Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[search]

she honestly is just horribly bad in these kind of situations. How often has it happened now that she lost a 1 ond 1 battle against a worse competitor?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

she honestly is just horribly bad in these kind of situations. How often has it happened now that she lost a 1 ond 1 battle against a worse competitor?

Basically every time she's ever been in this situation except that one race against Tandrevold a few years ago. Which was in Ruhpolding where she's been racing since she was a kid and always seems to dose her efforts better there.

Now, she seems fine at those types of head to heads, until they become with something specific on the line, like a podium or a win. She has no sprint and she seems to expend more energy in the first half of a lap in these circumstances to try to get separation as a result, but as soon as she doesn't break the opposition, she seems to freeze up. Hell, in the one in Oberhof a few years ago she even did get a gap, but Julia Simon caught back on on the last little added loop on that endless slightly uphill drag, and then as soon as Simon was back on you could just see that she believed she would win and Franzi believed she would lose.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

In hindsight, it might have worked out better for Preuß if she had just stayed behind Jeanmonnot until the sprint, but since she caught Jeanmonnot so easily, pushing on seemed like the best tactic considering she seemed to have the better skis. It was also an impressive finish by Jeanmonnot to be fair to her.

Decent performance by Simon today after a weak start to the season, so it'll be interesting to see if that means she'll be a contender again this year.

 

[dobrien]

To be fair, it likely wouldn’t have mattered if Parmakoski and Niskanen had been racing, they’ve been very bad this year. And the same it wouldn’t challenge the US of teams like Italy, France, Switzerland, Canada etc had been participating. They beat Norway and that third place was a worthy third place (given Russia is permanently out)

Well, remember who you're dealing with here; BullsFan22's posting history is someone with an abiding (let's call it what it is ) hatred of Jessie Diggins; not much room for rational thought there.

I recall BullsFan22's posts last year accusing her of whining about having to share the road when training with other people when in fact she had been assaulted in a road rage incident (the perpetrator plead guilty) and had simply been quoted as saying everyone should be able to share the road. Or the one contemptuously dismissing her as the 'Glitter Queen' after one race where I noted all but 2 of the starters wore either glitter or had flags painted on their faces, but apparently only Jessie was worth contempt. I also recall one where he (assuming it's a he) stated how he hated her face and thought it was punchable (paraphrasing here; not interested in going back and copying the actual quote, but it was definitely ban-worthy IMHO). I could go on and on with anecdotes from his posting history but these will suffice.

Bottom line is when replying to BF22 regarding Jessie history shows you're not engaging with someone coming from a rational place.

 

[BullsFan22]

Well, remember who you're dealing with here; BullsFan22's posting history is someone with an abiding (let's call it what it is ) hatred of Jessie Diggins; not much room for rational thought there.

I recall BullsFan22's posts last year accusing her of whining about having to share the road when training with other people when in fact she had been assaulted in a road rage incident (the perpetrator plead guilty) and had simply been quoted as saying everyone should be able to share the road. Or the one contemptuously dismissing her as the 'Glitter Queen' after one race where I noted all but 2 of the starters wore either glitter or had flags painted on their faces, but apparently only Jessie was worth contempt. I also recall one where he (assuming it's a he) stated how he hated her face and thought it was punchable (paraphrasing here; not interested in going back and copying the actual quote, but it was definitely ban-worthy IMHO). I could go on and on with anecdotes from his posting history but these will suffice.

Bottom line is when replying to BF22 regarding Jessie history shows you're not engaging with someone coming from a rational place.

I never mentioned anything about ‘glitter’ or she having a ‘punchable’ face. That’s ridiculous and slanderous.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I feared for Nawrath, but he can be pretty pleased with second place. Samuelsson looks great, but he might not be able to keep it up outside of Sweden.

 

[BullsFan22]

It's the obvious call and has been for a while even before her work on the technique, as I've said before the issue for them is that unlike the skiathlon which tended to be all about the skate part of the race, in the relay the Classic legs tend to be the most important, with the selection being made there. All too often the US would have Diggins on a skate leg to maximise her strengths, but then by the time she was tagged in they'd be a minute down and she'd be on her own rather than being able to ski with people and share work. Teams like the Finns would regularly be at or holding on to the front from the Classic legs and then they'd have their weaker skiers on the skate legs hanging on to the coattails of those in front, whereas the superior, stronger skate skiers on the US team would in fact lose more, because they were having to work on their own in isolation to the time gaps. And it's not even like it was the fault of whoever they put on the first leg (all too often Hailey Swirbul in recent years), it's just that that leg often simply went to the 'least worst' classic skiers on the team because the whole team favoured skate.

While classic obviously isn't Diggins' favoured technique, she is nevertheless the US skier who has the highest base level of performance and would be able to keep them in contention at the very least. And in today's depleted field and with the great early season form she is in, she can even give them an advantage.

As for the US coverage having Kikkan Randall and "if you can cope with her"... I would actually probably lay money that they're less US-biased than Eurosport International. But simultaneously I would probably struggle with it, simply because for Patrick and Mike, before there was Come On Jess, there was Kikkan Randall.

Is it Eurosport international or British Eurosport?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Is it Eurosport international or British Eurosport?

ES International broadcasts used to use the same commentary as those from British Eurosport on the wintersports. Since I watch online now since the Discovery buyout, I'm not really sure but I still call it that out of habit.

 

[OJRvE]

Sundling out of Östersund aswell even if she had mild symptoms. Karlsson was outside training yesterday so hopefully she’ll be back. No idea of the status on Poromaa and Svahn but we should have an idea tomorrow.

Tiril Weng is still suffering, such a shame. Her chances of defending the title seems to be gone already. I noticed Norway is basically bringing the same team to Östersund. Now with Trondheim coming up and a nog qouta thats not a nog issue, but considering the depth they should alternate the team more. Bjervig Drivenes and Krogh won in the national cup this weekend. Nyenget was 10th and even if it’s a good result it was worst of the Norwegians so I would have swapped him for Krogh. At the women’s side Slind has not been that impressive and couldn’t race the relay because of illness, cannot see why she should get another chance. Bergane had tough weekend as well.

Klaebo back of course, he raced (and won) in the national cup. Lost a few World cup points not taking the trip to Gällivare. Could be he is not targetting the overall this year.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Sundling out of Östersund aswell even if she had mild symptoms. Karlsson was outside training yesterday so hopefully she’ll be back. No idea of the status on Poromaa and Svahn but we should have an idea tomorrow.

Tiril Weng is still suffering, such a shame. Her chances of defending the title seems to be gone already. I noticed Norway is basically bringing the same team to Östersund. Now with Trondheim coming up and a nog qouta thats not a nog issue, but considering the depth they should alternate the team more. Bjervig Drivenes and Krogh won in the national cup this weekend. Nyenget was 10th and even if it’s a good result it was worst of the Norwegians so I would have swapped him for Krogh. At the women’s side Slind has not been that impressive and couldn’t race the relay because of illness, cannot see why she should get another chance. Bergane had tough weekend as well.

Klaebo back of course, he raced (and won) in the national cup. Lost a few World cup points not taking the trip to Gällivare. Could be he is not targetting the overall this year.

Krogh seems to be finally somewhat back in skating distance races.

Wasn't Karlsson having almost no symptoms and it was mainly a precaution?

De Fabiani is still not 100% from hiy foot injury, but got over the back pain that stopped him in Ruka.

 

[OJRvE]

Krogh seems to be finally somewhat back in skating distance races.

Wasn't Karlsson having almost no symptoms and it was mainly a precaution?

De Fabiani is still not 100% from hiy foot injury, but got over the back pain that stopped him in Ruka.

Not sure with Karlsson. She had a positive test but was open to race, later she felt “something wasn’t right in her body”. But yes I expect her to race in Östersund.

Decent performance from de Fabiani in Gällivare then considering this. Ventura let the team down in the relay. In retrospect he should been swapped with Graz since nothing happened on the first leg.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Bjervig Drivenes and Krogh won in the national cup this weekend. Nyenget was 10th and even if it’s a good result it was worst of the Norwegians so I would have swapped him for Krogh. At the women’s side Slind has not been that impressive and couldn’t race the relay because of illness, cannot see why she should get another chance. Bergane had tough weekend as well.

Nyenget was only 10th but the gap to the winner was 14 seconds. I think his performance that gave a 10th place in the World Cup was a better performance than Kroghs winning race in the Norwegian Cup or atleast pretty equal.

Nyenget was 14 seconds from the winner and 10 seconds ahead of Halvfarsson, 12s ahead of Lapalus and 16s ahead of Moch. To me that looks at least equal impressive as 10s ahead of Dønnestad and 13 seconds ahead of Mørk and Sandvik. And the way Norwegian selections normally work, a guy like Nyenget, from the elite national team is never going to be dropped after a top 10 in the World Cup for a guy outside of the national team that won a Norwegian Cup.

When it comes to Slind the case is a bit different, but still the difference between Slind and Bjervig in status is massive and I think it's much harder to value a performance in the Norwegian cup on the womens side. The depth is nowhere near the same level on the womens side and while you would expect a winner on the mens side in the NC go directly into minimum top 15 at the World Cup, that's definitively not the case on the mens side. I don't think the performance Bjervig pulled at Gålå necessarily equals a performance 1min 15s behind Diggins (= what Slind did). And without a clear indication that her performance was better than Slind there is no way an athlete with 28th place as the best WC results gets picked over Slind with the results Slind have had the last 13 months.

However, it is great to see Krogh back at this level. I was pretty sure we would never see him back in the absolute elite anymore, but he's getting very close. With good performances in the Scandinavian Cup in the first two rounds in Vuokatti and Otepää he might be in for a shot in Goms and the American races.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Not sure with Karlsson. She had a positive test but was open to race, later she felt “something wasn’t right in her body”. But yes I expect her to race in Östersund.

Decent performance from de Fabiani in Gällivare then considering this. Ventura let the team down in the relay. In retrospect he should been swapped with Graz since nothing happened on the first leg.

Ventura always has a spot on the national team because of internal politics, despite others clearly outperforming him...

Doennestad imo deserves a spot on the Norwegian team. Just behind Krogh in the 20km skating and the day before he clearly beat Klaebo in the classic race.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Doennestad imo deserves a spot on the Norwegian team. Just behind Krogh in the 20km skating and the day before he clearly beat Klaebo in the classic race.

Dønnestad will get both the classic race and skiathlon race in Trondheim. Great opportunity there for him. Normally these kind of athletes gets only one chance to shine, here he will get two.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Dønnestad will get both the classic race and skiathlon race in Trondheim. Great opportunity there for him. Normally these kind of athletes gets only one chance to shine, here he will get two.

I mean, he's really strong in both classic and skating, so I can see the reasoning behind it.

 

[BigCoward]

I much prefer it when it's 2 races a day Friday- Sunday for biathlon. I don't know why they ever do the Thursday race, must be shite for the athletes.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

I much prefer it when it's 2 races a day Friday- Sunday for biathlon. I don't know why they ever do the Thursday race, must be shite for the athletes.

Why is it *** for the athletes?
They are there anyway and 3 races in 4 days are less hard than 3 races in 3 days.

 

[WKA311]

Hennig tested positive for Covid and is out for Östersund

 

[BigCoward]

Why is it *** for the athletes?
They are there anyway and 3 races in 4 days are less hard than 3 races in 3 days.

Because with 2 days travelling, being there for 4 days gives them markedly less recovery/downtime.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Because with 2 days travelling, being there for 4 days gives them markedly less recovery/downtime.

I don’t agree.
The travel is the same from place A to B anyway and especially when it’s races the following weekend I would assume they go directly from one place to the next, and not home. No matter if it’s races Thursday-Sunday or Friday-Sunday most of the good teams arrive Monday or Tuesday anyway.

And I am pretty sure racing 3 days of 4 breaks down the body less than racing 3 days in a row as it’s much more recovery after the first race, so it should be better for the next block of races.

I know one of the coaches of the Norwegian women’s team, but I’ll never thought about asking him about this topic. I’ll try to remember next time I see him, but will probably not be before the season is over

 

[BullsFan22]

German team also hit by Covid. Either everyone got too relaxed with it and/or it’s really spreading quickly.

 

[KZD]

Great to see Tarjei win again. Lægreid also back to a good shape by finishing second.

Samuelsson slower than Dale and JTB on the track but gains more points on the younger Bø and Nawarth that had a terrible race.

 

[BigCoward]

Boe has his speed back but shooting still poor. Norway still pretty dominant though.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

JTB definitely has a chance to win tomorrow, his brother's peak Simon Eder performances might make him the favourite.

LS correctly predicted that Preuß would get sick, so Jeanmonnot is in a pretty good position to take over the lead.

 

[search]

Preuß is just fated. Two 2nd places with a COMBINED margin of defeat of 0,4s. She will probably now get sick (this is one thing that she is the undisputed best in biathlon at) and never have this form again.

1st task completed. Preuß of course got covid after Oestersund, and is out for the weekend.