Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[Max Rockatansky]

For Germany this is a major achievement though, with their aging team and not good future prospects. I don't know, what went wrong yesterday, but today they were really fast on skis, even faster than Norway. And with good job in the range they were peerless. It kind of reminded some old-school relay some 20 years ago. Big gaps and top 3 being traditional Germany, Russia, Norway.

Both Boe brothers had the fastest course times in their leg. Lesser was the fastest in leg 1 and Fillon Maillet was the fastest on leg 2. I am really happy for Erik Lesser who was really beaten down by german media. Great to have such a comeback in such a short period of time.

And what is going on with Wanna be Fourcade Emilien Jacquelin. 4+3 in the prone position and then 0+0 in 23 seconds in the standing position?! Basically the same kind of strange things like in the Pokljuka mass start.

In biathlon, I've no idea where that German performance came from. Even with the Norwegian meltdown in shooting, Lesser, Doll and Pfeiffer were outskiing Laegreid, Dale and Tarjei which is odd that all 3 of them do that in one race. Norway had a meltdown, as did Jacquelin again, so the race wasn't that close unfortunately. Thought it wasn't a good idea for Norway to change the WC team and order after it worked so well.

Lesser & Peiffer release a podcast now and then which is called "Biathlon Doppelzimmer". They talked about Lagreid and that everybody seems to be very surprised about his performance this year. Even the norwegian coaches, who considered him as IBU Cup material and not as world champion or first contender of JTB.

 

[titan31]

Ya, I do think Laegreid is a bit odd but also wondering can he shoot like that over multiple seasons. His ski speed isnt anything special really (particularly for a Norwegian). His shooting is up there with Eder though and he obviously skis a lot faster than him but not at the JTB, Jacquelin etc speed.

 

[Koronin]

And what is going on with Wanna be Fourcade Emilien Jacquelin. 4+3 in the prone position and then 0+0 in 23 seconds in the standing position?! Basically the same kind of strange things like in the Pokljuka mass start.

Based on his post on Facebook, it doesn't appear he knows what is going on.

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This is what he posted plus facebooks translation:

Whaaaat ? Stat couché debout le début de saison : 137/150
Stat des deux derniers couchés : 1/13
Wait & see
Désolé les gars, désolé tout le monde ...

Whaaaat Status lying standing at the start of the season: 137/150
Status of the last two layers: 1/13
Wait & see
Sorry guys, sorry everyone...

 

[BullsFan22]

For tomorrow's 30 km there is no Diggins, Brennan, Stupak nor Nepryaeva on the start list... Not sure, what is happening.

Rest. Too many races for them this season. Nepryaeva also needs to heal her fractured hand, otherwise it could be a chronic problem for her. It’s smart not to race, and personally, I think they raced her too many races in Oberstdorf, taking huge risks with her hand.

Under normal circumstances they have a very good shot at beating the Swedes in the team sprint and the Norwegians in the relay. It’ll be interesting to see what’ll happen next season, when Sedova comes back, when Nepryaeva heals up and is fully healthy and fit. Also Sorina, she injured her leg jogging before Lahti.

As was mentioned, the Americans struggle a lot more in the classic technique. On that course tomorrow it’s going to be very difficult to stick with not just Johaug but the two Swedes.

 

[KZD]

Well, two interesting relays but Norway had to win again. Sweden completely failing in the ski wax department while in the men's Norway was able to recover from that in the first leg and Russia suffered from a bad second leg done by Yakimushkin while Bolshunov just don't seem at its best right now, although he is still a force to be reckon with. At least the good news is that we are going to have a very open 50km race and I wouldn't be surprised if Holund gets his third gold of the Championships.

 

[zarnack]

What concerns Bolshunov we have to understand he needed to make up 35 seconds on Kläbo and he pulled a whole minute on the Lapierre/Poromaa/etc group. All that in 10 km. After such feat it's difficult to have much left in the tank, hence he probably had no attack left on the last lap.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

That doesn't look too good for the host team in the team sprint. Looking really good for another Austrian gold medal. Also in the team jumping btw.

Not sure about the cc race in nc, but isn't this the team sprint course as well? So basically half of the starters are overlapped after Japan & Austria have finished their first leg?

 

[zarnack]

That doesn't look too good for the host team in the team sprint. Looking really good for another Austrian gold medal. Also in the team jumping btw.

The hosts are still largely relying on the aging core of Frenzel, Rydzek, Riessle, who are all already past their prime. Only Geiger from young generation is up there, but he has struggled in these championships. Japan is relying on good old Akito Watabe. Not sure, for how long can he keep it up.

In this context things look good for Austria and Lamparter may well take on Riiber on a consistent basis in the future.

 

[roundabout]

That doesn't look too good for the host team in the team sprint. Looking really good for another Austrian gold medal. Also in the team jumping btw.

Not sure about the cc race in nc, but isn't this the team sprint course as well? So basically half of the starters are overlapped after Japan & Austria have finished their first leg?

I think there will be a wave start probably for teams below 6th as I think they are over a lap behind on real time already.

 

[zarnack]

One lap on the team sprint course takes less than 3 minutes I think. Even if they give a wave start, all teams bar top 6 would be lapped anyway, because they seriously lack depth compared to top countries both on the jumping hill and in XC race. This could look weird.

 

[roundabout]

It's slightly longer and slightly more difficult lap than the CC team sprint, but I agree, there could well be 6 teams not lapped by the end.

Edit: 213 meters longer and 17 meters of climbing more to be precise

Edit 2: I won't count out Germany yet even from this position. They do have what I think is the nominally strongest CC team

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The hosts are still largely relying on the aging core of Frenzel, Rydzek, Riessle, who are all already past their prime. Only Geiger from young generation is up there, but he has struggled in these championships. Japan is relying on good old Akito Watabe. Not sure, for how long can he keep it up.

In this context things look good for Austria and Lamparter may well take on Riiber on a consistent basis in the future.

NoCo tends to follow where the successful athlete is though. The French were a big powerhouse when Lamy Chappuis was there, then a whole bunch of athletes like François Braud who had been competitive suddenly weren't after JLC retired because the funding disappeared. Ditto Austria after Felix Gottwald retired and the US with Bill Demong. Germany were the dominant force for a few years but that generation is getting old and the Norwegians, who'd been decent but unspectacular for a few years, are suddenly congregating at the top of the leaderboard because the success coming from Jarl Magnus Riiber is meriting a bit more attention to the sport. In another couple of years somebody else will discover a major talent, and then their team will start coming up to the forefront en masse too.

 

[RattaKuningas]

I think Yakimushkin won the race for Norway, to be honest, and likely the Russian coaches. Needed likely to have Bolshunov during the second leg, and Yakimushkin and Maltsev in the skate legs. Yakimushkin had 56 second advantage over Iversen at the start. He had a 20 second deficit at the end of it. Maltsev did the right thing, he skied well but controlled to catch France, Sweden and Switzerland, then he rested a bit and went on the attack, but it’s difficult to get away in these sort of conditions and he paid the price.

I also blame Bolshunov for not trying something at least on the last lap, but even earlier. He needed to use the entire Burgstall climb to grind Klæbo down. Once Klæbo was latched on at the top of that climb, that was it. The last chance then for Bolshunov was to be ahead of Klæbo before the final spike just before the final downhill into the finish. Klæbo knew that and he was in an advantage. Bolshunov, kept so close behind the Norwegian I don’t understand. It’s like he didn’t want to win, as if just catching Klæbo was his biggest goal. I don’t understand that tactic.

People just keep handing wins to Klæbo on a platter. I really don’t get it.

Terrible classic performances, again, for the Germans. If there’s anyone who shouldn’t have too many problems here in terms of waxing, it’s the Germans, cause they spent so much time over the past couple seasons preparing.

The French doing French things, snatching 3rd with a clever little dig by Lapierre. After a rather disappointing championship for them they redeemed themselves.

I think the first leg being so close together helped everyone, yes, even Yakimushkin, because without that gap he could have lose more time, and maybe been a minute behind. So Chervotkin won that medal for the Russians. Disappointing showing from Bolshunov, even if he did ski away from the chasing pack. The only positive is that he didn’t really exhaust himself today so he should be ok for the 50km.

Of course Bolshunov wanted to win, but one 3.3km lap (or even two) is not enough for anyone to drop completely fresh Kläbo no matter what they do or where they decide to attack. The only thing that could've stopped Kläbo from winning the race was a fall or broken pole.

 

[Bubba]

30km XC skiing then Strade Bianchi. Lovely.

Shame with Karlsson. Changing skis at first opportunity?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

And away goes Therese again. Now, in recent years in these endurance events she's actually run out of gas toward the end and been pulled back by the Swedes (which is also why there should be more legit distance events, because the 10s and 15s are all comfortably enough for Therese to operate a "start hard, go hard, keep going hard, win" strategy, whereas she has struggled to keep it up for a full 30k in Seefeld and in Meråker), but Frida's skis don't look good. Heidi has some really good skis here, and I'm just not sure Ebba has enough left in her legs to pull back the Duracell bunny.

 

[roundabout]

Current Johaug on a tough course? I think that's it.

 

[Bubba]

Lol... Fins gliding beautifully again.
Would be kind of awesome with Germany and Finland on the podium today.

 

[Bubba]

Charlotte Kalla DNF.
Beginning to look like the relay mishap was not skis alone.

 

[roundabout]

So Johaug is 50 seconds per loop faster

3+ minutes in the end it seems

 

[Mayomaniac]

I really hope that Stadlober gets a medal after the 2018 Olympics.
Karlsson seems to crash as often as a Dutch gc rider.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Well, Heidi and the Swedes seem to want to give her the chance, though. She's now pushing the pace to stop the three from getting back to her. Massive pileup and that Austrian love of Alpine skiing might just pay off for her. Hennig has both blown up AND her second set of skis are not good, which is a bad recipe.

 

[roundabout]

wtf

 

[Bubba]

unbelieveable...

Well, Heidi and the Swedes seem to want to give her the chance, though. She's now pushing the pace to stop the three from getting back to her. Massive pileup and that Austrian love of Alpine skiing might just pay off for her. Hennig has both blown up AND her second set of skis are not good, which is a bad recipe.

That's all on Ebba...

 

[Mayomaniac]

Well, Heidi and the Swedes seem to want to give her the chance, though. She's now pushing the pace to stop the three from getting back to her. Massive pileup and that Austrian love of Alpine skiing might just pay off for her. Hennig has both blown up AND her second set of skis are not good, which is a bad recipe.

Trust me, the Skis are so different that it doesn't really translate, the cornering is totally different.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Trust me, the Skis are so different that it doesn't really translate, the cornering is totally different.

Of course. I cannot cope with Alpine skis anymore. Enough trying to corner while going downhill on Nordic skis has completely cost me all of my bottle.