Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[dobrien]

Already a bit of a shocker in Ruka, Dahlqvist, Carl, and Lotta Weng not making it out of the qualifier while Jasmi Joensuu leads. Some lesser known Finns seem to have fantastic skis; could be a wild opener....

 

[OJRvE]

Already a bit of a shocker in Ruka, Dahlqvist, Carl, and Lotta Weng not making it out of the qualifier while Jasmi Joensuu leads. Some lesser known Finns seem to have fantastic skis; could be a wild opener....

Dahlqvists result was not surprising. She completely messed up her altitude training. She could fake it in the national opening but on this course it was not possible.

She probably needs a long break to be back on track.

 

[dobrien]

Dahlqvists result was not surprising. She completely messed up her altitude training. She could fake it in the national opening but on this course it was not possible.

She probably needs a long break to be back on track.

I knew there had been issues with her boyfriend's visa which caused some stress but I had not heard that her altitude training was messed up; from what I saw on Instagram it appeared she had had some good training with Bolger and Klaebo. Was she just skiing too hard up high? Appreciate the info, just curious; that would be a disaster for her if she had to take a big break.

 

[OJRvE]

I knew there had been issues with her boyfriend's visa which caused some stress but I had not heard that her altitude training was messed up; from what I saw on Instagram it appeared she had had some good training with Bolger and Klaebo. Was she just skiing too hard up high? Appreciate the info, just curious; that would be a disaster for her if she had to take a big break.

It was fine when she was there. But when she got home her body did not respond well. So she probably trained way too hard in the altitude.

She talks about it in the first part of this vlogg.

View: https://youtu.be/_F9qWz4sCKc?si=igQ6BdmHWpX05Mdg

 

[Bavarianrider]

Well, the men`s classic sprint qualification has produced some intersting results for sure. Maybe, just maybe the rest ha significantly narrowed the gap to Norway.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Since it hasn't been mentioned yet, Mocellini suffered a scaphoid fracture in one hand and will out for some time.
My mother had one a few years ago, takes a long time to heal...

 

[BullsFan22]

The Finns nailed the waxing, again. They are almost always very good with their waxing at home, especially in Ruka.

 

[Mayomaniac]

The Finns nailed the waxing, again. They are almost always very good with their waxing at home, especially in Ruka.

Just like you can bet the house on them messing up in warm spring conditions (just like the Russians always did)

 

[KZD]

There is still hope, Klæbo only third behind Valnes and Jouve. Pellegrino with a very good 4th place.

I don't think it matters that much though, Klæbo historically has been beaten several times in the Kuusamo sprint.

Ribom looked great in the women's race beating Sundling and Skistad.

 

[Mayomaniac]

There is still hope, Klæbo only third behind Valnes and Jouve. Pellegrino with a very good 4th place.

I don't think it matters that much though, Klæbo historically has been beaten several times in the Kuusamo sprint.

Ribom looked great in the women's race beating Sundling and Skistad.

Yeah, but Pellegrino being so good in a classic sprint in Kuusamo is a pleasant surprise.

 

[OJRvE]

There is still hope, Klæbo only third behind Valnes and Jouve. Pellegrino with a very good 4th place.

I don't think it matters that much though, Klæbo historically has been beaten several times in the Kuusamo sprint.

Ribom looked great in the women's race beating Sundling and Skistad.

Klaebo also had Covid recently and this is Valnes favorite course. But good to see Pellegrino and Jouve in great form. They could challenge Klaebo in the coming skate sprints. Anger was weak today, but this hill is terrible for him so I still have hope.

Ribom had some difficulties during preseason but Sundling has had no troubles so I now fully expect Ribom to be the leading swedish sprinter. Svahn looked good but not great, however this was her first sprint effort this season due to hamstring injury. Skistad not as good as she was at the end of last season but better than one year ago, and the course is not her favorite. She”ll be tough to beat onwards.

 

[BullsFan22]

Ah yes, the Ruka hill, where Terentjev made Klæbo and the rest look like a bunch of amateurs.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Ah yes, the Ruka hill, where Terentjev made Klæbo and the rest look like a bunch of amateurs.

Tbf, that was one of the few times that he wasn't helt back by poor positioning or other mistakes.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Impressive for Karlsson to get to the final, almost as impressive as getting a yellow card in the first sprint of the season

I hope they aren't making a sprinter of her, the sport neeeds variety and making the only distance racers have to be good at sprinting is a bad thing for that, but FIS just seem determined to make everything identikit.

On the other hand it's nice to see Klæbo not look all that, even despite the massive advantage he has in Classic where he's been able to tread very close to the line of skate steps on a number of occasions in the past.

Very cool to see Joensuu win the qualifying and even stay upright in the competition rounds, but I shan't get overexcited just yet, I've got rather used to the Finns peaking at go and getting the ski prep just right for events at home at the start of the season then fading from prominence later on, and she did tire in the semi. Plus, of course, Finland, classic style, you know the drill. It's overtaken Lutheranism as the #1 religion there.

Mind you I also believe that if Finland held all the influence at FIS, the world would be a better place. I'd love to see Alpe Cermis in Classic style just once.

 

[BullsFan22]

Impressive for Karlsson to get to the final, almost as impressive as getting a yellow card in the first sprint of the season

I hope they aren't making a sprinter of her, the sport neeeds variety and making the only distance racers have to be good at sprinting is a bad thing for that, but FIS just seem determined to make everything identikit.

On the other hand it's nice to see Klæbo not look all that, even despite the massive advantage he has in Classic where he's been able to tread very close to the line of skate steps on a number of occasions in the past.

Very cool to see Joensuu win the qualifying and even stay upright in the competition rounds, but I shan't get overexcited just yet, I've got rather used to the Finns peaking at go and getting the ski prep just right for events at home at the start of the season then fading from prominence later on, and she did tire in the semi. Plus, of course, Finland, classic style, you know the drill. It's overtaken Lutheranism as the #1 religion there.

Mind you I also believe that if Finland held all the influence at FIS, the world would be a better place. I'd love to see Alpe Cermis in Classic style just once.

Karlsson won’t be made a ‘sprinter,’ she’s a distance skier that can sprint very well. Her results at world juniors bear that put, a 3rd in 2018 and 5th in 2019. She made the final in Ruka in 2021.

 

[dobrien]

No Dahlqvist on the start list; probably smart but certainly not the way she would have wanted to start the season.

 

[BigCoward]

Norway having to have a weak leg in mixed relay with Olsbu retiring, makes it a bit more interesting.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Austria has a whole new service team. They got that Estonian guy (and his son) who has worked for Finnland for years and with Justyna before that.

 

[Mayomaniac]

-5 degrees C and unlike many others Heidi weng isn't wearing a tubular scarf, wtf?!
The Norwegian women seem to slip a lot uphill.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Dixon on his own today which is far more bearable. Still very US-centric but at least able to read a timing screen to know who to look for (and able to find Moa Ilar when she wasn't where he expected her to be), and making theories about the Norwegians having a tech disaster because of the disappointing results. Kinda hope he's right as that might make the men's race later a bit more interesting, although I don't think people really underperformed relative to expectations, Heidi and Slind were more or less where they are these days, Kalvaa was performing down on her excellent 2022-23 season but was still at the kind of level she has done most of her career, so it remains to be seen if she didn't have form or if last year was just a crazy outlier in her performances.

 

[Mayomaniac]

The Norge women where slipping a lot uphill, so he might be right.
A really strong showing for the Toblach based Rosie Brennan.

 

[Bavarianrider]

The men`s 10km is not on TV in Germany, neither Eurosport nor ARD show it live on TV today. While they show every other wintersport event of today, ofg course. Fis tactics really work out fine.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The men`s 10km is not on TV in Germany, neither Eurosport nor ARD show it live on TV today. While they show every other wintersport event of today, ofg course. Fis tactics really work out fine.

They scheduled it against the biathlon, and while the biathlon is the crappiest format (the Single Mixed Relay), it is the curtain raiser on the season and draws a bigger audience in Germany so FIS have shot themselves in the foot yet again.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Poromaa faster than his boyfriend, who probably hasn't recovered from Covid.

Calle actually with a solid pacing strategy almost faster than Poromaa.

Vermeulen calling his performance mid, not bad, but not great either. Says he aims for a top 10 tomorrow.

 

[KZD]

Tough luck for Niskanen today but Nyenget is actually one of the best Norwegian distance skiers in classic so not a huge upset. Valnes showing that he is in great shape and Musgrave getting 5th here should be one of the favourites for tomorrow as Klæbo will probably be dropped like a stone in this kind of shape.

The Swedes dominating the women's side as expected but Brennan looked surprisingly strong.