Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[QueenStagiaire]

It‘s going to come down to the last lap between Preuß and Jeanmonnot

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Wow!

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Jeanmonnot stepped on her own pole, it looks like

 

[KZD]

Damn what a finish, Preuß had all luck on her side for once, even her skis were faster than Jeanmonot's today.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

The French are protesting, I doubt that’s going to be successful

 

[Lequack]

Sad to see such a good race and season come down to a fall at the end. Quite disappointing.

 

[Lequack]

Not as disappointing as the cross country races these season though, what a borefest.

 

[KZD]

Golberg also retiring today, his win over Klæbo in mass-start race during the Planica Worlds was the highest point of his career.

 

[Lequack]

Good racing in the men's final race, with a deserved Samuelson win. But bittersweet because of the retirement of two legends of the sports, the Boe brothers. They will be missed.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I'll probably miss Tarjei. I won't miss Johannes until somebody else starts dominating uncontrollably, for the same reason I didn't miss Fourcade until Johannes became unstoppable, much like Riiber on the NoCo (except Riiber actually has some Olympic unfinished business which makes his retirement all the stranger) the spectacle is actually likely to be improved, although the last season or two Johannes has been a bit more human than he was a few years back.

 

[Mayomaniac]

I'll probably miss Tarjei. I won't miss Johannes until somebody else starts dominating uncontrollably, for the same reason I didn't miss Fourcade until Johannes became unstoppable, much like Riiber on the NoCo (except Riiber actually has some Olympic unfinished business which makes his retirement all the stranger) the spectacle is actually likely to be improved, although the last season or two Johannes has been a bit more human than he was a few years back.

In case you didn't know, Riiber retured because got diagnosed with Morbus Crohn. Anyway, Lamparter lost lots of credit with me because of that dirty move in the mixed relay at the WC (he even admitted that it was intentional on Austrian national TV), so no idea who I'll be cheering for, maybe Herola...

 

[BigCoward]

I'm really looking forward to next season already. The women's field is wide open if Vitozzi and Tandrevold come back like they were last year.

Also hoping Kirkeeide can take a big jump forward as we need a strong Norway to avoid French relay procession if nothing else (Lien finished season quite strong so I'm hopeful).

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I'm really looking forward to next season already. The women's field is wide open if Vitozzi and Tandrevold come back like they were last year.

Also hoping Kirkeeide can take a big jump forward as we need a strong Norway to avoid French relay procession if nothing else (Lien finished season quite strong so I'm hopeful).

I assume Vittozzi will be thinking more about the Olympics than the overall title, but the latter is of course still a possibility if she starts the season in good shape.

I like both of the top women, but I was on Team Franzi this week, and I also think she was unlucky that no one missed in the last shooting in the pursuit. This was however not the way I wanted to see it getting decided. Jeanmonnot should be winning the overall some day, but now she's been unlucky to miss out twice, and you never know what will happen in the future.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I'm really looking forward to next season already. The women's field is wide open if Vitozzi and Tandrevold come back like they were last year.

Also hoping Kirkeeide can take a big jump forward as we need a strong Norway to avoid French relay procession if nothing else (Lien finished season quite strong so I'm hopeful).

Remember Germany also have Voigt and Hettich-Walz to come back, and Grotian and Tannheimer will be a year older. Sweden also can't be written off as long as both Öberg sisters stay healthy. They only need to get a decent day out of the revolving cast of Magnusson, Heijdenberg, Andersson, Halvarsson and co depending on who has form come February and they're a threat. France are still huge favourites and their depth is almost as scary as the Norwegian men, what with Richard and Michelon turning into consistent top 10s this season, Mengin and Galmace Paulin crushing the IBU cup while still junior age, and being able to leave the likes of Chauveau and Botet on rotation duty, but there are a few teams that could interlope should they make any mistakes.

The Norwegian men would be likewise über-favourites, but the one thing that I think has them possibly slightly tending behind the French women for next season is the retirements of such an integral part of their relay for so long, it means that they will likely have to reconfigure their relay and find the right roles for their current team, so there may well be some experimentation early season to try out different mixes of athlete and find who suits what position, whereas the French women essentially have 3/4 the team already locked down, it's just who takes the leftover position (on current evidence probably Michelon, but if they want to move the order around then Richard makes most sense on lead-off duty for my money) and the biggest question is more whether the blue bib fighters' reliability makes the team hesitant about a more boom-or-bust athlete like Braisaz-Bouchet.

 

[OJRvE]

Next seasons CC calendar unveiled. https://assets.fis-ski.com/f/252177/x/13f7dcbb32/draft_wc_calendar_cc_2025-26.pdf

No interval start longer than 10km which is a shame considering the great racing we had in Davos, Toblach and Oslo last season.

New format “Heat Masstart” will take place in Toblach during Tour de Ski. I wonder if that some kind of long sprint or something else.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

No Val di Fiemme classic mass start at the Tour de Ski

 

[BullsFan22]

FIS just keeps digging its own grave. Oh well.

 

[nightowl]

Do FIS look at best races of the season each year and make sure not to let that happen again next year?