Sömskar is a rollerski specialist, with outside hope of making a few WC sprint races. Slind is focusing on the ski classics. Laukli is a good skater and weighs about 50 pounds, which is ideal for uphill races, hence why she also did well in the Alpe Cermis last season. Like most on the US team, she struggles in classic, so not sure what to expect from her in non distance skate races. Looks like a Liz Stephen/Morgan Arritola 2.0.
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Sömskar is a rollerski specialist, with outside hope of making a few WC sprint races. Slind is focusing on the ski classics. Laukli is a good skater and weighs about 50 pounds, which is ideal for uphill races, hence why she also did well in the Alpe Cermis last season. Like most on the US team, she struggles in classic, so not sure what to expect from her in non distance skate races. Looks like a Liz Stephen/Morgan Arritola 2.0.
Three interesting competitions the upcoming weekend. Summer Biathlon worlds in Ruhpolding, traditional Toppidretsveka in Aure and Trollhättan Action Week. A bit unfortunante the latter collide even if the top skiers probably would choose just one anyway.
Swedish nationals in summer biathlon last weekend where Elvira Öberg smashed the competition with clean shooting in both events and skiing much faster than anyone else. She was almost equally strong last year so not that suprising. Ponsilouma and Samuelson looked okay in the mens even if the competition is bad.
There was also a Roller Ski sprint in Sunne won by Ribom before Dahlqvist and Rydzek in the womens side, and Anton Persson before Roman Schaad in the mens. Halfvarsson and Petter Northug took part but was eliminated before the final.
Swedish nationals in summer biathlon last weekend where Elvira Öberg smashed the competition with clean shooting in both events and skiing much faster than anyone else. She was almost equally strong last year so not that suprising. Ponsilouma and Samuelson looked okay in the mens even if the competition is bad.
There was also a Roller Ski sprint in Sunne won by Ribom before Dahlqvist and Rydzek in the womens side, and Anton Persson before Roman Schaad in the mens. Halfvarsson and Petter Northug took part but was eliminated before the final.
Rollerski specialist Matteo Tanel is only now slowly getting into shape, but he was hit hard by Covid this spring.
Anyway, I guess this season I'll mainly just watch women's races. Unless Markus Cramer is able to make a miracle with the Italians I fear that it's gonna be just total Norge domination + Niskanen in the classic races...
Suprised by Peppe Femling winning medals in IBU Summer Worlds. Sure competition on mens side with France and Norway not participating is limited. But for me Peppe will always be the 4th really guy sometimes doing a okay job and sometimes ruin it all for us. Never thought he would medal any international race. Now he made it twice.
Nice to see Vittozzi so strong again, not sure how she usually performs on asphalt compared to snow but those skiing times are impressive and glad to se her smiling again winning big races. Elvira Öberg had clean shooting last week so I thougth she would do better here. I heard she fell during fridays qualifying and perhaps damaged her rifle. Expected more from the other Swedish girls but the shooting is not there and competition is good on the womens side.
From the cross country not much report. Öyre Slind won in the 54k race Norway by 12 minutes over Kalva, Weng etc but was beaten by Ribom in the sprint in the Swedish 48k race. Sömskar also looks super strong.
Frida Karlsson tok part in the race in Norway, 14 minutes down on Slind. Sure she is bad on roller ski but it is a huge margin. When she trained with the german team Carl and Hennig pointed out how bad double Pilkington technique she had. They where eager to talk to her about it and for sure Frida can probably give some advise to the germans so it will be intresting to ser how that partnership pan out. Not sure how much they will train together going forward though.
Johanna Hagström and Ebba Andersson have both picked up injuries, not sure how bad it is but atleast they missed some training and where not able to compete this weekend. Linn Svahn is making progress slowly but won’t compete on roller ski this year.
Nice to see Vittozzi so strong again, not sure how she usually performs on asphalt compared to snow but those skiing times are impressive and glad to se her smiling again winning big races. Elvira Öberg had clean shooting last week so I thougth she would do better here. I heard she fell during fridays qualifying and perhaps damaged her rifle. Expected more from the other Swedish girls but the shooting is not there and competition is good on the womens side.
From the cross country not much report. Öyre Slind won in the 54k race Norway by 12 minutes over Kalva, Weng etc but was beaten by Ribom in the sprint in the Swedish 48k race. Sömskar also looks super strong.
Frida Karlsson tok part in the race in Norway, 14 minutes down on Slind. Sure she is bad on roller ski but it is a huge margin. When she trained with the german team Carl and Hennig pointed out how bad double Pilkington technique she had. They where eager to talk to her about it and for sure Frida can probably give some advise to the germans so it will be intresting to ser how that partnership pan out. Not sure how much they will train together going forward though.
Johanna Hagström and Ebba Andersson have both picked up injuries, not sure how bad it is but atleast they missed some training and where not able to compete this weekend. Linn Svahn is making progress slowly but won’t compete on roller ski this year.
It's kind of an unusual summer champs though, seeing as most of the time the countries like Germany and Sweden don't send A-teams to these championships, and with the Russians being among the main teams that take these competitions most seriously, the results are a bit more unpredictable. Obviously also everybody is in different places in their form cycles in their training for the upcoming season so there isn't a great deal to be learned from these competitions but nevertheless.
Yeah it is what it is. I watch mostly if it is interesting to think about pattern for the winter.
Great masstarts races today. I enjoyed the mens with Samuelson and Ponsilouma came from behind with insane ski speed to take Gold and Bronze. For the women the level was high with very good shooting from the top trio. Hoped for Davidova or Hermann on home soil but Wierer was very strong. Good showing from young Tilda Johansson hitting 20 targets, too slow on the range though.
In Trollhättan the weekend finished with 15k classic interval start where Hennig won the womens side in dominant fashion. A few DNS so not that good quality field. Sömskar third a minute down which is a good indicator but maybe she was a bit tired. Moa Lundgren second, a surprisingly strong showing. Rest of the field was Ski Classics and German team basically. Novak won the mens side before Pedersen, Hoel and Riege. Swedish A-team performed badly.
Great masstarts races today. I enjoyed the mens with Samuelson and Ponsilouma came from behind with insane ski speed to take Gold and Bronze. For the women the level was high with very good shooting from the top trio. Hoped for Davidova or Hermann on home soil but Wierer was very strong. Good showing from young Tilda Johansson hitting 20 targets, too slow on the range though.
In Trollhättan the weekend finished with 15k classic interval start where Hennig won the womens side in dominant fashion. A few DNS so not that good quality field. Sömskar third a minute down which is a good indicator but maybe she was a bit tired. Moa Lundgren second, a surprisingly strong showing. Rest of the field was Ski Classics and German team basically. Novak won the mens side before Pedersen, Hoel and Riege. Swedish A-team performed badly.
Vittozzi is looking really good in those rollerski races. She had a nose operation at the end of April because one of her nostrils was always blocked, so now her skiing speed should actually have improved. I guess the fact that Wierer is now no longer in the same training group and training with the men instead is also a plus for her...
I take it that the 3 posters above have all missed/or forgotten Bolshunov appearing as one of the star attractions at a pro-war rally in March. He even skipped one of the races in Russia for that, so it's not like he is an innocent bystander born in the wrong country at the wrong time.
American athletes take selfies with American presidents all the time. Case in point, Hailey Swirbul (and others) this past spring. I am curious as to why all of a sudden it’s relevant why someone is not allowed to do that, in their own country. Who are you to tell them what they can or cannot do in their own country? Also, do you actually realize this conflict started well before 2022? Do you know what actually led to 2022? It’s disturbing how the Scandinavians are behaving lately. Also disturbing how Thomas Bach is blackmailing Russian athletes. Curious why he’s never made such remarks with the US and Great Britain (among others) for the many conflicts in the Middle East (and elsewhere) over the years.
Last time I checked he wasnt a political or miltary leader who is in charge of Russian foreign affairs. Nor did he actively fight in the war.
So are we going to set up a "thought police" know that checks everyones inner intentions and if they do not fit our agenda, we exclude them from society?
If you are a true sportsman you would never call for a ban of athletes just because of their nationality.
You dont have to be friends with the Russians to compete with them, by the way. Heck, if you feel like it, you can even hate them. That is up to you.
But you never call for the ban of athletes who havent done anything wrong in regard to the sport or haven`t commited any legal offences.
Do you actually have some arguments and facts to point out, or just saying ‘whataboutism?’ American actions are still happening, it’s not like something that happened during the Crusades. People are calling out the hypocrisy, the double standards, the politics, and dare I say, xenophobia. Rightfully so.
Not to get too much into politics, but for what it's worth he was the only athlete there who didn't wear a Z on his jacket.
He also looked like they had just shot his dog, not exactly like someone who wanted to be there:
For the record, I'm not the biggest Bolshunov fan, but it's also worth asking how much of a choice he had as Russias biggest star from the Winter Olympics, without suffering serious repercussions. The guy also grew up 3-4 kms away from the border and probably has family on both sides, so I can't imagine that he's too happy about the whole situation...
What American action currently is comparable to the invasion of the Ukraine?
In addition no US action is comparable in its proximity or affect on the people of Norway.
People should care about injustice around the world, but it makes sense to care more about people shitting on your doorstep.
Deleted my comments because of the political debate. If anyone wants to debate this privately, feel free to do so. I am open to it.
At least Ponikvar is doing something right, he's pushing for universal waxing and ski preparation to negate the monetary advantage that the big nations like Norway and Russia have. It would still be down to the athletes/their coaches to pick the right skis for the right conditions. That would be a big step into the right direction and give us more of a level playing field, smaller nation would have the same chance as Norway with it's absurdly high waxing budget.
Anything would be better than what Manificat had under his boots during the relay in Beijing.
Or Russians with warm weather/really wet and broderline rainy snowfall, them messing up with those conditions is such a meme, the same could be said about the Finns/Niskanen in really warm weather (see Holmenkollen and the 2021 WC).
I guess it doesn’t matter since Russia will not be able to compete internationally but I read Ustigov has not passed the internal medical test similar to Toenseth a few years ago and some female skiers.
Why didn't smaller nations bond together and have a combined waxing/service team? Too suspicious others would sabotage them?
Probably this and they could still only match a fraction of the budget that Norway or Russia have.
Meanwhile in Nordic Combinded, I'd be surprised to see Lamparter competitive from the start. First he had basic military service and couldn't train as much and second he caught both Covid and Mono. Not exactly a great season prep.
Looks like the Norwegian and Swedish led idiots at FIS are not going to let the Russians compete on the WC this season.
FIS is just following IOC recommendations and it applies for all disciplines so I doubt Sweden and Norway are behind this, and they are certainly not the only NSF against Russia competing.
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