Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[titan31]

On the cross-country feed you have Patrick on the biathlon as well.

Earlier on the women's biathlon on the ad-free stream you could hear Patrick asking if Mike could be plugged back in because the women's XC was delayed, clearly he was supposed to be doing the biathlon while Mike did the XC, but when the women's pursuit was delayed, they plugged him back onto the biathlon stream which enabled them to commentate together on the women's sprint and then the men's XC - and clearly they have left them both connected so they can't hear each other but both sets of commentary are audible on both streams.

They ended up with the cross country commentary on the biathlon stream and on the cross country you has the biathlon commentary and a different language (I think it was Russian but not sure).

I ended up just going to biathlon world and watching it there on my phone.

 

[BullsFan22]

Be funny if Klaebo loses the overall World Cup by a few points because of this.

I don't think he'll be in that position, the Norwegians already said they'll be skipping events before the Olympics. Granted, I also heard that Klaebo will race the TDS, but that was a while back. If the Russians and other contenders are smart, they won't do as many races as they did last year, or if they do I hope they don't overcook it during the Tour as they did last season. The French, the Finns (apart from their sprinters), the Germans (not surprisingly), Cologna, all skied worse during the World Champs. The Norwegians just came in and picked up just about every medal. Every medal in the men's races was picked up by the Norwegians and Bolshunov or a Bolshunov led team (team sprint and relay) except the Finns in the team sprint. Take away the Russians and especially Bolshunov and it's literally a Norwegian championship.

 

[Silhouette]

Be funny if Klaebo loses the overall World Cup by a few points because of this.

The Norwegian teams only care about the Olympics this season. Nothing else.

 

[BigCoward]

Last time JTB shot clean and didn't win?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Last time JTB shot clean and didn't win?

Unless I have missed a race, it was the sprint in Kontiolahti in March 2017(!) where he finished 4th, and Fourcade won despite having missed once.

Also his first perfect shooting in an individual race since the sprint Oberhof in January.

Hanna Øberg took revenge in the sprint after a disastrous shooting yesterday. Alimbekova, Davidova and Hauser were more consistent this weekend, but Olsbu Røiseland is also in a pretty good position if she can improve her shooting next week. Wierer lacks speed like usual and without perfect shooting it'll be difficult for her to challenge for the overall. Eckhoff had some pretty bad races as well.

Jacquelin had great speed, but not enough accuracy. A single miss could have given him a sprint win on many other days.
The Norwegians are still in prime position, and it will be hard anyone else to win the crystal globe. Sivert Bakken has stepped up, too, though he probably won't challenge in the long run, though I thought the same about Lægreid last season.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Eckhoff started last year badly and Hanna Öberg started skiing crazy fast early last season too, before Hanna regressed back to the norm and Eckhoff got into a run of strong shooting scores and became more confident, so we shall see how sustainable this early season form is. Was also impressed with Hanna Sola's pace, I know she can be super quick, but she has been inconsistent the last couple of years.

 

[titan31]

Most of the Norwegians look like theyve come in undercooked this season tbh. JTB, Laegreid and Eckhoff in particular but even Tarjei and Dale were slower and Tandrevold is a small bit off too.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Norwegians know that they are not at their best in these conditions, hence they want to force the race being cancelled. It is always the same with them. They Always try to Bend and force things their way. If you need a picture for "unsportsmanship behavior" in a dictionnary, take a photo of the Norwegians skiers. Can't go wrong with that.

And of course they didn't pull out the women, who had a better chance of winning and delivered.
Novak with the 2nd fastest sking time, Boegl with the 3rd fastest and the youngsters Schumcher and Moch with the 5th and 7th fastest skating time.
6th time for the youn Canadian Leveille (who was 3rd in the skating race at the junior WC last year) and his fellow Canadian Cyr did rather well yesterday, they have an interesting new generation.
Also nice to see Pellegrino and De Fabiani inside the overall top 10 today (Pellegrino with a top 10 skating time), I hope that their new traning group with the Russians wil work out well.

 

[OJRvE]

It was reported on Eurosport yesterday.

Ok they must have mixed up it somehow or just speculating due to the fast womens sprint team. We have one national supersprint at the ens of the season but it is just for fun as it is part of ski festival where they also compete in ski cross kinda like cross-country and a mass start over the mouantain. There is also one in october but thats just becsuse we lack snow for proper competitions.

Norwegians know that they are not at their best in these conditions, hence they want to force the race being cancelled. It is always the same with them. They Always try to Bend and force things their way. If you need a picture for "unsportsmanship behavior" in a dictionnary, take a photo of the Norwegians skiers. Can't go wrong with that.

To me it feels like Klaebo is the leader of the norwegian team in he is very cautios. During Covid he was very vocal about his concerns, and after that the NSA decided to skip (the later cancelled) races in North America. In December 2020 he announced that he would skip Davos, Dresden and Tour de Ski. The NSA followed and withdrew their participation.

Moreover, since each team only can submit 8 skiers to the olympics there is huge pressure. Especially next weeks races in Lillehammer are really important since they are allowed to start with 12 skiers there and the a-team needs to preform to fend of the challengers. And since Klaebo and others withdrew, todays race wouldnt have counted as olympic qualification. So in short the likes of Iversen and Holund had little to gain by compete but lots to lose if the conditions would impact their health and performance at Lillehammer.

 

[KZD]

Most of the Norwegians look like theyve come in undercooked this season tbh. JTB, Laegreid and Eckhoff in particular but even Tarjei and Dale were slower and Tandrevold is a small bit off too.

That's true but they have other athletes that are stepping up and bringing some big results. Christiansen seems to be back at his 2019 shape and could even fight for the World Cup overall, Bakken is also shooting at a great level although his lack of ski speed will probably prevent him from doing a Lægreid and even Filip Andresen was top10 today. In the women's they don't have so much depth but even so Kalkenberg and Lien got top10 results.

Anyway, great day from the Swedes, Öberg and Samuelsson are in a great shape and even taking into account the fact that these first races are in Ostersund, they could still contend for the World cup overall, especially Hanna.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

That's true but they have other athletes that are stepping up and bringing some big results. Christiansen seems to be back at his 2019 shape and could even fight for the World Cup overall, Bakken is also shooting at a great level although his lack of ski speed will probably prevent him from doing a Lægreid and even Filip Andresen was top10 today. In the women's they don't have so much depth but even so Kalkenberg and Lien got top10 results.

The question will be, however, with the people on the fringes like that, how much of it is about hitting form early to establish your position in the team in an Olympic year, whereas those who are pretty much guaranteed their spot at the Olympics don't need to hit the ground running. Especially as Norway's men have an extra bonus spot here because of Filip Andersen winning the IBU Cup, they have to drop somebody for the next World Cup and all of those guys on the fringe want to make sure they're not the guy that gets relegated - especially with the likes of Bjøntegaard, Bogetveit and the older Andersen on the IBU Cup already and scoring good results. The two Bø brothers and Lægreid are pretty much set in stone, and probably Dale too, but beyond that it's a bearpit fight for those last remaining spots so they can't afford to not have good form here, even if it's unsustainable.

 

[BullsFan22]

And of course they didn't pull out the women, who had a better chance of winning and delivered.
Novak with the 2nd fastest sking time, Boegl with the 3rd fastest and the youngsters Schumcher and Moch with the 5th and 7th fastest skating time.
6th time for the youn Canadian Leveille (who was 3rd in the skating race at the junior WC last year) and his fellow Canadian Cyr did rather well yesterday, they have an interesting new generation.
Also nice to see Pellegrino and De Fabiani inside the overall top 10 today (Pellegrino with a top 10 skating time), I hope that their new traning group with the Russians wil work out well.

The fastest time of day is often misleading. The front guys don’t force anything unless they have to, and there are often tactical games being played. Also who do they pick up from the others Groups to ski with and set a good, consistent pace is also very important.

 

[Mayomaniac]

The fastest time of day is often misleading. The front guys don’t force anything unless they have to, and there are often tactical games being played. Also who do they pick up from the others Groups to ski with and set a good, consistent pace is also very important.

Yes, I know.
BTW, totally understnd why the women's race was delayed. -24°C at th start and under -26 at the coldest point, that's well beyond the -20° limit that you have in the rules. When it's below -10 I usually cover my mouth and my nose with a tubular scarf to protect my lungs, skiing alongside a river with temperaturs below -15 can be rather unpleasant.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Oh and I have to Tell You this. Schlickenrider is complaining that the races have too many altitude meters. He says this IS the wrong way to Go and says that FIS should focus in "Speed" instead. Oh These Germany never fail to make You laugh, or cry.

Oh I read that too. This interview was another of his many cry and excuse fests. And the guy is talking about it's at 2000 meters altitude...blalala, when it's actually a few hundred meters lower.

 

[meat puppet]

Pärmäkoski sick so no Lillehammer races for her. Any other notable, illness-related absences at this point?

 

[search]

Pärmäkoski sick so no Lillehammer races for her. Any other notable, illness-related absences at this point?

not due to illness, but Sundling and Dyvik are still out after their falls during the past week(s). Klaebo may not start either because of some conflicts with the national federation about sponsor logos.

 

[Mayomaniac]

not due to illness, but Sundling and Dyvik are still out after their falls during the past week(s). Klaebo may not start either because of some conflicts with the national federation about sponsor logos.

Is it about his Uno-X deal?

 

[search]

Is it about his Uno-X deal?

apparently his father thinks that he shouldn't advertise for the same channel (Viaplay, sponsor of the federation) which broadcasts the sport in Norway, as this disturbs their jounalistic neutrality, or something like that.

No idea what's the real reason. Must be more behind it, I guess.

 

[Norbea]

And of course they didn't pull out the women, who had a better chance of winning and delivered.

"They" didn't really pull out anyone. It was all left up to the athletes individually. First some of the men who shared a cabin had already decided not to race. The rest of the men decided to opt out during warm up. Two of the women pulled out after not having performed well the day before. Johaug and Weng both knew that they handle low temperatures well and Johaug said she decided that if she left her cabin in the morning it would be to race, she wasn't even considering not to race - I guess she was extra motivated by losing to Karlson.

 

[BullsFan22]

"They" didn't really pull out anyone. It was all left up to the athletes individually. First some of the men who shared a cabin had already decided not to race. The rest of the men decided to opt out during warm up. Two of the women pulled out after not having performed well the day before. Johaug and Weng both knew that they handle low temperatures well and Johaug said she decided that if she left her cabin in the morning it would be to race, she wasn't even considering not to race - I guess she was extra motivated by losing to Karlson.

“They” won’t do that at the Olympics, where it’s forecast to be cold. “They” are very cunning. “They’ll” be in form in two months time, I can assure you of that. “They” are not fooling anyone.

 

[BigCoward]

“They” won’t do that at the Olympics, where it’s forecast to be cold. “They” are very cunning. “They’ll” be in form in two months time, I can assure you of that. “They” are not fooling anyone.

World class athletes won't pull put of their main goal for the year and the most important races of the last 4 years? Really? How perceptive.

 

[BullsFan22]

World class athletes won't pull put of their main goal for the year and the most important races of the last 4 years? Really? How perceptive.

That’s the point, captain obvious. They said cold was the issue. The vast majority of others raced. The Norwegians have this habit of doing whatever they please and FIS never does anything about it. They are not afraid of the cold, just as they weren’t afraid of COVID last year, when they skipped all the Central European races, including the TDS, then prompted to win just about everything in Oberstdorf. There were more cases of COVID positives in February than December or January.

 

[Norbea]

“They” won’t do that at the Olympics, where it’s forecast to be cold. “They” are very cunning. “They’ll” be in form in two months time, I can assure you of that. “They” are not fooling anyone.

They don't want to risk anything now. In the Olympics they will.

 

[Norbea]

apparently his father thinks that he shouldn't advertise for the same channel (Viaplay, sponsor of the federation) which broadcasts the sport in Norway, as this disturbs their jounalistic neutrality, or something like that.

No idea what's the real reason. Must be more behind it, I guess.

It is all very strange. He has reluctantly agreed to advertise for Viaplay now, but when asked about his mood in a press conference today he said: "on a scale from 1 to 10, it is 3".

I predict he won't be a part of the national team in 2-3 years. He will do a Northug.

 

[BullsFan22]

They don't want to risk anything now. In the Olympics they will.

FIS should do what the ATP and WTA do, you don’t want to take part in an X number of events? Ok, fine, we’ll dock you prize money and points. I would also suspend teams that do this for a weekend or two, and/or take away starting rights.