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Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

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The other thing to bear in mind is that adding this to the Olympic program will probably change the Mixed Relay startlist as it is unlikely many athletes will do both, so some teams will target one race and some teams will target another, based on their athletes' skillsets.

Though we did see Johannes Bø and Eckhoff do all of them at last year's WC (not with same amount of success), and I'm not biggest fan if just means the same athletes will win more medals.

But of course it's too early know to what the depth between the countries will look like in 2026. I just hope to see a Slettemark brother/sister duo in the single mixed relay.
 
In other news. Swedish Roller Ski Cup started today with 15k freestyle on a hilly course in Falun
  1. Ebba Andersson 32:56
  2. Emma Ribom + 31
  3. Moa Olsson + 59
  4. Louise Lindström + 1.11
  5. Jonna Sundling + 1.25
Kind of expected results, Ribom is a Roller Ski expert and was equally fast in descents and flatter parts. Andersson was able to put 10 seconds in the uphil part each lap.

Karlsson didn’t participate because of her problem with NSF. She will most likely do some training camps with the German team (since her personal coach is now employed by german NSF). It is also offical that she will work with Ola Ravald in Östersund (coach of Linn Svahn among others).
 
IT IS absolutely horsehit beyond belief. The longest individual start is 10km. No 30 km races. This is so abmissal, I have No words.
It is very bad indeed. But last season it was just one race longer than 15k, now we atleast got the 20k interval i Davos and a couple of Mass Starts and Puirsuits.

10k in general is to short for the men I believe. I think they should have kept the mens program as it is. For the women it makes sense to increase 15 to 20.
 
FIS cross country has been going downhill for years now, they’ve made some good decisions over the years, but those have been few and far in between and they’ve been overshadowed by the terrible decisions. Now the new point system is that the top 50 in each race will earn points. They are hoping to promote the sport to countries that don’t generally earn points. Not a good move.
 
Lol, now instead of horrible sprints in Dresden we get horrible sprints in Milan, 200 IQ move by the FIS once again.

Removing one city sprint weekend and replacing it with another. If I am not mistaken, the first ever city sprint on the WC was in 1997. I remember them having city sprints in Engelberg, Garmisch and Kitzbühel (though those are towns, not cities), and courses were interesting, far more interesting than the boring Dresden course and even the Düsseldorf and Milan sprints. Last time Milan held a WC was in 2012.
 
Wow Just wow. That Point System is beyond hilarious. I have always felt the FIS point system is a bit top heavy. But what they have done now ist completely insane. A victory is basically worthless now as everyone and their grandmother gets heavy points now.
So they think by shortening and shortening the competition and making everyone a winner they ll promote the sport. What an absolute idiotic approach. Just when You thought you have Seen it all FIS comes up with something even more stupid.
 
Wow Just wow. That Point System is beyond hilarious. I have always felt the FIS point system is a bit top heavy. But what they have done now ist completely insane. A victory is basically worthless now as everyone and their grandmother gets heavy points now.
So they think by shortening and shortening the competition and making everyone a winner they ll promote the sport. What an absolute idiotic approach. Just when You thought you have Seen it all FIS comes up with something even more stupid.
FIS makes the UCI look like the best federation ever when it comes to promoting their sport...
 
I actually like the new points system in biathlon as it favours podium finishers (especially winners) when compared with the previous one that valued consistency above all. JTB should benefit from this.

As for the cross-country skiing one, its absolute crap and I don't think it will have any significance in promiting the sport. The only good think is that someone like Klæbo will be forced to race a bit more and if the Russians are allowed to compete next season (something that I doubt) it would great for Bolshunov as he races almost every event.
 
I think they have a point, to be honest. Nordic combined has been on a massive downwards trend for years, and it's of course too early for the women to participate in the Olympics, as the competition is poor, and not up to international standards.

Sure, the latter is the case for other sports as well, but otherwise FIS will never realize that things need to change. Just creating a women's World Cup and hope everything will be fixed by that isn't enough.
 
I think they have a point, to be honest. Nordic combined has been on a massive downwards trend for years, and it's of course too early for the women to participate in the Olympics, as the competition is poor, and not up to international standards.

Sure, the latter is the case for other sports as well, but otherwise FIS will never realize that things need to change. Just creating a women's World Cup and hope everything will be fixed by that isn't enough.
Counterpoint, including it in 4 years gives athletes and federations something to work towards, improving standards across the sport.
Obviously a relay this year would have been extremely one sided and Norway don't need any more guaranteed gold medals.
 
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I dont belive the X-games ”sports” they just added can be considered more mature than Nordic Combined. The depth in woman’s field are not there either and there are more problems such as ridiculous point scoring and too young competitors.

Moreover why force mixed event in to sports with high gender equality but stop woman from Nordic Combined. Although I saw something about the alpine mixed event being thrown out which is actually a good thing cuz the paralell I always crap when there is so big difference between courses and none seem to take it serious.
 
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I dont belive the X-games ”sports” they just added can be considered more mature than Nordic Combined. The depth in woman’s field are not there either and there are more problems such as ridiculous point scoring and too young competitors.

this is all true, but there's probably a reason why "Nordic combined 'had by far the lowest audience numbers' over the last three Olympics". This shouldn't be the main thing the IOC takes into account, of course, but I can see why it's a factor - and not how a women's event could fix that.
 
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New Biathlon points system is better imho. Rewarding winners better compared to before.. 6 points difference between the first 2 is way too small. Now 15 (on 90) is maybe a bit much, but better than 6 on 60.

However, Cross county one is a joke. Basically three 24th places are better than a win? 3 8th places better than 2 wins.. Really?
 
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The Blink Festival in Sandnes (The Ingebrigtsen brothers hometown) in Western Norway is under way. So far we seen 3 roller ski races but the summer biathlon starts today.

Here are the top 10s
Women
7,5k Climb Skating
Sophie Ireland Laukli Konnerud IL 35:161
Delphine Claudel FRA 35:292 00:13
Heidi Weng Bul IL 36:063 00:50
Flora Dolci FRA 36:074 00:51
Margrethe Bergane Konnerud IL 36:485 01:32
Ragnhild Gløersen Haga Åsen IL 37:006 01:44
Tiril Udnes Weng Nes Ski 37:277 02:11
Katerina Janatova CZE 37:568 02:40
Baiba Bendika LAT 38:129 02:56
Anna Comarella ITA 38:2710 03:11

7,5k Climb Double Pooling
Astrid Øyre Slind Oppdal IL, Team Aker Dæhlie 37:191 102
Emilie Fleten Gol IL, Team XPND Fuel 39:582 02:39103
Anikken Gjerde Alnæs Rustad Idrettslag, Team Ragde Ch 40:483 03:29105
Hedda Bångman SWE, Team Nordic Experience 41:364 04:17109
Kati Roivas FIN 41:495 04:30106
Karolina Hedenstrøm SWE, Team Lager 157 42:416 05:22110
Ida Marie Dahl Ringkollen Skiklubb, Team engcon 43:487 06:29101
Frida Ekers SWE, Team Eksjøhus 45:088 07:49107
Barbro Sætha Lyn Ski, Team Næringsbanken 45:519 08:32112
Solene Faivre SUI, Team Nordic Experience 47:4910 10:30

50k Classic
1 206 3505449 SÖMSKAR Linn SWE SWE - Team engcon 2:02:18.9 0.0
2 204 3425350 SLIND Astrid Øyre NOR Oppdal IL - Team Aker Dæhlie 2:04:36.8 +2:17.9
3 205 3205403 CARL Victoria GER GER 2:07:30.2 +5:11.3
4 211 3425863 ALNÆS Anikken Gjerde NOR Rustad Idrettslag - Team Ragde Charge 2:13:02.5 +10:43.6
5 203 3515221 FAEHNDRICH Nadine SUI SUI 2:13:02.7 +10:43.8
6 207 3425600 FLETEN Emilie NOR Gol IL - Team XPND Fuel 2:13:02.9 +10:44.0
7 213 3185497 ROIVAS Kati FIN FIN - Team Næringsbanken 2:17:41.0 +15:22.1
8 215 3505681 ERKERS Frida SWE SWE - Team Eksjøhus 2:17:41.1 +15:22.2
9 201 3425421 HAGA Ragnhild Gløersen NOR Åsen IL 2:18:48.2 +16:29.3
10 217 3505880 BÅNGMAN Hedda SWE SWE - Team Nordic Experience 2:18:50.5 +16:31.6

The womens field lack depths but atleast Laukli, Sömskar and Slind looks super strong. Weng have had lots of issues but seems to be in the upwards traectory atleast. Also noted Davidova is taking part, thougth she would retire.

Men
7,5k Climb Skating
Simen Hegstad Krüger Lyn Ski 28:551 1
Hans Christer Holund Lyn Ski 29:122 00:172
Ireneu Esteve Altimiras AND 29:253 00:3013
Clement Parisse FRA 30:084 01:1310
Eric Rosjø SWE 30:135 01:1817
Iver Tildheim Andersen Rustad Idrettslag 30:176 01:2216
Jens Burman SWE 30:387 01:435
Hugo Lapalus FRA 30:468 01:5111
Naoto Baba JPN 30:499 01:5420
Maurice Manificat FRA 31:0010 02:05

7,5k Climb Double Pooling
Johan Hoel Åsen IL, Team Ragde Charge 32:131 6
Herman Paus Asker Skiklubb, Team Ramudden 32:142 00:017
Andrew Musgrave GBR, Team Næringsbanken 32:333 00:202
Johannes Ekløf SWE, Team Ramudden 32:524 00:393
Amund Hopstock Riege Rustad Idrettslag, Team 33:105 00:5719
Axel Jutterstrøm SWE, Team Eksjøhus 33:256 01:129
Stian Hoelgaard Gjesdal IL, Team Aker Dæhlie 33:277 01:148
Magnus Vesterheim Kvæfjord Idrettslag 33:27 01:1412
Morten Eide Pedersen Lillehammer Skiklub, Team Eksjøh 33:369 01:2310
Alfred Buskqvist SWE, Team Ramudden 33:4210 01:29

50k Classic
1 4 3501352 NOVAK Max SWE SWE - Team Aker Dæhlie 1:59:21.5 0.0
2 7 3220002 MUSGRAVE Andrew GBR GBR - Team Næringsbanken 1:59:21.6 +0.1
3 26 3423707 VESTERHEIM Magnus NOR Kvæfjord Idrettslag - Team Kaffebryggerie 1:59:24.5 +3.0
4 34 3422208 BERG Stian NOR Hamar Skiklubb - Team Kaffebryggeriet 1:59:24.9 +3.4
5 16 3421239 HOELGAARD Stian NOR Gjesdal IL - Team Aker Dæhlie 1:59:25.1 +3.6
6 40 3424232 RIEGE Amund Hopstock NOR Rustad Idrettslag - Team Ramudden 1:59:25.2 +3.7
7 41 3190541 JOLY Thomas FRA FRA - Team Nordic Experience 1:59:25.3 +3.8
8 6 3501305 EKLØF Johannes SWE SWE - Team Ramudden 1:59:25.4 +3.9
9 12 3422029 HOEL Johan NOR Åsen IL - Team Ragde Charge 1:59:25.8 +4.3
10 38 3420009 JESPERSEN Chris André NOR Strindheim IL - Team Aker Dæhlie 1:59:25.8 +4.3

The usual suspects on the mens side. Kreuger and Holund are dominanting the climbing event as usual. Musgrave always lok strong during summer, as is Novak. Impressed by young Riege, he was top 10 in the Uphil race and the broke away with Novak and Musgrave in the masstart but broke his pole in finishing strech and was recovered by the bunch.
 

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