Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[Libertine Seguros]

Fourcade can go to hell. I hope he fails and fails miserably in Sochi.

 

[meat puppet]

come to think of it, it's too bad that the norwegians won't take the treble in men and women alike. that would be awesome.

E: or maybe they will. if I heard the eurosport commentator correctly, harvey won't start

nonetheless, I'm also expecting that politics will be heavily involved come sochi. wouldn't be too surprised if the tables turned completely by then.

 

[maltiv]

Fourcade can go to hell. I hope he fails and fails miserably in Sochi.

Come on. He has been the best biathlete in the world for 3 years. He deserves a gold medal.

 

[python]

the weather is atrocious - wet chunks of snow bombard the course.

in theory it should benefit a physically stronger skier, but theory is only occasionally panning out. and sure enough, threrese just took the lead.

re. harvey, according to fasterskier it was known for some time that he will not climb the final hill - said his hip needs rest.

i think a norwegian sweep in mans and lady's does not mean all that much in the absence of guys like hellner and cologna and the rate of other strong skiers pulling out by a dozen each day.

more interesting is if sundby can deliver a meaningful punch to northug to cement his #1 norge status at the moment.

 

[meat puppet]

python: I take it you include w/kg into "physically stronger", for by the looks of it this is essentially a 45kg skier vs a 55kgish, year after year, and with a predictable outcome. for the hillclimb at least.

the same scenario is at play in weng vs the finns

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Come on. He has been the best biathlete in the world for 3 years. He deserves a gold medal.

If I never see him win again it will be too soon. See also Marit Bjørgen.

 

[python]

meat puppet, partially yes, as the w/kg on a climb like cemis where the most gentle slope is 12% and several sections are 30% , unlike generally seen on a typical fis racing course, is probably the decisive advantage.

but i was rather thinking of a comparison of a soft slushy climb like today to a nicely packed like last year. the slush greatly increases friction for everyone so i was hypothesizing (i am not aware of any studies of the effect) that a skier able to develop more brutal force (particularly from the upper body) might get a slight advantage over a feather weight despite sinking deeper being heavier. iow, thereses advantage in w/kg, i theorize, would have been more pronounced in a well packed climb. true or not, their relative climb times last year vs this year seem to support my observation. therese had over 1.5 minute vs just over 40 seconds this year on the same jacobson. i could be wrong - man's race should provide more inputs if the weather stay as it was...

 

[Libertine Seguros]

When all is said and done, however, that was a pretty exciting finale between Weng and Lahteenmäki.

 

[ToreBear]

Yiehaaa! Finally after eight years! And the treble!


Love how Heidi outsprinted Krista on the finnish.


Due to the heavy snow, the mens race is unpredictable. I'm just going to keep chewing on my fingernails.

 

[maltiv]

Interesting to note that Kowalczyk went faster than Johaug today. Obviously different conditions etc, but still.

 

[search]

Harvey will not start today - I know it's not his favourite race, but not to start when you are 4th in gc with one stage to go is still pretty poor to be honest

 

[ToreBear]

Interesting to note that Kowalczyk went faster than Johaug today. Obviously different conditions etc, but still.

Different conditions, drafting behind the men, not having a week of racing in her legs. Nah, not really that interesting.

 

[ToreBear]

Harvey will not start today - I know it's not his favourite race, but not to start when you are 4th in gc with one stage to go is still pretty poor to be honest

I wouldn't have expected him to remain in 4th at the top even if at 100%, so I understand his decision in light of the Olympics.

 

[python]

the weather is just as terrible. they have jsut started. northug is sprinting like a mad man.

for those interested, the last climb is below:

 

[Bavarianrider]

Northugs poor technique always gets exposed on that climb. He has zero glide.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Jespersen and Duerr were flying up the mpuntain.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Northugs poor technique always gets exposed on that climb. He has zero glide.

He is lucky that this is only happening 1 time a year

 

[python]

roether phenomenal, might have been even faster than duerr...

to me. the following points are important:

1. northug received 2 blows in his jaw. a compatriot humiliated him from behind and then an austrian gave him a lesson in climbing.

2. sundby proved to be the best norge and i personally prefer his more typically nordic personality to northug's pony shows and babbling too much.

3. legkov better take a note from sundby's book or else, he'll be back with vyalbe's boys and her coaches.

 

[roundabout]

Dürr was fastest, but small gaps in general in stage times.

Musgrave was just 30 seconds slower.

Edit: 36/49 on the stage for Northug

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

roether phenomenal, might have been even faster than duerr...

to me. the following points are important:

1. northug received 2 blows in his jaw. a compatriot humiliated him from behind and then an austrian gave him a lesson in climbing.

2. sundby proved to be the best norge and i personally prefer his more typically nordic personality to northug's pony shows and babbling too much.

3. legkov better take a note from sundby's book or else, he'll be back with vyalbe's boys and her coaches.

1. Nordthug has climbed well here like 1 time, so Idoubt he will care to much
2. Yea, Sundy is the best tour skier in Norway, but doubt hell be taking many gold medals come the olympics
3. Yup, I hope he will be at his best in a month.

 

[ToreBear]

Northugs poor technique always gets exposed on that climb. He has zero glide.

I agree with your observation, but I'm not so sure about your conclusion.

He looked to be skiing well on the flat, but he seemed to be working way to hard. I think something was wrong with his glide.

It could be he selected skis to be good on the climb and bad on the flat, and used too much energy on the flat, and had nothing left on the climb.

It could also be that he chose the wrong skis.
Or it could be he was exhausted after yesterday.
Or it could be that he has poor technique uphill.

Or it could be all of the above.

My eyes and the Norwegian expert (Jens Arne Svartedal), saw his skis were not gliding well on the flat. So I'm thinking this was a big part of the problem.

In the post race interview he only said he was great full to Jespersen and Duerr for helping him. I don't really expect to hear anything about his skis until maybe this spring(when I will likely forget). Also since he is on his own team, I think he has is own waxer, so it gets a little complex.

Still not sure if he could have kept Duerr behind him even with good glide. Duerr is a mountain goat!

 

[python]

i just finished analyzing the official results from fis including the splits, gps data, etc re. the final stage... lots and lots of great info exposed the invisible subtleties of the real race not shown on tv screens. some of it may surprise if one followed the tour ONLY via the main media.

here's what interesting - someone who appears could have easily won the tds but was likely held back - that person is not in the limelight...

it is not duerr
it is not sundby
it is not di centa
it is not roether
it is not legkov
......................it is chis jespersen. who gave duer only 4 seconds on the climb.

looking at the splits and the gps data after he effortlessly caught up with northug (km 5.50) it is strange that he did NOT continue to pull away from a visibly fading northug (into the steeper and steeper slope - a terrain manifestly unsuited for northug), but instead stayed with him for almost 2 kms up a 20% slope!

why would he do that ? the only reasonable answer is - either out of his own good heart or on team orders he paced northug uphill. . the very same bee worker jespersen who did what a team tactic required a day earlier. unlike the empty bull shyt declaration of northug that he will be a brake to any pursuit of sundby, it was jespersen who went to the front and tried to slow the group to only be out-sprinted by northug at the end.

it is a fact registered in the stage 5 video.

the same in the last stage. jespersen after pacing a hopeless northug, finally went his way to gain on sundby 30 seconds in the last kilometer. he ran out of road...

either he was the team norway tactical weapon or the he is a fool.
could be both.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Come on. He has been the best biathlete in the world for 3 years. He deserves a gold medal.

If thats your logic, I know a few others who deserves to get more gold medals in the olympics. It's not an argument and sport doesn't work that way. I also hope he fails miserably, simply due to the way he acts in competitions, being an arrogant and respectless ***, even if he tries to make up for his behavior on press conferences afterwards.

 

[jsem94]

Magdalena Forsberg never won an Olympic gold medal, but she was the best female biathlete for years. One could argue that she deserved to win it, but she wasn't good enough to handle the pressure of the situation. You don't deserve a gold medal, you earn it.

 

[Mr. Brooks]

I feel genuinely sorry for the Swedish xc team right now. There is still some time to the Olympics, but things are not looking good for some of the key team members. Johan Olsson reports to have injured ribs and is out of training. Kalla is worried about her classic technique despite winning in Piteå this weekend. On the bright side, she did a very good 10K skate the next day. Today Hellner finished 7th in the interval start 15K skate (after six Norwegians), 34 sec behind non-skater Eldar Rønning on 2nd and 48 sec behind winner Simen Østensen. I really hope they have a plan, the international xc racing family is too small as it is and we need the Swedes at their best.