Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[python]

many in norway called today the black friday. jespersen's 6th is termed by the nrk 'saving the national honour'

since when being 6th in the olympics was considered honourable in norway

3 of the 4 who will take part in sunday's relay for norway, according to nrk, favoured the swedes.

sundby did not mince his words - 'we sucked today,..'. roenning cant explain what happened and also put the swedes as frontrunners for the relay.

jespersen said that now all hopes are on northug finding his form.

i find it strange when a national coach (if i understood the nrk article right ) tells the nation and the fans that not the coaching staff, but an athlete who failed olympic selection and who so far was nothing but a failure, will decide if he runs the relay.

it is like everyone is mesmerized or hypnotized as opposed to being rational

 

[Kokoso]

I'm ecstatic for Dasha. Two Olympic gold medals, that is brilliant.

Dasha? Man... Dasha who? Sasha?

 

[Tyler'sTwin]

Skardino's 2014 shooting percentage is an incredible 99%! Now that's a deserving medalist in the event supposed to favour great shooters.

Darya is a beast in the 15k

2013 Sochi Women's Individual, Course Times

1 Darya Domracheva 40:07.7
2 Miriam Gössner +1:37.1
3 Selina Gasparin +1:41.0
4 Anastasiya Kuzmina +1:52.3
5 Kaisa Mäkäräinen +1:52.6

2013 Östersund Women's Individual, Course Times

1 Darya Domracheva 40:38.5
2 Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle +59.7
3 Monika Hojnisz +1:07.9
4 Gabriela Soukalova +1:22.5
5 Tora Berger +1:27.4

2014 Ruhpolding Women's Individual, Course Times

1 Darya Domracheva 35:23.2
2 Anastasiya Kuzmina +37.2
3 Gabriela Soukalova +42.7
4 Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle +50.2
5 Kaisa Mäkäräinen +1:02.9

2014 Sochi Women's Individual, Course Times

1 Darya Domracheva 38:34.9
2 Kaisa Mäkäräinen +33.8
3 Gabriela Soukalova +43.0
4 Anais Bescond +1:16.2
5 Susan Dunklee +1:27.7

She's in a class of her own here, but not over shorter distances. It would be interesting to see her take on the XC 30k.

 

[Tyler'sTwin]

Terrible skis
http://www.nrk.no/sport/_-vi-har-altfor-darlige-ski-1.11545292

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Skardino's 2014 shooting percentage is an incredible 99%! Now that's a deserving medalist in the event supposed to favour great shooters.

Darya is a beast in the 15k

2013 Sochi Women's Individual, Course Times

1 Darya Domracheva 40:07.7
2 Miriam Gössner +1:37.1
3 Selina Gasparin +1:41.0
4 Anastasiya Kuzmina +1:52.3
5 Kaisa Mäkäräinen +1:52.6

2013 Östersund Women's Individual, Course Times

1 Darya Domracheva 40:38.5
2 Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle +59.7
3 Monika Hojnisz +1:07.9
4 Gabriela Soukalova +1:22.5
5 Tora Berger +1:27.4

2014 Ruhpolding Women's Individual, Course Times

1 Darya Domracheva 35:23.2
2 Anastasiya Kuzmina +37.2
3 Gabriela Soukalova +42.7
4 Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle +50.2
5 Kaisa Mäkäräinen +1:02.9

2014 Sochi Women's Individual, Course Times

1 Darya Domracheva 38:34.9
2 Kaisa Mäkäräinen +33.8
3 Gabriela Soukalova +43.0
4 Anais Bescond +1:16.2
5 Susan Dunklee +1:27.7

She's in a class of her own here, but not over shorter distances. It would be interesting to see her take on the XC 30k.

Yes.. Only Mäkarainen and Soukalova could've won today, had they shot clean. That pretty must says it all. Must say that I'm impressed with their performances though. Bad luck determined their fate at the shooting range. Cannot claim to be surprised by the performances of the norwegians after what they have shown earlier in Sochi. Something's totally wrong.

 

[Kokoso]

Yes.. Only Mäkarainen and Soukalova could've won today, had they shot clean. That pretty must says it all. Must say that I'm impressed with their performances though. Bad luck determined their fate at the shooting range. Cannot claim to be surprised by the performances of the norwegians after what they have shown earlier in Sochi. Something's totally wrong.

Darya upped her skiing another level at Olympics. She never run better, had she?

 

[maltiv]

Darya upped her skiing another level at Olympics. She never run better, had she?

You can see by the statistics posted above that this is the same level she's been on for 15k for a while. Moreover, her speed in the sprint wasn't particularly impressive.

So she hasn't really upped her level imo, but her previous main rival (Tora Berger) has been completely ****ty.

 

[kingjr]

Darya upped her skiing another level at Olympics. She never run better, had she?

A german Co-commentator predictted her to be going very fast already a couple of days ago, cause apparently she has very good skis for wet snow conditions.
And she ran like that last year in Sochi too, when she also won the 15k. In fact she ran even better than today.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Darya upped her skiing another level at Olympics. She never run better, had she?

Last year in the Individual at Sochi she was a much bigger distance ahead of the field. And if you look in the Clinic, you'll see that in fact the big improver of ski speed among the top contenders in Sochi has not been Domracheva (who has been about her usual World Cup level) but in fact Soukalová, who has been about 2% faster than usual. So actually, the statistics don't back you up at all, I'm afraid.

Before we get into Clinic territory, however, it is worth noting that Soukalová's course times were faster than usual in Sochi last year too.

For reference, in comparison to last year's individual in Sochi, Kuzmina was 1'15 closer to Domracheva than she was in 2013, and Soukalová was 1'43 closer to Domracheva than she was in 2013. So Darya's not overachieving by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[Kokoso]

Last year in the Individual at Sochi she was a much bigger distance ahead of the field. And if you look in the Clinic, you'll see that in fact the big improver of ski speed among the top contenders in Sochi has not been Domracheva (who has been about her usual World Cup level) but in fact Soukalová, who has been about 2% faster than usual. So actually, the statistics don't back you up at all, I'm afraid.

Before we get into Clinic territory, however, it is worth noting that Soukalová's course times were faster than usual in Sochi last year too.

For reference, in comparison to last year's individual in Sochi, Kuzmina was 1'15 closer to Domracheva than she was in 2013, and Soukalová was 1'43 closer to Domracheva than she was in 2013. So Darya's not overachieving by any stretch of the imagination.

What, clinic territory? Maybe you don't react at me? What are you talking (or rather jabbering)? I just thought that Domracheva is faster than ever and she's not, ok. Nobody said that somebody is overachieving. And if I thought somebody is doping, I'd post that into Clinic.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

What, clinic territory? Maybe you don't react at me? What are you talking (or rather jabbering)? I just thought that Domracheva is faster than ever and she's not, ok. Nobody said that somebody is overachieving. And if I thought somebody is doping, I'd post that into Clinic.

No, you misunderstand me. Because the statistics I used have already been posted in the Clinic, which disproved your assertion, I wanted to be clear that by saying "actually Soukalová is the one that's improved" I wasn't trying to pick a fight with you since I know you're a fan. I was mentioning the Clinic because that was my source for those numbers, and as they're already there for discussion, if any Clinic-type discussion of those figures wants to take place it can be done in the appropriate place, and the second paragraph was putting in a clear mitigating factor to say that I wasn't making any implicit accusation at Soukalová either, but I mentioned "before we get onto Clinic territory" because there's always that risk inherent in discussions such as these.

Just as you say you would have posted in the Clinic if you wanted to accuse anyone, I'd have not posted mitigating factors to steer conversation away from those conclusions if I wanted to make implicit accusations.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Only 14 relays, a bit sad, mo.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

If Norway were to not win this race then there would be some serious inquests going on and heads would roll. And it's not the best of starts; Weng has been very quiet but her skis do not look good again.

Randall losing time and Kyllönen too - Randall was slipping all over the place on the first incline, so I don't think her ski prep has been optimal either.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Omg Norwegian waxers are in trouble i fear

 

[Bavarianrider]

What the hell is going on, We are going for gold

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Saarinen, Wiken and Böhler all finished leg 2 and collapsed onto the snow from their exertion. Johaug handed over to Jacobsen, took her skis off and stormed off. Seems like she wasn't as tired as the others but she just couldn't get the power down, something is very, very wrong in Norge.

 

[maltiv]

The Norwegians seems to have glue under their skis again...

 

[Libertine Seguros]

A lot of work needed for Kalla now, the Bjørgen group a lot closer after Haag being unable to keep in contact with Niskanen and Nystad. I'd normally back Lahteenmäki to hold off Herrmann here, the question is can Kalla or Bjørgen put any pressure on the front two? And if Herrmann can make it back, could you bet against her in the sprint? Would be hard.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Kalla has caught 7" in the first 3rd of the leg, Bjørgen 6", but Kalla is in a much better position to catch the front duo at this rate. This is so much a better race than you would have thought on paper. Most times of the year it'd be a race for 2nd, but here the win is still open between 4 teams halfway through the final leg - when was the last time we said that about a women's XC relay?

Yea, Kalla is storming this. This is going to be a real spectacular finish for the medals.

 

[roundabout]

I am not that sure that Kalla can get back, but we will see.

 

[maltiv]

A picture from after Johaug's stage shows that she has huge clumps of snow under her skis...

 

[MrRoboto]

Well..At least we get some excitement this year.

But pretty silly that Norway can't even podium.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Damn, this is exciting.
Kalla FTW.

 

[roundabout]

I was wrong

Doubly wrong

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Man, fantastic race.