Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[Mayomaniac]

In 2021, Swirbul tagged off in an around the medals with Germany and Finland. Bjornsen had a wonderful opportunity to fall in behind Henning and let her do the work but no being an American she has to get her own lane and match Henning stride for stride. Brennan is tagged off in medal position, with Diggins to follow, at the point it's pretty obvious to Germany/Finland that they need to get rid of the USA not the other way around but no Rosie charged to the front trying to be the hero(with poor skis) and ended up blowing up. Diggins having seen this leg did exactly the same tactic and gave Finland the only possible option of winning a medal, hanging behind and winning the sprint.

Fast forward to the Olympics, Swirlbul tags Brennan off ahead of Norway and level with Switzerland(not far off the medals). The obvious tactic was to exercise patience and let Johaug do the work but no Rosie being Rosie once again wanted to be the hero, closed the gap on Andersson in no time....and then blew up at the end of the leg whilst Faehndrich understood the situation, tucked in being Johaug and beat Brennan on the leg despite being the weaker skier.

American skiers are obsessed with skiing in their own lane in classic(watch this in mass starts), they simply will not learn to try and ski more efficiently in the pack. The best relay skiers understand a slow first lap and a hard second lap...Americans have the opposite strategy.

Germany now how to ski relays and Americans don't(Same coaches for the decade = same outcome.)

The notion that nobody on the American team seems to bother to work with the athletes on their technique flaws also seems to be true.

 

[KZD]

Tomorrow the biathlon World Championships start with the mixed relay.

The major figure should be Johannes Boe.After 5 medals in 6 races last year, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets into the medals in all seven races, though I predict a bad day in the individual will prevent that to happen. He should also get at least 4 golds. Lægreid and Christiansen have been his closest rivals this season but I doubt that they can challenge their team leader unless Boe misses too much.
The French have not been great this season but maybe they were peaking for this, I expect medals but not necessarily gold ones. I also think that we will see good performances from Samuelsson, Ponsiluoma, Doll and Hartweg.

As for the women,its more much difficult to predict but given how strong Julia Simon has been this season its likely that she gets an individual gold and I also expect France to win the women's relay as the seem stronger than the Swedes this season (France has a good chance to win all relays apart from the men's). The Öberg sisters didn't look too good in Antholz but Oberhof should suit them more so I am expecting medals and Hermann is probably the only German that could win a gold medal which is relatively likely to happen as well. Expecting good things Wierer and Vittozzi too, maybe a gold in the individual. Olsbu seems to be improving but I actually doubt that she will win a gold medal here unless maybe in the mixed relay(s). Lampič will obviously be a major threat for the sprint but Öberhof's winds will be challenging.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Felix Leitner will skip the WC because of the health problems that have ruined his season so far.

 

[BullsFan22]

The notion that nobody on the American team seems to bother to work with the athletes on their technique flaws also seems to be true.

Another thing is racing acumen. Last season in Falun, the final sprint of the WC season, Sundling was in top form, skiing away from everyone in the final. Lampič was the only one able to stay with her, but even she dropped off on that final hill before the downhill that takes them back towards the stadium. Kern was between Lampič and the ‘chasing pack,’ but closest to the chasers than Lampič, and what to the US coaches tell her? To go get Lampič, because ‘she’s right there,’ instead of worrying about losing steam and trying to hold off the chasers to get on the podium, of course she was caught and passed by Dahlqvist, one of the best double polers in the circuit, and Lampič was safe in 2nd. I agree on the notion that they cannot stay behind someone, they hallways try to ski at the front or to the side. It makes no sense. Once Krista wasn’t dropped in the final hill in Oberstdorf, she had the advantage, Diggins wasted unnecessary energy the entire leg. There are plenty of other examples.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Looks like JTB will be getting his first gold medal today. Tandrevold did a penalty loop , but clear shooting from Lægreid has closed the 45 seconds he was behind Jacquelin and Bionaz at the start of the third leg.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Three misses for JTB in prone, but Fillon Maillet has four, so it doesn't even make it exciting, even though Giacomel has taken over the lead.

 

[search]

Giacomel is better than QFM at the moment, I'd say. So there's some excitement at least

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Giacomel is better than QFM at the moment, I'd say. So there's some excitement at least

Sure, but if QFM had shot clear, the gap would at last have been bigger from the start of the lap.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

And then QFM almost threw away the bronze by missing the finish.

 

[Mayomaniac]

QFM almost gifting Austria a medal (talk about everyone peaking at the right time, all the Austrian skiers performed at their best).
Giacomel did a great race and would have made it really close against every "normal" opponent.
That said, Norway won Gold with that flawless 3rd leg, otherwise it wouldn't have been clear cut...

 

[Bubba]

Sure, but if QFM had shot clear, the gap would at last have been bigger from the start of the lap.

Shocking pace from QFM.
Shocking shooting from Samuelson.
That italian team is looking more and more exiting by the day.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Shocking pace from QFM.
Shocking shooting from Samuelson.
That italian team is looking more and more exiting by the day.

Yeah, looking at the results in the junior ranks and the IBU cup things are looking good for Italy. That said, the talent pool is really small. It's pretty much just kids who grow up near a Biathlon arena in a rural area (Antholz, Ridnauen, Forni Avoltri and Bionaz are the main ones).

 

[Bubba]

Apparently some screws were loose on Samuelson's rifle butt.
(That sentence looks weird, but hey..)
That's preferable to getting the jitters I suppose.
Good luck next time Sebbe.

 

[Bavarianrider]

February is certainly a better date for Oberhof than January.

 

[Mayomaniac]

I looked at the time of the races at the Nordic WC and of course FIS is making a mess out of it.

Nearly all the races take place in the afternoon, not exactly smart at 900m in central europe at the end of February/start of March. At least the individual starts already take place at 12:30, but stuff like the skiathlons taking place at 14:00 (women's) and 15:30 (men's) is just obscene. At least the big mass start races take place at 12:00, but you could totally have all the distance races take place before noon and maybe the sprints even during the evening with floodlightning, if you wanna do that (might get better ratings that way). I doubt that the timing of the races actually has a big impact on the ratings, it's probably just the FIS doing FIS stuff.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

February is certainly a better date for Oberhof than January.

Idunno, it's part of the Oberhof charm not knowing before time if you're going to get blizzards in a maelstrom of wind with several feet of snow, or a narrow ribbon of snow winding through a muddy forest that's pressed down and turned the same ugly brown as the old DDR lignite quarries by the time the World Cup is over.

 

[search]

some teams at least were surprised with some additional starting spots, to strengthen the superiority of the big nations even more. The Norwegians called Endre Strømsheim back from Livigno. Sweden didn't even care to line up a 6th man.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Herrmann-Wick had the ski speed and accuracy to win gold in the women's sprint. Hanna Öberg did manage to limit the gap in the final meters, so there's only 2 seconds in it from the start of the pursuit.

 

[search]

Herrmann must have really smahed it on the climb after the final shooting. She gained >10s on almost everyone else in that part.

 

[KZD]

Deserved win for Herrmann. She was the fastest skier and shot clean. Hanna Öberg also really strong she pushed Herrmann to the limit and seems to be stronger than her sister at the moment. Persson with another strong sprint performance to get bronze ahead of Olsbu. Very disappointing to see Lampič outside of the pursuit and a surprising result from Arnekleiv.

After the mixed relay, I have some hope Lægreid can put up a fight against Johannes Bø in these Championships.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Deserved win for Herrmann. She was the fastest skier and shot clean. Hanna Öberg also really strong she pushed Herrmann to the limit and seems to be stronger than her sister at the moment. Persson with another strong sprint performance to get bronze ahead of Olsbu. Very disappointing to see Lampič outside of the pursuit and a surprising result from Arnekleiv.

After the mixed relay, I have some hope Lægreid can put up a fight against Johannes Bø in these Championships.

Lampič is qualified for the pursuit, but she obviously won't have much chance of getting a good result.

 

[KZD]

Lampič is qualified for the pursuit, but she obviously won't have much chance of getting a good result.

You're right, my eyes deceived me and saw 68th instead of 58th, still even with 4 misses, I expected her to be at least in the top40.

 

[BullsFan22]

If Herrmann shoots well, she’ll always be up near the top. She made the right decision years ago to switch to biathlon, she only had a couple podiums in xc, nowhere near good enough for podiums in distance races, more money and more media exposure in biathlon. I am sure her only regret is not moving to biathlon earlier.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

If Herrmann shoots well, she’ll always be up near the top. She made the right decision years ago to switch to biathlon, she only had a couple podiums in xc, nowhere near good enough for podiums in distance races, more money and more media exposure in biathlon. I am sure her only regret is not moving to biathlon earlier.

Lol, even when the XC convert du jour barely makes the pursuit on 6/10 (when apparently any good XC skier would win on 7/10) and is only the 12th fastest ski time, you still find a way to throw shade on the sport compared to XC. We're now getting a handle on Lampič the biathlete; her Hochfilzen time was outlyingly strong compared to subsequent performances, but this was outlyingly poor. She's overall the best skier there but not by as much as Hochfilzen made it look. She also shoots slowly in prone, poorly in stand, and is still almost totally untested in head to head and four shoot races. She's more Denise Herrmann than Stina Nilsson, but we'll see if she can have the longevity that Denise has had, or if she has to sacrifice some of that ski speed to improve the shooting.

It's about as transparent as Patrick Winterton using the way Arnekleiv holds her ski poles going downhill as a way to transition the conversation onto Jess Diggins.

Let's face it, the biggest problem that XC has compared to biathlon is not to do with the depth of competition or what the top end talent can or can't do. It's that biathlon isn't run by FIS.

 

[BullsFan22]

Lol, even when the XC convert du jour barely makes the pursuit on 6/10 (when apparently any good XC skier would win on 7/10) and is only the 12th fastest ski time, you still find a way to throw shade on the sport compared to XC. We're now getting a handle on Lampič the biathlete; her Hochfilzen time was outlyingly strong compared to subsequent performances, but this was outlyingly poor. She's overall the best skier there but not by as much as Hochfilzen made it look. She also shoots slowly in prone, poorly in stand, and is still almost totally untested in head to head and four shoot races. She's more Denise Herrmann than Stina Nilsson, but we'll see if she can have the longevity that Denise has had, or if she has to sacrifice some of that ski speed to improve the shooting.

It's about as transparent as Patrick Winterton using the way Arnekleiv holds her ski poles going downhill as a way to transition the conversation onto Jess Diggins.

Let's face it, the biggest problem that XC has compared to biathlon is not to do with the depth of competition or what the top end talent can or can't do. It's that biathlon isn't run by FIS.

Didn’t say anything about the depth. I am comparing the ski speed of someone like Herrmann, who is consistently one of the fastest on the tracks to what she produced in xc, and how that translates. You think that Herrmann would now, at 34, be able to podium in a xc distance (or sprint for that matter) World Cup, when she only did it a couple times at 24? You can visually see the speed differential. Roiseland couldn’t keep up with her in the mixed relay, and she’s also a top 10 skier in biathlon. Granted it’s suspicious as heck how she’s missed most of the season and boom, in shape for world’s, as if nothing happened. That’s a different topic though.

It sure would be great to see 90+ skiers in every xc World Cup. Look at a number of races this season on the World Cup, not even 40 skiers in the women’s division, and barely 60 in the men’s. FIS for sure is incompetent, and the more Scandinavian influence it has, the more biased it will become.