Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[kingjr]

Men's race wide open now

 

[kingjr]

My god Arnd, why

Now the door is open for Norway.

I'd love if OEB wins it, but I'm afraid it's gonna be JTB or Svendsen and I'm gonna smash my screen.

Last German hope Doll now on the tracks

Ole missed, the table is perfectly set for Boe and Svendsen, have to hope against hope now for Doll, the Czechs and Rastorgujevs...


That's a medal now for Doll, surely. Emil missed, it's JT vs Doll now.



YES *** YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

OMG OPulse 190 over here

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re:

YES **** YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

OMG OPulse 190 over here

Great race from Doll. I was really hoping that Johannes could maintain his gap, but Doll is a truly likeable character with his awkward style. Only bad thing to say about the race was that Moravec and Ole missed a shot on the standing shooting. Shout out to the Bulgarian team aswell. They actually look very good for the relays with Sinapov contributing to the usually only two-headed threat of Iliev and Anev. I think they could finish in the top 10 in the relay.

 

[kingjr]

Re: Re:

YES **** YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

OMG OPulse 190 over here

Great race from Doll. I was really hoping that Johannes could maintain his gap, but Doll is a truly likeable character with his awkward style. Only bad thing to say about the race was that Moravec and Ole missed a shot on the standing shooting. Shout out to the Bulgarian team aswell. They actually look very good for the relays with Sinapov contributing to the usually only two-headed threat of Iliev and Anev. I think they could finish in the top 10 in the relay.

I'm especially happy for Anev, I remember it was almost exactly 10 years ago when I first saw him, and it just so happened to be a Sprint in Hochfilzen, the competition was almost over, he was a fairly late starter iirc and he came in with perfect shooting not even making it into the Pursuit, and I remember feeling sorry for him, because it must be so frustrating to hit 10/10 and not even get close to a decent results. And here we are, 10 years later, and he almost medals in a Sprint in Hochfilzen, at the World Championships.

 

[BullsFan22]

I watched the ZDF feed. I was actually expecting more excitement from the commentators, but I think they were just relieved that Doll could overturn the bad fortunes of the other men today. Good that he beat Boe. No disrespect to Johannes, but someone completely new to the top of the podium is always appreciated, particularly these days. Good that Fourcade didn't win either. Quite tired of him. He once again skied like a monster out there. I don't know the exact times, but he had the fastest ski time, no doubt, then it'd have to be the two Austrians, Eberhard and Landertinger and Shipulin, if I am not mistaken.

Tomorrow's pursuit should be interesting. Given the sort of shape Fourcade is in, he will slice that gap to Boe and Doll pretty quickly. He can afford a couple misses (or more??). The other guys can't. Really a bummer for Shipulin. He is in good form but that last shoot was too much. One less miss and he would be right in the thick of it tomorrow. Two less and he would be battling for the medals. Shoot clean and he could have won, given his ski speed and good form, but that's biathlon, you have too shoot well and ski well. Could have should have would have.

Interested to see whether or not Doll, Anev and Eberhard will hang and contend for medals. Will Bjoerndalen spring a surprise? He almost did today. I don't think Bailey will hang on. He's had a solid season right the way through to Hochfilzen, but he's going to have to hit all targets tomorrow to have a chance at the medals in my opinion. Boe is in decent form, but not as good as he is capable. He was composed at the range. Head to head racing tomorrow might be a different story, and he just about killed himself in the final lap and had nothing left.

Can the other Germans and Russians do something tomorrow? Garanichev is in a solid position around 20 seconds to the podium, but again, he'll need to shoot flawlessly to overtake the fast skiers in front of him (Fourcade, Eberhard, Boe and even Doll, who was faster than him today). Shipulin is over a minute behind, but last year he hit 19/20 in the pursuit and finished 9th after starting 45th (!!!). The German men are, predictably, peaking well for the worlds. Pfeiffer is skiing well but too many misses today. Schempp is still their #1 skier, but he ran out of gas in the final couple k, and broke his own pole in the final 150 meters.

 

[kingjr]

Yes, Fourcade was indeed the fastest

then
2. Eberhard +15,8
3. Doll +16.3
4. JTBoe +19.4

6. Landertinger +21.1

10. Shipulin +30.0


Tomorrow, Fourcade will come out guns blazing, he should be the main favourite. It's reasonable to assume that Doll will have at least one bad shooting session out of 4, same goes for Eberhard. JTBoe is harder to predict, he might have one session were he misses like 3 shots, but it's not certain, he can also go 19/20, in which case he would be fighting for Gold. Anev and Ole will need at least 19/20 to have a chance for medals. Be interesting to see what Schempp does, he is capable of shooting 4 times clean on a good day.

 

[BullsFan22]

Re:

Yes, Fourcade was indeed the fastest

then
2. Eberhard +15,8
3. Doll +16.3
4. JTBoe +19.4

6. Landertinger +21.1

10. Shipulin +30.0


Tomorrow, Fourcade will come out guns blazing, he should be the main favourite. It's reasonable to assume that Doll will have at least one bad shooting session out of 4, same goes for Eberhard. JTBoe is harder to predict, he might have one session were he misses like 3 shots, but it's not certain, he can also go 19/20, in which case he would be fighting for Gold. Anev and Ole will need at least 19/20 to have a chance for medals. Be interesting to see what Schempp does, he is capable of shooting 4 times clean on a good day.

Interesting. I knew Doll was skiing well, but not that well! He, Boe, Moravec and Bailey, the other contenders that started towards the back of the pack had more chopped up conditions, but it looks as if the firm snow held up. It got choppy, but not as it can at these individual races with so many skiers.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

I watched the ZDF feed. I was actually expecting more excitement from the commentators, but I think they were just relieved that Doll could overturn the bad fortunes of the other men today. Good that he beat Boe. No disrespect to Johannes, but someone completely new to the top of the podium is always appreciated, particularly these days. Good that Fourcade didn't win either. Quite tired of him. He once again skied like a monster out there. I don't know the exact times, but he had the fastest ski time, no doubt, then it'd have to be the two Austrians, Eberhard and Landertinger and Shipulin, if I am not mistaken.

Tomorrow's pursuit should be interesting. Given the sort of shape Fourcade is in, he will slice that gap to Boe and Doll pretty quickly. He can afford a couple misses (or more??). The other guys can't. Really a bummer for Shipulin. He is in good form but that last shoot was too much. One less miss and he would be right in the thick of it tomorrow. Two less and he would be battling for the medals. Shoot clean and he could have won, given his ski speed and good form, but that's biathlon, you have too shoot well and ski well. Could have should have would have.

Interested to see whether or not Doll, Anev and Eberhard will hang and contend for medals. Will Bjoerndalen spring a surprise? He almost did today. I don't think Bailey will hang on. He's had a solid season right the way through to Hochfilzen, but he's going to have to hit all targets tomorrow to have a chance at the medals in my opinion. Boe is in decent form, but not as good as he is capable. He was composed at the range. Head to head racing tomorrow might be a different story, and he just about killed himself in the final lap and had nothing left.

Can the other Germans and Russians do something tomorrow? Garanichev is in a solid position around 20 seconds to the podium, but again, he'll need to shoot flawlessly to overtake the fast skiers in front of him (Fourcade, Eberhard, Boe and even Doll, who was faster than him today). Shipulin is over a minute behind, but last year he hit 19/20 in the pursuit and finished 9th after starting 45th (!!!). The German men are, predictably, peaking well for the worlds. Pfeiffer is skiing well but too many misses today. Schempp is still their #1 skier, but he ran out of gas in the final couple k, and broke his own pole in the final 150 meters.

Actually Doll and Peiffer are both skiing better than Schempp at the moment. Schempp was very underwhelming in the relay aswell. He's a good finisheur, but he will have to rely on that the guys in front of him gets tactical to close the 50 second gap. At the moment he does not look sharp on and off the range. If there is anything that points to a Schempp resurgence, it is that he actually ran a relatively good last loop today (unlike Peiffer who on the other hand ran completely out of gas).

 

[python]

i sure dont know about the sport of biathlon as much as those above.

but what i saw today was the proof that fourcade was NOT clean...and it's not what you think (or may be it is )

he did not shoot CLEAN (2 missed) and still podium-ed. podiumed in a ferking sprint, mind you, with 2 blanks only seconds apart from those who were 'clean' shooters.

wow.

 

[Singer01]

Absolute nightmare for GK on first shoot. Missed 2 targets and probably had another 20 seconds lost with delays due to rifle problems, then cleans the second under massive pressure. KM is on a proper charge.

update, amazing performance by Darya Domracheva, if she wasn't just back and building up her stamina that last lap could have been interesting.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Benedikt Doll and Johannes Thingnes Bø were the 5th and 3rd, respectively, fastest skiers last season too (Doll is actually the fastest German, just ahead of Schempp, over the last two years, but all too often he's starting way down due to poor shooting). That's how much better Fourcade is than everybody else. The only one close to him on the skis is Eberhard, and he's too inconsistent in the range.

Koukalová is on some really impressive ski form. Given how great Dahlmeier's race breakdown is and how she doesn't panic about losing time early in the race, and given some of the deficits she's overturned on the final lap before, I think she probably had enough left in the tank to protect herself from Dasha even if she'd been at her best, given it's only a 2k loop in the pursuit and these are trails Laura likes.

 

[Kokoso]

Shame Gabina messed first shooting...her own fault it was. It could be much more fun if not for that.

 

[Singer01]

What a boring follow up to the women's race, though if Fourcade wasn't in the race it would be riveting right now, the minor medal race is really exciting. Be nice to see Bailey get on the podium.

 

[portugal11]

Another walk in the park for fourcade.

 

[Singer01]

Re:

Another walk in the park for fourcade.

Though it does look like JTB has the ski speed now, must have been a problem with his equipment yesterday to lose that much on the last lap.

 

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

Another walk in the park for fourcade.

Though it does look like JTB has the ski speed now, must have been a problem with his equipment yesterday to lose that much on the last lap.

He has not the ski speed to beat MF at all. Fourcade did a solo race from the beginning and he was gaining time in every lap

 

[kingjr]

Very typical Hochfilzen-type races so far in that on the whole we get fairly normal results ;D Germany winning a relay, Dahlmeier and Koukalova 2 times on the podium, Domracheva once, Fourcade and JTBoe 2 times on the podium and OEB once. Poor old Lowell Bailey just out of the medals again, but he was beaten by maybe the 3 best biathletes ever. Certainly 2 and there is every reason to think that JTBoe will be one of them by the time he finishes his career. Okay, Raphael belongs up there too.

 

[BullsFan22]

Re:

Very typical Hochfilzen-type races so far in that on the whole we get fairly normal results ;D Germany winning a relay, Dahlmeier and Koukalova 2 times on the podium, Domracheva once, Fourcade and JTBoe 2 times on the podium and OEB once. Poor old Lowell Bailey just out of the medals again, but he was beaten by maybe the 3 best biathletes ever. Certainly 2 and there is every reason to think that JTBoe will be one of them by the time he finishes his career. Okay, Raphael belongs up there too.

Yeaaaaah, JT isn't there yet. You also have to consider the German armada: Fischer, Gross, Luck, Greis (Greis didn't sustain as long, but there were a few years when he was at his best that he was very, very good). Then you add the Russians/Soviets as well.

 

[kingjr]

Well he's only 23 and has already won as many races as Greis, Luck, Gross or Mark Kirchner in their whole career. He's not there yet, but if he doesn't get stopped by illness like his brother, he'll get there eventually. He has all the ingredients. The hunger, the focus, the skills, the mental attitude.

 

[meat puppet]

Just an observation, but speaking of skiing... Obviously individual skiers will have differences in technique (and the outward appearance of technique!) due to biomechanics etc, but I must say that I am quite astonished how koukalova continues to have the rather large and visible pelvic rotation while climbing year in year out. Why? Well because it is usually more common to casual skiers. Other top athletes usually have virtually no rotation at all, cf mäkäräinen, domracheva, dahlmeier etc, they all have cores that are as though set in concrete and the power going straight to the ski with visible less transmission losses (or so I tend to think). Today the difference was especially pronounced on the first lap when koukalova and dahlmeier clinbed together. Amongst top xc skiers you rarely see such movements, too. And yet koukalova is really fast.

One has to wonder if that style is the biomechanically determined optimum for her, or could she achieve improvements by stabilising the core via specific work? Surely they have consirered this, so probably no low hanging fruit available. Just interesting.

 

[BullsFan22]

Re:

Well he's only 23 and has already won as many races as Greis, Luck, Gross or Mark Kirchner in their whole career. He's not there yet, but if he doesn't get stopped by illness like his brother, he'll get there eventually. He has all the ingredients. The hunger, the focus, the skills, the mental attitude.

You also have to take into consideration that there are more races on the calendar now. The pursuit and especially the mass start are events that are relatively new when considering the history of the sport, and unless it's an olympic year, world championships take place every season (which doesn't make sense to me, but whatever).

 

[kingjr]

Re: Re:

Well he's only 23 and has already won as many races as Greis, Luck, Gross or Mark Kirchner in their whole career. He's not there yet, but if he doesn't get stopped by illness like his brother, he'll get there eventually. He has all the ingredients. The hunger, the focus, the skills, the mental attitude.

You also have to take into consideration that there are more races on the calendar now. The pursuit and especially the mass start are events that are relatively new when considering the history of the sport, and unless it's an olympic year, world championships take place every season (which doesn't make sense to me, but whatever).

We have a cycling WCH too every year

 

[Kokoso]

Re: Re:

Another walk in the park for fourcade.

Though it does look like JTB has the ski speed now, must have been a problem with his equipment yesterday to lose that much on the last lap.

No problem with his equipment, he just run out of powers. I remember we have discuseed it this year at least once... Not first time that happened to Johannes (or anyone olse), in his case we've seen it before that he fails to distribute his powers properly. Doll on the other hand had great last lap.

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

VOkay, Raphael belongs up there too.

So far Raphael is clearly above JTB, if you are speaking about three best biathletes of all times...

 

[Singer01]

Re: Re:

VOkay, Raphael belongs up there too.

So far Raphael is clearly above JTB, if you are speaking about three best biathletes of all times...

OEB - 94
Fourcade - 57
Poiree – 44
Svendsen – 37
Sven Fischer – 33
Ulrich - 16

JTB currently 9th with 12, I've be surprised if he wasn't 6th by the end of next season, though then it is a big gap up to Fischer.