Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[python]

it is almost a safe bet to say now, though kalla is less that 1/2 way through, she will get...another medal for sweden today, hopefully gold !!

why ? all the norge girls at the 1 st check of of 1.5km were many seconds slower, with johaug the closest at 8 seconds. and it was almost a non-stop uphill. perhaps the terrible weather is playing some tricks on skis...

edit: kalla just destroyed a 6.3km by almost 40 sec. yes, i now think she should win though none of the top norges yet passed here...

 

[python]

none of the norge girls yet finished but the are DESTROYED/HUMILIATED with almost 2 min loss at 7.5 km

hard not recall a convo from the clinic by a norwegian fan - to be successful the swedish girls are too fat

 

[Bavarianrider]

Epic Norwegian fail

 

[Cance > TheRest]

none of the norge girls yet finished but the are DESTROYED/HUMILIATED with almost 2 min loss at 7.5 km

hard not recall a convo from the clinic by a norwegian fan - to be successful the swedish girls are too fat

Kalla is a little fat though
Waxing not good enough. "Ny smoerrebom: Vaerre enn Sotsji"

 

[Tyler'sTwin]

Makarainen with an early start would have been interesting.

 

[roundabout]

Gregg's medal reminded me of this guy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leanid_Karneyenka

 

[Lupetto]

Epic Norwegian fail

Your german team failed even more. Fessel was beaten by a spanish runner.

Who will win tomorrow? If Norway learned from today, my money is on FHK.

 

[dukoff]

none of the norge girls yet finished but the are DESTROYED/HUMILIATED with almost 2 min loss at 7.5 km

hard not recall a convo from the clinic by a norwegian fan - to be successful the swedish girls are too fat

Kalla could easily loose a couple of kg, and should, if she wants to win more than the lucky odd race. It's increadible this isn't addressed.

Sprint girls speak for themselves

http://i.imgur.com/k8ZDl2c.jpg

No surprises.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Your german team failed even more. Fessel was beaten by a spanish runner.

Who will win tomorrow? If Norway learned from today, my money is on FHK.

well, Germany and Spain is a historically epic combinaton in xc skiing anyway

 

[python]

right now, the falun weather does not look as treacherous as yesterday: 4 C, overcast, no snow, slight wind. should be no huge challenge to waxers, thus a fairer competition than yesterday. the locals say every one uses this site:

http://www.yr.no/place/Sweden/Dalarna/Falun/hour_by_hour_detailed.html

about the competition...of course, no one knows but judging by his strength in the 30k and the starting bib ( after all competitors), i slate cologna for gold. dont believe northug will be in medals...

legkov could be in medals, but frankly, his compatriot belov looked great in the skiathlon. hellner must produce today - he will be deported to norway if he does not dont see harvey in the starting list, must be resting for the 50k..

btw, here's a nice interview with him, though most questions were downright stupid
http://fasterskier.com/article/after-the-medals-with-alex-harvey-exclusive-interview-in-falun/

 

[python]

a very interesting start - the check at 1.5 km...

ustiugov is leading with ALL norges passed, the closest was roethe. thus i do not think there is the team wide ski prep problem...even cologna was slower

olsson is leading other checks and looks very good. northug started as bet out of hell but was 7 sec behind. the st check included the murderbakken...

krogh does not look like he will win today, way behind olsson...

 

[jens_attacks]

Infernal pace by olsson wow

 

[meat puppet]

manificat vs olsson or so it seems.

 

[python]

gloerssen looks like picking up olsson. he looks like the only podiumer today from norway. at 11.4 km at least...

gloerssen finished 18 sec behind olsson. looks like 2 swedes on the podium, perhaps hellner too...

 

[jens_attacks]

Olsson was chased by the devil in the last kms

 

[jens_attacks]

Manificat...il est mort le petit


On the other hand, hellner improves

 

[jens_attacks]

Well done olsson!

 

[python]

'we all are french today'

 

[Bavarianrider]

Nice Norwegian fail again
But what happened to Cologna?

 

[python]

Nice Norwegian fail again

no gold must hurt them, but hardly a fail when 4 are in top 10. northug sensed his inferiority and stopped racing after 5 km. but the ' fail' must have other implications - they must now worry about the team relay. if the swedes get 30 seconds in the classic legs, i do not see a pair of norge skaters matching olsson-hellner. the murderbakken allows dropping northug as a sack of potatos..

But what happened to Cologna?

good question

 

[Lupetto]

So...who will win tomorrow?

Bleckur - Kalla - Rydqvist - Nilsson
Weng - Johaug - Jacobsen - Bjoergen

 

[search]

the Swedes said they wanted to shock the Norwegians by putting Kalla on the 2nd position. Will be interesting to see how it will unfold

 

[ToreBear]

So...who will win tomorrow?

Bleckur - Kalla - Rydqvist - Nilsson
Weng - Johaug - Jacobsen - Bjoergen

Bleckur 5 - Kalla 1 - Rydqvist 4 - Nilsson 2
Weng 22 - Johaug 27 - Jacobsen 33 - Bjoergen 31


Well its obvious who the favorites should be when you look at the results from their last race.
Usually I would say Norway. But in Norwegian we have a saying that Relay is Relay.
Meaning everything can happen.

the Swedes said they wanted to shock the Norwegians by putting Kalla on the 2nd position. Will be interesting to see how it will unfold

It likely means they want to try and have a chance to go for gold. It's sensible, since I think the Swedes are so much better than the other competition, so they can afford to experiment and still win silver.

The goal is for Bleckur to keep up with Weng, which might be difficult. Then Kalla will have to catch up with Johaug/ or stay with Johaug. That means Norway and Sweden start the third leg together. From there it's about hoping the Swedes can hang on and Nilsson beats Marit in the sprint.

The plan needs the Swedes to have a good day/good skis and the Norwegians the opposite.

It should be very exciting.

 

[Kokoso]

The goal is for Bleckur to keep up with Weng, which might be difficult.

Bleckur will have no problem to keep up with Weng, more likely the other way round. If Bleckur has advantage, Kalla can make it bigger and Norges are f**ed.

 

[python]

Bleckur will have no problem to keep up with Weng, more likely the other way round. If Bleckur has advantage, Kalla can make it bigger and Norges are f**ed.

personally, i am a little shocked by the swedish team stage selections...hope the coaches KNOW something we don't.

i guess, a lot will depend (again !) on how well the waxmen will prep skis to the weather. for forecast is very similar to yesterday, still above 0 C, but 1-2 degrees colder. if i was to speculate, i'd venture to say that harder tracks don't necessarily favour swedish girls, especially in the skating stages.

hope it is sweden that wins.