Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[Oude Geuze]

Re:

a half-man trounced all the lil girls. wow so interesting

stina in the bronze ahead of kalla is my wrongest bet in life. but i like being wrong...

Don’t worry, a “lil girl” named Therese will be back soon enough to reinforce your sexist stereotype on what a female xc winner should look like, in the meantime, enjoy the most decorated winter Olympian ever

 

[python]

Re: Re:

a half-man trounced all the lil girls. wow so interesting

stina in the bronze ahead of kalla is my wrongest bet in life. but i like being wrong...

Don’t worry, a “lil girl” named Therese will be back soon enough to reinforce your sexist stereotype on what a female xc winner should look like, in the meantime, enjoy the most decorated winter Olympian ever

i dont worry...you should. check the other side of this forum when her pictures dont stop coming...when an old woman that looks like a man trounces everyone else it is calling spade a spade. if it hurt your feelings, learn to deal with it.

there are masculine looking women and feminine looking men in life and sport. it is physiology that does not make the fact sexist.

 

[ppanther92]

Re:

the ladies 30k start list is posted...among the surprising starters i find stina. not figuring why, as she stands no chance at any glory except a desire to test herself.

Really hard for Stadlober. On austrian television her father was commentating te race. Needless to say that he was kind of frustrated. But at the end he took it with humor. "Maybe she lost her lenses" or "I hope she will find back to the waxing container today."

 

[ppanther92]

What the f*ck is wrong with XC skiing in Austria. Everyone is either complete sh*t or doped, or now suddenly too stupid to know the course. This wasn't only a good good top 10 spot she could have gotten, that was a medal in the waiting which she just threw out of the window.

She still got a good top 10 spot, even with running the wrong way twice :geek:

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Yea, but that doesn't really help when there was a medal there for the taking. She's going to take a while to recover from this, but it should give her a lot of confidence going forward, she's had a really good season in the longer distance races - it's just how she psychologically deals with such a high profile error that cost her what would have been a career-defining performance.

Stina was being told by the Swedish management that she was fighting for a medal, but she didn't believe them and thought they were just trying to motivate her to catch Pärmäkoski as she hadn't realised Stadlober was no longer there, so once she realised she and Ingvild weren't going to catch Krista she figured it was for 4th place and was simply excited because it was her best ever 30k showing, so when they told her that it was no joke, she was competing not with Krista but with Ingvild for the medal, that's why she went completely ballistic with excitement on recognition of the medal.

 

[BullsFan22]

Markus Gandler, former Austrian skier (Olympic silver medalist in 10km in Nagano 1998 and world champion with the Austrian relay team in 1999), now director of the team said he was shouting at the top of his lungs at her to stop, but she didn't listen (obviously). Sad, sad way to lose a potential medal after skiing so well and looking in control. It's cool that Stina got another medal, but it would have been refreshing to see a central European woman on the podium. The Austrians last got a medal at a major championships in 1999 with Maria Theurl in the 15km skate, so this would have been really awesome for them, and most of all for Stadlober who's really improved over the past few seasons, and she's only 24. When they showed her during the first mistake, I thought 'wow, did she really breakaway that much from the chasing pack?!?' Real pity, but when you are focused on your skiing, sometimes you take your eye off the ball (or in this case, the trail ahead of you) and you have a brainfart.

 

[Singer01]

Things looking up for Sweden, younger sibling Oeberg won gold in the individual as well.

 

[python]

the lahti sprint start list just got posted 5 min ago...up on a very quick look, the representation of the world's best imo is as good or better than at the olympic sprints...in addition to the olympians klaebo, pelle, hakola, bolshunov, rastelli etc we are going to see a couple strong and hungry russians (petu and retyvyck), chanavat, and the cream of of the norwegians.

ustiougov I dont find on the list...dont know why b/c logically the course and the skating would suit him. also peterson isnt there but he's sick according to svt

i wish the sprint does not go as predictably as in korea. is petu got anything to show after such a long stay out ?

 

[BullsFan22]

Re:

the lahti sprint start list just got posted 5 min ago...up on a very quick look, the representation of the world's best imo is as good or better than at the olympic sprints...in addition to the olympians klaebo, pelle, hakola, bolshunov, rastelli etc we are going to see a couple strong and hungry russians (petu and retyvyck), chanavat, and the cream of of the norwegians.

ustiougov I dont find on the list...dont know why b/c logically the course and the skating would suit him. also peterson isnt there but he's sick according to svt

i wish the sprint does not go as predictably as in korea. is petu got anything to show after such a long stay out ?

Ustiugov is sick. Sore throat. Not only will he miss Lahti, but Holmenkollen and the final weekend of the WC calendar as well. Hopes to be ready for Russian nationals at the end of March.

Real pity, would have been very interesting to see him (had he been healthy and in good form) in these races with missing the Olympics and having a major point to prove and a chip on his shoulder. A skate sprint on a course he did super well at last year, with colder/rock solid conditions and perhaps the top guys from Korea a little, if not a lot, drained. Also was looking forward to seeing him do well in Drammen, and the Holmenkollen 50km, since it's skate this year. Oh well. Hopefully he gains his motivation and hunger this spring, starts fresh and crushes next season and adds more golds to his world championship tally.

Petukhov will be rusty, I wouldn't be shocked to see him out of the top 30, but would love for him to make the final and prove the doubters wrong. Retivykh did well last time the he raced, making the finals in Seefeld and also in Planica. Seefeld-skate, Planica-classic, he also qualified 4th in Dresden so we know he can deal with either technique and on pretty much any course. Last year he won the pre-olympic sprint and team sprint, plus he's been on tour for years, though he's still only 26. I expect him to be tough and to make it far again. Another interesting character is Andrey Krasnov. Made his world cup debut in Dresden, finishing 8th in the individual and teaming up with Retivykh to finish 3rd in team sprint. Finished 16th in Seefeld. Not having Ustiugov means that somebody like Chervotkin would get a spot. He is certainly no sprinter, but perhaps the Russians didn't have other choices.

The rest of the top Russians, Belov, Legkov, Vylegzhanin, Bessmertnykh, Japarov, Volzhentsev, Ustiugov (yes, he was there as well, but only did the 15km skate and won the team sprint with Legkov...) raced a Russian cup race, designed for those who weren't allowed in Korea. There were others as well, but those were the biggest names. Interesting to see how many of them will race the final few WC weekends.

 

[python]

Re: Re:

the lahti sprint start list just got posted 5 min ago...up on a very quick look, the representation of the world's best imo is as good or better than at the olympic sprints...in addition to the olympians klaebo, pelle, hakola, bolshunov, rastelli etc we are going to see a couple strong and hungry russians (petu and retyvyck), chanavat, and the cream of of the norwegians.

ustiougov I dont find on the list...dont know why b/c logically the course and the skating would suit him. also peterson isnt there but he's sick according to svt

i wish the sprint does not go as predictably as in korea. is petu got anything to show after such a long stay out ?

Ustiugov is sick. Sore throat. Not only will he miss Lahti, but Holmenkollen and the final weekend of the WC calendar as well. Hopes to be ready for Russian nationals at the end of March.

aha. that's indeed regrettable. the hills are more his style in lahti...one of the best courses where he could use his long, top speed acceleration against the klaebo burst. in his absence, i cant see anyone but pellegrino, bolshunov, perhaps hakola and and chanavat coming even close to in-shape klaebo. in that regard, i was thinking of bolshunov's impressive aerobic fitness we saw in korea (in both sprints) and if there was a scenario where he could attempt to wear down klaebo by a consistently high pace in their final when and if both make there...there is probably no other weapon at present to win agaist klaebo.

 

[bambino]

Re: Re:

the lahti sprint start list just got posted 5 min ago...up on a very quick look, the representation of the world's best imo is as good or better than at the olympic sprints...in addition to the olympians klaebo, pelle, hakola, bolshunov, rastelli etc we are going to see a couple strong and hungry russians (petu and retyvyck), chanavat, and the cream of of the norwegians.

ustiougov I dont find on the list...dont know why b/c logically the course and the skating would suit him. also peterson isnt there but he's sick according to svt

i wish the sprint does not go as predictably as in korea. is petu got anything to show after such a long stay out ?

Ustiugov is sick. Sore throat. Not only will he miss Lahti, but Holmenkollen and the final weekend of the WC calendar as well. Hopes to be ready for Russian nationals at the end of March.

aha. that's indeed regrettable. the hills are more his style in lahti...one of the best courses where he could use his long, top speed acceleration against the klaebo burst. in his absence, i cant see anyone but pellegrino, bolshunov, perhaps hakola and and chanavat coming even close to in-shape klaebo. in that regard, i was thinking of bolshunov's impressive aerobic fitness we saw in korea (in both sprints) and if there was a scenario where he could attempt to wear down klaebo by a consistently high pace in their final when and if both make there...there is probably no other weapon at present to win agaist klaebo.

Unfortunately I can't see past Klaebo on this weekend. The sprint might be real borefest depending mainly on Pellegrino, I don't see Bolshunov being able to wear down Klaebo today if he hasn't been able to do that for the whole season (and yes, he has tried). Remember only one of those 2 has 50km on his legs from last weekend.

Equally Klaebo is clear favorite for Sunday's 15km, given his track record this year on this discipline + the fact that I think Lahti's track suits him even better than Ruka/Planica as there are more steep and short climbs. Niskanen not going to be able to challenge with a really tough week of publicity and celebrations on him. Bolshunov propably Klaebo's number 1 challenger. And we might see miraculous resurrection of Poltoranin (if he is there)

 

[python]

the quals are over...a mild surprise was nepryeva's 2nd to hanna. stina is qualified but many seconds slower than she should to be a winner today. i am afraid.

re the russian runner up - i recall from korea her powerful skate 1 and a relative ease with which she moved btwn positions even uphill. her built reminds me bjoergen's though i never saw either close up except on a tv screen


among men, klaebo of course was the fastest, but he did not gap with his usual crazy margin but under 2 seconds...also, as far as i can tell from the quick review of time checks, he was SLOWER than just about all his main competitors (pelle, hakola, bolshunov, gros...) in the last stretch of .6 km losing to pelle a whole 2 seconds. this does not really mean much for the eventual contact comp....jst a point of interest.

 

[BullsFan22]

Bolshunov can podium and even win in skate sprints, he is a universal skier. Not the best in anything (yet) but very good at everything. The problem today is that it's skate, and he is a better classic skier, and while he can do well in skate sprints, right now I'd like his chances more if today was classic. Still, looking at the 'splits' he stayed the same with Klaebo, and actually gained almost a second on him, likewise a couple of the French lads and Pellegrino.

Interested to see what happens in the heats. This is a great sprint course. It's just the right distance, doesn't have major uphills or downhills, but it's relenting and you have to be alert and smart in the last portion coming into the stadium. If you have a good position you can slingshot and easily make up ground. You can also lose everything in the final few hundred if everyone is breathing on you.

Oh, and some are apparently saying Ustiugov is 'protesting' by not going to the WC because his girlfriend, Elena Soboleva wasn't named to the team for Lahti and the remaining WC's in Scandinavia...Just a rumor though...

 

[Brullnux]

Bolshunov out

 

[bambino]

Re:

Bolshunov out

He looked extremely soft in the heat. I think he still suffers from last Saturday. Looks like the podium will be Klaebo, Pelle and one of the French.

In women race, Stina was good and Pärmä until her fall. Falla bit soft. Nepriayeva also out. Sweden might take at least 1+2, Falk has been really strong so far.

 

[BullsFan22]

Re: Re:

Bolshunov out

He looked extremely soft in the heat. I think he still suffers from last Saturday. Looks like the podium will be Klaebo, Pelle and one of the French.

In women race, Stina was good and Pärmä until her fall. Falla bit soft. Nepriayeva also out. Sweden might take at least 1+2, Falk has been really strong so far.

Wasn't aggressive enough. Didn't have a good start and then when he was trying to make a move, one or two cut in front of him, namely Brandsdal on the last curve coming into the finish.

 

[python]

this was a crazy sweat final...pelle congrats. this was a textbook !

WTF, klaebo lost a pure finish sprint to retyvyck !! that guy btw, had a very confident showing altogether...chosing a 5th quarterfinal, and winning both of his heat in a purely positional manner with a punchy sprint. his silver was a big surprise.

 

[DenisMenchov]

Re:

this was a crazy sweat final...pelle congrats. this was a textbook !

WTF, klaebo lost a pure finish sprint to retyvyck !! that guy btw, had a very confident showing altogether...chosing a 5th quarterfinal, and winning both of his heat in a purely positional manner with a punchy sprint. his silver was a big surprise.

Now imagine if it was Retyvikh instead of Spitsov in the Team Sprint. I'm so sorry, but Klaebo was literally gifted 3 gold medals with the relay one being the most obvious, OAR had a minute handicap in that event (Ustiugov > Chervotkin). In the team sprint it would be maybe Ustiugov and Retyvikh (or any combination with Bolshunov). And of course, I still think Klaebo would win the gold in the individual sprint but had those two been in Pyeongchang they would sure give him a much bigger run for the gold.

 

[python]

if only kerttu was .3 sec faster than muscle momma, i'd pop a champagne in stead of my morning coffee

nepreyeva is physically very strong and if i i read the time checks right, her finish speed was 2nd only to parma's.

now awaiting for kerttu's brother to finish the family celebration today...and it would be sweet if the barbarossa does not podium...

 

[python]

poltoraiNEN ! was it the finn who won ANYWAY

bolshunov had his little revenge and polto a big one. overall, the beard as i predicted is off podium and the niskanen family can celebrate though with less vodka

 

[BullsFan22]

Yeah, real pity for Kerttu. Thought she'd have a podium, but Bjoergen with those muscles and once again, solid skis, gained seconds on the final couple k's. Would have been cool for the Niskanen siblings to both be on the podium today, especially at home!!! Next time...

Poltoranin is...well...Poltoranin. The 15km classic race has his name written all over it. That's his 12th world cup win. A nice consolation after the collapse in the 50km in Korea last week. I am sure he won't soon forget that race, but to win and do so in typical (for him) fashion is nice. He ate up Klaebo on the 2nd half of the course. Bolshunov, what can you say. Another podium, and this after racing the sprint yesterday. Granted he didn't make the semis but he still had to race twice and probably would have gone through had he been a bit more aggressive. Still, he didn't necessarily lose the race today, Poltoranin won it. When will his first ever WC win come? Considering he is as universal as anyone else on the tour, it could come any race. Hard to see him doing it in Drammen and definitely not in the 50km skate in Oslo...maybe in Falun? Hopefully it comes this season. Would be a heck of a finish to what's been a very good season. I wonder how good he could have been now or in the Olympics had he not done the Tour de Ski? Klaebo sat it out and it paid dividends. Perhaps he'll sit it out next season and focus solely on the world's. The 15km classic, the team sprit (with Ustiugov!!!) and the team relay....He could easily win gold in all three.

Niskanen slightly off from last week, but that's to be expected. Didn't look too happy, but probably satisfied and knew that he'd fight with Poltoranin and Bolshunov, who were both hungry, for different reasons, after last week.

Good to see the Norwegians shut out of the medals again in a distance race.

 

[Singer01]

Good day for the Norwegians in the drammen sprints. 5 men in the final seems a bit ridiculous though.
Biathlon sprint today, nothing to suggest a change to the Fourcade/JTB status quo.

The mens 50k isn't in live on eurosport this weekend, bollocks.

 

[python]

holmenkollen !

 

[DenisMenchov]

Anyone know a good stream for the men's 50k?

 

[BullsFan22]

Wonder how long Krogh will last until he pulls out. This is sad.