Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[Kokoso]

Re: Czech biathlon news

Czech men and women haven't deployed six men and women in world cup until now, when they deploy Adam Václavík. Women stay five in number. Is this normal situation with other countries, not to deploy all possible biatlhletes in world cup?

I don't think the Belarusians have deployed all 6 women a few times this season too. I wouldn't say it's a "normal" situation, but that's mainly as only the top 5 countries get an allocation of six, and usually Norway, Germany, Russia and France account for four of those and their budget and resources cover six athletes easily (although for a while the French sent five women because Laure Soulié, representing Andorra, trained and lodged with them) and they have loads of IBU Cup options at a reasonable level so it's only if they get injuries or illnesses that they wouldn't fill the allocations.

I am surprised at the Czechs not entering six women at most races though, they've got a lot of talents coming through the system, the venues the World Cup has been at so far aren't too far away from them and are Schengen. I'm less surprised by Belarus mainly as the bulk of their points were Domracheva's, and with her out, strength in depth is lacking a bit and also the logistical issues are greater for them.

Thank you. I knew that only first five countries can deploy six athletes. Both Czech men and women were among first five so they have right to deploy six athlettes but they were not. Shame on Czech budget Hovewer Czech trainer says it isn't only thing of budget, his opinion is that they have more opportunities to race in IBU cup then they'd have in world cup. Well that's hard to say when they don't get opportunity to race wprld cup from beginning of season He should know their performance level, though. I don't know whether to be mad at trainer or not

 

[python]

so, the fight for the overall, i mean what's remaining after sundby is hotting up...

sundby's 2nd today signifies his 'asthma' is back in check . i am glad for krogh winning. a nice comeback after the stupid incident with bindings in the classic. also noteworthy and quite significant was that ustiugov had taken 18 seconds from northug and now less than 5 seconds separates them in the overl. in fact if the russian was able to go faster 2 seconds he'd receive the 5 bonus second and would firmly occupy the 2nd overall.

i doubt petter likes this b/c it does not bode well for his alp cermis chances against serhey.

also an outstanding performance from poltoranin actually besting petter today. he has another classic tomorrow to close the gap even more.

the 'beard' is back but behind him a sensation is brewing...

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

so, the fight for the overall, i mean what's remaining after sundby is hotting up...

sundby's 2nd today signifies his 'asthma' is back in check . i am glad for krogh winning. a nice comeback after the stupid incident with bindings in the classic. also noteworthy and quite significant was that ustiugov had taken 18 seconds from northug and now less than 5 seconds separates them in the overl. in fact if the russian was able to go faster 2 seconds he'd receive the 5 bonus second and would firmly occupy the 2nd overall.

i doubt petter likes this b/c it does not bode well for his alp cermis chances against serhey.

also an outstanding performance from poltoranin actually besting petter today. he has another classic tomorrow to close the gap even more.

the 'beard' is back but behind him a sensation is brewing...

What asthma? What stupid incident with binding? Firmly occupie 2nd place by what margin...2 seconds? That's truly unerasable.

 

[python]

it looks like you need to load up on some older news before asking so many (how should i put) st...illy questions

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

it looks like you need to load up on some older news before asking so many (how should i put) st...illy questions

Thank you for friendly and comprehensive answer ony my too many questions, python. Wait, what? There weren't dozens of questions, just two? Well, for python two is obviously too much Probably that something to do with that firm margin of two seconds, I guess

 

[python]

you are welcome

a friendly advice. perhaps 2... pay less attention to czech-only sports news and when showing a genuine curiosity, well, show it ...genuinely. or expect a matching reply.

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

you are welcome

a friendly advice. perhaps 2... pay less attention to czech-only sports news and when showing a genuine curiosity, well, show it ...genuinely. or expect a matching reply.

I am paying attention to other than czech only sport news, you could figure that out from this forum if you wanted. Some people don't read everything other forget. I won't comment on genuinity (if there is such word , maybe friendly advice, too: - don't judge on genuinity like this. This isn't really matching reply from me, I know. Matching reply would look different

Anyway, to be rude on somebody because of paying attention attention only too some sports news only, that's hilarious. Jesus.

 

[Trond Vidar]

Diggins!!!

 

[jens_attacks]

Beats all norwegians girls finally
Loses to diggins

Je suis heidi.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re:

Beats all norwegians girls finally
Loses to diggins

Je suis heidi.

You should make a meme with that !

 

[meat puppet]

Finnish skiers complain about their recovery and tiredness, en bloc, and also stress that the athletes with the best recovery skill win. I find this self-evident and perplexing at the same time. Sure, they go all out occasionally. But still, in absolute terms, they don't accumulate that much time at, or even over, the threshold - and probably accumulate more whilst doing an power training block. Overall they have covered, what, 60k at most in, what, six days. Not that much.

 

[Kokoso]

Lol, I think Soukalova will never, ever again foget her pole Today it cost her victory. When she finally beat Makärainen on ski, she loses the race by forgetting her pole. I must say that it's something rather likeable.

 

[BullsFan22]

Bjornsen to win the women's 10km mass start tomorrow. Bank on it. In the men's, Northug will go for the bonus seconds. What happens after that is anybody's guess. I doubt Sundby gets into more trouble, but the Val Di Fiemme courses are hard, even though only a 2.5km loop will be used. I wonder if there are gonna be any tactics. Will the Russians try something to help Ustiugov, who is closing in on a TDS podium in his first TDS? We can forget about Sundby, unless Sundby loses even more than he did two days ago. Will Poltoranin go for the seconds AND the win? Perhaps he'll try a break and see who can follow him? Or is everyone tired and the race too short to try something like that?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re: Re:

Beats all norwegians girls finally
Loses to diggins

Je suis heidi.

You should make a meme with that !

That's it. Heidi Weng is cursed. I'm convinced of it

When she finally beat Makärainen on ski, she loses the race by forgetting her pole. I must say that it's something rather likeable.

Yes, I liked it too. It's also the kind of thing that always tended to happen to Franzi Hildebrand, so for her to be the one that profits from it is unexpected. And doubly enjoyable for me, of course, because it meant Soukalová didn't win. Especially given Martin Fourcade basically got a huge free bonus added on to his lead in the World Cup with Schempp and Bjørndalen both sick.

 

[BullsFan22]

Re: Re:

Beats all norwegians girls finally
Loses to diggins

Je suis heidi.

You should make a meme with that !

That's it. Heidi Weng is cursed. I'm convinced of it

When she finally beat Makärainen on ski, she loses the race by forgetting her pole. I must say that it's something rather likeable.

Yes, I liked it too. It's also the kind of thing that always tended to happen to Franzi Hildebrand, so for her to be the one that profits from it is unexpected. And doubly enjoyable for me, of course, because it meant Soukalová didn't win. Especially given Martin Fourcade basically got a huge free bonus added on to his lead in the World Cup with Schempp and Bjørndalen both sick.

Is Bjoerndalen actually sick?? He is a wiley ol' fox. He's probably in the Italian Dolomites putting in 5 hours a day, prepping for world's, where he'll surprise everyone with 2 gold medals (one individual and one with the men's relay).

 

[May0maniac]

I was there and it was heartbreaking, everyone went crazy for Heidi and for a few seconds I thought that she could pull it off.
I was even able to talk with Krogh after the race and he was one of the nicest athletes that I've ever met.

 

[BullsFan22]

Re:

I was there and it was heartbreaking, everyone went crazy for Heidi and for a few seconds I thought that she could pull it off.
I was even able to talk with Krogh after the race and he was one of the nicest athletes that I've ever met.

Yep. She really must feel like the world is against her. If someone not named Johaug or Oestberg beats her out for the win tomorrow, I'll strongly consider hopping on a plane to Italy to give her a hug. And a beer.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

I was there and it was heartbreaking, everyone went crazy for Heidi and for a few seconds I thought that she could pull it off.
I was even able to talk with Krogh after the race and he was one of the nicest athletes that I've ever met.

Yep. She really must feel like the world is against her. If someone not named Johaug or Oestberg beats her out for the win tomorrow, I'll strongly consider hopping on a plane to Italy to give her a hug. And a beer.

You don't even have to know a lot about the sport to feel extremely sorry for her. Why are there athletes who have all the bad luck in the world.

 

[python]

... the Val Di Fiemme courses are hard, even though only a 2.5km loop will be used. ...

they may very well use the 2.5 km loop - and it makes sense, i mean those 6 even laps given the distance of 15 km, but quite curiously the course has not been pinpointed as such by the race web site (not saying the fis hasn't decided but they have not - to my knowledge - published the course as of yet)
http://www.fiemmeworldcup.com/en/race-tracks-xc.php
traditionally, in the world class competition trentino competitions have used the 2.5 km (an easy loop) and a much more difficult 3.3 km loop. also the killer 5 km loop (in terms of height differential) was sometimes used...

i am just wondering aloud b/c tomorrows gaps will be proportional to the course difficulty with much hint at who has the umf left to climb up the alpe cermis...heavy folks like northug, ustiugov and poltoranin being disadvantaged both days compared to krogh and such if tomorrow is the 3.3 x3 plus 2.5x2...

just thinking aloud.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

It's not a Val di Fiemme race without the Chiesa climb, and I hope they go with Pojer late on instead of Zorzi as the last climb of the circuit.

 

[BullsFan22]

... the Val Di Fiemme courses are hard, even though only a 2.5km loop will be used. ...

they may very well use the 2.5 km loop - and it makes sense, i mean those 6 even laps given the distance of 15 km, but quite curiously the course has not been pinpointed as such by the race web site (not saying the fis hasn't decided but they have not - to my knowledge - published the course as of yet)
http://www.fiemmeworldcup.com/en/race-tracks-xc.php
traditionally, in the world class competition trentino competitions have used the 2.5 km (an easy loop) and a much more difficult 3.3 km loop. also the killer 5 km loop (in terms of height differential) was sometimes used...

i am just wondering aloud b/c tomorrows gaps will be proportional to the course difficulty with much hint at who has the umf left to climb up the alpe cermis...heavy folks like northug, ustiugov and poltoranin being disadvantaged both days compared to krogh and such if tomorrow is the 3.3 x3 plus 2.5x2...

just thinking aloud.

Rumor has it, the Russians will try some team tactics, forcing the pace up front, if they can.

 

[BullsFan22]

Re: Re:

I was there and it was heartbreaking, everyone went crazy for Heidi and for a few seconds I thought that she could pull it off.
I was even able to talk with Krogh after the race and he was one of the nicest athletes that I've ever met.

Yep. She really must feel like the world is against her. If someone not named Johaug or Oestberg beats her out for the win tomorrow, I'll strongly consider hopping on a plane to Italy to give her a hug. And a beer.

You don't even have to know a lot about the sport to feel extremely sorry for her. Why are there athletes who have all the bad luck in the world.

She's certainly extremely consistent. It's been a while since i've seen her ski a bad distance race. It's waaaaay to early to say, but if she ends up not getting an individual world cup win, whereas people like Diggins do, that will be a little sad. Not that Diggins isn't capable, but her this was her first individual podium and it just happened to be a win. Remember, she has a team sprint world cup win with Randall from Quebec 2012.

Ustiugov has been the Weng of men's WC this year. No win, but very consistent and agonizingly close. A fall in the Davos sprint, after dominating the qualifications, q's and semis. Breaks a pole in Lenzerheide, still gets 2nd, pushing Pellegrino all the way, 2nd to Iversen in Oberstdorf after making a mistake in the approach to the finish, 4th in the Lenzerheide pursuit (loses 3rd to Krogh by millimeters), 4th again today and loses 3rd by 1.5 seconds and perhaps a crucial 5 second bonus. They will both win races this year. No doubt.

 

[MrRoboto]

Re:

I was even able to talk with Krogh after the race and he was one of the nicest athletes that I've ever met.

Very happy for him. If he keeps his skis on his feet from now on there might be more.

 

[python]

... the Val Di Fiemme courses are hard, even though only a 2.5km loop will be used. ...

they may very well use the 2.5 km loop - and it makes sense, i mean those 6 even laps given the distance of 15 km, but quite curiously the course has not been pinpointed as such by the race web site (not saying the fis hasn't decided but they have not - to my knowledge - published the course as of yet)
http://www.fiemmeworldcup.com/en/race-tracks-xc.php
traditionally, in the world class competition trentino competitions have used the 2.5 km (an easy loop) and a much more difficult 3.3 km loop. also the killer 5 km loop (in terms of height differential) was sometimes used...

i am just wondering aloud b/c tomorrows gaps will be proportional to the course difficulty with much hint at who has the umf left to climb up the alpe cermis...heavy folks like northug, ustiugov and poltoranin being disadvantaged both days compared to krogh and such if tomorrow is the 3.3 x3 plus 2.5x2...

just thinking aloud.

Rumor has it, the Russians will try some team tactics, forcing the pace up front, if they can.

if so, let it be...
i'd guess, if they do have a plan, they would be wise not to broadcast it (on social media etc) and to take care to include polto in the plans who likely in personal life is no more kazakh than vino . plus, bess, bello, volghen, vyleg and and even the lego-man being quite confident classic runners should be a perfect compliment to polto/ustiugov finishing punch...the trouble with this idealistic play script, the russians have shown themselves terrible at team tactics with reto/knaute boys not connecting well with the perovoschokov doctrine...

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re: Re:

She's certainly extremely consistent. It's been a while since i've seen her ski a bad distance race. It's waaaaay to early to say, but if she ends up not getting an individual world cup win, whereas people like Diggins do, that will be a little sad. Not that Diggins isn't capable, but her this was her first individual podium and it just happened to be a win. Remember, she has a team sprint world cup win with Randall from Quebec 2012.

There are several athletes in the World Cup who are perfectly capable athletes who have won races, but who most would consider are not as strong as Heidi. Diggins is only one of them. The thing is that Heidi is so consistently up there, and so consistently getting podiums and near misses, but always never quite being able to get onto the top step; she's been so hotly-tipped and strong from when she first broke through to the World Cup team, but she's always seeming to miss out in different ways - a new athlete will jump her in the queue, she'll mistime form, she'll get bad skis on a day she was on strong form - that her increasingly desperate quest for that first World Cup win has become an ongoing story people are invested in. There are fans who are bored to tears by the Norwegian victory procession in women's XC who are simultaneously cheering wholeheartedly and genuinely for Heidi to finally break the shackles and do it.