Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[bambino]

Re: Re:

^meat, you almost got it...too bad manificat tired out towards the end.

great consistent pacing from cologna and kruger, but spitsov was probably the fastest at the last 3 km. i was following the splits along with watching and was sure that sundby will bronze but the young russian beat him.

no complaining on my part and i do like this podium a lot better than all red.

Yeah, well, I had cologna win this more than two weeks ago, so that went right. I hoped manificat to hold on, but expected him to fade a bit but still podium.

But more importantly, it was nice to have a tight race again, at least for the podium. Also MJS's fourth was a nice touch, eh.

Along with Spitsov I think heikkinen was also really fast on the last kilometers but he just cant get the motor running early on.

Women's relay might become interesting. I think Norway must drop Sweden at some point. Otherwise Nilsson will win it for the swedes.

Think swedes will run with: Haag - Kalla - Andersson - Nilsson. So I guess the question is against whom Haga will be played in order to make the kill.

E:

Norwegians apparently run with: Östberg - Jacobsen (!) - Haga - Björgen. No Weng and Haga vs Andersson.

Finns had a tense formation process of the relay team, but Saarinen, Niskanen, Roponen & Krista Pärmäkoski will run. I presume podiuming will be hard, but maybe possible.

Given Haga is on 3rd leg, Sweden might also put Kalla there. Andersson wasn't bad in Classic during Skiathlon. The possible issue with Swedes will be the first leg and whether Haag is going to be able to follow Östberg.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Well, one can only imagine how many Gold medals Cologna would have, if there wasn't only one individual start race. Simply amazig, three years Olympics in a row he claims the Gold in the 15km. The best skier of this generation, no doubt left, after today.

 

[meat puppet]

Re: Re:

Given Haga is on 3rd leg, Sweden might also put Kalla there. Andersson wasn't bad in Classic during Skiathlon. The possible issue with Swedes will be the first leg and whether Haag is going to be able to follow Östberg.

Agreed, that might make sense. But as far as I understand it the published order has been consistently the one I cited, e.g.: https://www.svt.se/sport/pyeongchang-2018/blomquist-sverige-norge-stafett/

Maybe they can adjust, dunno.

 

[bambino]

Re: Re:

Given Haga is on 3rd leg, Sweden might also put Kalla there. Andersson wasn't bad in Classic during Skiathlon. The possible issue with Swedes will be the first leg and whether Haag is going to be able to follow Östberg.

Agreed, that might make sense. But as far as I understand it the published order has been consistently the one I cited, e.g.: https://www.svt.se/sport/pyeongchang-2018/blomquist-sverige-norge-stafett/

Maybe they can adjust, dunno.

Yeah I saw now the official announcements as well. I guess they don't believe that Haag will lose too much to Östberg and whatever she will, Kalla will take back on 2nd. But that will leave young Ebba to a very tricky situation against Haga, I don't think Sweden will lead Norway in any case after 2 legs. If Nilson is not with Björgen at the start the gold medal is not going to be contested.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re:

JTB SKI times seem back on track. Bodes well for mass start and both relays.

Yep, apart from the result, that's also what I noticed. When Johannes is back to his usual, outskiing Fourcade, I'm not so worried about Fourcade dominating the mass start.

 

[RattaKuningas]

Re: Re:

JTB SKI times seem back on track. Bodes well for mass start and both relays.

Yep, apart from the result, that's also what I noticed. When Johannes is back to his usual, outskiing Fourcade, I'm not so worried about Fourcade dominating the mass start.

I am still "worried" because it seems to me that JTB doesn't perform very well in mass starts. It seems to me that he lets Fourcade dictate the races too easily.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Fourcade likes the MS because they tend to ramp the pace up as the race goes on, he shoots much slower in prone than in standing, so he can take his time in prone, catching himself back up while the pace is off, and then pressurise others with his fast standing and the pace he has left to burn.

Astrid has hit the wall and Haga has got a lot to do vs. Ebba now, it was a gamble putting Jacobsen in there off so little racing, Haga's now got about 30 seconds of deficit to make up.

 

[python]

very interesting relay.

...stina was too stretched. too much on the limit for too long to rely on her sprint...norway can consider themselves lucky as they i suspect counted on old muscle mama dropping stina long before the last 200 meters...

before the race, i was betting on the finns for a podium. not sure what went on, but one of the factors was a very smart leg selection by the russian coaching staff who, quite deliberately and unlike the typical logic, placed their weakest asset ...in the 4th leg. who could predict that team russia will lead after 3 leg ? i couldn't. ebba against sedova was a nail biter having haga in the background..kalla was a monstres and did exactly what she was supposed to.

generally, the lead teams imo juggled their assets very smartly and that's what made the race so interesting

 

[RattaKuningas]

Re:

Fourcade likes the MS because they tend to ramp the pace up as the race goes on, he shoots much slower in prone than in standing, so he can take his time in prone, catching himself back up while the pace is off, and then pressurise others with his fast standing and the pace he has left to burn.

Astrid has hit the wall and Haga has got a lot to do vs. Ebba now, it was a gamble putting Jacobsen in there off so little racing, Haga's now got about 30 seconds of deficit to make up.

And Haga closed this 30s gap very nicely. To close 30s in 5 kilometers is just phenomenal.

 

[jsem94]

Weng not being in the relay team just wasn't understandable to me, but ofc they still won.

 

[Oude Geuze]

Wow, Bjorgen beat Nilsson in a 5k, must be almost embarrassing for Stina, momma Bjorgen, 10 years older beats the sprint champ! Exciting race, would not have expected it to be exciting, so pleasantly surprised

 

[Gracey]

Happy Bjorgen beat Nilsson in the end- pet peeve when skiiers don't take their turn up front pulling. Not sure if I'd call it luck or just smart that Bjoergen pushed the pace so Nilsson would be too tired to use her sprint.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

TBF I don't think Stina was "doing a Northug", I don't think Marit wanted to let her have a turn on the front because it was only by dictating the pace that Marit could get rid of her. At the intermediate Stina skied up alongside a couple of times to say "I'm still here..."

 

[meat puppet]

Björgen did exactly what she needed to. Constant hard pace and attack on the last hill, making the sprint very long. Tbh, I expected she could drop nilsson on the 2nd lap sprint wall, but turns out björgen just destroyed her end kick.

Re: Finns, I think the russians were simply better, especially nepreyeava and belorukova who laid the fpundations, and that is that. Well done to them!

And mäkäräinen will eventually end her career without personal Olympic medal.

 

[Singer01]

Any news on the teams for the men's relay? Are Norway going to throw in a can to make it interesting again?

 

[zapata]

Re:

Any news on the teams for the men's relay? Are Norway going to throw in a can to make it interesting again?

Holund is out, Tønseth is in..

 

[Norbea]

Re:

Any news on the teams for the men's relay? Are Norway going to throw in a can to make it interesting again?

1. Tønseth 2. Sundby 3. Krüeger 4. Klaebo

Hollund out the biggest surprise. Guess Tønseth´s experience in relays and the distance gave him the upper hand. Still a difficult choice.

 

[May0maniac]

Italy will have Rastelli early on instead of Nöckler, a bit of a surprise, but Rastelli did a great prologue in the sprint and on the climbs he was actually able to stay with Klaebo, but had really bad skis on the descents and faded in the sprint.
The squad will be Maicol Rastelli, Francesco De Fabiani, Giandomenico Salvadori and Federico Pellegrino, not a bad squad, but I fear that Salvadori will be the weakest link, if Klara was still active it would be a stronger team.

 

[python]

on clean white paper or on a dirty white snow, the norwegian team is the strongest. fact. even though they introduced toenseth out of the blue.

yet i expect some surprises. i think the french should not be underrated and if larkov manages to hang on in the 1st leg, his compatriots may even have a gold chance. the answer would come in how well chervotkin recovered from his illness. chervotkin a dark horse, against a known top shape krueger and hellner should be the relay's intrigue. i dont think team sweden has a chance at gold, but a podium is quite likely.

if klaebo gets 30-40 seconds advantage, he can run home with it in my opinion. if say only 20 seconds or equal, i think he's vulnerable to spitsov. BUT...big but, this is only a 10k distance where hanging on by a sprinter should work.

unless, of course, we have a situation similar to the ladies race where stina the sprinter was overtaxed by a top aerobic effort.

cant wait...

 

[DenisMenchov]

Now imagine the dream team of Legkov (Vylegzhanin, Bessmetnykh, Japarov), Bolshunov, Ustyugov and Spitsov. It would be an incredible race for gold. This way I think Norway takes it with ease. Russia second, and Sweden in third. I don't see Halfvarsson beating Spitsov.

 

[meat puppet]

Larkov and Bolshunov put russia to the drivers seat. Following polto was the key on leg one. Theirs to lose now.

 

[python]

Re:

Larkov and Bolshunov put russia to the drivers seat. Following polto was the key on leg one. Theirs to lose now.

yeah, polto seem in shape to take the 50km...still, i would not exclude him being an ethnic russian having a little plan coordinated with the russians

overall, it was one of the more exciting relays i've ever seen. i warned above about the french strength and they delivered (probably b/c they read my post :lol: ). klaebo and kruger gave the norwegians the gold, but i am starting to wonder, having seen their 3d leg weakness, if this would hold true, had the russian team not been beheaded. lets face, it 3 of 4 of their team members today are stil eligible to compete at the junior/u23 level. . whatever..coulda would is not my cup of tea. italy held well for a while, sweden shamed tanked, finland was where i expected them...

 

[bambino]

Re: Re:

Larkov and Bolshunov put russia to the drivers seat. Following polto was the key on leg one. Theirs to lose now.

yeah, polto seem in shape to take the 50km...still, i would not exclude him being an ethnic russian having a little plan coordinated with the russians

overall, it was one of the more exciting relays i've ever seen. i warned above about the french strength and they delivered (probably b/c they read my post :lol: ). klaebo and kruger gave the norwegians the gold, but i am starting to wonder, having seen their 3d leg weakness, if this would hold true, had the russian team not been beheaded. lets face, it 3 of 4 of their team members today are stil eligible to compete at the junior/u23 level. . whatever..coulda would is not my cup of tea. italy held well for a while, sweden shamed tanked, finland was where i expected them...

Polto needs to be in shape, because Niskanen was 10 sec faster than him today, skiing alone for the whole time. I hope those 2 will make 50km tough race from the beginning.

Sweden was surprisingly bad, seems the Classic skis were horrible with no grip but no slide either. Rickardson lost 1m30s to Niskanen in 10km and that can't be only because of shape.

Too bad for Finns that Hakola got sick, but not sure that changed anything in terms of final rank.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Well, as expected, Norway got their Gold medal gift. Closer than expected, though. Had Ustiugov been there things would have looked differenty.

The French guy n the 3rd leg is the man of the race. Incredible that he could match Krüger's pace.

The big question: Will Sweden ever return?

 

[Discgear]

Well, as expected, Norway got their Gold medal gift. Closer than expected, though. Had Ustiugov been there things would have looked differenty.

The French guy n the 3rd leg is the man of the race. Incredible that he could match Krüger's pace.

The big question: Will Sweden ever return?

Exciting race. First Norse Olympic relay gold since 2002 truly felt as a gift. Swedes had horrible wax problems in the classical legs, but this is certainly the end of a good era for the Swedish men. Hosflot Klaebo an unique talent but also extremely arrogant. Like a boosted Northug in the tracks diminishing his competitiors instead of just beating them.