Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[BullsFan22]

The only way that Johaug loses, if she hasn’t been too affected by later arrival and general anxiety over Covid testing, is if the strong winds blow her away.

I expect the two Swedes to be up there, Nepryaeva and one or two of her teammates (Sorina and Stupak, if they are in form), the Americans are going to be up there if they can hang in the classic portion, and that can sometimes be a big if. Stadlober could be dangerous, Hennig should do well in the classic portion, but will likely lose positions in the skate and that will also happen to the Finns. Maybe Pärmäkoski can hang around a bit longer. This may truly be a ‘lottery’ Olympics.

 

[BullsFan22]

Terentyev has whatever kind of minor injury as well, btw, and is still in Italy. He'll take a flight tomorrow, but this doesn't really sound like there's too much to expect from him

I read that Terentjev left today. If he leaves tomorrow that doesn’t really give him too much time to acclimatize.

 

[BigCoward]

This may truly be a ‘lottery’ Olympics.

With how many people are dropping out, it may just end up being who gets to the finish line. It may end up that every event has a 'Steven Bradbury' winner.

 

[search]

yesterday there were only 2 positives within the bubble though, so it seems to work quite well so far. In regards to the Nordic Combined, problem was probably more that FIS decided to held a World Cup a couple of days before the Olympics. Riiber said, due to the wind breaks, they spent a lot of time in the tower, allowing potential infections to spread easily - and that seems to be what happened.

The Match TV article about Terentyev says February 5, but maybe it isn't quite accurate. Stadlober arrived late as well, btw, due to a positive test last week.

 

[BullsFan22]

yesterday there were only 2 positives within the bubble though, so it seems to work quite well so far. In regards to the Nordic Combined, problem was probably more that FIS decided to held a World Cup a couple of days before the Olympics. Riiber said, due to the wind breaks, they spent a lot of time in the tower, allowing potential infections to spread easily - and that seems to be what happened.

The Match TV article about Terentyev says February 5, but maybe it isn't quite accurate. Stadlober arrived late as well, btw, due to a positive test last week.

How is Stadlober expected to do tomorrow with traveling late? There’s a 7 hour diffence between Austria and Beijing. Not optimal.

 

[search]

How is Stadlober expected to do tomorrow with traveling late? There’s a 7 hour diffence between Austria and Beijing. Not optimal.

not sure how much of an issue the different time zones are. I read that some don't even plan to change rhythm, as most starts are late anyway. But yeah, in terms of acclimatization it probably isn't ideal. She did her first training session yesterday, and said that she expects more for a later race, like the 10k C for example.

 

[Mayomaniac]

I hope that Karlsson will be able to keep up with Johaug. A lot it's gonna come down to how hard they race the classic part, but skating at altitude (and with low temperatures) is one of those things that Diggins is really good at.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Say what You wanna say about China and These Games. But These Tracks and conditions are looking beautiful.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Reminds me somewhat of the Krylatskoye Ring cycling venue from the Moscow Olympics, all these waving routes snaking up and down the hillside in parallel.

The Diggins telethon team has been broken up, with Posey Musgrave coming in to keep Patrick Winterton on a leash and stop him from crying too much as for once his insistence on blaming the skis every time she isn't winning might have some grounds.

The Finns on the other hand are looking great on the classic legs because they've been so good with preparations for distance classic all year. No team upholds the tradition of distance classic like Finland. Praise be to Finland!

 

[meat puppet]

Pärmäkoski is in a good position. Only has to hang on to johaug and then sprint to win.

 

[BullsFan22]

Say what You wanna say about China and These Games. But These Tracks and conditions are looking beautiful.

Tracks are nice, but the wind isn’t.

 

[meat puppet]

Hmm, the wind is the only reason TJ is not guaranteed to win.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Pärmäkoski is in a good position. Only has to hang on to johaug and then sprint to win.

Easier said than done!!! Now she needs to try to hang on to Frida to sprint for silver.

 

[Silhouette]

Johaug's technique is quite a lot worse this year than the previous.

 

[meat puppet]

Johaug's technique is quite a lot worse this year than the previous.

Fits the conditions, though. Gliding finesse is not exactly rewarded today.

 

[Silhouette]

Fits the conditions, though. Gliding finesse is not exactly rewarded today.

Lucky for her, this season she has regressed to how she used to ski some years ago.

 

[meat puppet]

Niskanen was so dumb. She has more kick than stadtlober, but managed to lose. You don't use matches to drive the group into a headwinds, but attack on the last hill.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

44 minutes is a lot. Almost four minutes slower than four years ago.

Stadlober did quite well.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Yes, Stadlober!!! Can't think of anyone more deserving after that 30km tace at the last Olympics. Being part of the Cramer training group payed off.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Superb for Stadlober, after the heartbreak of Pyeongchang, and sad for Finland after all the work and being so great in the classic legs to leave with nothing.

In some ways it's actually kind of good that Johaug won, seeing as after a career like hers the fact she had no individual gold medals at the Olympics until today which just seemed wrong, but it is also rather... dull.

 

[KZD]

Well Johaug in a class of her own, she is now the favourite even for the 10km race especially after the disappointing performance from Karlsson who I never expected to be outside of medals under normal circumstances.
Nepryaeva was strong and got herself a medal in the final sprint as I predicted but didn't expected Stadlober to get a medal.

The Finns suffered a bit in the skating part but Niskanen is in the great shape and should get a medal in the 10km race

 

[BullsFan22]

Well deserved medals for Nepryaeva and Stadlober. The Finns, well, only Niskanen in the end, kind of missed their tactics a bit. They certainly had the best skis in the classic portion of the race, but maybe spent a bit too much time leading the chasing group. I am surprised by how well Niskanen has skied this season.

I don’t know what happened to the Swedes, especially Andersson. She was right there and all of a sudden she seemed like she hit a wall. Looked like a totally different skier.

Another very disappointing result was Stupak. I thought she’d be a shoe in for the top 10. She had Covid during the Summer, but she had some solid races. Not sure what’s happened to her if it’s skis or the cold or simply poor form.

 

[BullsFan22]

Another very notable race was Rygalina, she made the Russian national team just last spring, while racing the visma classics. I now wonder if she’ll get a place in the Russian relay team. That however means they may have to leave someone like Sorina or Stepanova out. Nepryaeva and Stupak need to ski the classic legs, unless they go with Nepryaeva as anchor, as they did in Oberstdorf last season. Rygalina’s focus was actually the 30km skate, so if she’s skiing this well today, she could be a definite wild card for the medal fight.

 

[BigCoward]

Johaug being this good and Frida that bad probably swings the odds towards Norway for the relay, if Weng makes it.

 

[Silhouette]

Johaug being this good and Frida that bad probably swings the odds towards Norway for the relay, if Weng makes it.

Fossesholm 4 minutes behind as 2nd best Norwegian doesn't give me a lot of hope for the relay.