Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[meat puppet]

Svahn looks fairly comfortable still. Interesting to see if she can hang on and sprint to silver.

 

[Mayomaniac]

The Finns with really bad skis in warm weather, nothing new.
Svahn the positive surprise of the day, Hennig the negative one.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Haven't seen such a smart race by Karlsson in a long time.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

And now Slind hops on a plane to start the Vasaloppet tomorrow. This goes beyond my imagination.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Now imagine if Svahn raced the relay...
Comarella really blew a potential top 15 by not changing skis with the rest.

Krista already with sunburn on her legs. What is it with Nordic countries and their obsession to get tanned asap and the refusal to use suncreen and/or wear hats?

 

[KZD]

Great win for Andersson. She is really in great shape and once again showing that at least for women, skipping the Tour de Ski to focus in the World Championships seems like the right strategy. Kalvå with a great second place but she had some great skis beneath her legs too. Karlsson raced well but she is not in top shape and that explains the gap to Andersson. Hennig and the Finns were disappointing though they didn't have great skis as it was told and Svahn did much better than I expected.

I also think that it doesn't make sense to put Røthe instead of Krüger or even Holund in this race but a fresh Tønseth will be a threat in such race, he is actually my bet for tomorrow ahead of the favourites Niskanen and Klæbo.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Krista already with sunburn on her legs. What is it with Nordic countries and their obsession to get tanned asap and the refusal to use suncreen and/or wear hats?

For me it’s the same every spring.

The guys at Cottbus Cycling School like Heino Haussler were kind of obsessed by tanning, bleached blond hair, ear piercings and white socks. <3

 

[titan31]

Wish JTB had gone fully out today just to see how many people he lapped. Could have had half the field out if he did with the time gaps here, and that's with him skiing well within himself.

 

[Mayomaniac]

For me it’s the same every spring.

The guys at Cottbus Cycling School like Heino Haussler were kind of obsessed by tanning, bleached blond hair, ear piercings and white socks. <3

Wasn't that mainly a 90ies thing/the stereotypical Techno look?

Yeah, certain people don't get tanned, they are either pale or sunburned. During highschool a guy in my class managed to get sunburned forarms in Paris, at the end of April.

 

[Discgear]

Great win for Andersson. She is really in great shape and once again showing that at least for women, skipping the Tour de Ski to focus in the World Championships seems like the right strategy. Kalvå with a great second place but she had some great skis beneath her legs too. Karlsson raced well but she is not in top shape and that explains the gap to Andersson. Hennig and the Finns were disappointing though they didn't have great skis as it was told and Svahn did much better than I expected.

Yes, Svahns performance was both surprising and impressive. She has just come back after a two year long absence after a severe shoulder injury. And I agree, Kalvås skis were almost ridicously good, That doesn't bode well for tomorrow, and we might well end up with a quintuple Norwegian victory. Especially considering how superior the Norwegian skis has been compared to the Finns, with the only real contender to the quintaple in Niskanen.

 

[Mayomaniac]

So Comarella only changed skis after 3 laps instead of 2 like everyone else around her because she wanted to stay near Pärmäkoski (who had already changed skis after one lap because the initial ones were so bad) and then the second pair of skis was waxed different and slower. Meanwhile Pittin didn't change skis all and payed for it in the end.
Pittin was with Ribom and Gimmler before her skis were just too slow, so she would have been fighting for a top 20 result, while Comarella would have been fighting for a potential top 15 result. Oh well, could have gone worse with Ganz out of action because of injury, but without those stupid mistakes they could have done even better.

No surprise when it comes to the Italian team in the 50km race, Pellegrino already said that he'll race it yesterday. Him, Nöckler, De Fabiani and Salvadori is the best Italy can do in that kind of race atm, so my expectations are low. Similar results as the ones at the Holmenkollen last year would already be really respectable.

Mika Vermeulen is back after half the Austrian team got sick and I actually think that tomorrow Calle will outperform Poromaa. Burman also shouldn't be underestimated with warm weather and soft conditions. I just hope that the Finnish team will have better skis tomorrow.

I'll cheer for Niskanen, but frankly anyone but Klaebo winning is already an acceptable result and at least one non-Norwegian on the podium a good one. Frankly this season men's skiing has been horrible.

 

[Discgear]

I'll cheer for Niskanen, but frankly anyone but Klaebo winning is already an acceptable result and at least one non-Norwegian on the podium a good one. Frankly this season men's skiing has been horrible.

Totally agree!

 

[BigCoward]

Ordinarily I'd agree re klaebo. But I still think he is owed one for his DQ against Bolshunov.

 

[Discgear]

Ordinarily I'd agree re klaebo. But I still think he is owed one for his DQ against Bolshunov.

Bolshunov - Kläbo is 1-1 imho.

 

[BigCoward]

Obviously I want Niskanen to ski off into the distance, then die slowly while he gets reeled in and looks like he is in the worst pain ever, but somehow hang on. Preferably while klaebo is travelling about 3 times as quick in the finishing straight.
Also, cracking women's pursuit today.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Obviously I want Niskanen to ski off into the distance, then die slowly while he gets reeled in and looks like he is in the worst pain ever, but somehow hang on. Preferably while klaebo is travelling about 3 times as quick in the finishing straight.
Also, cracking women's pursuit today.

Indeed. Further back Auchentaller impressed me, she gained 28 places.

 

[KZD]

Women's pursuit was quite interesting indeed.

I don't follow much Nordic Combined but Riiber winning four gold medals in a single World Championships is mightly impressive.
The only guy that I remember winning four medals in a Nordic World Championships was Northug in 2015 but in cross-country skiing there are more races.

 

[DenisMenchov]

Ordinarily I'd agree re klaebo. But I still think he is owed one for his DQ against Bolshunov.

He literally broke Bolshunov's pole because he couldn't stand to lose that race. He's not owed anything. In his next 2 major distance races against Bolshunov he was 9 minutes behind in the first and DNFed the second race to avoid further humiliation.

This course is much harder than the Oberstdorf, so I don't see him winning anyway. I'll be rooting for Niskanen too of course.

 

[Lequack]

Great racing today, at least for the 2nd and 3rd. Ebba was just too strong. But nonetheless it was great scenes with fans and the sun.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1631994524581986306

View: https://twitter.com/duledoz/status/1631994524581986306?s=20

 

[BigCoward]

He literally broke Bolshunov's pole because he couldn't stand to lose that race.

I think Bolshunov blatantly cut him up.

And the annoying thing (for him) is he didn't need to get involved. Any line he took he still would have easily beat bolshunov in a sprint

 

[DenisMenchov]

I think Bolshunov blatantly cut him up.

And the annoying thing (for him) is he didn't need to get involved. Any line he took he still would have easily beat bolshunov in a sprint

b1. Except he didn't, Bolshunov did everything by the rules. That's why Klaebo was DQed

b2. Not really, had he gone for the inside line, he would need to "brake" and lose the momentum. Accelerating and Double polling after 50km and in a sprint are very different, especially in Oberstdorf that has that nasty little climbg before the downhill into the finish. Maybe Klaebo would be able to get back up to speed, but it would be highly unlikely that he could get past Bolshunov on the inside.

 

[Mayomaniac]

So Roethe is out of the race because he isn't feeling well/has a cold and Holund or Krüger are still not getting a chance, Nyenget is his replacement.
With all the respect to him, he did win the Holmenkollen last season after all, he was good at the start of the season, but hasn't shown that much afterwards.
Is the Norwegian coach terrified that one of those 2 could make the race hard from further out and not just hold hands with Klaebo?

 

[Lequack]

Niskanen just needs to stop being a nice guy and destroy everyone

 

[Mayomaniac]

Niskanen just needs to stop being a nice guy and destroy everyone

The Finns also need to have good skis in warm weather, for once...

 

[search]

So Roethe is out of the race because he isn't feeling well/has a cold and Holund or Krüger are still not getting a chance, Nyenget is his replacement.

Especially Krueger could probably even win this. But I guess they went home already?