Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[Mayomaniac]

Golberg seems to have the worst skis while Chervotkin has by far the best

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Russians look to have proper skis or are Chervotkin just doing a Crazy Ivan?

Well, if he is doing a Crazy Ivan, if everybody decides to do trackstands on the top of the last climb like it's the Team Sprint in Seefeld, then it's not so crazy an Ivan.

 

[Bubba]

At the very least, Golberg should have TRIED and rather blown up spectacularly.
Embarrasing.
Should never race another leg for Norway.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Winterton claiming that the reason for this is that everybody spies on the Norwegians and copies their ski tech, but Norway got it wrong so everybody got it wrong because they copied the Norwegians, and Russia (sorry, RSF) are the only other ones big enough to do their own wax tech and that's why Chervotkin is winning.

No, really. That's what he's saying.

 

[Silhouette]

At the very least, Golberg should have TRIED and rather blown up spectacularly.

Why? The result would have been even worse.

 

[Bavarianrider]

The Russian waxers really hit the Jackpot. Incredible.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Well they gained back 15 seconds. Maybe the skies were not all that bad.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Please tell me that Svensson is not going to double pole the whole thing once again.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Iversen having to chase the Niskanen train is bad news for him.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Please tell me that Svensson is not going to double pole the whole thing once again.

One wonders if anybody has told Svensson about the magical world of Worldloppet, where he can double pole to his heart's content.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Oh this will come together again.

 

[Bubba]

Why? The result would have been even worse.

I stand corrected!

My thinking is that you have a moral obligation to at least TRY when only acceptable outcome is gold.


Haha... this is by far one of the most entertaining relays I've seen in a while...

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Poor Ivan, he's on a hiding to nothing as essentially a replacement for Spitsev. Iivo Niskanen is ironman.

 

[Silhouette]

If you have terrible skis the only objective is to lose as little as possible. I wonder if Iversen will be paying for that start before the end of this leg.

 

[Bubba]

Looks like it will end up after two legs the pretty much the way you would have expected pre race, just in a completely different manner!

Would be a shame if the russian can't hang in there until the exchange.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Ivan not looking bad after they caught him, the tempo might not be super high right now, but he's doing rather well atm.

 

[Bubba]

Golberg saying he was pretty much the only one not going with rubbed skis and that it was HIS decicion.
Good on him for owning it.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Looks like it will end up after two legs the pretty much the way you would have expected pre race, just in a completely different manner!

Would be a shame if the russian can't hang in there until the exchange.

I fear something akin to the Falun 50k, where people like Jonas Olsson and Anders Södergren tried to make the race early on but then the conditions pushed everybody together again, and then it was very dull for most of the second half with nobody being able to escape until the final sprint. Hopefully we don't get that with the large climb on the skate legs.

 

[Bavarianrider]

That classic loop is too easy. Would have been a snoozefest without the snowfall.

 

[Silhouette]

In these conditions the last two legs in a harder course will be tough.

 

[Bubba]

I fear something akin to the Falun 50k, where people like Jonas Olsson and Anders Södergren tried to make the race early on but then the conditions pushed everybody together again, and then it was very dull for most of the second half with nobody being able to escape until the final sprint. Hopefully we don't get that with the large climb on the skate legs.

Yeah, that's a worry.
Big difference this time is that the course as you say is harder, and I suspect Norway/Klæbo would prefer a gap to Bolshunov.
Won't be easy for Norway to get a gap of course, but Holund is arguably the best climber in the world currently.

 

[Bubba]

And with this ending to 2nd leg, Norway will decide this on leg 3.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Yakimushkin booking his Gulag ticket. Russland should have put Bolshunov in the 3rd leg.

 

[Bubba]

Russia the victims of getting a huge gap on 1st leg which basically forced Yakimushkin to burn up in a futile attempt at defending the lead.

Crazy relay.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Sweden has limited the damage pretty well with their first 2 athletes, they could get a medal.