Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[Cance > TheRest]

Maaan. Fourcade is quite simply the king of biathlon.

You got that wrong... Nobody but Bjørndalen will ever have that title!

Can't stand Fourcade's arrogance. Good that Svendsen was faster on the skis today

 

[maltiv]

Maaan. Fourcade is quite simply the king of biathlon.

Indeed. I can't remember ever seeing such a large winning margin in biathlon before. He's taking domination to a whole new level, in a sport with quite tough competition.

 

[maltiv]

You got that wrong... Nobody but Bjørndalen will ever have that title!

Can't stand Fourcade's arrogance. Good that Svendsen was faster on the skis today

Fourcade has better palmares than what Bjørndalen had at the same age, so he could easily pass him if he keeps it up.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Fourcade has better palmares than what Bjørndalen had at the same age, so he could easily pass him if he keeps it up.

It' just a matter of Svendsen being back to his best. Then Fourcade won't be able to do that. Also, I highly doubt that Fourcade will be able to compete with the best at age 40. Bjørndalen had 4th best skiing time today. Will Fourcade be able to do that? hardly
Winning by a massive margin on a 20k individual isnt that special if only you're a fast skier and shoots 20/20.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Depends on if Fourcade is motivated to beat Bjørndalen's records. They are a long way off right now. Neuner could have smashed Forsberg's records if she kept racing, but she didn't want to.

I agree with those that can't stand him, though. He doesn't even look like he's trying, and feels like he's mocking the competition with his various signals to the crowd even a lap from the finish. At least with Neuner her poor standing shoot always meant that there was some tension in the race until she left the range for the final time. With Fourcade, there just isn't. It's boring, like Vettel or Froome.

 

[maltiv]

Depends on if Fourcade is motivated to beat Bjørndalen's records. They are a long way off right now. Neuner could have smashed Forsberg's records if she kept racing, but she didn't want to.

I agree with those that can't stand him, though. He doesn't even look like he's trying, and feels like he's mocking the competition with his various signals to the crowd even a lap from the finish. At least with Neuner her poor standing shoot always meant that there was some tension in the race until she left the range for the final time. With Fourcade, there just isn't. It's boring, like Vettel or Froome.

It won't be boring for long. Next worldcup event, the king of skating technique, Lars Berger, will be back. His form is absolutely incredible, he put almost 30 seconds on Svendsen in the final lap on Sjusjøen. That was simply brutal.

So as long as Berger doesn't miss too much (which he always does), he'll crush Fourcade

 

[Libertine Seguros]

It won't be boring for long. Next worldcup event, the king of skating technique, Lars Berger, will be back. His form is absolutely incredible, he put almost 30 seconds on Svendsen in the final lap on Sjusjøen. That was simply brutal.

So as long as Berger doesn't miss too much (which he always does), he'll crush Fourcade

Unfortunately as I am a big fan of his, Lars' time has sadly passed. Considering he's had to use his own savings to fund his training and racing ahead of this season, he's had to force his way into the team considering they jettisoned a lot of older athletes in favour of younger stars at the end of last season; to be honest that he's forced them to pick him with his performances at Sjusjøen is victory enough - nowadays the days when he's on it enough to compete at the World Cup level considering his shooting level are few and far between. Martin Fourcade shot at 89% last season, it's hard to envision a situation where Lars beats him. Sadly for Lars, he came along at the wrong time, otherwise his skiing was good enough for a better palmarès than he has. Look at Uschi Disl, for example.

 

[maltiv]

Unfortunately as I am a big fan of his, Lars' time has sadly passed. Considering he's had to use his own savings to fund his training and racing ahead of this season, he's had to force his way into the team considering they jettisoned a lot of older athletes in favour of younger stars at the end of last season; to be honest that he's forced them to pick him with his performances at Sjusjøen is victory enough - nowadays the days when he's on it enough to compete at the World Cup level considering his shooting level are few and far between. Martin Fourcade shot at 89% last season, it's hard to envision a situation where Lars beats him. Sadly for Lars, he came along at the wrong time, otherwise his skiing was good enough for a better palmarès than he has. Look at Uschi Disl, for example.

Might be true, but note that last year he had a lot of injuries. If the form he had on Sjusjøen was simply him peaking then ok, he's probably not going to be great, but I think it's reasonable to be optimistic. He's only 34 after all, that's like 23 in Horner-age

Nothing annoys me more than all the unfounded hatred Lars Berger always got from the Norwegian media and Norwegians in general, due to his horrible shooting. Here you have a guy who just randomly did the world championships in skiing, won, and even as a world champion he rather focused on biathlon (which he kind of sucked at) simply because he loves the sport. That alone deserves massive credit. Not to mention that he has the most aesthetically pleasing technique of all skiers overall.

I am biased though, for some reason I have always cheered for biathletes who are incredible in one discipline and horrible in the other, such as Berger and Gössner on one end of the spectrum and Brunet on the other.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I got the feeling that as the selectors had advised that only Svendsen, Tarjei Bø, Bjørndalen, Berger and Solemdal had locked selections and everybody else had to fight for their selections and would be picked based on performances at Sjusjøen, that athletes who were jettisoned from the squad at the end of last year (Berger, Os) had needed to hit the ground running to maximise the chances of getting into the team. That the 'A'-squad for the summer was designed around the aforementioned core plus mostly younger names probably stood against them and it's a testament to how hard Lars has worked over the summer that he's forced his way back in.

Totally agree with you on the cheering for those whose skills are lopsided in biathlon. Cheering for the likes of Gössner and Lars always creates tension because they can always throw it away, but have to be some way down before you can write them off too. They can do well, they can do badly, but they're always worth watching get there. The same goes for athletes who don't always match those criteria, but are so inconsistent you can never guess what performances you're going to get out of them.

 

[jsem94]

Not to mention that he has the most aesthetically pleasing technique of all skiers overall.

Domracheva V2 > all in terms of aesthetics.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Jesus.. Fourcade 32sec faster than Svendsen in ski time and 34sec faster than Bjørndalen. Something must have gone wrong for F Lindstroem as he was clearly faster than Fourcade at the time check atop the hill. A crash or something?

 

[maltiv]

Jesus.. Fourcade 32sec faster than Svendsen in ski time and 34sec faster than Bjørndalen. Something must have gone wrong for F Lindstroem as he was clearly faster than Fourcade at the time check atop the hill. A crash or something?

Yes. The "arrogant" Martin Fourcade started his interview by saying that Lindström should have won today, but he was unlucky and crashed. A real shame as it would've been nice for him to win in his home country.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Yes. The "arrogant" Martin Fourcade started his interview by saying that Lindström should have won today, but he was unlucky and crashed. A real shame as it would've been nice for him to win in his home country.

The arrogant fourcade also raised his arms as soon as he crossed the line, thinking that now he had won. Yet he knew that there were more skiers to follow... Thats bad spirit, also he blamed the wind for his terrible shooting at the mixed relay sunday, saying that he was unlucky with the win even though Boe and Moravec came in and did their shooting 1.30 later (in M Fourcades world 1.30 minutes means changed wind conditions obviously, or he is simply too proud of himself to acknowledge that he was beaten by a better athlete that day)

 

[maltiv]

The arrogant fourcade also raised his arms as soon as he crossed the line, thinking that now he had won. Yet he knew that there were more skiers to follow... Thats bad spirit, also he blamed the wind for his terrible shooting at the mixed relay sunday, saying that he was unlucky with the win even though Boe and Moravec came in and did their shooting 1.30 later (in M Fourcades world 1.30 minutes means changed wind conditions obviously, or he is simply too proud of himself to acknowledge that he was beaten by a better athlete that day)

So he shouldn't celebrate his victories? Often people who come in 5th or so are celebrating because they're happy about their performances. Unlike cycling, there's no tradition for only celebrating when winning.

Also, your point about the wind is wrong. Olav Lunde, the "shooting expert" for Norwegian TV, said before Martin Fourcade's shooting that there was a sudden burst of extremely strong wind. Before Moravec and Bø started shooting, however, he said that the wind had almost stopped.

Have you never experienced sudden bursts of wind yourself? In hindsight, however, Fourcade should obviously have waited it out. But he couldn't possibly know how long it would last.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

So he shouldn't celebrate his victories? Often people who come in 5th or so are celebrating because they're happy about their performances. Unlike cycling, there's no tradition for only celebrating when winning.

He went bib #37. There were over 60 people still to finish. Punching the air like you've won the whole thing while people are ahead of you is something you like to see come back and bite people. In the pursuit, relay or mass start, fine, or if there are no major contenders behind you or you know the starters behind you are well off your time and you've had to go deep to beat your targets, then yes, celebrate, but the only time I've seen that in a sprint and not thought ill of it was actually his brother, in Hochfilzen 2011, when in horrible conditions, heavy wind and slow snow he skied well and hit 10/10 when nobody could. Then the conditions totally changed and he was booted off the podium, and I felt sorry for him.

And the "arrogant" Fourcade pretty much had to acknowledge Lindström would have beaten him today, because it would have been way more obnoxious not to, since it was true.

And besides, Sebastian Vettel's fairly gracious a lot of the time, isn't the most dislikable of personalities, but it's mighty frustrating to watch him win all the time. Today we thought we were going to see Fourcade beaten... but unfortunately it wasn't to be. Tora Berger for all her domination last year never seemed unbeatable; there were always people who could beat her if they got it together, she just was far more reliable than any of those who could beat her; Fourcade on the other hand IS the fastest skier, and more often than not shoots better than those who can get near him anyway.

Still, he was 30" ahead of anybody for ski speed, which over just 10k and in the super-compressed men's field is a veritable ocean when you consider he averaged 89% for shooting last season. The women that hit that kind of relative time gap have shooting percentages in the 70s!

 

[Cance > TheRest]

So he shouldn't celebrate his victories? Often people who come in 5th or so are celebrating because they're happy about their performances. Unlike cycling, there's no tradition for only celebrating when winning.

Also, your point about the wind is wrong. Olav Lunde, the "shooting expert" for Norwegian TV, said before Martin Fourcade's shooting that there was a sudden burst of extremely strong wind. Before Moravec and Bø started shooting, however, he said that the wind had almost stopped.

Have you never experienced sudden bursts of wind yourself? In hindsight, however, Fourcade should obviously have waited it out. But he couldn't possibly know how long it would last.

Still he was cooked on the last to the circuit, perhaps implying that maybe it wasnt the wind, but too fast skiing that gave him the terrible shooting. Also when he deliberately chose to run only 2 penalty laps instead of 3, Fourcade once again just wouldn't face whever someone is better than him.
Fourcade is not very gracious in deafeat. He just looks annoyed whenever he doesnt win, the same with Raphael Poiree back in the times. Comparing him to other big stars, his reaction is totally different whenever he loses. He has a very flawed personality imo.

 

[ren_rm]

Too bad Lindström didn't win, it would feel just right after that Fourcade celebration.

 

[Bavarianrider]

The density in the mens's cross country skiing field is simply insane! 42!!!! guys within 1 minute today, that's simply brutal!!
Bauer winning is really cool. Didn't see that one coming to be honest.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Aye I thought Bauers career was pretty much over (atleast world cup career, long races is something he would be competitive in for another 20 years ofc )
So it was nice that he showed a glimpse of his old self today!

 

[plooton]

Aye I thought Bauers career was pretty much over (atleast world cup career, long races is something he would be competitive in for another 20 years ofc )
So it was nice that he showed a glimpse of his old self today!

I thought pretty much the same. And skating should even be his stronger part.

 

[maltiv]

Woah, I can't believe they just cancelled a race due to too much wind after 3 shootings and Domracheva had more or less already won the race! What a tragedy

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Doro Wierer, Franzi Preuß, Ekaterina Shumilova and Megan Heinicke hit 5/5 on that shoot too - Heinicke went from 56th to 6th in the race thus far!!! She'll be absolutely gutted by it, and I'm gutted for all four of them as well, because those were some very impressive shooting performances in those conditions.

It is quite a long way into the race though, you'd think there'd be some kind of contingency for late-race cancellations, like half-World Cup points or restarts for the standing laps only. IBU report jury now in discussions as to how to proceed.

Men's race at present unaffected.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Woah, I can't believe they just cancelled a race due to too much wind after 3 shootings and Domracheva had more or less already won the race! What a tragedy

Flatland had great chances of winning aswell. But it looked well for Domracheva. Always sad when they have to cancel a competition.

 

[Nastyy]

They were scared that trees might fall on the course, which happened a few weeks ago with similar winds. Also they thought the conditions were unfair, but it sounds kinda bs since it was the third shooting already.

Lot of hate here for Fourcade. I on the other hand love that guy. If you're the best it's okay to show it. It's hubris only if you fail and so far he hasn't. When he celebrates and then loses it will look stupid but as long as he keeps winning it's okay in my book. Hopefully he continues to dominate and makes a clean sweep again. The French team in overall is looking very good. Simon needs to pick up his skiing but Beatrix and Desthieux have really taken a step forward. Team to beat in the relays to come obviously. And yes he will become better than OEB but I don't think he'll be bothered to continue just for the sake of chasing OEB's records. I also think he'll have a pop at XC at some point.

In women Brunet is shooting great once again, but her skiing still isn't good enough to compete for wins. Mixed relay promised a bit better but the 15k and sprint showed she's still same old Marie-Laure. Dorin-Habert also showed that she's in great form but twisted her ankle warming up for the 15k that never happened and had to skip this weekend. Expecting a lot from her now.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Yea, but the longer he keeps winning, the more boring the races get. That's the problem. And as long as you keep winning while being an arrogant ****** about it, the more people are going to want you to fail so that you look stupid. I dislike predictable competition and despise egregious arrogance. And the problem is he's simply TOO good, I find it impossible to root for him or conceive of any situation in which I would root for him. He's won 7 of the last 10 races entered, from Oslo to here, several by huge margins (two sprints by 40 seconds, an Individual by 2 minutes). 2 of those races he didn't win he was 2nd, one of those by under a second, and the other one he was 3rd and would probably have been 2nd if he had wanted to pass his brother, who seems to be increasingly being seen as a charity case. With many best-in-the-world competitors there can at least be some kind of weakness that makes them human and makes it easier to root for them. Neuner had her history of standing shoot disasters that made it nerve-wracking to follow her cos she could always miss all 5 in the final shoot. With Fourcade, he shot 89% last year. You know that's not happening. If you're French or have some kind of personal link to Fourcade I can understand following him, but otherwise I cannot possibly fathom why people would root for him to win unless they simply despise Svendsen or Bjørndalen so much that they root for Fourcade just so that they (or their records) get eclipsed.

Brunet will be able to compete for a win at least once this season, but I think Individuals are her main area because of her shooting prowess. Dorin-Habert should be able to compete for the crystal globe, since 2 races can be dropped and the third Östersund race has been cancelled so as long as she's fit to start in Hochfilzen on Friday she'll not really have lost anything long-term. The word from a couple of years ago when it was first planned to enter the World Cup is that the Le-Grand-Bornand trails are not super hard and will not favour the super-fast skiers like Mäkäräinen, Domracheva or a healthy Gössner, but I don't know how the range will be (i.e. Ruhpolding has hard trails but an easy run-in to the range, favouring fast skiers, Antholz has fairly light trails but a really hard run-in to the range, favouring strong marks(wo)men).

Desthieux looks to have really improved and if I'm Simon Fourcade I'm worrying about my relay spot at the Olympics. The French typically don't experiment with their relay selections (only illness or injury has caused changes to their quartets for the last two years, even when other teams have experimented), but Desthieux getting the nod for the Mixed Relay was good for him and he auditioned well for the relay at other times. They could move Bœuf to 1st with his strong shooting, then have Desthieux and the very quick Jeangui Beatrix in the middle legs and they will almost guarantee to be at least close enough to have a shot at victory when they tag Martin in.