Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[Discgear]

WHAT on earth was that again today`Why in the world was this cut today? This is beyond ridicilous. Norwegian Mafia at it finest. What a **** disgrace
Incredible season by Bolshunov. By far the best skier of the season. Everyone outside of Norway will agree.

Oh yeah and Harvey once again showed that he is the biggest ***** in the field

The commentators on Swedish television thought Klabo went for the finishing lane one lap early. They were apparently not aware that FIS had shortened the race. As you said: disgrace.

Johaug yesterday took out the only contender to Flugstad Östberg in a racing incident. Later Tonseth cracked the pole of the one contender to Klabo in a racing incident. Then FIS racing committee shortened the men's race. A great advantage to Klabo and a real obstacle for Bolshonuv in the run for the Cup.

 

[KZD]

Bolshunov is clearly the most universal skier nowadays, the only capable of podium in every distance from sprint up to 50km races in both styles however Klaebo has merit because he was able to dominate the sprints and getting good distance performances in the Tours. Both were far ahead of everyone in the season, even considering Bolshunov's bigger versatility we can't ignore Klaebo's 13 wins against Bolshunov's 5. Of course, I agree that the world cup format favoured Klaebo but everyone needs to adapt to the formats present.
Next season at least we will have 3 skiathlons, a 38km race in the Scandinavia Tour and a 30km individual besides the Holmenkollen 50km. Proper distance racing back. Based on what he showed this season, Bolshunov has everything to win the World Cup. It would also be great to see Ustiugov back at his best.

In the women side, great see Nilsson winning a mini-Tour she clearly has the capacity to be a good distance racer and next season without the World Championships she can even fight for the World Cup podium (beating Johaug looks almost impossible).
Also curious to see how much will Frida Karlsson race and if she can already fight for the win in some distance races.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

No sooner do I throw my cards on the table regarding supporting Vittozzi for the crystal globe than she has her worst race of the season and ends what had been an exciting battle that I thought was going to go right to the wire like last season...

 

[bambino]

Re: Re:

As I expected Bolshunov was able to catch Klaebo but then he attacked near the end dropping Bolshunov and Harvey that was so tired that even manage to beat Bolshunov in the sprint for second

And then Harvey flexing his biceps after being dragged for 15km by Bolshunov. Glad he's retiring. Arrogant dbag.

Funny how differently people see these 3 seconds clips in television. My impression was Harvey (without mutual language) showed his biceps first and then pointing to Bolshunov (which he did) and thus giving big credit about how freaking strong Bolshunov was. Not saying thought that your perception is not correct. But wihtout them talking about it, we will never know.

Edit: Actually I found this from one of Harvey's interviews from yesterday:

“I told Bolshunov that he was the strongest today, even though he finished third. It’s not always the strongest who wins in cross-country skiing and that is the beauty of our sport. That’s why I’ve won races because I was never the strongest, but strategically, technically, and sometimes equipment is more important. He was the strongest today, but two were faster than him in the end.”

 

[frenchfry]

Re: Re:

As I expected Bolshunov was able to catch Klaebo but then he attacked near the end dropping Bolshunov and Harvey that was so tired that even manage to beat Bolshunov in the sprint for second

And then Harvey flexing his biceps after being dragged for 15km by Bolshunov. Glad he's retiring. Arrogant dbag.

Funny how differently people see these 3 seconds clips in television. My impression was Harvey (without mutual language) showed his biceps first and then pointing to Bolshunov (which he did) and thus giving big credit about how freaking strong Bolshunov was. Not saying thought that your perception is not correct. But wihtout them talking about it, we will never know.

Edit: Actually I found this from one of Harvey's interviews from yesterday:

“I told Bolshunov that he was the strongest today, even though he finished third. It’s not always the strongest who wins in cross-country skiing and that is the beauty of our sport. That’s why I’ve won races because I was never the strongest, but strategically, technically, and sometimes equipment is more important. He was the strongest today, but two were faster than him in the end.”

Some will always see what they want to see in order to fit their point of view.

 

[BullsFan22]

Re: Re:

As I expected Bolshunov was able to catch Klaebo but then he attacked near the end dropping Bolshunov and Harvey that was so tired that even manage to beat Bolshunov in the sprint for second

And then Harvey flexing his biceps after being dragged for 15km by Bolshunov. Glad he's retiring. Arrogant dbag.

Funny how differently people see these 3 seconds clips in television. My impression was Harvey (without mutual language) showed his biceps first and then pointing to Bolshunov (which he did) and thus giving big credit about how freaking strong Bolshunov was. Not saying thought that your perception is not correct. But wihtout them talking about it, we will never know.

Edit: Actually I found this from one of Harvey's interviews from yesterday:

“I told Bolshunov that he was the strongest today, even though he finished third. It’s not always the strongest who wins in cross-country skiing and that is the beauty of our sport. That’s why I’ve won races because I was never the strongest, but strategically, technically, and sometimes equipment is more important. He was the strongest today, but two were faster than him in the end.”

Some will always see what they want to see in order to fit their point of view.

What I saw was Harvey being a coward for 15km. Whether or not he flexed his muscles to show how strong Bolshunov was or not, he is still a coward. Klaebo is expected to do that, that’s the only way he can win races. He can’t win distance races where he has to do the work up front.

We all watched the same race Frenchy, we all saw that Harvey and then Klaebo wheelsucked. I am calling it like it happened.

 

[Singer01]

Other than poor standing shooting is there anyone out there/coming through that anyone can see toppling JTB and stopping him 'doing a Fourcade' over the next 4 or 5 years? I doubt he will ever be as consistent as Fourcade, but his peak is so so far ahead of everyone else, and there is a worrying danger that this isn't even his actual peak.
Of the top 25 in the world this year there are only 2 athletes younger than him (Samuelsson and Jacquelin) and they are well down in the 20s in the overall.

 

[zarnack]

Re:

No sooner do I throw my cards on the table regarding supporting Vittozzi for the crystal globe than she has her worst race of the season and ends what had been an exciting battle that I thought was going to go right to the wire like last season...

Vittozzi is still quite young, so I think she will feature at the front in the future too.

Generally I think in female biathlon there is a bit of a generation change going on. Some experienced ones have retired or getting over the hill. I think the likes of Vittozzi and Öberg look good for the future, and it remains to be seen, how a few younger ones develop (i.e Davidova, Tandrevold).

Of course the good thing about women biathlon is that usually no-one is able to dominate for long, and I expect it to be a close affair between various contenders in the future too.

 

[zarnack]

Re:

Other than poor standing shooting is there anyone out there/coming through that anyone can see toppling JTB and stopping him 'doing a Fourcade' over the next 4 or 5 years? I doubt he will ever be as consistent as Fourcade, but his peak is so so far ahead of everyone else, and there is a worrying danger that this isn't even his actual peak.
Of the top 25 in the world this year there are only 2 athletes younger than him (Samuelsson and Jacquelin) and they are well down in the 20s in the overall.

I indeed don't see anyone toppling JT.Bö on pure performance. Of course anything can happen and he could fall ill and thus have an incomplete season, leaving it open to others.

16 wins out of 25 is pretty damning this season. It's the question of whether he could improve further on it, or at least consistently get near such score?

As you mention Samuelsson, I think he has good potential to improve. He is way younger than almost anyone else there near the front. He is still wildly inconsistent, but after a few years he could become a contender for top 3 overall with some more experience, consistency and strength. I wouldn't go as far as challenging Bö though, yet!

 

[zarnack]

Re: Re:

Edit: Actually I found this from one of Harvey's interviews from yesterday:

“I told Bolshunov that he was the strongest today, even though he finished third. It’s not always the strongest who wins in cross-country skiing and that is the beauty of our sport. That’s why I’ve won races because I was never the strongest, but strategically, technically, and sometimes equipment is more important. He was the strongest today, but two were faster than him in the end.”

These are true words spoken actually, and - sadly or not - this is how it is in the era of mass-starts. I have always felt there are several guys, who would have done better in the interval era. That includes Södergren, Olsson, Bauer, and also Sundby in championship events.

Some guys just don't have that spectacular final kick, so they have to work to hope they could somehow shake off other people. On the other hand there are always some Northug-kind of types sitting in the group, who try to survive and hope for the end.

Interval start IMHO shows purer performance levels. Mass-starts and stuff like that obviously suit skiers with a good finish, even if they aren't the strongest over distance in general.

 

[zarnack]

Re:

In the women side, great see Nilsson winning a mini-Tour she clearly has the capacity to be a good distance racer and next season without the World Championships she can even fight for the World Cup podium (beating Johaug looks almost impossible).
Also curious to see how much will Frida Karlsson race and if she can already fight for the win in some distance races.

And to cap off my comments with women XC, I have to agree that particularly on tough courses Johaug will be the one to beat.

What I would say about others is that IMHO Ebba Andersson is overdue a world cup race victory. She has been so often on podium or near the podium that it's a shame she hasn't got a single victory to her name. Also in terms of hype Karlsson has kind of stolen her thunder recently. This despite Ebba herself still being very much a future star at this stage!

Karlsson I think will race a lot, because surely she is now out of juniors and she will be 20 years old next season. Kalla won Tour de Ski at the same age! Not saying Karlsson will do the same or maybe she will take a rest from the tour to concentrate on the rest of the season. But there are possibilities.

On the other hand Karlsson may face some setbacks too. Somehow I feel the success came too quickly to her. Immediately World Championship medals. But quick success can have its dangers too, i.e it's easy to fall from there and no-one has a perfect career run, everyone has setbacks.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re: Re:

What I would say about others is that IMHO Ebba Andersson is overdue a world cup race victory. She has been so often on podium or near the podium that it's a shame she hasn't got a single victory to her name.

 

[Rider]

The protest of the Russian team against the actions of the Norwegian Therese Yohaug against Natalia Nepryaeva in the mass start at the World Cup in Canadian Quebec was rejected.

“The protest was rejected because the jury did not have photographs of this incident. ”said the Russian team’s coach Marcus Kramer.

 

[Singer01]

Re: Re:

What I would say about others is that IMHO Ebba Andersson is overdue a world cup race victory. She has been so often on podium or near the podium that it's a shame she hasn't got a single victory to her name.

How many podiums was it for Weng before she won in the end?

 

[zarnack]

Re: Re:

How many podiums was it for Weng before she won in the end?

Wikipedia tells 36.

Damn, that's a lot. In an era, in which Björgen, Kowalczyk and Johaug cleaned up almost all races for years.

 

[KZD]

Klaebo shifts from the Norwegian sprint team to the Norwegisn distance team.

 

[alternator]

Laura Dahlmeier has announced she is retiring from biathlon. Details on her website (and Instagram, and probably all the German language media)
https://www.laura-dahlmeier.de/

 

[DenisMenchov]

She's following the footsteps of Magdalena Neuner. She too was only 25 when she retired if I remember correctly

 

[alternator]

Koukalova also announced this morning that she is retiring.
https://twitter.com/IBU_WC/status/1133325691112628224
Although I thought she had already made it official, I guess not.

 

[DenisMenchov]

I thought it was a done deal already too.

 

[MrRoboto]

The Holmenkollen 50 km and 30km will supposedly be interval start again from 2021 with 10 km loops.

 

[roundabout]

TdS final stage is now a mass start

https://www.fis-ski.com/en/cross-country/cross-country-news-multimedia/news/2018-19/fis-cross-country-committee-conclusions-during-fis-calendar-conference

 

[Libertine Seguros]

More sad news in the off-season, as today FIS announced that yesterday Mona-Liisa Nousiainen, née Malvalehto, lost her battle with cancer, shortly after her 36th birthday. She only had one career win, in the sprint in Liberec in 2013, but was part of Finland's relay and team sprint unit for several years, narrowly missing out on qualification for the sprint final in the 2005 and 2013 World Championships; after missing two World Cup seasons mid-career after starting a family, racing primarily at the domestic level as a result and missing Vancouver, she fought her way back to gain selection for Sochi, with 2011-12 and 2012-13 being her best career seasons, but form was dipping through the Sochi to Pyeongchang Olympic cycle and she retired after failing to achieve selection for the 2018 Olympics. Aside from skiing, she also had a passion for music, having studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, and also winning the TV talent show Maestro in Finland in 2011, where various celebrities tried their hand at conducting. She leaves behind her husband, fellow veteran cross-country skier Ville Nousiainen, and their nine-year-old daughter.

 

[meat puppet]

RIP Nousiainen.

In other news, johaug destroyed everyone in lysebotn opp. Also won the Norwegian 10k running title with a 32:20 time. Not a world beater but very solid for someone who is in the middle of the hardest training for the winter, not specifically track trained, and dare i say it, packing some upper body muscle. Gonna be a long winter, I guess.

 

[alternator]

Bad news from Norway, but it also feels lucky so far.

Sondre Torvoll Fossli had a heart attack, but was rescued by the quick action of his girlfriend and a passing cyclist, and by the ambulance appearing quickly in about four minutes (based on Google Translate of the article below)

Sondre Turvoll Fossli fikk hjertestans: Reddet av syklist

Sprintlandslagsløperen Sondre Turvoll Fossli (26) fikk umiddelbar hjelp av kjæresten og hjerte- og lungeredning av en forbipasserende syklist da han ble rammet av hjertestans mens han kjørte bil mandag morgen.

www.vg.no