or something. Kinda starting to get bored by now . Hope she can win the tds next year

She's 33, which makes her dominance all the more impressive. Regarding the TDS, she won't push herself too hard as it is an Olympic year. Bjoergen is all about winning Olympic and World Championship medals. She doesn't care about the overall World Cup title unless it's an off year. I suspect she feels the same about theTDS.

 

[MrRoboto]

She meant to prioritize TDS this year I think. She really wants to win that.

 

[ToreBear]

Golberg hit the wall in the semi. Norway is out of the sprint relay. Northug was himself, but Golberg was out of it. Sad, but then again good we did'nt qualify. Golberg would have had nothing in the final and Northug would have spent a lot of energy with no chance of podium.

Perhaps Northug will go the 15k now.

Well I hope sweden wins for the men and the USA for the women. If that happens, and Norway wins the nordic combined relay later today it would have been a good day.

 

[maltiv]

Golberg hit the wall in the semi. Norway is out of the sprint relay. Northug was himself, but Golberg was out of it. Sad, but then again good we did'nt qualify. Golberg would have had nothing in the final and Northug would have spent a lot of energy with no chance of podium.

Perhaps Northug will go the 15k now.

Well I hope sweden wins for the men and the USA for the women. If that happens, and Norway wins the nordic combined relay later today it would have been a good day.

It makes no sense to have a pure sprinter in the "sprint" relay. It has nothing to do with a sprint for the second-to-last guy. They should've chosen Sjur Røthe instead.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I don't like Randall (the commentators absolutely adore her and even had a tantrum about her losing time in the classic pursuit in Oberhof because they felt she was the only potential challenger to Kowalczyk at the TdS even as Johaug punched through the whole field), and I don't like these events where being built like Scott Steiner on skis is just as important as being a skier.

This is much, much better than the normal sprint though. There might actually be enough competitors rather than luck of the draw being a major factor.

 

[ToreBear]

Yiehaa!! Diggins and Randall did'nt dissapoint. Diggins was just as strong as I hoped she would be. Perfect!

For the men I hope for Sweden. Though a German victory would be fun too.

 

[ToreBear]

It makes no sense to have a pure sprinter in the "sprint" relay. It has nothing to do with a sprint for the second-to-last guy. They should've chosen Sjur Røthe instead.

Golberg is not a "pure" sprinter. He has good capability over longer distances. He's on the sprint team because that is his focus right now.

Goberg was a sure pick. He just had a bad day. Røthe's top speed is not something I'm sure enough about to choose if I were to make the pick. I would rather pick Brandsdal if I knew before hand that Golberg would have a bad day.

 

[maltiv]

Golberg is not a "pure" sprinter. He has good capability over longer distances. He's on the sprint team because that is his focus right now.

Goberg was a sure pick. He just had a bad day. Røthe's top speed is not something I'm sure enough about to choose if I were to make the pick. I would rather pick Brandsdal if I knew before hand that Golberg would have a bad day.

You don't need top speed in a sprint relay if you're not doing the last leg.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

At least Poltoranin got a medal out of his work. Just.

 

[ToreBear]

Oops Emil. I'm dissapointed, but the Russians were better.

 

[python]

i am too slightly disappointed for emil but the final was really interesting.

i am amazed in the differences of physique between supposedly 2 victoriuos pure sprinters - kriukov and petuchov. the first lanky, tall clearly not as muscled and the second - a fire hydrant like, powerful slab of flesh as a sprinter 'supposed' to look...kriukov's v-2 double polling was unmatched again.