Totally agree; I'm a huge nordic fan but honestly, this engenders zero interest in me. The 50 is going to be a complete joke if this is any indication; still two weeks away but ouch.
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- Feb 21, 2019
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A few thoughts after this skiathlon race:
Karlsson is looking in her best shape ever, unless today was an outlier she will likely take 4 gold medals in these Olympics and if she did the team sprint it would be 5.
The course is definitely hard enough which will provide some proper racing and will make Klæbo's life more difficult.
Sweden will likely take 6 gold medals in the women's XC skiing like in Trondheim last year.
Kaelin with a surprising 4th place today, props to her and to Janatova as well.
Diggins getting exposed badly in classic, the 10k is her only hope to take gold but I doubt that she can beat Karlsson in this shape.
Karlsson is looking in her best shape ever, unless today was an outlier she will likely take 4 gold medals in these Olympics and if she did the team sprint it would be 5.
The course is definitely hard enough which will provide some proper racing and will make Klæbo's life more difficult.
Sweden will likely take 6 gold medals in the women's XC skiing like in Trondheim last year.
Kaelin with a surprising 4th place today, props to her and to Janatova as well.
Diggins getting exposed badly in classic, the 10k is her only hope to take gold but I doubt that she can beat Karlsson in this shape.
Top ten included:
Sweden
Norway
Switzerland
Finland
Czeckia
USA
Austria
Not to shabby. Btw, Karlsson has been struggling with a foot injury the whole season.
Now more than ever, if the US team coaches have two brain cells to rub together they will keep her out of the classic sprint.
Brennan 37th at 6:20; time for a nice pat on the back. If they spend any more starts on her they're fools; maybe the classic sprint if they're smart enough to keep Jessie out of it.
And they all got absolutely crushed; it's nice there is some variety in terms of nationalities there but it's really meaningless in terms of the quality of the racing. Frida in this shape is going to win everything she enters and no one is touching Sweden in the relay, period.
Nothing clinic related, don't worry. I just wonder how bad that all really is when someone shows up in shape like this; wouldn't be the first athlete playing mind games with the competition. If nothing else, just a nice excuse to completely blow off about 2/3 of the World Cup just for the Olympics.
Both Frida and Ebba took their first individual olympic medals today. Your stomach acid is somewhat misplaced to be honest...
I'm actually very happy for both of them, I'm fans of both Frida and Ebba, and actually had a bit of a tear in my eye when Frida crossed the line. That simply has nothing to do with what I think of the rest of it. Fact is, if Diggins had been claiming a foot injury for as long as Frida has, and had raced only 7 of 19 World Cups, then shown up with form like this, we all know there are certain forum members who would be having kittens about it, that's all.
We have different opinions, which is ok, and again, I was happy for her.
- Feb 21, 2019
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- Feb 20, 2010
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Sweden have quite the history of withdrawing people and big performances at championships, though. Diggins' tendency to always race everything means that it would seem weirder for her just for that reason. As mentioned before, Jessie has a really high base level and historically has benefited from being able to maintain form through constant racing, however she's approaching 35 and has raced more than pretty much anybody else this season, including her various sprint heats/SF/finals and the Tour de Ski.
It's no disgrace if she just can't replicate it endlessly any more.
If Karlsson runs away from everyone in the 50, that's fine. It's no different to what Johaug used to do in the 30. And besides...it's Frida Karlsson. She could always injure herself doing something stupid or crash out taking half the field with her antics.
Perhaps most upsettingly, there was clear daylight and several places between Kaidy and Keidy Kaasiku. Conjoined no longer...
- May 5, 2009
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For some, I follow Frida on Instagram, and you could see that she was training at altitude for weeks while others were at the World Cup races. Ever since Tour de Ski I knew she was going to smoke the Olympics, exact same thing happened last year, but she did seem to be peaking better this time around. I don't gamble, but I told all my friends to bet on her @ 6!
About the race, on paper it looked like the battle between Frida and Ebba on one side and Diggins and Sundling on other. Former put it to the metal on lap 2 and deservedly got their gold and silver. Slind is in great shape in classic, but unsurprisingly is still not a match for Swedes in skating.
Kaelin once again with massive result in big Champs, I wouldn't be surprised if Switzerland can challenge for bronze in the relay.
About the race, on paper it looked like the battle between Frida and Ebba on one side and Diggins and Sundling on other. Former put it to the metal on lap 2 and deservedly got their gold and silver. Slind is in great shape in classic, but unsurprisingly is still not a match for Swedes in skating.
Kaelin once again with massive result in big Champs, I wouldn't be surprised if Switzerland can challenge for bronze in the relay.
That definitely seemed to prove true again today in the 1st Olympic event. Snow looked like mashed potatoes.
- Aug 29, 2009
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if the conditions are the same tomorrow, it normally shouldn't be a walk in the park for Klaebo. At least if his team mates decide to give him a hard time
It seems kinda fitting (and not unusual) that the two European regions dominate (at least today) in their namesake events: Nordic countries in the Nordic race and alpine nations in the alpine race.
- Aug 31, 2019
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Germany and US looks pretty bad compared to some previous seasons, but I think Finland should be a pretty clear favorite for the bronze.
- May 29, 2011
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If Niskanen is in good shape, he will surely want to keep the pace high on the classic legs. Who else: Amundsen, Nyenget, vermeulen, perhaps even poromaa? Kläbo will be there but maybe not the one pushing the most.
Klaebo should thank his lucky stars it's only 20k and the Russians aren't in vdf.
Zero chance he wins Gold on this course on these conditions under the old order.
- Jul 8, 2017
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Now this is gonna be interesting.
Desloges should be DSQ if they use the same rules as IBU and that would put Korostelev on thirrd.
Desloges should be DSQ if they use the same rules as IBU and that would put Korostelev on thirrd.
- Apr 10, 2019
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Will Fis or the Ioc make the call?
Nearly all the good skaters were dropped in the classic part or out of shape, hinestly the weakest Skiathlon top 5 I can remember (on a selective course). Half of the Norwegians blew themself up by setting the pace.
- May 5, 2009
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You can't say Norwegians raced for Klaebo this time. He's just unstoppable for them. The only guy that could drop him was not here, but that's some other issue. Klaebo is the GOAT of XC skiing.
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