Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[BigCoward]

The only decent race was the women's relay, everything else pretty much went to form.
The Riiber show in particular was just silly.

Womens biathlon seems to be the only thing which is truly competitive (though that might only be because of the long absences of Eckhoff and Roiseland).

 

[jsem94]

So Pellegrino said that he's actually enjoying these long distance races more than sprints nowadays and that he wants to focus more on them.
He got cramps in his arms before dropping, apparently he always gets them in 50km races. Seems like something that could be fixed with training + nurition.

I wonder how Pellegrino would fare as a Ski Classics skier.

 

[Mayomaniac]

I wonder how Pellegrino would fare as a Ski Classics skier.

He already gets cramps in his arms in normal 50km races, so I don't know if that's a good idea. He's probaby also too short/lacks the leverages to compete (he has always been a lot worse in classic sprint and Mocellini obliterates him in high speed double poling training sessions on rollerskis). Nearly every top classic skier besides maybe Toenseth is at least 180cm tall and the ski cassics scene is also dominated by tall, physically imposing guys.

I know he hasn't been an active skier for a few years, but Northug is getting his ass whooped left and right in this years ski classics season and that guy was great in highspeed double poling.

Speaking of ski classics, I do think that FIS should think about eliminating technique zones in mass start races to increase the crossover potential, while still keeping them in individual start races.

 

[jsem94]

Speaking of ski classics, I do think that FIS should think about eliminating technique zones in mass start races to increase the crossover potential, while still keeping them in individual start races.

100%. I think it's silly of FIS honestly to stop the progress of the sport. Make the courses hillier if you don't want anyone to double pole. I know you can't just rebuild all stadiums, but it's impossible to fully stop the progression of the sport.

Speaking of Ski Classics, you make a good point. Pellegrino has always excelled more in freestyle anyway - I don't know why I even considered it. It was however refreshing to see him perform so well in a 50km race.

 

[Mayomaniac]

100%. I think it's silly of FIS honestly to stop the progress of the sport. Make the courses hillier if you don't want anyone to double pole. I know you can't just rebuild all stadiums, but it's impossible to fully stop the progression of the sport.

Speaking of Ski Classics, you make a good point. Pellegrino has always excelled more in freestyle anyway - I don't know why I even considered it. It was however refreshing to see him perform so well in a 50km race.

I mean, his diagonal stride is really solid from a technical perspective, it's just that his leverages are on the shorter side and frankly I don' think he has the engine to be a top classic skier.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Am catching up with the Vasaloppet now, what madness! Not just the distance, but the sheer number of participants...

The scenery looks nice though, not sure what the snow conditions were like.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The only decent race was the women's relay, everything else pretty much went to form.
The Riiber show in particular was just silly.

Womens biathlon seems to be the only thing which is truly competitive (though that might only be because of the long absences of Eckhoff and Roiseland).

Ski jumping?

 

[BigCoward]

Ski jumping?

Not really my thing, I can admire the bravery/insanity though.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Not really my thing, I can admire the bravery/insanity though.

Definitely didn't go predictably, though!

 

[OJRvE]

Some roumors now that Halfvarsson and Poromaa were so disappointed with the relay selection that they didn’t try their best and instead saved the legs for 50k. I don’t know what to think, prefer to say Poromaa had a relatively bad day and never tried because the of blowing up just like Karlsson the day before. For Halfvarsson the conditions obviously played against him but I guess it’s hard to try when you don’t believe.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Some roumors now that Halfvarsson and Poromaa were so disappointed with the relay selection that they didn’t try their best and instead saved the legs for 50k. I don’t know what to think, prefer to say Poromaa had a relatively bad day and never tried because the of blowing up just like Karlsson the day before. For Halfvarsson the conditions obviously played against him but I guess it’s hard to try when you don’t believe.

With Poromaa you could actually see his form breaking down in the relay, so I doubt it. Skating in those conditions is just bad news for Calle and the coaches have to be really stupid to still have him in the 4th leg instead of the 4th or 2nd one when he doesn't even want to be in the final leg. I can believe that he took it easy once it was clear that he couldn't fight for the Bronze medal, but nothing more. He kinda blew it in the sprint at the end of the 50km race by starting so far back, but looked like he was at his limit for the whole 2nd part of the race.
The one guy who should have pushed the pace more is Nyenget. Him, Golberg and Poromaa looked like the strongest in the race and could have dropped Klaebo if the made the race hard before the final lap.

What do you think on the whole Alvar Myhlbäck situation? I don't think a 16 year old racing Vasaloppet is gonna ruin him, but only doing ski classics races and specificly training for them isn't gonna do his overall development as a skier any favours. My impression is that he's the kind of kid who stopped growing and filled his frame out really early, physically well ahead of many of his peers in the same age class, but probably already training like a pro. The best result is probably that you end up with a Swedish Sedov, if they continue to develop him that way...

 

[Discgear]

With Poromaa you could actually see his form breaking down in the relay, so I doubt it. Skating in those conditions is just bad news for Calle and the coaches have to be really stupid to still have him in the 4th leg instead of the 4th or 2nd one when he doesn't even want to be in the final leg. I can believe that he took it easy once it was clear that he couldn't fight for the Bronze medal, but nothing more. He kinda blew it in the sprint at the end of the 50km race by starting so far back, but looked like he was at his limit for the whole 2nd part of the race.
The one guy who should have pushed the pace more is Nyenget. Him, Golberg and Poromaa looked like the strongest in the race and could have dropped Klaebo if the made the race hard before the final lap.

What do you think on the whole Alvar Myhlbäck situation? I don't think a 16 year old racing Vasaloppet is gonna ruin him, but only doing ski classics races and specificly training for them isn't gonna do his overall development as a skier any favours. My impression is that he's the kind of kid who stopped growing and filled his frame out really early, physically well ahead of many of his peers in the same age class, but probably already training like a pro. The best result is probably that you end up with a Swedish Sedov, if they continue to develop him that way...

I am also a bit worried about his focus on long distance races in ski classics, when you have to nurture a good sprint finish even the 50k. However, he did really well when he competed in sprint with senior elite earlier this season.

 

[Mayomaniac]

So Comarella, who would have been fighting for a top 15 in the 30km race if she didn't decide to change skis later than all the others (and had worse skis afterwards) just had hip surgery because the left side of the hip had been giving her problems for months. Pittin is also considering surgery on the ankle that she broke 2 years ago that still doesn't have full mobility and Ganz is still out because of her heel injury. To sum things up, many of the Italian women are pretty beat up.

 

[BigCoward]

Individual and mass start this week, which is good as it probably means less chance of it being the JTB show.
Though there is also the chance he wins both by minutes. Anyone know if Laegried is back this week, start lists not on the ibu website.

 

[eriksp92]

Last word is that JTB and Tarjei Bø won't be competing until next week because of Covid.

 

[Mayomaniac]

So Italy is only bringing 2 athletes to the Homenkollen races, Franchi and Lorenzo Romano.

I understand that multiple women are out because of injuries/needing surgery, but bring some of the younger guys like Graz and Barp or someone like Daprà. They haven't raced more than 1 race at the wc (Graz also tried to qualify for the sprint final and failed, but with him one has to say that he got sick around the Toblach world cup races and hasn't been able to regain the form that he had before). Maybe Di Centa could have raced the women's race. Pellegrino wanted to race this one more than Drammen, but said that he needed some rest after the WC and looking at the rest of the upcoming races skipping this one to recover a bit makes sense, even if he doesn't really like it.

For the Drammen sprint it's 1 woman, Monsorno, and 3 men, Pellegrino, Mocellini and the 2m tall youngster Chiocchetti. De Martin Pinter and Nadine Laurent will be racing the junior OPA races in Toblach instead. That's actually sensible, since they raced both the junior World Championship and the elite one (ok, only 1 race, but still) and you don't wanna burn them out.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Individual and mass start this week, which is good as it probably means less chance of it being the JTB show.
Though there is also the chance he wins both by minutes. Anyone know if Laegried is back this week, start lists not on the ibu website.

From what I've seen, Lægreid won't be racing before Holmenkollen.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Pärmkoski is also out of the 50km Holmenkollen because she has Covid and on the women's side the Germans are only bringing Carl, no Hennig or Fink. On the men's side Dobler will race his last World Cup race before ending his career.
I'm kinda worried about how small the women's field will be. At least Franchi and Claudel seem to be really enthusiastic about the 50km race, but I fear that the former might have peaked too early this season.
Besides Karlsson and Andersson the Swedish team will have ski classics specialist Soemskar, Moa Ilnar and Lovisa Modig. I'd have liked to see a ski classics specialist like Ida Dahl here, cause who knows if they are gonna keep the 50km for the women, but I guess she has different goals.

 

[BigCoward]

Roiseland back to earth with a bump, missed 5. Looking good for Wierer or Vitozzi.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Roiseland back to earth with a bump, missed 5. Looking good for Wierer or Vitozzi.

In the end it was a 1-2. Wierer won the race, Vittozzi the small globe for the individual start World Cup.

 

[search]

Poromaa is sick as well and won't start in Olso. And in other news, Frida seems to have dumped him

 

[Mayomaniac]

Poromaa is sick as well and won't start in Olso. And in other news, Frida seems to have dumped him

Not exactly a surprise. From what I've read they moved away from eachother and this season they went out of their way to always have their training camps away from eachother/not in the same place. Doesn't sound like a couple to me. They probably split months ago, but didn't make it public to avoid all the media attention, so that they could focus on their big season goals. Now that the WC is over the cat's out of the bag. That's all I'm gonna comment on their private matters, I'm sure the Swedish press is already having a field day...

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Benedikt Doll just shot clean in a four-shooting race for the first time at an IBU level.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Benedikt Doll just shot clean in a four-shooting race for the first time at an IBU level.

Ther Germans definitely took advantage of the weaker field.

 

[OJRvE]

My impression is that Poromaa is too much in love with himself to be in a relationship with someone, atleast on equal terms.