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Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

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Biathlon's "worst TV format" produces a race that continues to deliver for over an hour and is settled by 0,1 seconds. The Individual is the hardest one for converting to TV, but with the time sheets it's often the most exciting event because there's always something going on somewhere in the race. But while it will now wind down with nobody left on the trails contesting the business end of the results, that was quite something for a while there.
 
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I think Vernmeulen would have won an individual race today for sure. The guy was setting the pace all race long. Just doesn`t hav the sprint kick.
So total Norwegian domination again, only broken by Vermeulen and Noval , of all people. Crazy.
Eurosport Germany prefered to show a replay of ski jumping/Nordic combined instead of showing the men`s race.
If only a healthy Moch was here.

Oh well, at least the Norwegians can't really throw shade at Vermeulen, since he lives an trains there...
 
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Vermeulen looked great today for sure.

For all the criticism that I have been pointing out to the World Cup schedule this start of the season was not boring at all, 6 different winners and in the men's side 8 different podium finishers. If Klæbo doesn't improve soon, I see Amundsen challenging him for the overall.

In biathlon the Germans looked great in the shooting range but Vittozzi was just better overall. Elvira Öberg was crazy fast today.
 
I actually don't think Elvira stood out that much on the tracks today compared to how she usually starts the season. The Swedes tend to come out of the gate swinging, and last couple of seasons Hanna has been in the top 3 skiers as well with Elvira miles out in front, whereas here Braisaz-Bouchet was pretty close to her for pace. We shall see in the shorter formats next weekend though, that tends to be where it really stands out.
 
Seeing Lisa win is always geat news!

Back to XC skiing, those shorter mass start races on laps that are usually too easy are just useless.
Individual start and the next day a pursuit that is the same length is Imo the way to go. Still an incentive to be a well rounded skier and not just a specialist and you have an easy to follow format.
 
Not convinced by the skis for the Norwegian men, they are all a bit below where we're used to them being for the skis - but Strømsheim was still there to potentially win at the last as well.

The Germans looked pretty pedestrian at Sjusjøen but they've all been pretty good here, although notably it's been mostly in the range. Preuß and Voigt with 20/20, Rees, Strelow, Schneider with 19/20 and Doll with 18/20, but that's not likely to be sustainable. Strelow in particular is a shock here, he's always been a good shot but his speed hasn't been great, and he is now about 26 when he breaks through. He's also not somebody like David Zobel who was really fast as a junior, then really tailed off as he focused on his shooting, so you know he has the pace in him if he can get everything together at the same time.

Edit: actually looking at the ski time sheets and the spacings again it looks like Strelow was able to hang on to the coattails of Johannes Dale-Skjevdal for most of the race, and JDS set the second fastest ski time, behind Samuelsson but faster than Bø, so that's probably the reason for his uncharacteristically strong ski time.
 
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Samuelsson never looked as strong in a time trial race as today. This might be the year in which he steps up to fight for the World Cup overall.

The Germans are looking good too, the Norwegians not so much but maybe their skis were subpar. Lægreid looked terrible though.
 
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