Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[meat puppet]

According to this Aftonbladet piece, Nilsson might miss the worlds because of her hamstring injury in Otepää: https://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/a/WLpl9G/stina-nilsson-ser-ut-att-missa-vm

Google translate says:

"- The probability that she will start at the World Cup is very small, says the national coach Rikard Grip in a statement.

The national team doctor Magnus Oscarsson announces that this is a rupture in the back of the thigh.

- Which will require rehab in the next few weeks, he says."

Hopefully she makes it.

Also interesting results in the junior worlds. There will probably be a long karlsson vs fossesholm rivalry in ladies' distance races in the years to come. Be interesting to see if they will be challenged by more "power" skiers such as piippo in the future. at the moment the two are ahead at least in the distance disciplines, even though they are younger too, especially fossesholm.

 

[Singer01]

My knowledge of Biathlon only goes back so far, but has anyone ever been this dominant? He has won 10 of his last 12 races. Fourcade had a similar run with 10 wins in 13, anyone far back in history with a like run of success? Best womens run i could find was 7 of 10 for Berger.

 

[kingjr]

Forsberg had a 9/13 spell in 00/01, and then 7/9 the following season.

Inb4 Libertine, omg my life is complete.

 

[Singer01]

Re:

Forsberg had a 9/13 spell in 00/01, and then 7/9 the following season.

Inb4 Libertine, omg my life is complete.

I got bored of Wikipedia long before I got back that far.

 

[kingjr]

Re: Re:

Forsberg had a 9/13 spell in 00/01, and then 7/9 the following season.

Inb4 Libertine, omg my life is complete.

I got bored of Wikipedia long before I got back that far.

I believe 00/01 was the first year I consciously watched biathlon, and Forsberg's dominance left a lasting impression. So not much searching involved ;p

 

[Singer01]

Re:

Bizarrely MF had more points at this stage last year than JTB has this year. Consistency is too highly rewarded for the overall.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Really happy to see Magnificat win the 15k F of Ulricehamn.

I really don't hope biathlon will go from seven years of domination to another five to eight years of domination. There is hope, that JTB will get infected by the idea of winning something in CC.

 

[Singer01]

Women's pursuit really well set up for last lap. Wierer has 7 seconds on Vitozzi and LD.

 

[bambino]

Really exiting competition in mens 15km. Happy also Manificat got his win. 8 men in less than 25s promises close races in Seefeld. Notable is Niskanen in 6th place with best freestyle competition in his career. Looking good for big Finn on his ambitions for World Cup next year.

 

[Kokoso]

Oh another 20km victory for Martin Fourcade. Close one.

Markéta Davidová almost.

Johannes seems mighty strong on the skis though.

Yep, I think fourcade is going to have to shoot amazing this year. He'll still probably win overall due to his relentless consistency, but if they both shoot similar I reckon he'll lose most races to JTB.

That's what I've heard last four years or so and still Fourcade is much bigger than JTB :razz:

Not saying it can't be this year though. Anything can happen. Bus so far Johaness has one thing or two to do to catch up with M. Fourcade

Not 1 or 2 things, 1 thing. Shoot as well consistently as Fourcade, if he does that he wins, even if he shoots less well he still has a chance. Fourcade however can no longer beat JTB if he shoots worse, and probably not even if they shoot the same.

I've had palmares on my mind, not current performance.

 

[Singer01]

Pleased for wierer. If she is going to win its nice to have some victories to back it up. Also classy shooting should be rewarded, not everyone can be lars berger.

 

[Singer01]

@ kokoso, His age for age performances are at least as good. However who knows who comes along and maybe does to JTB what he has done to Fourcade. 3 months ago nobody would have doubted that Fourcade would overtake OEB, now's it's possible he doesn't.

 

[zarnack]

One thing is sure. Italy is having better times in biathlon than I frankly ever remember them having. I remember they used to have strong cross-country skiers, but obviously all talent is gone to biathlon now, lol.

As for Bö's dominance. Maybe Fourcade can re-bound? He is strangely off-colour this season. His ski speed is lacking even compared to the rest of the field, not just Bö. He is consistent and usually musters his 4th place, and this consistency could net him 2nd place overall by the end of the season. Not that it would be much of a consolation. Anyway, my point is - Fourcade is not that old yet. Just 30. Realistically he could start fighting for wins again, I guess. Or is he definitely past his prime?

 

[Brullnux]

Remarkably, after 6 second places and 7 third places, that was Wierer's first ever pursuit win.

 

[Singer01]

I'm watching on time delay but Riiber just took 45 seconds out of the leader (admittedly a poor skiier) in 2km. If he keeps developing it is going to ruin Nordic Combined for a decade.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re:

I'm watching on time delay but Riiber just took 45 seconds out of the leader (admittedly a poor skiier) in 2km. If he keeps developing it is going to ruin Nordic Combined for a decade.

It's alright, he'll probably pop his shoulder out of its socket getting out of the bath at some point and miss half a season knowing his injury record.

 

[BullsFan22]

Maltsev is a solid skier, he doesn't race WC's often, as there is obviously a lot of competition to make the Russian WC team on a regular basis, but never thought he'd stay with Ustiugov and then drop him and beat him by 20 seconds!! He extended his lead on Krüger as well!!! That's a very good Russian second team. Bolshunov and Ustiugov are not at their best, it was obvious today. I do also think that Bolshunov did too much work in that wind on the 2nd leg. Niskanen caught them quickly, but what Bolshunov should have done is have Bessmertnykh and the Finn do their share of the pacemaking after a while. 10 second loss isn't a disaster, but his shape isn't optimal and his tactics were poor in the 2nd half of his leg. On the other hand, he was probably thinking of extending the lead over Norway, but Tønseth skied very well today. Iversen will most likely be their opening leg skier, then you likely have a fight between Tønseth and Sundby for leg 2, Krüger on leg 3 and Klæbo on the anchor. The Russians will have an even more tougher task of finding their best 4, assuming everyone is in decent form in Seefeld. Good to see Hyvarinen hang tough and the man that often kills Finland's chances, Lehtonen, have a decent run.

Totally the right call to have Halfvarsson ski the scramble leg for Sweden. He stuck to the Russians and got the crowd pumped up. Had they had anyone else, it would have been a gap already on leg 1. Speaking of the crowd, hats off to the Swedes and Ulricehamn for amazing support. What was there, up to 50000 fans today? In tough conditions, snow, wind, blowing snow, and they were fair to everyone, cheering on every skier from every country. Pity the men couldn't reward them, but the number of spectators was a wonderful change from what we've seen so far this year, including Norway.

 

[zarnack]

Speaking of men XC, it feels like everyone else apart from Russia and Norway has thrown in the towel. The last top skier to emerge from elsewhere has been Niskanen, and even he emerged already 5 years ago. In 2017 Lahti world champs Norway and Russia beat the rest of the field by 2,5 minutes in relay. I expect this gap to be a regular occurence in the long 4x10 relay as long as they haven't got their waxing wrong, somebody doesn't have a serious off-day or they aren't playing cat and mouse with each other. In Lahti worlds they were on form and pushing like crazy, hence the gap.

The only point of interest could be if a "world team" could be fielded against Russia and Norway. Maybe something like Harvey, Niskanen, Manificat, Cologna? After all, all the other countries apart from first two have at best one top skier. By the way, has Hellner retired? I haven't noticed his name this year. He is about the same age as Northug, so not so old yet.

 

[Kokoso]

@ kokoso, His age for age performances are at least as good. However who knows who comes along and maybe does to JTB what he has done to Fourcade. 3 months ago nobody would have doubted that Fourcade would overtake OEB, now's it's possible he doesn't.

I've had on my mind overall palmares, not age for age palmares.

 

[DenisMenchov]

Maltsev is a solid skier, he doesn't race WC's often, as there is obviously a lot of competition to make the Russian WC team on a regular basis, but never thought he'd stay with Ustiugov and then drop him and beat him by 20 seconds!! He extended his lead on Krüger as well!!! That's a very good Russian second team. Bolshunov and Ustiugov are not at their best, it was obvious today. I do also think that Bolshunov did too much work in that wind on the 2nd leg. Niskanen caught them quickly, but what Bolshunov should have done is have Bessmertnykh and the Finn do their share of the pacemaking after a while. 10 second loss isn't a disaster, but his shape isn't optimal and his tactics were poor in the 2nd half of his leg. On the other hand, he was probably thinking of extending the lead over Norway, but Tønseth skied very well today. Iversen will most likely be their opening leg skier, then you likely have a fight between Tønseth and Sundby for leg 2, Krüger on leg 3 and Klæbo on the anchor. The Russians will have an even more tougher task of finding their best 4, assuming everyone is in decent form in Seefeld. Good to see Hyvarinen hang tough and the man that often kills Finland's chances, Lehtonen, have a decent run.

Totally the right call to have Halfvarsson ski the scramble leg for Sweden. He stuck to the Russians and got the crowd pumped up. Had they had anyone else, it would have been a gap already on leg 1. Speaking of the crowd, hats off to the Swedes and Ulricehamn for amazing support. What was there, up to 50000 fans today? In tough conditions, snow, wind, blowing snow, and they were fair to everyone, cheering on every skier from every country. Pity the men couldn't reward them, but the number of spectators was a wonderful change from what we've seen so far this year, including Norway.

Yeah, Russians will indeed have a difficult job. But it's World Championships and you have to take into account the previous races as well. I expect the first leg to be the guy that does the best 15km classics. And save one of the guys from the Spitsov, Melnichenko, Belov group for the 3rd leg.

 

[Singer01]

Re: Re:

I'm watching on time delay but Riiber just took 45 seconds out of the leader (admittedly a poor skiier) in 2km. If he keeps developing it is going to ruin Nordic Combined for a decade.

It's alright, he'll probably pop his shoulder out of its socket getting out of the bath at some point and miss half a season knowing his injury record.

He might only need half a season.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Great day for in the men relay. Their depth is really impressing. Still, beating Norway in Seefeld will be tall order, maybe an impossible one.

 

[BullsFan22]

Great day for in the men relay. Their depth is really impressing. Still, beating Norway in Seefeld will be tall order, maybe an impossible one.

It will be tough, but with good form and good skis, they can do it. There's a lot of talk and debate about who to put and where to put them, not just the relay, but the individual events as well. Only Russia and Norway have this luxury on the men's side, nobody else comes close.

 

[zarnack]

Great day for in the men relay. Their depth is really impressing. Still, beating Norway in Seefeld will be tall order, maybe an impossible one.

I guess it would be Klaebo vs Ustiugov on the final leg. Umm, I guess Klaebo would win in a head-to-head sprint. But if Russia can get a head-start before the final leg, they can win. Can easily happen, especially if somebody in Norway's team has an off-day, which by the way can easily happen. It's just that at least 3 skiers are usually still in great form, and this saves them, since nobody else has had that depth.

In Lahti Russia was just a handful of seconds behind Norway. In Pyeongchang Russia was 10 seconds behind, despite missing Ustiugov. Now they are stronger than before.

 

[zarnack]

What concerns the upcoming world championships, then it's worth remembering that in both Lahti and Pyeongchang Norway won 7 golds out of 12 available in cross-country skiing. I assume it will be in the same range in Seefeld as there is no reason to think Norway has gone weaker.

Thinking of how the rest would be distributed, I assume 1-2 to Sweden in female skiing, Niskanen in classic, about 2 golds to Russia and a wild-card if someone, i.e Harvey or Cologna, is in great form.