Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[Mayomaniac]

Meanwhile Sanfilippo won the 10km skating race in Livigno yesterday, 7.sec ahead of the talented 19 year old Maria Gismondi, who dominated the Itaian uphill rollerski races this season (won at Junior, national and world cup level). Last year she had a promising start of the season, but then she got Mono... She's pretty much the only Italian XC skier from Central Italy (from Subiaco, around 60kms East of Rome).

On the men's side Fabio Longo won just 2.8 sec ahead of Didi Nöckler.

Speaking of the Swedish season opening, is Poromaa ok after that crash? That one looked nasty.

 

[OJRvE]

Speaking of the Swedish season opening, is Poromaa ok after that crash? That one looked nasty.

They found nothing on the x-ray but it hurts so he won’t ski today.

 

[KZD]

And some sad news from Norway. Flugstad Østberg is again not allowed to compete due her health issues. Also Fossesholm won’t compete this calendar year due to physical and mental issues.

I did also read that Riiber has had all sorts of issues during preseason, sickness and the shoulder (again) so he is out of the national opening.

Fossesholm is giving me eternal promise vibes...

Meanwhile Valnes dominated the 10k classic race in Norway. Given the huge number of sprint and 10k races, I think he could very well finish on the World Cup podium. Anger won in Sweden. He is another skier that should benefit from the pathetic schedule maybe he will get his first World Cup win.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Fossesholm is giving me eternal promise vibes...

Meanwhile Valnes dominated the 10k classic race in Norway. Given the huge number of sprint and 10k races, I think he could very well finish on the World Cup podium. Anger won in Sweden. He is another skier that should benefit from the pathetic schedule maybe he will get his first World Cup win.

Pellegrino has said that Anger is strong like an ox and thinks that he'll also be a factor in distance races in the future.

About Valnes, so far his classic is so much better than his skating when it comes to distance races/individual starts.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Reading the Beitostoelen result list is always remarkable. The number of quality runners Norway has is crazy.

 

[Bavarianrider]

A bit off Topic, but can someone of you experts explain the relationship between the ski classics and the FIS. I have always thought that this series in somewhat totally independent to FIS. Yet races like the Birkebeiner or the Vasaloppet are Part ofthe Fis calenender. However, Fis does not really rate these Events that high. Winning random FIs race in Beitoestolen or Galivare gives you better Fis Points than winning the Vada Loppet. So this does not really look as if Fis was pushing these events. Somwhat understandable, as it is potential competition for the World Cup. A bit of a confusing situation.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Ok, Moa Ilar beating Karlsson and Andersson was a bit unexpected.

Cyril Fähndrich just ahead of Kalle is also a bit of a surprise. The younger Swedish guys in the top 10 look promising.

 

[OJRvE]

Ok, Moa Ilar beating Karlsson and Andersson was a bit unexpected.

Cyril Fähndrich just ahead of Kalle is also a bit of a surprise. The younger Swedish guys in the top 10 look promising.

I think there obviously were some ski differences. Ilars teammates from Falun-Borlänge preformed better than Andersson and Sundlings teammates from Piteå across the board in men and women’s field.

That being said Ilar has trained good this year, spent a lot of time with Karlsson and also changed her training a bit. Also she has been very good before Christmas last two season before losing her shape in January.

For men side the level is low, what’s positive is the club skiers. There are more of them now and they are getting better. Not close to Norway of course but still good. The fact they are only racing 10k now may of course skew it a little.

Fähndrich winning is still a surprise since foreign skier usually does better in WC than in opening so I expect him to be better than ever.

 

[Mayomaniac]

I think there obviously were some ski differences. Ilars teammates from Falun-Borlänge preformed better than Andersson and Sundlings teammates from Piteå across the board in men and women’s field.

That being said Ilar has trained good this year, spent a lot of time with Karlsson and also changed her training a bit. Also she has been very good before Christmas last two season before losing her shape in January.

For men side the level is low, what’s positive is the club skiers. There are more of them now and they are getting better. Not close to Norway of course but still good. The fact they are only racing 10k now may of course skew it a little.

Fähndrich winning is still a surprise since foreign skier usually does better in WC than in opening so I expect him to be better than ever.

The gap between the Central Europeans and the Scandinavians at the start of the season seems to be smaller than usual. I hope that means a more competitive field overall...

 

[OJRvE]

The gap between the Central Europeans and the Scandinavians at the start of the season seems to be smaller than usual. I hope that means a more competitive field overall...

Maybe a reason could be there is only races in Scandinavia before Christmas and the race in Norway is the last one so it makes more sense to peak for the opening instead of Davos as usual. But yeah maybe the level in Central Europe is higher.

A fun thing with Gällivare is the organizer provided a split time in a downhill. Ofcourse it doesn’t make sense to just look at one skier but rather a combination of waxing team and ski brand could tell you something.

But as a mentioned before just like Remco, Myhlback has a lot of fanboys who seems to like him more than the sport and has unrealistic expectations like he will podium World Cup races this year. So yeah they demanded him winning both races this weekend by a big margin. When that never happened they invented the theory he had bad skis based on the fact he had like 35th split time in the downhill (one second behind the fastest) and are right now in the process of calculating the time lost by bad skis, I guess their ultimate conclusion will be he is actually the strongest would have won the race.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Maybe a reason could be there is only races in Scandinavia before Christmas and the race in Norway is the last one so it makes more sense to peak for the opening instead of Davos as usual. But yeah maybe the level in Central Europe is higher.

A fun thing with Gällivare is the organizer provided a split time in a downhill. Ofcourse it doesn’t make sense to just look at one skier but rather a combination of waxing team and ski brand could tell you something.

But as a mentioned before just like Remco, Myhlback has a lot of fanboys who seems to like him more than the sport and has unrealistic expectations like he will podium World Cup races this year. So yeah they demanded him winning both races this weekend by a big margin. When that never happened they invented the theory he had bad skis based on the fact he had like 35th split time in the downhill (one second behind the fastest) and are right now in the process of calculating the time lost by bad skis, I guess their ultimate conclusion will be he is actually the strongest would have won the race.

Now even Mika Vermeulen is flying and putting up a decent fight against the Norwegians. Also, once again a good showing by one of my favourite Norwegian skiers, Krogh.

Edit: In the end Vermeulen finishes 7th, 6sec behind the podium and Lapalus finishes 2nd, just like Claudel earlier.

 

[BullsFan22]

I think there obviously were some ski differences. Ilars teammates from Falun-Borlänge preformed better than Andersson and Sundlings teammates from Piteå across the board in men and women’s field.

That being said Ilar has trained good this year, spent a lot of time with Karlsson and also changed her training a bit. Also she has been very good before Christmas last two season before losing her shape in January.

For men side the level is low, what’s positive is the club skiers. There are more of them now and they are getting better. Not close to Norway of course but still good. The fact they are only racing 10k now may of course skew it a little.

Fähndrich winning is still a surprise since foreign skier usually does better in WC than in opening so I expect him to be better than ever.

Let’s be honest, the quality of Swedish men distance skiing, especially without Poromaa, simply isn’t so strong.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Let’s be honest, the quality of Swedish men distance skiing, especially without Poromaa, simply isn’t so strong.

Yeah, but at the same time Lapalus and Luka Vermeulen (who tbf almost counts as half-Norwegian, despite being half-dutch, because he lives and trains there) also did really well in Norway. Same with Claudel on the women's side, Laukli finished 4th despite doing trail running and no roller skiing all Summer long and you have 2 more French women in the top 15.

I'm actually a bit optimistic about the Central European nations being more competitive this season.

 

[Bavarianrider]

It is certainly interesting that in Biathlon there`s all the talk about the total domination the Norwegians have on the waxing front.
Yet at the same time, none of that seems to apply for cross country skiing, considering that random journeymen like Vermeulen are almost on par with the best Norwegians. Surely that would not be possible if he had poor skies.
So something doesn`t add up here.

 

[Mayomaniac]

It is certainly interesting that in Biathlon there`s all the talk about the total domination the Norwegians have on the waxing front.
Yet at the same time, none of that seems to apply for cross country skiing, considering that random journeymen like Vermeulen are almost on par with the best Norwegians. Surely that would not be possible if he had poor skies.
So something doesn`t add up here.

Yeah, it doesn't make that much sense.

 

[BullsFan22]

Lapalus is a strong skate skier, like most if not all of the French. Claudel will again be fighting for top 10’s (minimum) in skate races.

Vermeulen is an odd one for me, went from nordic combined to xc. He’s had a number of good results, but he never struck me as someone that’s gonna hit the big time, but maybe I am wrong.

Not sure what the season will bring, you’re always gonna have some skiers really on form at the beginning of the season. This being a non championship season, you’d think that the top skiers will look to do more races and it should be more competitive, with less skiers missing races, unless they’re sick or injured.

The Russians had a couple different races this past weekend. Bolshunov won the distance race and Terentjev won the sprint. The women’s distance race was won by the Russian version of Frida Karlsson, 17 year old Alina Peklecova. She had some strong results last year and will only get better.

The other venue where a massive number of skiers took part was in Kirovsk, and Evgeny Belov won the distance race.

I have to agree with what Northug and Iversen said in Beito this past weekend…

 

[BigCoward]

I have to agree with what Northug and Iversen said in Beito this past weekend…

What did they say?

 

[search]

Vermeulen is an odd one for me, went from nordic combined to xc. He’s had a number of good results, but he never struck me as someone that’s gonna hit the big time, but maybe I am wrong.

there's an interview in Austrian press today. He said he trained more than ever before, 95% on his own, to not get distracted. Before, he always felt like a winner, but never acted like one. Now that's supposed to change.

https://pressreader.com/article/282600267618852

 

[Bavarianrider]

there's an interview in Austrian press today. He said he trained more than ever before, 95% on his own, to not get distracted. Before, he always felt like a winner, but never acted like one. Now that's supposed to change.

https://pressreader.com/article/282600267618852

Oh i have a feeling we have heard that from Austraian skiers before, did not end up so well in most cases.

 

[Miss Violet Smith]

Klaebo and leki.nordic giveaway of 2x ski poles: to play, tag a friend in the comments. The fun part? The French xc skiers showing up to play.

Lapalus (tagging Théo Schely): peut être que avec ça on ira vite - maybe with that we will go fast

Lapalus (tagging Jay Renaud): pour que tu gagnes tes finales - so that you win your finals

Lapalus (tagging Jules Espessy, retired biathlète, waxer): pour les test de qualités avec toi - for the quality tests with you

Théo Schely (tagging Jay Renaud and Jules Lapierre)

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

View: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cz6STDNIrrP/?igshid=N2ViNmM2MDRjNw==

 

[Mayomaniac]

Oh i have a feeling we have heard that from Austraian skiers before, did not end up so well in most cases.

Not with Stadlober's mother as president of the Austrian skiing federation.

Tbf, Mika is talented and only switched over from Nordic Combined in 2018 (just like his brother Moran, wo is still an active cyclist, he also rode some 2.1 and 2.2 races that year in addition).

The guy moved to Norway to have better training conditions a few years ago.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Moch can`t race in Kusamo due to illness. Real bummer considering the shape he showed in Munio.

 

[BigCoward]

Who is the hottest of the hot favourites this year? Boe, Klaebo, Hansen or Riiber?

 

[Mayomaniac]

The Italian u23 national cup actually has 2 individual starts that are 20kms long. Hey, that's twice as many as the world cup, so at least that's something.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Norwegians have a 50km individual start in the nationalm championchips, yet in the World cup/Big events they don`t have the guts to stand up t Fis. That`s the most disapointing thing.
Can you imagine the Brits would be ok with moving Wimbledon from grass to sand while switching to a best of 1 seet format?