• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

Page 64 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Bavarianrider said:
Oh dear, the level of competition among the women in biathlon is shockingly bad.:eek:

Losing 2:45 to Domracheva in the slope is still good enogh for the 10th best course time.:eek:
25 spot is already 4 minutes back!:confused:

The competition is quite decent, but there are those two outliers :)
 
Sep 25, 2009
7,527
1
0
Visit site
the lillehammer skating sprints are about to start..

the lists of starters are 120 for man and 98 for women...this is waaaaay too many. the current weather is real crap (32 C, 99% RH), meaning that only the early starters will ski on a well packed snow...the rest will likely be' rowing'. at least, they all will be lucky NOT to bother with any klister or gripper today...

the pre-race rumour was that sundby was sick, yet, he's the 1st to go...

will be interesting to observe northug vs ustiugov again...that is, if petter qualifies ;), which aint a given in such conditions
 
python said:
the lillehammer skating sprints are about to start..

the lists of starters are 120 for man and 98 for women...this is waaaaay too many. the current weather is real crap (32 C, 99% RH), meaning that only the early starters will ski on a well packed snow...the rest will likely be' rowing'. at least, they all will be lucky NOT to bother with any klister or gripper today...

the pre-race rumour was that sundby was sick, yet, he's the 1st to go...

will be interesting to observe northug vs ustiugov again...that is, if petter qualifies ;), which aint a given in such conditions

Except that a friend of the family (French sprint champion) is starting in the last 20, even if he doesn't have much of a chance still a good experience.

PS I doubt it is 32C, maybe you mean F which would be 0C.
 
Sep 25, 2009
7,527
1
0
Visit site
frenchfry said:
Except that a friend of the family (French sprint champion) is starting in the last 20,
parisse clement ? he finished about 10 minutes ago.

if the damn fis server was working right, i could tell you his final placing...

PS I doubt it is 32C, maybe you mean F which would be 0C.
of course !
---
update: the damn fis server just came back to life....parisse finished 92nd, BUT the french did very well, gross baptiste(7) and jay renaud (12), goalabre paul (14). i can't recall such a good showing. you might also appreciate that harvey made top 30 too. the quaterfinals will start in 14 minutes, i am sure french eurosport will have it on...
 
Sep 25, 2009
7,527
1
0
Visit site
women's final was plain boring...northug almost dq-ed in his semi for a dangerous move...lucky to be the last place in his semi. what i did not get was that they still went with the absolute lucky loser times to form the final 6. what time will he be awarded towards the total count is also a not clear :confused:
 
python said:
parisse clement ? he finished about 10 minutes ago.

if the damn fis server was working right, i could tell you his final placing...


of course !
---
update: the damn fis server just came back to life....parisse finished 92nd, BUT the french did very well, gross baptiste(7) and jay renaud (12), goalabre paul (14). i can't recall such a good showing. you might also appreciate that harvey made top 30 too. the quaterfinals will start in 14 minutes, i am sure french eurosport will have it on...

He finished 92nd, that's ok he is better at distance.

8th and 11th for the French, not too shabby considering there is no snow here yet to train on.

edit: Sorry, didn't see the update part of your post. I don't have Eurosport, in any case I was out for a ride. Cool but otherwise not bad cycling weather for December. And since I am French and Canadian, the Harvey result is great news! His father was one of the greatest Canadian cyclists and X-country skiers of all time.
 
Apr 22, 2012
3,570
0
0
Visit site
Libertine Seguros said:
It's also especially frustrating when you have a good race going on and then the exciting finale is ripped out of your hands by the same old same old.
Mind you - if you are his fan, it isn't boring or frustrating at all.
 
Kokoso said:
Mind you - if you are his fan, it isn't boring or frustrating at all.

I can't really understand rooting for the person that wins all the time though. You can only ever be disappointed, when they win it is expected, routine, and when they don't it is a disappointment.

Paul Goalabre wins points for sartorial elegance and being the most splendidly hirsute man in skiing. That moustache is quite something.
 
Libertine Seguros said:
I can't really understand rooting for the person that wins all the time though. You can only ever be disappointed, when they win it is expected, routine, and when they don't it is a disappointment.

Paul Goalabre wins points for sartorial elegance and being the most splendidly hirsute man in skiing. That moustache is quite something.

I had to turn to the dictionary twice for your post!

I still haven't figured out how to post pictures, but if you are a fan of the French x-country team here you go. Scroll down to find the hirstute Paul.

http://www.ski-nordique.net/lillehammer-les-photos-des-sprints.5636227-72348.html
 
Oct 9, 2014
212
0
0
Visit site
Bavarianrider said:
Oh dear, the level of competition among the women in biathlon is shockingly bad.:eek:

Losing 2:45 to Domracheva in the slope is still good enogh for the 10th best course time.:eek:
25 spot is already 4 minutes back!:confused:

The competition hasn't been as good since Berger fell away and then retired. The individual does that though, big gaps are the norm and that's why it's on programs less and less.
 
Apr 22, 2012
3,570
0
0
Visit site
Libertine Seguros said:
I can't really understand rooting for the person that wins all the time though.

He doesn't win all the time really. But that probably one can see only when he's his fan, it looks like that only when you don't like him.
 
Sep 25, 2009
7,527
1
0
Visit site
frenchfry said:
.... And since I am French and Canadian, the Harvey result is great news! His father was one of the greatest Canadian cyclists and X-country skiers of all time.
i am almost a fan of harvey...
that info about his dad i did not know. thanks. there is a group of 5-7 xc skiers whose results i follow closely. alex is in that group. this start of the season is excellent, perhaps, best in several years. he's going to be at least in the top 5 in this mini-tour. I like his skating technique and i always seek his post-race comments on fasterskier.com...

btw, if you have time and interest, fasterskier.com is easily the best english language xc hub to follow the sport with. i think they are canada-based and usually focus on n. americans. anyway, their race analysis imo are frequently superior to the scandinavian portals. if one cares to the extent i do about waxing, race tactic, athlete perceptions of each other etc, they are a must...

here is the last article about the yesterday's sprints...alex offered there some some valuable insight into his form, his competition, the conditions....

http://fasterskier.com/article/golb...win-harvey-fifth-in-lillehammer-skate-sprint/

...about the just finished lady's 5k skate.... One word - boring. but less so than the sprint yesterday. had i been less of a fanatic of the sport, i's stay away from watching. thankfully, the were noticeable spicy observations: the muscle woman failing to beat johaug...the horrible sight of justyna's skating style, reaaaally ugly !...the uneven fight of kalla...that niskanen sister is quite fast (and pretty)...

..some other impressions from man's sprint yesterday.

i played 5 times the semi were northug was dq-ed 5...well, he was clearly wrong. what stood out for me was that he still managed to lose the face-to face final sprint to both ustiugov and the eventual winner...he did. and it was not the 1st time this season, which is is a bit surprising...what does it mean ?
too early to say, but he may be losing some of the sharpness to his unparalleled weapon ? either way, his accelerations up longish hills were most impressive, meaning he's in excellent aerobic shape. could go into top 3 after the today's 10k skate...
 
Kokoso said:
He doesn't win all the time really. But that probably one can see only when he's his fan, it looks like that only when you don't like him.

Today's easy victory while breathing through his nose probably doesn't help your case.

18 career races in Östersund, 10 wins. Just saying.

Unless you're the kind that cheers for Marit Bjørgen and Eric Frenzel, he kind of does win more often than not.
 
Libertine Seguros said:
How's Zvaricova? She had a horrible accident about 18 months ago and I've only sporadically seen her name in reports since.

She took part in the first IBU Cup, was 78th (4 misses) and 38th (1 miss).
Hopefully she'll be able to progress, the Czech ladies need the animal she is for the last relay leg.
 
Apr 22, 2012
3,570
0
0
Visit site
Libertine Seguros said:
Today's easy victory while breathing through his nose probably doesn't help your case.

18 career races in Östersund, 10 wins. Just saying.

Unless you're the kind that cheers for Marit Bjørgen and Eric Frenzel, he kind of does win more often than not.

Yeah, it doesn't help my suitcase at all. Looks like it will be to small to pack all his victories.

I don't care for Frenzel and I'm not fan of Bjoergen.

Zvaricova after coming back from close to death is back in IBU cup, which is quite a feat in itself. I don't know if she has some health consequences. Soukalova is dating guy (who had testicle cancer by the way) who I can't decide is dork od really good lad. And they only need to change only one letter in their surname in case of marriage. Together they are fighting cancer by nude photos.
 
Sep 25, 2009
7,527
1
0
Visit site
men's pursuit will start in about 45 minutes..it should be more exciting.

top 15-16 will certainly form big grops. in my estimation, based on the current gaps at the start, they will be:

-golberg, roethe, halfvarsson chasing sundby who is only 6-7 sec ahead of them

-sundby having worked his ards off to close 20 seconds on krogh (i believe he can in 1-2 kms)

-behind, dyrhaug and belov, who start about 15 seconds after halfvarsson will be stretched to the limit. i reckon belov is a better classic specialist, able to join the halfvarsson group by the mid distance the latest

-and another 15 seconds behind a super powerful train with cologna and harvey will go full steam. since cologna showed so much improvement yesterday, he should be able to finish in top 10...

the winner ? of course sundby, imo.
 
python said:
i am almost a fan of harvey...
that info about his dad i did not know.

Pierre Harvey. Participated in numerous Olympics, including winter and summer - notably both in 1984. Finished 2nd to Phil Anderson in the 1978 Commonwealth games road race (I was there) and has won 3 X-country world cups including the 50 km at the 1988 Holmenkollen world cup. His first WC win was in Falun, that was also where Alex won his first world cup.
 
Sep 25, 2009
7,527
1
0
Visit site
the davos wc races are only hours away. i love davos as no other place !

...the place struggled with the weather...they managed to shuttle enough snow from the slopes above to have an abbreviated version. i know some fans dont like the 15k replacing 30k, but i will take what's available :)

what we are likely to expect ?

the fis start lists just posted dont show justyna, ollson, legkov..while justyna and legkov aren't a big surprise, i am personally annoyed that olsson, yet again, is going to be missing in the even he matters in:mad:

who may win ?

my crystal ball is guided by last week's performances in exactly the same distance and style. i say cologna and poltoranin, being the fastest men last week (in the absolute time units) are the faves. TOENSETH with sundby and roethe must up there too.

..and of course, the young finn niskanen who beat sunby 2 weeks ago in the exactly the same distance must be considered a podium case...

the russians, though quite close, imo, dont have the umf to challenge those i just mentioned, for a podium.

though, belov and vyleg can surprise..particularly the willy vyleg.

the sprints on sunday, are quite another matter, were they may take more than 1 podium.
 

TRENDING THREADS