Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[KZD]

I really enjoyed the 30 km skiathlon in Lillehammer 2017, where Klaebo demonstrated a lot of what you mention: was dropped, came back, kept his head, used his skillset to the maximum on the final descent. (Although he sort of collapsed over the finish line.) He was maybe more exciting to watch in earlier years.

Then again, the sport has changed overall in ways that makes it less interesting to me.

After he won that race, I genuinely believed he would be like an improved version of Northug and solely dominate XC skiing for years. The emergence of Bolshunov during that season prevented that from happening at least until the Russian ban.

His 50k race in the 2021 Worlds was also very impressive, always close to the front and even setting the pace at times, but then that incident with Bolshunov happened in the final straight.

 

[BigCoward]

His 50k race in the 2021 Worlds was also very impressive, always close to the front and even setting the pace at times, but then that incident with Bolshunov happened in the final straight.

It must be so frustrating for him. He could have given up the best line and ceded track space however he chose, and still walked it.

 

[Miss Violet Smith]

It must be so frustrating for him. He could have given up the best line and ceded track space however he chose, and still walked it.

Yes, he somehow found the one way to lose; I could hardly believe my eyes.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Pretty interesting to hear Elia Barp being a guest in the Vermeulen/Clugnet podcast where he basically said that before Cramer came in to coach the Italian team the Italian skiers didn't train enough to be competitive in distance skiing. That before Cramer the best ones trained maybe 700 hours a year and now with Cramer they all train 900-1000 hours.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Pretty interesting to hear Elia Barp being a guest in the Vermeulen/Clugnet podcast where he basically said that before Cramer came in to coach the Italian team the Italian skiers didn't train enough to be competitive in distance skiing. That before Cramer the best ones trained maybe 700 hours a year and now with Cramer they all train 900-1000 hours.

Pretty much what I've heared.
Graz is still 2 seasons behind Moch and Poromaa because they tried to turn him into a sprint specialist for 2 years.
Also explains why many well rounded Italian juniors fail in the elite ranks.

 

[DenisMenchov]

It must be so frustrating for him. He could have given up the best line and ceded track space however he chose, and still walked it.

Just like in Planica?

Obviously his sprint is not as good after 50k and ceding the track space would lose him valuable speed and he would need to accelerate once again into the straight while Bolshunov would've carried all the speed from the descent.

 

[BigCoward]

Just like in Planica?

Obviously his sprint is not as good after 50k and ceding the track space would lose him valuable speed and he would need to accelerate once again into the straight while Bolshunov would've carried all the speed from the descent.

He showed he was miles quicker that day after the touch happened. This is just salty anti Klaebo chat.

 

[DenisMenchov]

He showed he was miles quicker that day after the touch happened. This is just salty anti Klaebo chat.

Except it's not true. He even lost some time to Iversen in that final stretch. Yeah he really was miles quicker than poleless Bolshunov if that's your point, but like I said if he needed to reaccelerate, it most certainly wouldn't be a walk in the park.

 

[BigCoward]

Except it's not true. He even lost some time to Iversen in that final stretch. Yeah he really was miles quicker than poleless Bolshunov if that's your point, but like I said if he needed to reaccelerate, it most certainly wouldn't be a walk in the park.

He's the greatest sprinter ever and it's not even close. Assuming any result other than a klaebo win is just clutching at straws.

 

[Mayomaniac]

So the Tour de Ski pursuit in Toblach has been changed from 25 to 20 km.
Lack of natural snow, so the pursuit will be 4x the 5km lap. It will be harder, but clearly not as scenic as skiing to Landro and back before one FIS loop.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Italy's team for the Tour de Ski, I actually like it.
Federica Sanfilippo (1990 – Fiamme Oro)
Caterina Ganz (1995 – Fiamme Gialle)
Anna Comarella (1997 – Fiamme Oro)
Francesca Franchi (1997 – Fiamme Gialle)
Nicole Monsorno (2000 – Fiamme Gialle)
Martina Di Centa (2000 – Carabinieri)
Federica Cassol (2000 – Esercito)
Nadine Laurent (2003 – Fiamme Oro)
Iris De Martin Pinter (2004 – Carabinieri)

Dietmar Nöckler (1988 – Fiamme Oro)
Federico Pellegrino (1990 – Fiamme Oro)
Giandomenico Salvadori (1992 – Fiamme Gialle)
Francesco De Fabiani (1993 – Esercito)
Giacomo Gabrielli (1996 – Esercito)
Michael Hellweger (1996 – Esercito)
Paolo Ventura (1996 – Esercito)
Simone Daprà (1997 – Fiamme Oro)
Davide Graz (2000 – Fiamme Gialle)
Alessandro Chiocchetti (2001 – Fiamme Gialle)
Elia Barp (2002 – Fiamme Gialle)
Martino Carollo (2003 – Fiamme Oro)

Carollo just won the first sprint he ever did among the seniors in the FESA (former OPA) Cup. Almost local girl De Martin Pinter was also 2nd in the senior indivdual start one day later, despite still being a junior. Nöckler and Salvadori were also solid and Hellweger still has the same old problem, always better in the qualifiers than in the finals as a sprinter. Maybe he should try a few more distance races.

 

[BullsFan22]

Nöckler still going at it? Will he continue to the 2026 Olympics?

 

[Mayomaniac]

Nöckler still going at it? Will he continue to the 2026 Olympics?

No idea, I actually expected him to retire after last season and he wasn't sure himself.
Cramer seems to rate him and Pellegrino is friends with him, so they probably want to keep him around, despite him not being liked by the higher ups in the federation because he speaks his mind.
He'll also do some ski classics races once again.

 

[frenchfry]

Nöckler still going at it? Will he continue to the 2026 Olympics?

He finished 2nd to Manificat in the FESA cup (ex OPA) 10km classic race on Friday. Manificat is doing a "comeback" after a down year last year but I don't imagine he will be in the running for a result at the Tour de Ski.

 

[Mayomaniac]

He finished 2nd to Manificat in the FESA cup (ex OPA) 10km classic race on Friday. Manificat is doing a "comeback" after a down year last year but I don't imagine he will be in the running for a result at the Tour de Ski.

Momo has said that he hasn't been this good a long time.

 

[Mayomaniac]

So Jenssen, Amundsen, Krüger and Tønseth are all training together at Passo Lavaze and spending Chrismas together, away from home, while Klaebo stays with him GF in Davos. No idea where his BF(F) is atm.

A potential alliance between the actual distance skiers on the Norwegian Team might be interesting.

Brennan is in Toblach, like always when she isn't racing during the season, while Diggins is training/staying in Antholz.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Momo has said that he hasn't been this good a long time.

Which is a bit strange given his bad results in Goms two weeks ago. He was bad last season but still got a top 20 in WC.
I will be surprised if we see him top 10 any stage in the Tour, even the last one.

 

[Sciatic]

So Jenssen, Amundsen, Krüger and Tønseth are all training together at Passo Lavaze and spending Chrismas together, away from home, while Klaebo stays with him GF in Davos. No idea where his BF(F) is atm.

A potential alliance between the actual distance skiers on the Norwegian Team might be interesting.

Brennan is in Toblach, like always when she isn't racing during the season, while Diggins is training/staying in Antholz.

I would love to spend Christmas sometime in any of those places!

 

[BullsFan22]

Momo has said that he hasn't been this good a long time.

I mean, he’s 37 now, I don’t know what he expects to get from racing the world cups, if he even qualifies to make the French team.

 

[Mayomaniac]

I mean, he’s 37 now, I don’t know what he expects to get from racing the world cups, if he even qualifies to make the French team.

Yeah, no idea how long he wants to keep going. Maybe he just wants another decen season, so that he can leave on his own terms.

Meanwhile in Toblach you already have the big waxing trucks from Norway and Sweden (and even France). Today I saw Brennan and the German women on the tracks.
The 5.5km loop isn't that hard, doing it clockwise instead of anti-clockwise would be better for the pursuit. They do have an even harder lap with more short climbs on the 2nd half of the lap.

The 2nd long climb in Toblach isn't that hard, I can uphill V2 it pretty much all the way up, even if I'm cooked afterwards.

 

[OJRvE]

Ebba Andersson and Calle Halfvarsson both got Covid now…

 

[Mayomaniac]

Ebba Andersson and Calle Halfvarsson both got Covid now…

FFS!
Is Frida at least starting?

Also, where is Poromaa spending his training camp?

 

[OJRvE]

FFS!
Is Frida at least starting?

Also, where is Poromaa spending his training camp?

Frida is at home because her body did not respond well after Covid so altitude was deemed to risky, a final decision whether she will compete is yet to be announced.

Porroma is also at home (in Sundsvall) for some reason. Seems very strange since he spent a lot of time on altitude prior to the season.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Frida is at home because her body did not respond well after Covid so altitude was deemed to risky, a final decision whether she will compete is yet to be announced.

Porroma is also at home (in Sundsvall) for some reason. Seems very strange since he spent a lot of time on altitude prior to the season.

Poromaa probably also needed some time to recover after Covid and 2 cracked ribs, even if he said that he wants to be back in great shape for the Tour.

 

[OJRvE]

Poromaa probably also needed some time to recover after Covid and 2 cracked ribs, even if he said that he wants to be back in great shape for the Tour.

Could be, Svahn is also at home while Hagström and Sundling are at altitude.

Apart from Andersson and Halfvarsson also Oskar Svensson and Moa Lundgren are positive and are confirmed non-starters. Andersson and Halfvarsson still hope to start. Emil Danielsson and Lisa Ingesson are brought in as replacements.