- Aug 31, 2019
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Johaug works for NRK. Traditionally no one leaves NRK without wanting to do something else (meaning they always keep you on even if you’re bad)
- Aug 29, 2009
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the Henkel-Schleife only became part of the Biathlon course in 2015, so I'd guess they didn't do it in XC before either?
The first final Klaebo hasn't reached, without an accident, for nearly 7 years...he's having a *** season by his standards. Amundsen looked really good again today and even Niskanen looked to have taken a small step forward. Quite looking forward to the men's race tomorrow(a first this season) but a 3.3k loop again?
- Mar 26, 2023
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Yes. At the beginning of the season, I believe a third place seemed somewhat disappointing to Klaebo and team; this must be even more so. Bad luck with illness at least twice, of course, and probably not feeling super motivated after having missed Tour de Ski.
That could be all it is, but I'm tempted to speculate about other reasons: there's that hamstring injury from last year, I don't know the current status, but there was some concerns that it would be chronic.
Being out of Norway's national team means he doesn't have access to their resources and how that has worked out during competition, I don't know. The training with the national team might have been more important than his team realized; not to mention that relations seemed rather chilly. The person working with his skis and waxing has left the national team too, in a bit of controversy.
Varslingssaken i Skiforbundet: Får refs for hendelser
Skiforbundet har konkludert med at det ikke er gjort lovbrudd i varslingssaken med tidligere smører Frode Pedersen – men enkelthendelser bryter med forbundets «etiske retningslinjer».
www.vg.no
But most, if not all, of this is part of the sport. Choices were made and sometimes this is just how the cookie crumbles. Klaebo looked really great in Trondheim and we'll see about the mass start today.
- Feb 20, 2010
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Iivo Niskanen out there being Iivo Niskanen, and for that we should all be thankful.
- Feb 20, 2010
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It's rather depressing to see the crowds that two weeks ago were spilling out of the stands and covering half of the tracks though. The parts out on the trails are not too bad, but the main stadium section is like a ghost town compared to the biathlon.
- Apr 10, 2019
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Frankly the German crowds don't deserve a world cup race, but with multiple top athletes you have to give them one
- Feb 20, 2010
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They need to be separate enough from the biathlon though, putting this two weeks after the biathlon, you know that people that can only afford one event in such a short span of time will always pick biathlon over XC. They'd probably be better served serving a different area of the country, like going to Notschrei or Oberwiesenthal, or if they are going to go to Oberhof, do it in late February or something so it's clearly separated out from the biathlon and people may be more willing to do both. They've only ever done it just before the biathlon (at the TDS) or just after (as in today) previously, which doesn't seem beneficial.
Most of the bigger venues that could accommodate the World Cup are shared with biathlon venues such as Notschrei and Altenberg, but there's also the NoCo that is held at Schonach or Klingenthal. I think Oberwiesenthal would probably be best use, they are at a decent level of altitude to guarantee snow, in a part of the country that isn't served by any World Cups since Eric Frenzel retired and Klingenthal lost its NoCo World Cup round to Oberstdorf, and Katharina Hennig would be the local star, being from the area.
For the longest time FIS relied heavily on German sponsors, and they still do, but ironically they haven’t done much to try and popularize ski racing in that country. Biathlon actually tries to grow their sport wherever they can, training, financing, equipment, etc. FIS has started doing a little bit of that, but it’s not enough and with a dwindling audience, it’ll be he hard in the future.
- Feb 20, 2010
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Nyenget the only Norwegian to have done anything whatsoever in the race, and then they do a 1-2-3-4 in a field sprint. Again conditions were a major factor in keeping the race together like that, but it's not hard to see why the crowds might have preferred to go to the biathlon.
- Feb 21, 2019
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Valnes having the best season of his career, I guess my prediction of him finishing in the World Cup podium was not that far fetched.
Him doing so well in all these classic races makes me think Terentev could have been a factor for the overall too.
Him doing so well in all these classic races makes me think Terentev could have been a factor for the overall too.
Norway 1-4 yet the the non-Norwegians largely controlled the race. Poromaa is criticised in Sweden for bad tactics but I don't know what more he could have done with the skillset he has? Another good race for the young Italian Barp, he's progressing well in all the races.
What a season Klaebo is having, other than Trondheim he's looked like a tourist...hard to believe!
What a season Klaebo is having, other than Trondheim he's looked like a tourist...hard to believe!
- Apr 10, 2019
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This season his explosiveness at the end of a race is all Poromaa has. I doubt he would have finished higher if he tried to make the race harder.
Pellegrino top 5 right after coming back from illness, in peak shape he could have been on the podium.
Barp has a great top speed in both highspeed double poling and v2 Skating, but he still has to work on his uphill v1 technique (he says the same).
Ruuskanen is having a good season this year. The Finns can built on him and Anttola for the post-Niskanen era.
- Aug 29, 2009
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on Swiss TV it was mentioned that Klaebo lost massive weight due to his illness over the holidays (5kg, if I got that right?). That would of course explain the current lack of power
- Apr 10, 2019
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You usually loose mainly water weight while being sick but yeah, he clearly still hasn't recovered.
- Jun 30, 2022
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- Apr 10, 2019
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Meanwhile the Italians dominated the Fesa Cup in Poland.
Individual start skating, 1-2 in the women's senior race, 1-2-3 in the men's senior race.
In the women's junior race Maria Gismondi won with a time that would have put her 3rd in the senior race and 2nd placed Gina del Rio was the only non Italian in the top 5.
The men's junior race was won by Ghio, with a time that would have been the 2nd fastest in the senior race, less then 4sec slower than senior's winner Abram. Artusi and Galli finished 4th and 5th, so 2 more Italians in the top 5 + Matli finishing 9th.
Individual start skating, 1-2 in the women's senior race, 1-2-3 in the men's senior race.
In the women's junior race Maria Gismondi won with a time that would have put her 3rd in the senior race and 2nd placed Gina del Rio was the only non Italian in the top 5.
The men's junior race was won by Ghio, with a time that would have been the 2nd fastest in the senior race, less then 4sec slower than senior's winner Abram. Artusi and Galli finished 4th and 5th, so 2 more Italians in the top 5 + Matli finishing 9th.
- Feb 20, 2010
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Don't forget Moilanen to come as well.
The thing with the SMR is the short loops mean there are only a few courses on the schedule where the format works because a horseshoe-configuration stadium will mean too much flat on the course, there needs to be hills near the stadium to be able to have enough difficulty to keep it a biathlon and not just a shooting contest, or a big enough obstacles to serve as a focal point for the course. I think Pokljuka, Oberhof and maybe Khanty-Mansiysk are about the only venues I'd say were ideal for the format. Kontiolahti if they used the Wall would be good (you could include it in a 1,5km circuit, but when they did do an SMR there they didn't include it).
- Feb 21, 2019
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Insane shooting performance from Strelöw and Voigt, only one miss from the former in the single mixed relay.
- Jun 7, 2010
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Alternative venues to Oberhof and Oberstodof that currently have WC homologation and loops longer than 2.5km are Oberwiesenthal and Ruhpolding.
FIS | International Ski and Snowboard Federation
FIS globally governs skiing and snowboarding and oversees over 7,000 events annually in Alpine, Cross-Country, Ski Jumping, Nordic Combined, Freestyle, Snowboard, and more.
- Sep 26, 2020
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- Feb 20, 2010
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TBF though I think Notschrei and Arber have the courses because they've hosted Individuals on the IBU Cup and Alpencup biathlon. I think they could be homologated if they wanted to host cross-country competition at that level with the minimum of fuss. Although I did conclude that Oberwiesenthal was probably the best bet anyway, Ruhpolding would have the same problems as Oberhof minus the weather.Alternative venues to Oberhof and Oberstodof that currently have WC homologation and loops longer than 2.5km are Oberwiesenthal and Ruhpolding.
FIS | International Ski and Snowboard Federation
FIS globally governs skiing and snowboarding and oversees over 7,000 events annually in Alpine, Cross-Country, Ski Jumping, Nordic Combined, Freestyle, Snowboard, and more.www.fis-ski.com
- Apr 10, 2019
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- Feb 20, 2010
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