Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[Tricycle Rider]

ES International and the Anglophone commentators have given us much fun over the years.

Fabien Claude - pronounced "cloud", with a German 'au'
Katharina Althaus - pronounced "al-toose"
Johannes Kühn - brother of Julia Kern
Joni Mäki - Johnny Mikey
Hannah Auchentaller - pronounced "ocken-taller" as though she were Scottish
Hanna Öberg - pronounced "oy-berg" for several years, they get it right now.

My favourite was David Goldstrom having to announce the podium from a biathlon race, where Eva Puskarčíková - who the usual guys pronounced pretty well for the most part in truth - had made the podium, and announcing the "third place went to Eva... well apologies to Eva but I won't try to pronounce her last name".

The best Goldstrom moment was when Jaka Hvala and Lukáš Hlava were drawn against one another in a Vierschanzentournee head to head, and his brain near exploded.

I'm not sure who the American commentator in the women's Nordic Combined was, but he just plain didn't even try to pronounce Armbruster's name and just gleefully settled for "Armbuster" (pronounced like dustbuster) and called it a day. Ach du lieber...

 

[Mayomaniac]

If I recall correctly the Marcialonga often clash with Norwegian Championship. In Norway (unlike Sweden were skier moves to the big clubs) most skiers stay in their childhood club. So the three Slind-sister are always among the favorites in the relay (fun fact is that old Hilde Pedersen won it together with her daughters 20 years ago) and I think more than once Astrid did travel by private plan Saturday evening so she could race with her sisters the next day. I think it’s the same sponsor (a local business man) who paid it.

That's something that I respect, racing for your childhood club at the NC. That's a lot more "romantic" than just moving to a bigger club to have a top tier waxing team at the NC, one of the few things that I really like about Norwegian Skiing. Of course the fact that they still have the 50km race at the NC as an individual start is also something really nice, Sweden and Finnland (of course) are also still holding on to that tradition.

 

[Mayomaniac]

About the conditions in Planica, it's only gonna be a bit faster for the individual start races, afterwards the temperatures will once again go up and it's gonna end similar to how the whole WC started.

 

[Mayomaniac]

ES International and the Anglophone commentators have given us much fun over the years.

Fabien Claude - pronounced "cloud", with a German 'au'
Katharina Althaus - pronounced "al-toose"
Johannes Kühn - brother of Julia Kern
Joni Mäki - Johnny Mikey
Hannah Auchentaller - pronounced "ocken-taller" as though she were Scottish
Hanna Öberg - pronounced "oy-berg" for several years, they get it right now.

My favourite was David Goldstrom having to announce the podium from a biathlon race, where Eva Puskarčíková - who the usual guys pronounced pretty well for the most part in truth - had made the podium, and announcing the "third place went to Eva... well apologies to Eva but I won't try to pronounce her last name".

The best Goldstrom moment was when Jaka Hvala and Lukáš Hlava were drawn against one another in a Vierschanzentournee head to head, and his brain near exploded.

The fun thing about Auchentaller is that her father Armin already used to be a Biathlet and is now the headcoach of the American Biathlon team, so one would think that they should know how to pronounce her name...

 

[Discgear]

On the sharpest forum for XC-skiing in Sweden "Skidpepp" following post were published yesterday (my translation):

"Insider info from the racing teams - yes, Sweden didn't have super-surf under the skis. A noticeble but small difference how it turned out between different runners/skis, but generally all skiers felt that they didn't get the release that they wanted, but rather a "braking" effect. Maybe Anger had a hard time anyway, but Calle was clearly annoyed with the skis. Most annoyed however was the Finnish team that were terribly disappointed and even Pärmekoski was somewhat dissatisfied, something she rarely expresses.

The problem is that we've got newly fallen snow mixed with artificial snow that has been previously salted and competed on, which brings out dirt . This also in combination with freezing temperatures around zero, which makes the snow "fat", which actually means that it contains more than just water crystals (salt, dirt, wax residues). Conditions that are ideal for C8 fluor wax which is today not allowed. The waxing teams has some work to do in the coming days".

 

[OJRvE]

That's something that I respect, racing for your childhood club at the NC. That's a lot more "romantic" than just moving to a bigger club to have a top tier waxing team at the NC, one of the few things that I really like about Norwegian Skiing. Of course the fact that they still have the 50km race at the NC as an individual start is also something really nice, Sweden and Finnland (of course) are also still holding on to that tradition.

I guess the difference is in Norway the national team/region teams/private teams dot he waxing for all their athletes at the national races whereas in Sweden it’s the clubs responsibility. Lately the NSF forced all the athletes to wear national clothing instead of club clothing even in the relay which looks odd to say the least. I know it’s been a discussion to have separate race suits for the national and regional teams because currently the majority of all skiers in a televised Norwegian cup is racing in race suits that look the same.

But yeah, in Sweden we have a special situation where Ribom, Sundling, Andersson (and Kalla before she retired) all are competing for the Piteå Elit Ski club. None of them have any prior connection to club and town whatsoever and the club are a pure elite squad without kids, juniors or amateurs. Moreover people that are employed by the NSF like womens head coach Thomson are connected to the club. Calle is competing for his local club Sågmyra SK though. He left it for bigger clubs when he became junior and then returned when he was a star declaring he want to give something back. Karlsson is the other one still competing for her childhood club but that one is bigger.

 

[YavorD]

ES International and the Anglophone commentators have given us much fun over the years.

Fabien Claude - pronounced "cloud", with a German 'au'
Katharina Althaus - pronounced "al-toose"
Johannes Kühn - brother of Julia Kern
Joni Mäki - Johnny Mikey
Hannah Auchentaller - pronounced "ocken-taller" as though she were Scottish
Hanna Öberg - pronounced "oy-berg" for several years, they get it right now.

My favourite was David Goldstrom having to announce the podium from a biathlon race, where Eva Puskarčíková - who the usual guys pronounced pretty well for the most part in truth - had made the podium, and announcing the "third place went to Eva... well apologies to Eva but I won't try to pronounce her last name".

The best Goldstrom moment was when Jaka Hvala and Lukáš Hlava were drawn against one another in a Vierschanzentournee head to head, and his brain near exploded.

I'm being curious, how do the pronounce the name of Jakub Stvrtecky, (as he is relatively known name)?

I can only imagine the impossible task they are going through.

 

[BullsFan22]

100 athletes on a 5km loop would be OK, especially if the sprint was up a decent hill.

You ever done a 5km mass start with 100 people?

 

[BullsFan22]

If Diggins wins tomorrow, we’ll never hear the end of it. Let’s hope Ebba and Frida keep skiing well, and that the likes of Claudel, Hennig, the two Finns and possibly Østberg can fight for the medals. Diggins is too cringe.

 

[Discgear]

The outcome of today's race will be very much decided by the weather conditions. With a similar weather as past Sunday, I can't see the Swedish and Finnish teams being competitive. Swedes and Finns simply do not know how to master conditions taylor made for the now banned C8 waxes. If so, I do expect a total Norwegian and American dominance. With the temperature just above the zero instead of just below, we will have a much more even playing field in terms of ski preparation, but probably also a podium painted in Swedish colors.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I'm being curious, how do the pronounce the name of Jakub Stvrtecky, (as he is relatively known name)?

I can only imagine the impossible task they are going through.

"Stretchy" and "Ste-reck-ee" are two of the most common (with the same misconception at the end that caused British commentators to call Tomáš Rosický "ro-zick-ee"). They kind of tried to avoid mentioning him in the relay, or called him "the Czech"...

 

[Mayomaniac]

It's probably gonna stay just below zero, but they had an extra day to work in the new snow, it's gonna be less complicated.
Ganz went home, the heel injury she substained before the races in Toblach is still bothering her. Curious to see what Franchi will do today, she seems to be the only Italian athlete who loves really hard conditions. Last season she was totally cooked from overtraining.

 

[BigCoward]

You ever done a 5km mass start with 100 people?

It's 50km though isn't it. 10 people drop out oer lap.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Meanwhile the Flu is going around the Austrian team. Stadlober and Vermeulen are out of the next few races and in NC Rehrl and Seidl are sick/under the weather atm.

 

[Mayomaniac]

The say that the tracks are more compact and faster than on the weekend.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Another great race by Franchi.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The Swedes like the second half of the course more, so this will be tight, but I think the commentators on USA Ski Federation Propaganda Channel Eurosport will be in raptures.

"Can Jess Diggins win? IT'S WHAT CROSS COUNTRY SKIING REALLY NEEDS!" yells Winterton.

The sooner one of them retires and is off the screen forevermore the better. I think it has to be Patrick, because if Jess retired he'd just find a new favourite to push his US-obsession about. But he was never even this bad with Randall - and he was baaaaaad with Randall.

Edit: and they're literally cheering as the clock goes into the red for Andersson. Like, Jack Edwards isn't this unprofessional.

 

[meat puppet]

Don't like diggins one bit but that was well deserved.

Didn't check the weather conditions, but the Swedes' skis seemed slow so perhaps the post quoted by discgear was onto something.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Don't like diggins one bit but that was well deserved.

Didn't check the weather conditions, but the Swedes' skis seemed slow so perhaps the post quoted by discgear was onto something.

Nah, Diggins gaining time downhill is nothing special and pretty usual.

Can't hate on anyone winning sn individual start like this, it's well deserved.

That 6th place for Franchi is pretty wild.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Don't like diggins one bit but that was well deserved.

Didn't check the weather conditions, but the Swedes' skis seemed slow so perhaps the post quoted by discgear was onto something.

It was faster and more compact than on the weekend, bust still rather tough.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

"Doesn't she just sparkle on television!"
"This is what cross-country skiing needed!"
"Jess Diggins has done cross-country skiing a massive favour" (apparently not being Swedish is a huge favour because apparently three months of Sweden dominating is worse for the sport than a decade of Bjørgen and Johaug)

I don't care how much she deserves it. This is just becoming unprofessional and needs sanctioning. Screaming "YESSSSSSS!!!" as she crosses the line and cheering others' failure is not acceptable from what is supposed to be an international broadcast.

I know I care more about this than any of you, but then a lot of you aren't reliant on this broadcast. I know that Jess can't help that and if I was watching a mute feed I would still be annoyed and I would still dislike her because of her character and behaviour, but nothing like as much as I do thanks to their bias and obsession. With these two clowns in the booth, however, I'm turning this off before I go full Richmond.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Karlsson looking really not amused, like she stepped into a big turd, before putting on a smile for the cameras.

Franchi already beat athletes like Surkova and Kirpichenko in the Alpencup back in 2020. Last season she had similar problems like Östberg with overtraining and her weight. At the Italian NC only2 athletes where within 2min of her and everyone lost over 1min.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Karlsson looking really not amused, like she stepped into a big turd, before putting on a smile for the cameras.

For anybody that follows speed skating, I get serious vibes of the Jutta Leerdam / Femke Kok dichotomy out of Karlsson and Andersson.

 

[KZD]

Well there goes my prediction that Sweden would win all race in the women's side.

Despite not liking Diggins she did a great race and took advantage of the faster conditions that hurt Andersson. Fahndrich and Dahlqvist also with good races and Franchi amazing once again. Pärmäkoski disappointing just like in the skiathlon but Claudel was the biggest disappointment of them all. Maybe she hit her peak in January because even Dolci was well ahead of her.

For tomorrow, I still expected Krüger to win but faster conditions could make things more interesting. Amundsen and Holund will probably round out the podium but Klæbo should have a medal chance, can't see any non-Norwegian getting there though.

 

[BigCoward]

7 different nationalities in top 10. That's encouraging.