Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[Libertine Seguros]

Yakimushkin booking his Gulag ticket. Russland should have put Bolshunov in the 3rd leg.

He's only there 'cause Spitsev got injured. He did a lap and a half on his own in those conditions and clearly people reacted to leg 1 and the ski difference was nothing like what it was with Chervotkin vs. the field. Yakimushkin was on a hiding to nothing there.

Eurosport busy telling us all about how great the race was yesterday and how Diggins made the race and was the star of the day, and comparing Niskanen's leg to her yesterday. Again, I'm not kidding.

 

[roundabout]

being on the front is a huge disadvantage, so it's far from over

 

[Bubba]

He's only there 'cause Spitsev got injured. He did a lap and a half on his own in those conditions and clearly people reacted to leg 1 and the ski difference was nothing like what it was with Chervotkin vs. the field. Yakimushkin was on a hiding to nothing there.

Eurosport busy telling us all about how great the race was yesterday and how Diggins made the race and was the star of the day, and comparing Niskanen's leg to her yesterday. Again, I'm not kidding.

Haha..
Bizarroworld.

When Musgrave and Young retires maybe Eurosport will upgrade?

 

[Mayomaniac]

Maybe Bolshunov as the 2nd skier and then Melnichenko and Maltsev could have been an option for Russia.

 

[Bubba]

I suspect Holund will crush the field for the rest of the leg.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Haha..
Bizarroworld.

When Musgrave and Young retires maybe Eurosport will upgrade?

I think it's Patrick as the main commentator that's the bigger problem than Dixon as the analyst, although Posey Musgrave has helped out a bit from time to time a few years ago and has a much more recent frame of references, so less obsession with Petter Northug and Ole Einar Bjørndalen, who they still bring up in literally every race. Dixon has done a few biathlon races solo this season during the Tour de Ski and has been nothing like as bad without bouncing off of Patrick. Although it is Dixon who shouts "Come on, Jess!" to punctuate Patrick's hype.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Holund doing Holund things in the 2nd lap.

 

[meat puppet]

being on the front is a huge disadvantage, so it's far from over

Holund was smart to wait until making an effort actually counts.

Hyvärinen seems pretty bad, let's see if he can hang on.

 

[Bubba]

Sweden has limited the damage pretty well with their first 2 athletes, they could get a medal.

I suspect you are right!

Dream scenario for the swedes with the heavy snow fall.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Maltsev has hit the wall. This race is over.

 

[Bubba]

Wonderful with the swiss hanging in there.

 

[Mayomaniac]

The French are doing really well, Lapalus and Momo did really well in the classic part.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

After Maltsev blew up and Hyvärinen stabilised, it looks like Bolshunov will be starting right next to his good friend Joni Mäki.

 

[BullsFan22]

They had no choice but to put Yakimushkin. Spitsov and Ustiugov are injured, Belov not in form. Melnichenko is a skate skier. Semikov was in the team only for the 50km classic. I wonder if he would have been a better choice, but he just got to Germany and maybe doesn’t have enough time to acclimatize.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Lol , Klaebo goes super slow and the rest goes just as slow. Bizarre.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

I wonder what it was this time for Schlickenrieder? Behle? Weather? Air? This could be one of the worst results ever, maybe the worst. Not sure about that.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

They had no choice but to put Yakimushkin. Spitsov and Ustiugov are injured, Belov not in form. Melnichenko is a skate skier. Semikov was in the team only for the 50km classic. I wonder if he would have been a better choice, but he just got to Germany and maybe doesn’t have enough time to acclimatize.

The question then is whether they should have put Bolshunov on a classic leg despite him being their trump card, like Finland, and then run Melnichenko and Maltsev on the skate legs. But it's easy to second-guess. Would have been very interesting to see what happened if Chervotkin had handed over to Bolshunov with that kind of lead.

 

[Mayomaniac]

All the others are now racing for 3rd place, Bolshunov is doing his thing of the downhill and false flat parts.

 

[roundabout]

I said it's not over

Bolshunov may even have 1 big climb to try and drop Klaebo

 

[Max Rockatansky]

This race is something.

 

[Bavarianrider]

I hope Bolshunov tries to drop him on the last Burgstall. Do not go for a sprint final.

 

[meat puppet]

Bolsunov will attack on the last burgstall. But seeing as Kläbo has taken it easy thus far, he must keep a steady pace until it too.

 

[BullsFan22]

The question then is whether they should have put Bolshunov on a classic leg despite him being their trump card, like Finland, and then run Melnichenko and Maltsev on the skate legs. But it's easy to second-guess. Would have been very interesting to see what happened if Chervotkin had handed over to Bolshunov with that kind of lead.

If Bolshunov had Chervotkin like skis he absolutely would have hammered from the start. If he had Yakimushkin like skis probably not. But Yakimushkin didn’t look good at all, his skis weren’t great but it was mostly his body that was not up to where it needed to be.

 

[Silhouette]

Holund said it was the toughest conditions he's ever raced in. This should be interesting.

 

[Silhouette]

Or not. Bolshunov tired after all the races.