Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[Samu Cuenca]

Come on, let's get that Czech medal now!

 

[titan31]

They only have about 10" over France even so. Sweden way better placed than you might have expected with Brandt and Nelin on the first two legs, they still have Ponsiluoma and Samuelsson to come so they're very well placed for a medal.

Neither of them have been skiing well all championship though.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Neither of them have been skiing well all championship though.

Neither have Knotten or Arnekleiv, but the relay does funny things.

Either way, Jacquelin has gone hard this lap, that vaunted Simon Fourcade race breakdown training maybe coming back.

 

[KZD]

Christiansen wtf

Johannes Bø must be feeling that he needs better teammates. 0 golds in relays is very surprising.

Very good race from the Swedes nonetheless.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Christiansen wtf

Johannes Bø must be feeling that he needs better teammates. 0 golds in relays is very surprising.

Very good race from the Swedes nonetheless.

How much better does he need? They literally have the entire top 5 of the World Cup?

 

[BigCoward]

Ever been a relay podium with 7 penalty loops?

 

[KZD]

How much better does he need? They literally have the entire top 5 of the World Cup?

Well, no matter how good they are in the World Cup, they are clearly choking in these World championships. Tandrevold can't shoot standing anymore, Lægreid is bad at relays and Christiansen just had an absolutely dreadful performance. So yeah, it looks like he needed better teammates.

Not that I care, I am just putting myself in his shoes...

 

[BigCoward]

Must have been quite the team talk in the Norwegian camp today 'right boys and girls, you are doing the penalty loop 9 times today'.

 

[titan31]

Had to go out before leg 3 so only watching now but wtf Christensen. Utterly ridiculous. He didn't even need to ski hard between prone and standing, could have taken his time and made sure on the shooting. That was brain-dead for him and his place in the selection (not just the relay) should be in question for the rest of the season. Give the likes of Soerum or some youngster a shot instead

 

[BigCoward]

To be fair he's been a great final leg skier recently. Even one fewer penalty laps he probably had a chance.

 

[titan31]

To be fair he's been a great final leg skier recently. Even one fewer penalty laps he probably had a chance.

Don't think that really matters though after that. Norway have loads of talent so you pretty much always need to be at close to your best and at Christensen's age, is he someone you really need to protect with a spot in the team. He's arguably at his best now but that's really spot 4/5 in the Norwegian team so there is no real potential to nurture here.

Considering the talent level in the Norwegian team, i'd be thinking he doesn't deserve a spot over Dale in the relay and considering their talent outside the top 6, Soerum probably deserves more of a shot and likes of Botn, Oeverby, Nevland etc should get some opportunities for rest of the season. There's also Bakken if he ever comes back

 

[BigCoward]

He got bronze in the sprint and the pursuit, and Dale had a massive meltdown in contention for the individual so it's not that clear cut.
They do need to blood some younger athletes though, TB and Christiansen won't be around forever and JTB is no spring chicken anymore.

 

[titan31]

Ya, if I'm Norwegian selectors, I think take the North American leg as a chance to bring some new guys in. Let the main guys bow out at Oslo, and then switch up the team (id probably drop Christensen and Tarjei anyway and maybe a call on JTB (if he's got overall wrapped up I'd drop him for at least one event)).

 

[BigCoward]

It must be nice to have a terrible WC and have 2 gold, 3 silver and a bronze and be massive favourite for another gold. I expect JTB to absolutely go on a tear tomorrow

 

[Mayomaniac]

Yes Jonna!

 

[BullsFan22]

Overdue win for Sundling. In the semis she seem to lose momentum coming to the finish, but held on to win that heat. I thought she would lose to Svahn and Skistad again. Good on her to get over that hump.

 

[BullsFan22]

And great to see Pellegrino finally having a good sprint race.

With Dapra, Barp, Hellweger, and with Mocellini hopefully having a healthy season next year, the Italian men are on the rise. They need that with Milano coming in two years. Pellegrino and De Fabiani will 35 and 33 then, and I am not sure they’ll be fighting for medals in two years time.

But anyway, great showing by the Italian men today. Happy for Cramer as well. His pupils in Russia haven’t done well this season.

 

[Sciatic]

I've never seen commentators being so happy over 4th place as the ones in our national TV are right now. The athletes are clearly overjoyed themselves too, it clearly was a 4th place won rather than a medal lost even if the medal wasn't that far. A day to savour.

That’s great to hear!

 

[YavorD]

Had to go out before leg 3 so only watching now but wtf Christensen. Utterly ridiculous. He didn't even need to ski hard between prone and standing, could have taken his time and made sure on the shooting. That was brain-dead for him and his place in the selection (not just the relay) should be in question for the rest of the season. Give the likes of Soerum or some youngster a shot instead

Now that's ridiculous thing to say. Christiansen's results after the New Year have been 1th, 2nd, 6th and 1st. He would've been around TB and Dale if they didn't put Botn instead of him for Oberhof..
And not just that, he's won many relays for Norway as an anchor, most notably the Olympics.
Let alone that, he's won 2 medals at this championship and Dale himself usually blows up the relays.
You can't leave such a guy outside of the Relay team.


But I know, hindsight is always 20/20 isn't it?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I'm not against the idea of giving some of the vets the rest of the season off and taking the guys like Uldal, Botn, Sørum and Nevland a spot rotating the 5th and 6th starters for the final trimester, since they have absolutely zero left to prove on the IBU Cup. We could count Frey as well but he is still junior age so might be doing the Junior Worlds. After all, Tarjei Bø is 35 and while the rest of the team is not old, Johannes and Vetle are 31, there is the possibility that they might not be the very best the team has to offer in two years' time at the Olympics. I mean, I'm sure unless something untoward happens like he gets mono or he has an off-season accident or something JTB will be, but there's a very non-zero chance that Tarjei and Vetle are not in the top 4 Norwegian biathletes come Milano 2026 and so given how stupidly strong their depth is, giving a number of different athletes chances to rotate in to try different relay roles when you have absolutely zero pressure on your Nations Cup standing so that you can ensure there's a multitude of options seems like a zero-risk strategy. After all, fatigue can often be a factor in the relays, coming at the end of a full championship program.

 

[search]

Dale is now out of the mass start, "sick", so maybe he wasn't ready yesterday either anyway.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Overdue win for Sundling. In the semis she seem to lose momentum coming to the finish, but held on to win that heat. I thought she would lose to Svahn and Skistad again. Good on her to get over that hump.

Yeah, I'm happy for her.
That said, she really should stop picking the first heat and go full gas in every single heat, because usually she pays for it in the final.
Pick heat 4 or 5, easily win, let Diggins (who usually picks one of those heats) set the pace in the semifinal and go all in in the final.

Looking at how she usually demolishes everyone in the qualifier the main concern should be keeping her powder dry for the final.

 

[titan31]

Tandrevold with another Tandrevold. She can't hit a barn door atm

 

[Mayomaniac]

Looks like Tandrevold has a bad day when it comes to her skiing.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Goddamn Tandrevold, you need to book some sessions with the sports psychologist. Whoever it was that Lisa Vittozzi worked with a couple of seasons ago. They might be costly but they're clearly going to be worth it.