Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[BullsFan22]

Don't get what Parmakoski and Haga did on that last leg it all. When they went through the exchange, Fossesholm had got it down to 14 seconds and then at 6k, it went up to 24 and the gap they had built to Sweden was completely gone.

Looks like both Haga and Parmakoski eased off which was stupid considering there was still a chance at gold at a 14 second gap and neither of them were outsprinting Sundling once she caught them. Was just a bizarre tactic

I understand Haga’s tactics, she’s not in shape at all, at least not enough to challenge for even top 10 results, so she probably wanted to sit in behind Pärmäkoski and hope that she can drag her to the leaders, and hopefully she could conserve some energy doing so, and/or she didn’t think that Sundling would catch them when she did. Then once they were caught she was in trouble. She would have done something if she had the form, but she doesn’t. She was only put on the team because Weng and Kalvå didn’t travel to China because of Covid. Under normal circumstances it’s a good enough team to challenge for the top spots, but clearly none of them are in form apart from Johaug. That was already evident during the skiathlon.

Pärmäkoski is in form, so it was she that needed to make the race, but I guess she didn’t feel like risking anything. For a strong and experienced skier like Krista, it’s a strange tactical decision.

 

[BullsFan22]

Kinda surprised to see Moch in the 2nd leg, I would have expected to see him in the 3rd.
Norway is probably resting Valnes for the team sprint.

Is Dobler sick or? Should have put Moch in third or fourth. Boegl is better in skate but he should have been put on leg 1, then Brugger. All of them except Brugger are better in skate, so they don’t have as many options, but still. Moch is strong, I don’t think he’ll lose too much, at least not anyone not named Bolshunov or Niskanen.

 

[roundabout]

Looks like they will do 3.3k course for the classic part and the 5k course for freestyle.

Looks like a 3.3k course for all legs

https://medias3.fis-ski.com/pdf/2022/CC/2698/2022CC2698SL.pdf

 

[Mayomaniac]

Is Dobler sick or? Should have put Moch in third or fourth. Boegl is better in skate but he should have been put on leg 1, then Brugger. All of them except Brugger are better in skate, so they don’t have as many options, but still. Moch is strong, I don’t think he’ll lose too much, at least not anyone not named Bolshunov or Niskanen.

Yeah, probably true.
I think Norway should have gone Golberg-Holund-Roethe-Klaebo.
Iversen isn't the only question mark, Golberg has raced every single race until now and has faded badly in the 2nd half of the 15km race, he could crack Obersdorf style.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

What will be the Weather be tomorrow?. It it is closer to minus, 10 Russia will win easily. If it is closer to zoo, then Norway has a chance.

-13/-14 and light snowfall all day long.

 

[Norbea]

Lot of heat around Norways head coach, Espen Bjervik. Ragnhild Haga very critical about the lack of plan and structure in the recruitment of woman. It has been a large gap in quality between Johaug and the rest since the last olympics. Haga herself has gone from winning gold in 2018 to losing her place on the team before these olympics.

Haga: "We need a positive focus. There is a lot of talent on the woman's side. We just need to take good care of it, protect them and provide good coaches - not all the stuff around it. Don't give them ten sets of jackets and loads of money. The most important thing is the work that has to be done."

 

[Bavarianrider]

-13/-14 and light snowfall all day long.

Wow, that would be awesome conditions.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Wow, that would be awesome conditions.

Today I did a 32km skiing session to Cortina in the morning (and back home with the bus) and at one point we had -18, that's proper winter skiing weather.

 

[BigCoward]

-13/-14 and light snowfall all day long.

Which disadvantages the Russians, nobody wants to be leading the classic, with snow falling

 

[Bavarianrider]

Which disadvantages the Russians, nobody wants to be leading the classic, with snow falling

The "snowfall" will be super light. Will be a non factor.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

One of the coaches said that they have the best skis of all teams. The Russians sent a big team to investigate the tracks in December, and it seems like it paid off - not sure everyone did that?!

Germany did. I just listened to the Biathlon Doppelzimmer podcast. Germany has a big team for four years now. It is backed by scientific research. They travelled to China in december and produced great skis for cc, nk and biathlon.

 

[BigCoward]

The "snowfall" will be super light. Will be a non factor.

Is that definite? I hate it when conditions affect results. I'm very socialist when it comes to this *** (I beleive all skis should be prepared by one team for example).
Norway losing the relay in 2014 when they had perhaps the strongest team in history (Norway v rest of world would have been a no contest under normal conditions) really bothered me.

 

[jmdirt]

Really cool sport! I'm enjoying my once every 4 years viewing!

 

[BullsFan22]

Germany did. I just listened to the Biathlon Doppelzimmer podcast. Germany has a big team for four years now. It is backed by scientific research. They travelled to China in december and produced great skis for cc, nk and biathlon.

The Russian coaches yelled out to Stupak that she had the best skis when she was skiing one of the downhill sections during her leg. That was one of the encouragements she received. As good as their skis were, I am confident in saying the Germans had even better skis. Of course you have to make the skis go, but it have both of those teams a nice push.

 

[search]

Is that definite? I hate it when conditions affect results.

the official race forecast now says "Overcast with moderate to heavy snow (4～8 mm). New added snow depth may be 7～15 cm,
and the visibility may drop below 1 km sometimes. Highs at −12 °C, and lows at −20 °C. East winds at 2～4 m/s with peak gusts of 8～10 m/s to 4～6 m/s." So this doesn't sound like super light

 

[Silhouette]

For what it's worth, conditions in giant slalom don't look like light snow right now. There are reports of knee height snow at the top. I hope conditions are better at the xc ski course.

 

[search]

Yanqing (where the Alpine events take place) is quite a bit away, but the slopestyle qualification in Zhangjiakou earlier on had to be postponed "due to heavy snow" as well.

 

[BullsFan22]

At the village there’s 10cm of new snow. Probably the same at the venue. They are blowing the snow from the tracks. This doesn’t benefit the Russians, it’ll be harder to try and get away. It may not help Iversen either, he needs firm tracks and fast conditions. We’ll see what happens. I still think Niskanen will attack on the second leg, no matter where Finland is.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Wow once in a Lifetime snowall for the area. This could be a waxing drama. Super hard conditions Overall.

 

[BullsFan22]

Iversen will just wheelsuck. That’s his task.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Chervotkin pulling the hammer down already. Finnland is gone. Iversen doesnT look good at all. Wheelsucking behind Brugger.

 

[BigCoward]

Ffs. It's not on eurosport or BBC.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Hopefully Chervotkin did not overpace. These conditions are as tough as it gets.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Jouve is surprising me here.

Edit: A now losing contact.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Pellegrino just destroyed Iversen.