Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[Bavarianrider]

Jenssen is coming a bitout of nowhere, too. Guy is already 27 years and has not had any eye popping results in the recent past. Crazy improvement from last year on.

 

[OJRvE]

So Poromaa caugth Covid. Maybe infected by Klaebo. Speaking of Klaebo, he announced he is going home and won’t show up in Gällivare.

 

[BullsFan22]

So Poromaa caugth Covid. Maybe infected by Klaebo. Speaking of Klaebo, he announced he is coming home and won’t show up in Gällivare.

He’ll be fine for Trondheim, no way he misses that weekend, unless he’s really sick.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Jenssen is coming a bitout of nowhere, too. Guy is already 27 years and has not had any eye popping results in the recent past. Crazy improvement from last year on.

Apparently he's really nervous and is known among the Norwegians to always vomit before a race.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Vermeulen is known as a big loudmouth in Austria, but I guess that just comes from both of his parents being Dutch.

Honestly I got a bit of a weird feeling , but he lives and trains in Lillehammer since 2020, so the Norwegians can't say a lot about him.

 

[roundabout]

Vermeulen was a pretty quick skier in his age group in NoCo, but still this is probably unprecedented.

I think Manninen and Elden only did the sprints and not distance races in cross country and I am out of NoCo -> cross country converts.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Vermeulen was a pretty quick skier in his age group in NoCo, but still this is probably unprecedented.

I think Manninen and Elden only did the sprints and not distance races in cross country and I am out of NoCo -> cross country converts.

I mean, Lamparter also won the Austrian NC in XC skiing as a NC athlete during highschool, while also medalling in Ski jumping and getting 3 second places (in his weight class) in the absolute cat. in Olympic weightlifiting at the Austrian NC at the age of 17, while winning junior WC medals in NC during the same year.
That said, Lamparter is a freak of nature.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Sundling complaining about the cold weather in Ruka (alongside other team members). Well, I don't know what to say, it's within the limit and you can protect yourself from the cold and dress up properly. Frankly we should be happy about any snow at this time of the year and so it gets cold. It's an outdoor Winter sport. I know that skiing with close to -20 or below isn't that fun, but you can protect yourself (and your lungs, for me that's actually the main problem once it gets really cold).

Finnland briging back 45 year old Roponen for the races in Gällivare. Of course Iivo is skipping the race, because no Classic individual start. At this point he might as well take it easy, skip the Tour and try to peak for the Holmenkollen 50km Classic race.

Norwegian team for the coming weekend individual start races looks scary on the men's side.

Women:

Margrethe Bergane
Kristin Austgulen Fosnæs
Anne Kjersti Kalvå
Astrid Øyre Slind
Heidi Weng
Lotta Udnes Weng


Men:

Harald Østberg Amundsen
Iver Tildheim Andersen
Pål Golberg
Jan Thomas Jenssen
Simen Hegstad Krüger
Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget
Didrik Tønseth

 

[OJRvE]

Sundling complaining about the cold weather in Ruka (alongside other team members). Well, I don't know what to say, it's within the limit and you can protect yourself from the cold and dress up properly. Frankly we should be happy about any snow at this time of the year and so it gets cold. It's an outdoor Winter sport. I know that skiing with close to -20 or below isn't that fun, but you can protect yourself (and your lungs, for me that's actually the main problem once it gets really cold).

She did not really complain nor brought it up herself. It was the reporters that asked her questions about it, and of course it was freezing cold but there was no one who even considered dropping out in the Swedish team.

Then we all know, few people like Ruka and most wold rather ski in Livigno or somewhere else in December. I saw the Swiss team is skipping Gällivare completely which make sense because its a horrible place not worthy hosting WC-events.

 

[Mayomaniac]

She did not really complain nor brought it up herself. It was the reporters that asked her questions about it, and of course it was freezing cold but there was no one who even considered dropping out in the Swedish team.

Then we all know, few people like Ruka and most wold rather ski in Livigno or somewhere else in December. I saw the Swiss team is skipping Gällivare completely which make sense because its a horrible place not worthy hosting WC-events.

Ok, then Italian media reported it wrong, it's clearly different if they were explicitly asked about it.

Yeah, Livigno looks nicer, but it's not like the temperature is much higher in Livigno, the average temperature in December is usually the same as the one in Ruka.

 

[OJRvE]

Ok, then Italian media reported it wrong, it's clearly different if they were explicitly asked about it.

Yeah, Livigno looks nicer, but it's not like the temperature is much higher in Livigno, the average temperature in December is usually the same as the one in Ruka.

Ok. Didnt know it was that cold. Still better than the places in Scandinavia though. The good thing with Ruka is that it actually is some audience. I heard it was like 20.000 this weekend.

Gällivare is a strange place to host a World Cup. It’s in the middle of nowhere in area most famous for the mines. I suspect there will be few spectators. The accommodation is not nice either, I remember last time they had the athletes from smaller nations in school gymnasiums. I remember Kowalzyck was vocal about it and said something about in Poland they treat cows better… I think there some political reason they are hosts. When they lost World Cup long time ago, it was decided they should alternate with Bruksvallarna hosting National Opening despite Bruksvallarnas great tradition since the 80s. I think it almost twice as many club skiers and juniors taking part the years when Bruksvallarna host since it’s located in the middle of Sweden.

Östersund is a better host, the Biathlon federation organizes the event so the logistics will work, also very close to Trondheim and the next WC. It’s not optimal that they had Biathlon the week before as the locals might be tired of sport, although I am sure there will be great interest. Looking at the website it seems they will use the 3.3km loop on the interval start which is a shame. I know for a fact atleast the 4km is open since the biathletes used it yesterday. And it has snowed in the region so the 5k loop should be ready. Hopefully they’ll be able to switch. I guess 3,3k was a precaution cause sometimes they have to use artificial snow.

Until last year FIS had in the rule that interval start had to be planned on a course no less than 5km. But that was changed due to the high energy prices. A shame since now it seems many organizers just prepare the 2.5 or 3.3 loops. It is obviously one thing planning for a 5k loop and then due to weather etc have to change to a shorter loop. For Östersund it’s not just the problem skiers skiing together on different laps but also the 3.3 loop is without the long climb which makes the course easier.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Ok. Didnt know it was that cold. Still better than the places in Scandinavia though. The good thing with Ruka is that it actually is some audience. I heard it was like 20.000 this weekend.

Gällivare is a strange place to host a World Cup. It’s in the middle of nowhere in area most famous for the mines. I suspect there will be few spectators. The accommodation is not nice either, I remember last time they had the athletes from smaller nations in school gymnasiums. I remember Kowalzyck was vocal about it and said something about in Poland they treat cows better… I think there some political reason they are hosts. When they lost World Cup long time ago, it was decided they should alternate with Bruksvallarna hosting National Opening despite Bruksvallarnas great tradition since the 80s. I think it almost twice as many club skiers and juniors taking part the years when Bruksvallarna host since it’s located in the middle of Sweden.

Östersund is a better host, the Biathlon federation organizes the event so the logistics will work, also very close to Trondheim and the next WC. It’s not optimal that they had Biathlon the week before as the locals might be tired of sport, although I am sure there will be great interest. Looking at the website it seems they will use the 3.3km loop on the interval start which is a shame. I know for a fact atleast the 4km is open since the biathletes used it yesterday. And it has snowed in the region so the 5k loop should be ready. Hopefully they’ll be able to switch. I guess 3,3k was a precaution cause sometimes they have to use artificial snow.

Until last year FIS had in the rule that interval start had to be planned on a course no less than 5km. But that was changed due to the high energy prices. A shame since now it seems many organizers just prepare the 2.5 or 3.3 loops. It is obviously one thing planning for a 5k loop and then due to weather etc have to change to a shorter loop. For Östersund it’s not just the problem skiers skiing together on different laps but also the 3.3 loop is without the long climb which makes the course easier.

To be honest I like venues like Gälivare, they have a certain wild flair to them. I have never been fond of Östersund to be honest.
Just watched an interview of Vermeulen on Austrian TV after sunday`s race. The guy really talks a lot of smack: " I don`t train for becoming 20th, I train for being up frint and so on". Will be intersting to see if he can keep this up.
The short loops in individual races are really one hell of a mess. 5km should be the bare minimum for individual starts.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Vermeulen is known as a big loudmouth in Austria, but I guess that just comes from both of his parents being Dutch.

Honestly I got a bit of a weird feeling , but he lives and trains in Lillehammer since 2020, so the Norwegians can't say a lot about him.

So with Marita Kramer also being of Dutch parentage (and birth, seeing as the family were one of the ones on TV on Ik Vertrek), is this a new source for Austria, to just grab more and more Dutchies?

 

[BullsFan22]

It’s an outdoor sport, in wintertime, and they are (supposedly) Scandinavians. At least they didn’t drop out like the Norwegian men did in 2021…

 

[Mayomaniac]

So with Marita Kramer also being of Dutch parentage (and birth, seeing as the family were one of the ones on TV on Ik Vertrek), is this a new source for Austria, to just grab more and more Dutchies?

They already had Marcel Hirscher in Alpine Skiing.

 

[Mayomaniac]

To be honest I like venues like Gälivare, they have a certain wild flair to them. I have never been fond of Östersund to be honest.
Just watched an interview of Vermeulen on Austrian TV after sunday`s race. The guy really talks a lot of smack: " I don`t train for becoming 20th, I train for being up frint and so on". Will be intersting to see if he can keep this up.
The short loops in individual races are really one hell of a mess. 5km should be the bare minimum for individual starts.

Yeah, the guy has a rep for being a bit of a loudmouth.

 

[OJRvE]

Here we go again. Karlsson, Svahn & Sundling out with covid.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Here we go again. Karlsson, Svahn & Sundling out with covid.

FFS, still hanging out with Poromaa?!

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Jenssen is coming a bitout of nowhere, too. Guy is already 27 years and has not had any eye popping results in the recent past. Crazy improvement from last year on.

It's been very interesting to follow Jenssens career in the shadow of the national team. He got to do some World Cup races back in 19/20 and did a few top 10, but that isn't much worth in the Norwegian team and this weekend was his first World Cup race in more than 3 year.

Since the 19/20 season he's often complained in media about selections for World Cups and that he feels that he's unfairly not been given enough chances. A couple of times I've agreed with him, other times not.

Last season he was actually very good and it was a combination of bad luck and bad selections that did't let him race in the World Cup. For example, I still can't understand why they let Iversen race the 10k skate at Lillehammer and not Jenssen. Tildheim Andersen won that race, and he got a place just because he counted as an U23-skier, Jensen had beaten Tildheim Andersen both at Beitostølen and Gålå in the two weekends leading up to Lillehammer.

Then Jenssen actually did very well in the Scandinavian cup, finishing 2nd overall behind Østberg Amundsen. What's most interesting is that he won both the two mass start races, 20 km skate in Østersund, ahead of Amundsen and Moseby, and the 30 km classic in Falun.

For people that are only following the World Cup and the Championships Jenssen would of course be a big surprise, but I think that if you have proven to be able to win races against a guy like Amundsen in the Scandinavian Cup there isn't really any reason to believe you cannot be competitive at the top stage of the World Cup.

The podium of the 8 races in Scandinavian Cup last year:
Classic Sprint: Hjelmeseth (2 Wiig, 3 Moseby)
20 km skate masstart: Jensen (2 Amundsen, 3 Moseby)
10 km skate: Amundsen (2 Tildheim Andersen, 3 Mørk)
Classic Sprint: Valnes (2 Jenssen, 3 Amundsen)
30 km classic masstart: Jenssen (2 Vika, 3 Gunnulfsen)
Skate sprint: Skar (2 Astrup Arnesen, 3 Amundsen)
10 km skate: Amundsen (2 Tildheim Andersen, 3 Augdal)
20 km classic chasing start: Amundsen (2 Stock, 3 Moseby)

The level in this list is extreme.
- Valnes is one of the best sprinters in the world.
- Amundsen won a medal at the World Championship.
- Tildheim Andersen won a World Cup last year, Jenssen won one now.
- A guy like Moseby have, if we overlook the Tour de Ski last season done 6 normal World Cup races and he's been top 8 in all 5 of them.
- Mørk and Vika both won U23 Worlds last season.
- Skar has won World Cups.
- Stock has a lot of WC top 20s (top 5 in a normal WC the best, not including 2nd in the reduced Pre Olympic event in 2017).
- Gunnulfsen has only done 4 WC distance races. 8th-8th-11th-4th.
- Augdal is former junior world champion and has been 4th in a World Cup.
- Wiig and Hjelmeseth has been in several WC sprint finals.

I'd say that any guy that wins a Scan Cup distance race on the mens side with full Norwegian participation is good enough to also win a World Cup on the right day, definitively good enough to podium.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Yeah, apparently it is known among tge Norwegians that Jenssen os a strong sprinter at the end of a controlled mass start.

To put things in perspective when it comes to cold in Livigno, on Sunday they predict -19 to -20 Celsius in the morning. Temperature wise racing there wouldn't be much better and it's not even really cold for Livigno.

 

[BigCoward]

France and Sweden really should just ski off into the distance today in the relay.
Karlsson being out should make the women's XC relay more interesting.
The men's XC relay should really just be 3 teams, Norway v Norway 2 v Rest of the World.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Vittozzi out of the women's relay because she has the flue.

 

[BullsFan22]

Swiss not sending anyone to Sweden, French team not fielding any relays, Sundling, Karlsson, Dahlqvist, Poromaa, Klæbo, Niskanen, among others not competing in Gällivare…

 

[Mayomaniac]

Swiss not sending anyone to Sweden, French team not fielding any relays, Sundling, Karlsson, Dahlqvist, Poromaa, Klæbo, Niskanen, among others not competing in Gällivare…

Not fielding a relay team when you already have 4+ athletes there is dissapointing.

The Swiss want to be in great shape once the world cup hits central Europe and prefer training at home at altitude for that

Klaebo looked off and probably still needs some solid training and rest. All the others besides Niskanen, who doesn't care about skating individual starts have Covid.

 

[OJRvE]

IBU really need to coordinate the race suits with the teams. It’s not good when France and Norway look so similiar and both are hard to distinguish from Italy as well. Swedens suits are not pretty but easy to spot.

Sporting wise, disappointing again from Hanna Öberg. Not the first time she loses a relay after starting in front. A mental thing for sure. I think France needs to put Chevalier outside the team, what happened today was predictable. But good tactics from Arnekleiv upping the pace just before standing shooting.

Looking at ski time I think it’s obvious Sweden and Norway had much better skis than everyone else. Not susprising considering the difficult conditions and money spent, not to mention the race was in their part of the world so they know the conditions.