Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[BigCoward]

We have ourselves our winner today. Now let's see who gets on the final podium next to Johannes Bø. Doll could be one of the two with a single miss.

JTB is putting insane time into people. At least it's possible it won't be a podium lock out again.

Doing a Dale?

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Looks like Doll could be the one to break the Norwegian spell, Laegreid is already losing a lot.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Looks like Doll could be the one to break the Norwegian spell, Laegreid is already losing a lot.

Remember Doll missed one at the last visit though. 20/20 and Lægreid is still pretty safe without collapsing at the Jacquelin level.

Tarjei skiing better than ever this year.

More evidence of Patrick's complete inability to read a timing screen, as he asks where Christiansen is after the third shooting, Mike starts to say "he missed one" but gets halfway through the word "one" before Patrick cuts him off to theorise that with his start number he should be approaching the fourth shoot now, and so for him not to be at the top after the third shoot he must have missed, and then confirming, "yes he has, Mike, he has missed one".

Mike just sits there like a lemon through all this blustering, this happens all the time in these time trial races, especially Individuals, he really needs once in a while to be brusque with Patrick, the amount of times Patrick asks a question and then blusters around for 30 seconds trying to answer it himself when Mike already told him the answer - sometimes before he even asked the question.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Remember Doll missed one at the last visit though. 20/20 and Lægreid is still pretty safe without collapsing at the Jacquelin level.

Tarjei skiing better than ever this year.

Laegreid is almost the minute penalty behind already and it looks like the track is deteriorating.

 

[BigCoward]

Laegreid is almost the minute penalty behind already and it looks like the track is deteriorating.

He lost buckets between the last 2 checkpoints.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Laegreid is almost the minute penalty behind already and it looks like the track is deteriorating.

Strømsheim is skiing like absolute turd as well, and Christiansen is slowing right down. Suspect this may be to do with skis for the track conditions, or maybe it's just illness hitting the camp, but it certainly feels like there's more to the Norwegian capitulation later in the startlist than just the track deteriorating, seeing Christiansen slower than Fak and barely faster than Mikyská on equal shooting, and Strømsheim being slower on 19/20 than Campbell Wright on three misses or Kühn on four, and only eight seconds faster than Dmitry Shamaev, a Russian domestic circuit journeyman who switched to compete for the underfunded Romanian team and barely qualified for the pursuit in 59th with 10/10 on Saturday.

 

[search]

Laegreid is almost the minute penalty behind already and it looks like the track is deteriorating.

Perrot is still setting decent times (3 minutes quicker than Christiansen). The Norwegians seem to suffer the most now.

 

[BigCoward]

Strømsheim is skiing like absolute turd as well, and Christiansen is slowing right down. Suspect this may be to do with skis for the track conditions, or maybe it's just illness hitting the camp, but it certainly feels like there's more to the Norwegian capitulation later in the startlist than just the track deteriorating, seeing Christiansen slower than Fak and barely faster than Mikyská on equal shooting, and Strømsheim being slower on 19/20 than Campbell Wright on three misses or Kühn on four, and only eight seconds faster than Dmitry Shamaev, a Russian domestic circuit journeyman who switched to compete for the underfunded Romanian team and barely qualified for the pursuit in 59th with 10/10 on Saturday.

Maybe the relay won't be a total wash out.

 

[KZD]

I think Christiansen and Dale were on energy saving mode in this last lap, thinking about the relay or maybe even the SMR for one of them. As for Strømsheim, he has been in bad shape doing these Championships.

Still if there is illness in the Norwegian camp we might see the best team in the world losing the relay for two straight years which would be curious to say the least.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Maybe the relay won't be a total wash out.

Depends, if it's just that their skis were good early (hence the Bøs and Dale-Skjevdal doing great) but after the tracks deteriorated their prep became ineffective very quickly or they just bailed on effort after missing targets (I buy that for Dale-Skjevdal, but not for Lægreid and Christiansen who were already slowing down considerably when they still had a shot at the podium), then it'll be as much of a blowout as expected. But if they are getting sick or something, then it's different of course.

Of those who've finished at time of writing (55/101), the two Bøs are the fastest and Dale-Skjevdal is 7th, but then Lægreid is 25th +3'55, Christiansen is 35th +4'41, and Strømsheim is 41st +5'13.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

That will bolster her confidence, finding out that having a meltdown is now called 'doing a Tandrevold'.

Well it was just that it was exactly 3 misses in standing rather than it being any kind of meltdown. But of course Tandrevold is not first the not the last to do something like that or worse, but she was the one I had fresh in my memory.

 

[BigCoward]

Shiiiiiit, JTB in this form could ski all 4 legs of the relay by himself and beat everybody. I hope he misses a couple in the first 2 shoots in the mass start and has to chase like crazy, otherwise its going to be shocking.

 

[BigCoward]

Well it was just that it was exactly 3 misses in standing rather than it being any kind of meltdown. But of course Tandrevold is not first the not the last to do something like that or worse, but she was the one I had fresh in my memory.

It wasn't a dig. I thought it was funny.

And the highest placed finisher who shot clean finished .........34. That can't be normal.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

It wasn't a dig. I thought it was funny.

And the highest placed finisher who shot clean finished .........34. That can't be normal.

To be fair, it's not normal that Aleksandr Starodubets is the best finisher to shoot clean either.

Tweedledee and Tweedledum are now busy debating whether Tandrevold's problems with shooting mean she should be pulled from the SMR to be replaced by Ida Lien, who they have been really impressed by. As a reminder, Lien missed five more targets than Tandrevold yesterday.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

It wasn't a dig. I thought it was funny.

And the highest placed finisher who shot clean finished .........34. That can't be normal.

It's definitely not normal that only one guy hits all targets.
It was a shame that Mikyska didn't go clear, but at least it didn't cost him a top 10.

 

[titan31]

Pretty poor coverage, they seemed to fixate on guys who has no chance when there were others in the range who had medal chances. We got to watch Krcmar wipe his sights over and over as Laegreid was in the range and missed Dale's meltdown on shoot 4 just to watch Jakov Fak who had no real shot of a medal at the same point.

Based on today too, id say Norway might actually be better off in the relay just racing JTB for 2 legs and Tarjei for 2. The others look dead on their skis

 

[BigCoward]

Tandrevold is in with JTB. France oddly leaving out both their big guns.

 

[search]

the Germans saved Strelow for the mixed relay, so it better pays off. No idea what to expect from Voigt, though. She was super strong in Antholz, but on paper isn't really perfectly suited for this format, or course.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

the Germans saved Strelow for the mixed relay, so it better pays off. No idea what to expect from Voigt, though. She was super strong in Antholz, but on paper isn't really perfectly suited for this format, or course.

Shooting is often more important than ski speed in relays, so I actually think she's better suited to this format than most other disciplines.

After what we've seen during these championships, I won't be surprised if Latvia ends up with a medal tomorrow.

 

[search]

Shooting is often more important than ski speed in relays, so I actually think she's better suited to this format than most other disciplines.

yeah, but Voigt's shooting often isn't fast either.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Shooting is often more important than ski speed in relays, so I actually think she's better suited to this format than most other disciplines.

After what we've seen during these championships, I won't be surprised if Latvia ends up with a medal tomorrow.

ad 1) shooting may be more important but the slow pace of shooting is the drawback with Voigt.

ad 2) how much would this cost?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

yeah, but Voigt's shooting often isn't fast either.

Sure, it will of course fully depend on her hitting all or most of the targets, cause just one miss could be crucial.

ad 2) how much would this cost?

If you want to make it a done deal, it'll probably require that some teams have less than perfect waxing and that some biathletes wake up with viruses in their bodies or get sand stuck in their eyes during the race.

 

[BigCoward]

If you want to make it a done deal, it'll probably require that some teams have less than perfect waxing and that some biathletes wake up with viruses in their bodies or get sand stuck in their eyes during the race.

So you are saying there's a chance?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Sure, it will of course fully depend on her hitting all or most of the targets, cause just one miss could be crucial.



If you want to make it a done deal, it'll probably require that some teams have less than perfect waxing and that some biathletes wake up with viruses in their bodies or get sand stuck in their eyes during the race.

Or it is just an infinite race, so there is no final shoot for them to screw up.

 

[kingjr]

yeah, but Voigt's shooting often isn't fast either.

During the most recent single mixed relay, she had the fastest time overall in the prone shooting. Her first standing was slow at 34 seconds, but 25 for the second is just fine. So it seems she is prepared to take more risks in this format.