Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[Libertine Seguros]

If I was the ruler of the world every distance race would be an individual start; this race wouldn't have been nearly as good as a mass start imho. Great battle! Huge gaps, some due to a solid course, some will be wax, some will be fatigue from the North American leg. I like Matintalo, great result for her today, always have a soft spot for the skiers who are almost but not quite tippy-top of the heap. Entertaining today.

I agree. Mass Start has its place, but the real endurance races should be man/woman against the conditions.

Both of us apparently have our honorary Finnish nationality papers in the mail, although there might be a slight delay while they check if we ever praised skate technique in the past.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Mike now talking at great length about Jess Diggins (plus ça change) and trying to figure out what happened. He does know that despite the improvements, not only is she still better in skate than classic, not only has she been trying to peak all season long and obviously the Minnesota races were going to be a major target for her so she was always going to be tired here, but she also did the American Birkebeiner on her week off?

 

[dobrien]

Mike now talking at great length about Jess Diggins (plus ça change) and trying to figure out what happened. He does know that despite the improvements, not only is she still better in skate than classic, not only has she been trying to peak all season long and obviously the Minnesota races were going to be a major target for her so she was always going to be tired here, but she also did the American Birkebeiner on her week off?

Oh yeah, she won it pretty handily; it had always been a goal of hers and since it came the week after the Minneapolis world cup the timing was perfect. Flora Dolci was the only other female world cup skier to stay in North America to do the Birkie. For Jessie it's not just the racing that took it out of her; the demands on her time and energy the last few weeks have been massive.

My three favorite female world cup athletes on the podium today; what's not to love?! ;-)

 

[meat puppet]

It's distance Classic which the Finns tend to prefer because praise be to Finland, the skis are often quite conditions dependent and the Finns will have most experience of dealing with the conditions on home snow, and many of them are fresher because they have not bothered with the North American leg because the schedule out there was sprint- and skate-heavy.

Yeah, living here I sorta know the drill. There is always a rationalisation.

Yet Pärmäkoski struggled all season and at a point didn't make it to top 30 in a WC race earlier this year. Contextual factors notwithstanding, this is definitely a substantial bump and basically salvages her season.

In other news bro Niskanen had a hard time beating national level competition just a couple weeks back. If he smokes everyone today, it stinks, too.

 

[dobrien]

Yeah, living here I sorta know the drill. There is always a rationalisation.

Yet Pärmäkoski struggled all season and at a point didn't make it to top 30 in a WC race earlier this year. Contextual factors notwithstanding, this is definitely a substantial bump and basically salvages her season.

In other news bro Niskanen had a hard time beating national level competition just a couple weeks back. If he smokes everyone today, it stinks, too.

Maybe it's me with my rose colored glasses on but I think skipping the North American world cups really helped Krista; she looked noticeably fresher to my eyes today and that coupled with good skis can make a world of difference. I hope she can finish the rest of the season strongly and decides to keep racing.

 

[KZD]

Really surprised to see Pärmäkoski win today.

I think either Klæbo or Golberg will win in the men's.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Yeah, living here I sorta know the drill. There is always a rationalisation.

Yet Pärmäkoski struggled all season and at a point didn't make it to top 30 in a WC race earlier this year. Contextual factors notwithstanding, this is definitely a substantial bump and basically salvages her season.

In other news bro Niskanen had a hard time beating national level competition just a couple weeks back. If he smokes everyone today, it stinks, too.

On the other hand, he isn't Klæbo so if he wins in Classic technique the chances are he used Classic technique all the way round.

 

[kingjr]

He's not winning, though, after lap 1 Klaebo has been faster on all segments of the track.

He's lost a little now between time check 2 and 3, but not enough, he's going to make up twice that amount on the descent to the finish.

Yeah, this is game over. Time to switch to the mass start I guess

 

[QueenStagiaire]

That was certainly one of the shootings of all time.

 

[BigCoward]

Final shoot, group of 8 only one went clear. Pretty poor.

 

[Mayomaniac]

On the other hand, he isn't Klæbo so if he wins in Classic technique the chances are he used Classic technique all the way round.

You mean Klaebo taking 2-3 more skating steps than everyone else out of every corner with zero repercussions?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Final shoot, group of 8 only one went clear. Pretty poor.

And somehow Anamarija Lampič did!

 

[kingjr]

You mean Klaebo taking 2-3 more skating steps than everyone else out of every corner with zero repercussions?

What's the evidence of that anyway

 

[Mayomaniac]

What's the evidence of that anyway

Pretty much every classic sprint tgat he wins...

 

[kingjr]

Pretty much every classic sprint tgat he wins...

Got a video or something to support that? Cause I don't think I have seen him do anything that everybody else doesn't do also.

 

[BigCoward]

Got a video or something to support that? Cause I don't think I have seen him do anything that everybody else doesn't do also.

There is a strong anti Norway/Klaebo bias on the board.

 

[BullsFan22]

Finns in Lahti, eh?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Just gonna say, it's kinda funny to call out the Finns for overperforming on home snow when Krista Pärmäkoski is a far less surprising World Cup race winner than Gus Schumacher.

 

[BigCoward]

Tandrevold incredibly relieved results at WC don't count, JTB less so.

 

[tao bleeding heart]

is there a Eurosport Skiing commentator complaint thread?
because i need to put in a request to the gods,... that Guy-Here-McCrea-Here should stop saying 'Here' every other word.
I dunno who is driving me insanest.
McCrea with the incessant 'Here's'.
Marty McDonald with the incessant Lists.
or Jez Cox with the incessant Chatter.
The CIA could employ them all for psychological torture sessions.

 

[BullsFan22]

Oh yeah, she won it pretty handily; it had always been a goal of hers and since it came the week after the Minneapolis world cup the timing was perfect. Flora Dolci was the only other female world cup skier to stay in North America to do the Birkie. For Jessie it's not just the racing that took it out of her; the demands on her time and energy the last few weeks have been massive.

My three favorite female world cup athletes on the podium today; what's not to love?! ;-)

She just drafted off of Dolci for 45 km.

 

[BullsFan22]

Just gonna say, it's kinda funny to call out the Finns for overperforming on home snow when Krista Pärmäkoski is a far less surprising World Cup race winner than Gus Schumacher.

When you consider she’s been nowhere for a long time, it is a surprise, even though an individual classic race is where best results have been.

But yes, Schumacher’s result was a big surprise.

 

[dobrien]

She just drafted off of Dolci for 45 km.

oh jeezus h christ, were you there? She did no such thing; back on ignore for your lame a**.

 

[Bavarianrider]

You have to give Credit where Credit is due, impressive performance by Klaebo.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Frida Karlsson is like the Paul Tracy of cross-country skiing. The old joke "they don't have accidents but they see a lot of them"... Frida sees a lot of accidents and she has them too.