Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[Vino attacks everyone]

Legkov!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Cance > TheRest]

I guess the same kind of scepticism, that some people showed towards the norwegian women, could apply to the russian men aswell lol. Exciting though.

 

[Bavarianrider]

1,2,3 Russia that's a way to finish the games.

So team sprint an sprint produced way bigger gaps as the 50km

 

[jens_attacks]

for this thing i waited for all the olympics

boring 49 kms but the last km i loved it

legkov beast _O_ 1-2-3 great

 

[python]

i named all 3 but would not guess the order they finished

i had a smile when sundby tried to pass vyleg on different occasions but hit on his nose by a 'closed door'. this was a payback - or a lesson from the skiathlon - no doubt.

cologna broke a ski was a bummer, but i do not see him counting in the finish we saw...

this 1-2-3 after an equal tactical snoozfest was day and night compared to the 1-2-3 of the norge women dropping EVERYONE before 1/2 the distance. not seeing the difference is ....

 

[Bavarianrider]

I can only hope that in September the decision will finally be made that the 50km will be an individual start from 2016 onwards again.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

I can only hope that in September the decision will finally be made that the 50km will be an individual start from 2016 onwards again.

yup, or atleast not mass starts every ****ings time

 

[MrRoboto]

Legkov deserved that at least.

 

[kingjr]

In the mass start you can at least see something of the tracks, it's so dull to just have a camera at the split times and see athletes coming through. And I rather have todays last 2k than what i said above, especially when someone is winning right from the first timecheck...

 

[Bavarianrider]

In the mass start you can at least see something of the tracks, it's so dull to just have a camera at the split times and see athletes coming through. And I rather have todays last 2k than what i said above, especially when someone is winning right from the first timecheck...

Actually it's exciting if you love Xc skiing.

 

[kingjr]

Actually it's exciting if you love Xc skiing.

What the f*ck that makes no sense at all.

 

[roundabout]

Not really. XC is an endurance sport, not conserve energy for 48km then sprint up the last hill ****.

 

[kingjr]

Not really. XC is an endurance sport, not conserve energy for 48km then sprint up the last hill ****.

I saw exactly 4 out of more than 60 athletes who had any noteworthy energy left on the last hill.

 

[roundabout]

Yes and it's disturbing that the race format allows skiers like Vylegzhanin to compete with skiers like Legkov

 

[Bavarianrider]

If you like long borefests that and in a sprint, well actually there is a racing series for that. It's called marathon cup. Everybody can go there and watch it. But World Cup/Olympic cross country skking should be real cross country skiing as it was meant to be.

 

[python]

no offense to anyone, but i really find the arguments 'the-sport-should-be-this-or-that' pointless. sure, a long itt is a better individual measure of endurance...sure, mass starts are boring. but are they really more boring than watching 200 cycling men chatting, chewing and stretching for 5 hours

i also have my preferences. i'd rather see 80% of races being a classic style. i'd also change skating sprints so that fewer falls decide placings...i'd introduce more and longer sustained climbs. whatever.

but i will also enjoy the sport -THE WAY IT IS. because it wastes my energy to worry over things outside my control.

 

[kingjr]

If you like long borefests that and in a sprint, well actually there is a racing series for that. It's called marathon cup. Everybody can go there and watch it. But World Cup/Olympic cross country skking should be real cross country skiing as it was meant to be.

I love to watch the actual skiing, the beauty and aesthetics of the movement. individual starts where the winner is obvious if they would have a camera that would follow that guy around the whole track, but no, you keep seeing the same hilltops throughout the whole race.


And I have exactly zero interest in what XC skiing was "meant to be" decades ago.
Just look at cycling it's got virtually nothing to do with what it was meant to be 110 years ago, except that it's still about racing from A to B and seeing who comes in first.

Talking about cycling I enjoy watching mountain stages where nothing happens until the last mountain to be a lot more interesting than any ITT.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The problem is we seem to be comparing the XC ski 50km to two of the least visually appealing cycling stages. In an ITT, you only see set parts of the course until the very end when the favourites are going, and in a bunch sprint, you see all of the course but no action.

The problem seemingly is that the last climb is too intimidating to most to start attacking early like we saw in Val di Fiemme or Holmenkollen last year, so really it becomes one of those cycling stages with a whole bunch of potentially interesting terrain that gets totally ignored because the final 3km are really steep, like the Vuelta to Cuitu Negru or something. We seemed to be heading in the right direction in respect of the 50km being raced better, but we've come back to exactly what people dislike about it always being mass start: a 48km group ride followed by 2km of entertainment, and the gaps being, as noted, smaller than in my least favourite format, the team sprint.

I do think they should make it Individual start once in a while, keep things a bit more varied.

 

[kingjr]

I do think they should make it Individual start once in a while, keep things a bit more varied.

I agree with that 100 %

 

[Walkman]

no offense to anyone, but i really find the arguments 'the-sport-should-be-this-or-that' pointless. sure, a long itt is a better individual measure of endurance...sure, mass starts are boring. but are they really more boring than watching 200 cycling men chatting, chewing and stretching for 5 hours

i also have my preferences. i'd rather see 80% of races being a classic style. i'd also change skating sprints so that fewer falls decide placings...i'd introduce more and longer sustained climbs. whatever.

but i will also enjoy the sport -THE WAY IT IS. because it wastes my energy to worry over things outside my control.

Well, flat stages aren't really favorites around here and I think most fan that way. Sprints are interesting, but that's such a small part of a flat stage.

Furthermore is XC-skiing not cycling and should not be compared in my humble opinion.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

I would turn the 50km into a hardcore fan event, always classic style with individual start. Only the strongest rider will win every time.

edit: skier, lol

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

boring 49 kms but the last km i loved it

So what? That´s the same as in cyclings flat stages...

 

[maltiv]

Today's race would've been much better if the snow conditions were worse. However, today the snow was extremely fast, which resulted in an average speed of almost 30 kph. Thus the advantages of drafting are significantly increased, which reduces the incentive for attacking.

To prevent this development in the future, they should make the courses even tougher. At the moment there's a limit of how many altitude meters they can have on the course (I think it's 1500 meters), but when even the courses at the limit result in a bunch sprint, the limit has to be increased.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Today's race would've been much better if the snow conditions were worse. However, today the snow was extremely fast, which resulted in an average speed of almost 30 kph. Thus the advantages of drafting are significantly increased, which reduces the incentive for attacking.

To prevent this development in the future, they should make the courses even tougher. At the moment there's a limit of how many altitude meters they can have on the course (I think it's 1500 meters), but when even the courses at the limit result in a bunch sprint, the limit has to be increased.

It would help if they simply would stop using salt. If they hadn't used salt today we would have seen a lot harder conditions.

 

[roundabout]

It was 1790 meters of total climbimg according to official data