Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[roundabout]

uh, the finalists will do 6km in the sprint alone on Sunday

 

[ToreBear]

Hmm disappointing. Personally I would hope they can get the organizers in Lenzerheide to change the freestyle sprint to a classic one. They have a classic mass start the next day, so they should be able to set it up. Of course it depends on a potential course. I prefer classic sprints to double polling contests, and if the mens course isn't hard enough, it will be just that. But that seems to be quite difficult to achieve. Especially on short notice.

I hope Pierre Mignerey can work some magic, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I imagine it would be problematic for the organizers to change things on short notice.

I'm going to miss the classical pursuit, but as I remember it from previous years it was kind of boring, and usually some of the favorites would get in trouble because of waxing or something. Also the time differences were still too small to get real excited about the pursuit, It just seemed more like another mass start event.

A pursuit instead of the second sprint might be interesting, but they have the classical mass start the day after, so it might be to much or something. I hope Lenzerheide and FIS can be creative. Two freestyle sprints seems kind of superfluous, and is not good for those who are classic specialists, like Diesel Doris.

At least Fis has changed the bonus seconds. That means you will have to win both sprints, to get the 60 bonus seconds previously alloted to the one scheduled sprint.

Also the energy used for the sprints, especially the second one might mean trouble for those who get to the finals, since there is no rest day after sprint 2.

Another thing, I think very few of the pure sprinters will even start TDS this year due to the Olympics, so the distance people should have a better chance at earning bonus seconds.

I'm looking forward to when the start lists are published to check whether my assumption is correct.


Anyway, Merry Christmas, everyone, and heres a cute little Christmas video with some of the skiers.

http://www.tv2.no/play/sport/se-julehilsen-fra-alle-de-store-langrennsstjernene-781408.html

 

[maltiv]

uh, the finalists will do 6km in the sprint alone on Sunday

But the eventual overall winners most likely won't make it through the prologue (Legkov and Johaug)...

 

[jsem94]

Fantastic performance by the Canadian duo. Great to see them back on form.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Definitely helped by the start numbers, felt like conditions were getting slower as time went by. It was pretty typical Oberhof though - no visibility at all!

 

[Bavarianrider]

Later numbers had no chance for a top spot.
It must be relly depressing to live in Oberhof i guess. Seems like there's that kind of ****y weather 9 out of 10 times.

 

[python]

congrats to canada. it must have been something in the skis. i am sure both will give lengthy explanations to fasterskier.com shortly.

northug is still off form...when i saw him starting with this great zeal i thought he will place in top 3 at least. legkov finished where i expected him to. that he lost to his training pal chernousov is a slight surprise. a bit disappointed with magnificat and sundby considering their early season form. though both dont really excel in shorter races.

women...justyna pulling out is no surprise. with only 2 classic events out of 7 she's truly disadvantaged.

 

[jsem94]

Swedish TV seemed unaware that she had pulled out, and they barely talked about her exit. Trying to downplay her boycott I think.

 

[frenchfry]

Fantastic performance by the Canadian duo. Great to see them back on form.

Did Harvey really change a broken ski in the middle of the race? That's what CBC is reporting.

 

[python]

sharing this mix of news and impressions i just read through after yesterdays prologue

- it appears that the canadian success yesterday was due to several things, but mostly due to perfect pacing according to Harvey.
- northug said he is not certain to compete in all remaining tds races, likely will drop out before the last mountain tt where he never shined anyway
-sundby said 'justyna has a set of balls'
-turns out there was plenty of stored snow in oberhof but it was intended for ibu biatlons, not the fisa tds.
-the perpetual war between the swedes and norges is now over according to northug and this clip he sang in I actually liked it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Quz_Yab062U

At ff:

edit, the eurosport commentator just said that harvey indeed broke his ski. but i find it hard to believe...neither, allex himself said anything about it in his extensive comments to fasterskier.com. There were at least 2 poles replaced - none by the canadians, one by a belarus and another by a norwegian.

 

[jsem94]

I laughed at that video. Horrendous song. The war will never end though. It's a persistent rivalry.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Wow, when was the last time Therese Johaug qualified for the semi-finals of a sprint competition? OK, OK, she got a lot of luck with Jean and Čebašek crashing into one another, but still.

 

[roundabout]

2013

http://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/results.html?sector=CC&competitorid=121309&raceid=20678

 

[roundabout]

BR should be pleased with his kindergarten mate. Not the greatest field, but he was very impressive on the last straight

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Feels a bit like ski cross at the moment though - get through the first corner in the lead, win.

 

[python]

therese qualed by pure luck, nothing more or less, but i don't recall legkov winning a heat in sprints, that's for sure in my years of following skiing

northug though was also less than convincing in his heat but i bet he'll be at finals.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

therese qualed by pure luck, nothing more or less, but i don't recall legkov winning a heat in sprints, that's for sure in my years of following skiing

northug though was also less than convincing in his heat but i bet he'll be at finals.

yea, Legkov winning his heat was also a sign that we are in bizarro world today. I keep championing him as a proper skier, so I will be mighty disappointed if he starts becoming good at these.

 

[jsem94]

Wenzl was so impressive in that heat too. He had such good skis compared to the others. No effort. Oberhof and its bizarre conditions...

 

[python]

yea, Legkov winning his heat was also a sign that we are in bizarro world today. I keep championing him as a proper skier, so I will be mighty disappointed if he starts becoming good at these.

that plus he was......4th fastest in the morning 1500 meter quals ! this is sure not the fastest field in the world but still

from fis records this morning:

1 16 3100110 HARVEY Alex 1988 CAN 2:49.76
2 3 3500529 ERIKSSON Jens 1987 SWE 2:52.10
3 18 3150070 RAZYM Ales 1986 CZE 2:52.15 16.89
4 5 3480016 LEGKOV Alexander 1983 RUS 2:52.17

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Herrmann very impressive there. I know this is as far from Johaug's speciality as we can get, but seeing the two Germans disappear off the front was quite something there.

 

[jsem94]

The skis on the Germans today. Incredible.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Damn if they have these rocket skies in the final again, everything is possible

 

[Bavarianrider]

Damn, the heavy snow took away Wenzl's ski advantage of the earlier rounds

 

[jsem94]

Well, that was a surprise winner. Really glad for Hanna.

And Calle was superb today. Deserved that win. The sprint elite isn't here though, but a meaningful victory.

 

[python]

The war will never end though. It's a persistent rivalry.

well, well, well

the swedes won at least 2 battles just seconds ago

i cant say i am unhappy, but winning the war

i dont know.