Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[dobrien]

Diggins not effing around, sticking the knife in.

 

[dobrien]

When did I say it was?

I simply said "None of which is Jessie Diggins' fault.'

You can make of that what you will, but I think you'd be perfectly fine with it if it was someone you didn't dislike so much. Just my .02.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I simply said "None of which is Jessie Diggins' fault.'

You can make of that what you will.

And I simply said I wasn't looking forward to the commentators' sycophancy, and you can make of that what you will.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

The mens race today will probably be very lame. This course and these conditions makes it extremely hard to make a difference, and also no Kruger.

 

[search]

Heidi Weng looks strong today. Would be good to see her getting a win, even if it probably needs to be a gifted one.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I simply said "None of which is Jessie Diggins' fault.'

You can make of that what you will, but I think you'd be perfectly fine with it if it was someone you didn't dislike so much. Just my .02.

I have a history of rejecting forced narratives, the more forced the more aggressively I react against it, and the narrative pushed by the commentary team that not only does everybody love Jessie Diggins, but everybody must love Jessie Diggins (and the fact that the reasons we apparently must love her are the very traits of her personality that are why I didn't like her in the first place), is one of the most blatantly forced in all sport that I have ever seen.

Is she a worthy winner of the WC overall? Yes. Has she earned it with her racing this season? Definitely. As a skier, in terms of their skillsets, I would want her as a globe winner over Svahn for sure any day, she is more competitive across the full scope of competition in all distances and, this season at least, across both techniques, as she has clearly worked hard to improve on her weaknesses. But as a person I don't even want her to lose, I want her to go away.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Laukli rocking Mördarbacken, put the intermediates at the top of it!

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

. But as a person I don't even want her to lose, I want her to go away.

You need to survive (at least) two more years

 

[Libertine Seguros]

You need to survive (at least) two more years

At least Johaug was dumb enough not to read the labels on her medication and give us a break for a bit

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Frida the wrecking ball once more...

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Making the race, winning both bonus sprints, winning the race. Great way to finish an extremely solid season. Chapeau!

Also a good day for the Norwegian girls after a very hard season.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

"Oh, I didn't notice the glitter on the skis until after I won the race"

 

[dobrien]

And I simply said I wasn't looking forward to the commentators' sycophancy, and you can make of that what you will.

In all seriousness, I do enjoy most of your posts; you are very knowledgable and add a ton to the board. Just that your posts on Jessie and Sepp conjure up visions of you rolling around in a darkened room in the fetal position... you just make it so difficult to resist enjoying your butt-hurtness. Now if Sepp can just win the Giro....

 

[dobrien]

"Oh, I didn't notice the glitter on the skis until after I won the race"

 

[dobrien]

Making the race, winning both bonus sprints, winning the race. Great way to finish an extremely solid season. Chapeau!

Also a good day for the Norwegian girls after a very hard season.

+1 to both. I would not have minded seeing Heidi win it.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

In all seriousness, I do enjoy most of your posts; you are very knowledgable and add a ton to the board. Just that your posts on Jessie and Sepp conjure up visions of you rolling around in a darkened room in the fetal position... you just make it so difficult to resist enjoying your butt-hurtness. Now if Sepp can just win the Giro....

Out of competition, the Sepp stuff has mostly been tongue-in-cheek; I can't stand Sepp Kuss the racer rather than Sepp Kuss the person so the Sepp stuff in competition is largely genuine but out of competition I'm also poking fun at my own biases and questionable ability to control my reactions (see me calling him a cyclotourist or joking about his own traceur efforts in the Race Design Thread when talking about Colorado) - although the media portrayal of him as this total Mary Sue since the Vuelta situation really grinds my gears and could see it become more of a thing in time. With Jessie, not only do I not like her "LOOK AT HOW FUN I AM!" act, but I can't comprehend why anybody would, and especially react with hostility to people - especially the media - demanding I should.

It's Gabriela Soukalová all over again: just a very clearly stage-managed, very false presentation designed to portray a specific impression to the media. I think Diggins' outward personality is an extension, an exaggeration (to the point of caricature) of her real personality, as opposed to Soukalová who came across like an entirely invented, false personality that the real person underneath the surface was not like at all (and this was proven by her regrettable and extremely bitchy tell-all book that showed her to be not a very nice person at all).

 

[Mayomaniac]

Frida the wrecking ball once more...

"Hello, I'm Frida Karlsson and you're watching Jackass!"

Not a fan of Diggins and her American show(wo)manship, but it's hard to argue that she didn't deserve to win the overall world cup. Svahn would have been a really meh winner, if we are honest...

 

[Libertine Seguros]

"Hello, I'm Frida Karlsson and you're watching Jackass!"

Not a fan of Diggins and her American show(wo)manship, but it's hard to argue that she didn't deserve to win the overall world cup. Svahn would have been a really meh winner, if we are honest...

Yea, as I said in one of the earlier posts, Diggins has earned the title, and as a skier, just taking the skillsets into account, she is much more the kind of athlete you'd want to see winning the World Cup overall than Svahn, whose success on the overall is very much a representation of the predominance of sprints and relatively easy 10k courses that proliferate and enable an athlete like that to scoop up a ton of points at the expense of the likes of, say, Andersson or Niskanen. Svahn winning the overall, while a nice story given her setbacks, would be a very meh winner as well as a bad sign in terms of what it means for what is needed to succeed on the World Cup. The only reason for me to cheer for the 2023-24 version of Svahn to win the overall was because I'd rather her than Diggins.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The mens race today will probably be very lame. This course and these conditions makes it extremely hard to make a difference, and also no Kruger.

And so it is written, and so it shall come to pass...

 

[dobrien]

Holy crap, Klaebo has lightning fast skis, going to be next to impossible to beat him.

 

[Miss Violet Smith]

Super impressed by Amundsen; defending well throughout the season.

Whatever I may think about the point system, staying healthy (and showing up) is part of the game.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Yea the Bonus Trophy is stoopid and rather than promote attacking earlier in races it has caused races to bunch back up every time one of them is approaching, but it is what it is.

 

[Miss Violet Smith]

Great result for Tefre. Burman top 10 is not too bad.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Great result for Tefre. Burman top 10 is not too bad.

Best that Burman can hope for with these kind of conditions on an easy course.

 

[dobrien]

Great result for Tefre.

Norway's depth is just incredible.