Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[BullsFan22]

People may not like Bolshunov for his stone cold demeanor and perfectionism, but without him and the Russians it’s a Norwegian national championship virtually every race the last two seasons. I just hope his schedule the next season or two isn’t full as it has been these last two or three seasons and he can peak for the Olympics and not burn himself out.

 

[Mayomaniac]

I agree, it's just it being a 'pursuit' that by the time we got 5k in was a pack race among the men was comical. I actually really enjoy the Loppet calendar and also ridiculously miss the Toblach-Cortina pursuit from the Tour de Ski, that to me was every bit as special and as important to the identity of the race as the Alpe (and I always was annoyed the women didn't get to do it).

The big thing is that we don't get enough "cross-country" in cross-country anymre, with all the short loops as you say. That's why I favour longer races being made up like bike races of huge long loops with some short loops at the finish, rather than the same short to medium length course over and over.

Chervotkin rules. Credit to him for his bravado, but he's pretty doomed it seems.

Yeah, Chervotkin was awesome. The whole concept of having a long pursuit after a 15km mass start on this kind of course was just a bit bad, maybe with a 30km mass start or just by making the 15km an individual start it would have worked out a lot better.
Svensson finished 10th, you can bet on the fact that he would have tried to double pole te whole thing if it was a classic race.

 

[WKA311]

Arnd Peiffer calls it quits with immediate effect.

Never one of the supertalents he managed to have a great career and won a lot due to sheer efficiency and circumventing mistakes. He also seems to be quite happy to step down while he is still competitive and after winning the recent silver, I think he chosen a good moment as well. Beijing might be that tiny bit too late for him anyway.

The next 1-2 years could be dire for the german team now though. Lets hope Riethmüller and Lipowitz will be able to transition to the Worldcup better than the generation before them.

 

[zarnack]

Oh, that's a surprise. And so sudden. Peiffer has still been quite competitive this season, so him going for the Olympics would have made more sense than for example Moravec, who is clearly past his prime. But it is what it is I guess. German's men team is going to face some difficulties indeed.

Meanwhile 38-y-o Simon Eder will carry on? He is still going remarkably well given his age.

 

[BigCoward]

Meanwhile 38-y-o Simon Eder will carry on? He is still going remarkably well given his age.

With the emergence of LTH he probably thinks he can have a decent go at some single mixed relays over next few years.

 

[BigCoward]

I've been doing some digging and can anyone who knows more about the history of biathlon tell me whether any female has ever had more wins over 2 seasons than Eckhoff?

 

[Mayomaniac]

I've been doing some digging and can anyone who knows more about the history of biathlon tell me whether any female has ever had more wins over 2 seasons than Eckhoff?

Without looking up the stats I'd say that Magdalena Neuner is probably up there.

 

[el_angliru]

I've been doing some digging and can anyone who knows more about the history of biathlon tell me whether any female has ever had more wins over 2 seasons than Eckhoff?

Magdalena Forsberg had 23 individual World Cup wins from 2000-2002 (14 in 2000-2001, 9 in 2001-2002). Tiril is currently at 19 so Forsberg is still out of reach with only three races left this season.

 

[titan31]

Would have assumed Pfeiffer (and Edef) would continue til the Olympics, so bit surprised Pfeiffer retired. He could easily medal at the Olympics like.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Without looking up the stats I'd say that Magdalena Neuner is probably up there.

She did best during her last two seasons, where she won 15.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Would have assumed Pfeiffer (and Edef) would continue til the Olympics, so bit surprised Pfeiffer retired. He could easily medal at the Olympics like.

He talked a bit about the Winter Games two weeks ago on television and again on his (and Erik Lessers) podcast this week. He isn't a big fan of the IOC and what they make out of the Olympics. The destruction of the environment, the corruption and the event itself. It's not enjoyable at all for him. In the end he wanted to end his career, while still being able to win races and to compete on a high level. That's why he felt, that now is the perfect moment. Also with winning a mass start this season, which gives him at least one victory in every discipline, he started. That's also why he didn't want to start the Single Mixed last Sunday with Denise Herrmann. He wants no big attention or asked every race about his career ending (like they did with Andrea Henkel). He just wants to retire now, work off quietly and then maybe return to become a coach.

Magdalena Neuner told a quite similar story about the Olympics in a recent interview. It seems that more and more athletes strongly disagree with that circus.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Tiril does it again. And also a good debut by Stina Nilsson.

 

[BigCoward]

You would have to say she is odds on to win at least one of the last 2 races to tie the record.

With one miss I would be hoping for a lot more from Stina's ski time.

 

[zarnack]

Hanna Öberg has for whatever reason completely tanked at the end of the season, so looks like she will drop out of top3 in the overall standings altogether. While Eckhoff and Röiseland are clear 1-2 overall.

JTB-Lägreid battle continues as usual - JTB clearly faster on skis, but more error-prone in the range. Really hard to call, how this is going to end.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Nice win for Hofer, who has had a fine season.

Wierer is eying the last podium spot now. It's gone wrong for Öberg, and Preuß hasn't been solid enough to take advantage.

 

[roundabout]

If there are 4 dropped scores (I think there are), then even Hauser is not out of it for 3rd.

Oeberg has 24 points to drop
Wierer 32 points
Preuss 41 points
Hauser 6 points

So assuming I did not make any mistakes with the rules and calculations and taking possible dropped scores into account it's

Oeberg
Hauser - 20
Wierer -21
Preuss - 46

 

[roundabout]

That was some awful shooting in difficult conditions

Battle for 3rd (dropped scores included)

Oeberg
Wierer -10
Hauser -12
Preuss -20

 

[Libertine Seguros]

You would have to say she is odds on to win at least one of the last 2 races to tie the record.

With one miss I would be hoping for a lot more from Stina's ski time.

Stina's ski times have been approximating those of Högberg and Vasnetcova on the IBU Cup, so her ski time here wasn't unexpected.

 

[zarnack]

Ironically the wind probably helped Nilsson here, because it didn't matter if she missed some targets, so did everybody else!

 

[BigCoward]

Stina's ski times have been approximating those of Högberg and Vasnetcova on the IBU Cup, so her ski time here wasn't unexpected.

I don't follow the IBU Cup other than the odd headline. I knew she was having some early season troubles, but when she was selected for the world Cup I assumed these must be resolved. As she wasn't getting picked for her shooting.
Hope she does get her speed back. The Norwegian dominance is repetitive.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I don't follow the IBU Cup other than the odd headline. I knew she was having some early season troubles, but when she was selected for the world Cup I assumed these must be resolved. As she wasn't getting picked for her shooting.
Hope she does get her speed back. The Norwegian dominance is repetitive.

I think it was more that as they didn't qualify any bonus entries from the IBU Cup, they only had one open spot for Östersund out of the normal slots because of Skottheim having called her season to a close. With Tilda Johansson, who had come in earlier in the season, having also called her season after the Junior Worlds, it was essentially a matter of one of the older athletes on the IBU Cup, which meant Elisabeth Högberg, Ingela Andersson or Stina Nilsson. Stina might be 27, but she's a rookie to biathlon, whereas the team kind of already knows what it has with Högberg and Andersson who've been in the system for years. Högberg's also had a World Cup runout or two this season. The team is under no pressure of losing starters, so it's almost a free chance to get a look at how Stina adapts, and especially helpful as she gets her first taste of the World Cup in the same venue she's done almost all her biathlon training.

 

[zarnack]

Wow, JTB was dominating the race with Lägreid around 4th position. But JTB blows it and ends up second... behind Lägreid. Just new twists and turns keep coming.

 

[roundabout]

JTB was going well and then, boom, regression to the mean.

And Laegreid takes the lead on dropped points, by 1.

 

[titan31]

Pretty much whoever finishes ahead tomorrow then. Good way to end the season

 

[KZD]

Just like in the World Championships, JTB cracked under pressure in that last shooting. He doesn't really seem to have the mental strength of someone like Martin Fourcade and if he loses this World Cup it will be mostly due to his shooting inconsistency.

Having said that, hats off to Laegreid. To fight for the overall in in his first full season in the World Cup its just incredible and his shooting continues at a great level (today even his skiing was back at a good level). Even if he doesn't win the World Cup tomorrow he is already the winner of this season with two individual World titles (plus two team titles) and two small globes to his name.

If have been enjoying Höfer a lot in the last races too, finally he seems to be delivering some what he showed in his Junior years.