Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[KZD]

In the meantime in biathlon, Norway has managed to pick up the whole top12 in the men's mass-start race in Sjusjøen today.

In the more than 15 years that I follow the sport, I've ever never seen a team as strong as the Norwegian men's team since the last two seasons and here I don't think the Russians would significantly change things like in cross-country skiing. Luckily there are only 6 spots per nation in the World Cup races.

If I was a smaller country like Belgium or Korea that have done this in the past, I would be seriously thinking about throwing some money at guys like Sørum, Strømsheim or Uldal to see if they took the bait.

Unless Fillon Maillet can return to his insane 2022 shape, or Bø has shooting issues like in 2022, there will likely be no real challenge for the latter. The rest of the chosen Norwegians will be fighting Samuelsson, Ponsiluoma, QFM, Jacquelin (if his head holds up) for the remaining podium spots. Hopefully in the women there will be a more balanced World Cup with the French and Swedes likely to be strongest teams.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

My impression is that Sweden and Norway will probably be hit the hardest by the fluor ban, they are the most vocals about potential problems and usually had great skis in fluor-friendly conditions.

After the Sjusjøen weekend the Italians and Germans seem to be very frustrated with their material and the ban. Also Highlight afraid that this might continue the whole season.

Tandrevold talks about an almost unfair advantage. They could toy with the competition today.

Interdiction du fluor : la différence de glisse entre les nations inquiète - Biathlon Live

Les courses de ce week-end, notamment à Sjusjoen, ont permis de constater une différence de glisse importante entre les nations, à l’avantage de la Norvège. Un avantage important pour la Norvège ? « Je serais extrêmement inquiet si j’étais un biathlète étranger. C’est à la limite de l’embarras...

biathlonlive.com

 

[Bavarianrider]

The Germans and Italians did not appear to habe waxing issues in Muonio, though. So lets wait and see. That biathlon domination for the Norwegians is crazy , though.

 

[Bavarianrider]

The Germans and Italians did not appear to habe waxing issues in Muonio, though. So lets wait and see. That biathlon domination for the Norwegians is crazy , though.

 

[BullsFan22]

The top Norwegians didn’t take part today, neither Niskanen or De Fabiani. It’s too early to say that the Germans will be dangerous this season.

Norwegians again getting covid positives en masse. We’ll see how this impacts them the next couple weeks.

Niskanen and Parmakoski way below par. Parmakoski was thinking about retiring after last season. If she has another subpar or mediocre season, she will retire, I am sure of that. Niskanen is two years older than Parmakoski, so we’ll see what she decides after this season.

 

[WKA311]

Has any woman better classic technique that Hennig? Her technique looks sooo smooth, almost effortless.

Some others might have a bigger engine, but her technique is 2nd to none...

Fwiw Hennig has been very vocal about working on her engine this last summer. She significantly increased her training load apparently

 

[Mayomaniac]

The Germans and Italians did not appear to habe waxing issues in Muonio, though. So lets wait and see. That biathlon domination for the Norwegians is crazy , though.

The Italian XC team did a training camp in Livigno at the end of last season to get extra training hours on spring snow and more time to figure out the waxing on certain conditions.

I think we'll see if it's true when we have typical fluor conditions.

 

[OJRvE]

Elvira Öberg very strong as expected in the swedish national opening. Missed a few targets but skiing was excellent. Hanna not that strong - I have a feeling that Elvira’s domination increase her pressure. Her best races last year was when Elvira’s was ill. Magnusson, Brorsson pretty ok, Johansson, Persson a bit behind as expected due to their difficulties. Heijdenberg a new name with strong skiing but not yet allowed to compete in WC. Skottheim, Nilsson just awful.

Mens side was dominated by Samuelsson but just like Elvira he missed too much. Ivarsson won one of the races, still a bit slow on skis due to his problems with the discolated shoulder. Nykvist good too. Melon ok. Stefansson, Brandt are good skier but one cannot expect anything cause their shooting is so inconsistent. Ponsilouma did not start because of hip injury, let’s see if he is ready for WC. Femling had poor skiing but said it was an improvement from the test race..

National openings in CC coming up this weekend. The talking is that Karlsson, Andersson, Sundling and Ilar had very good summer training. But Dahlqvist and Ribom have had all sorts of problems. Svahn looked promising until a month ago, but something has happened (probably related to her shoulder) so she is big question mark. On the men’s side one cannot expect anything from anyone except Poromaa. But he seems to be in good spirits going into the season.

 

[OJRvE]

And some sad news from Norway. Flugstad Østberg is again not allowed to compete due her health issues. Also Fossesholm won’t compete this calendar year due to physical and mental issues.

I did also read that Riiber has had all sorts of issues during preseason, sickness and the shoulder (again) so he is out of the national opening.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Elvira Öberg very strong as expected in the swedish national opening. Missed a few targets but skiing was excellent. Hanna not that strong - I have a feeling that Elvira’s domination increase her pressure. Her best races last year was when Elvira’s was ill. Magnusson, Brorsson pretty ok, Johansson, Persson a bit behind as expected due to their difficulties. Heijdenberg a new name with strong skiing but not yet allowed to compete in WC. Skottheim, Nilsson just awful.

Mens side was dominated by Samuelsson but just like Elvira he missed too much. Ivarsson won one of the races, still a bit slow on skis due to his problems with the discolated shoulder. Nykvist good too. Melon ok. Stefansson, Brandt are good skier but one cannot expect anything cause their shooting is so inconsistent. Ponsilouma did not start because of hip injury, let’s see if he is ready for WC. Femling had poor skiing but said it was an improvement from the test race..

National openings in CC coming up this weekend. The talking is that Karlsson, Andersson, Sundling and Ilar had very good summer training. But Dahlqvist and Ribom have had all sorts of problems. Svahn looked promising until a month ago, but something has happened (probably related to her shoulder) so she is big question mark. On the men’s side one cannot expect anything from anyone except Poromaa. But he seems to be in good spirits going into the season.

At this point I expect little from most of the Swedish men, nowadays Calle seems to be the voice of reason and that tells you all you need to know.

Curious to see how Karlsson will do, this was pretty much her first real, long altitude training camp in Livigno.

The Italian skiers performed well this weekend if you consider that they had a heavy training block right before the race (Davide Graz talked about 30 h of training the week before the race)

 

[OJRvE]

At this point I expect little from most of the Swedish men, nowadays Calle seems to be the voice of reason and that tells you all you need to know.

Curious to see how Karlsson will do, this was pretty much her first real, long altitude training camp in Livigno.

The Italian skiers performed well this weekend if you consider that they had a heavy training block right before the race (Davide Graz talked about 30 h of training the week before the race)

There was a test race in Vålådalen (close to Åre) with most of the national team. Augdal took part and won 5 seconds before Poromaa and the rest was outclassed. Anger and the sprint guys are capable of something. And then you have younger guys who looks promising, but that’s more for the future. People are speculating Myhlback going to podium race this year etc, but that’s not realistic. It seems like he is more at the level of guys like Rosjö which is great considering his age.

Yes, Karlsson opted for a high altitude approach this season for the first time. She’s been in Italy three times (15-20 days each time). I think she wanted to test now that there is no championship. 3 important championships coming up, and after that she will likely retire. From what I read it worked good so far and the tests looks promising. I think the key is that she had trusted coaches with her all the time.

I agree the results for the Italians looks good. It’s not fruitful to comparing with Norwegians. But they are in the mix with the Germans and the fins. Ganz third place in the womens race was pretty good since I think Hennig did really well. Will be interesting to bench her distance to Henriksson and Svensson with the Swedes and Norwegians the coming weekend.

Now with the current (awful) program in December. I fear we have to wait until Tour de Ski for the central europeans and american to really get going.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The interesting thing about Laukli's result is that she's been killing it in international trail running and just locked up the Golden Trail Series overall championship in Italy on 21st October!?! She is clearly super fit but has been doing vastly less ski specific training than the majority (if not all) of her competitors; I imagine her most important goal of the season is to win on Alpe Cermis and towards that end this result today is very good news.

If only the calendar had more variety and more pure distance. If I ruled the calendar, Sophia would be the undisputed leader of the American team based on aptitude for the races scheduled

 

[Mayomaniac]

If only the calendar had more variety and more pure distance. If I ruled the calendar, Sophia would be the undisputed leader of the American team based on aptitude for the races scheduled

She should switch over to SkiMo, it has more crossover with trail and skyrunning anyway.

 

[BigCoward]

The women's biathlon is going to be great this year, could also see a lot of first time winners since the 3 athletes that hoovered up most wins over past few years are no longer around.

I expect Tandrevold to take a leap this year now she is undisputed team number 1. Though I fully expect some Norwegian random to suddenly be a force.

Boe will overtake MF by christmas, unless something drastic happens, he might even approach OEB by end of season.

I'd like to see Tarjei win a few more races, his total victory count is quite low considering how good he has been for so long. Wonder if he ever dreams of killing his brother?

 

[Mayomaniac]

The Italian team for Ruka

Men: Pellegrino, De Fabiani, Ventura, Graz, Daprà & Barp (Ventura always gets a spot, because Italian internal politics are nearly as messy as the Russian ones).

Women: Franchi, Ganz & Comarella (yeah, only 3 women is a bit meh, but i guess the young ones will get more chances once the World Cup hits Central Europe)

Mocellini will miss Ruka and also more races because of a hand injury right before the recent Finnish races.

 

[Sciatic]

Nobody watches anymore, yet Fis insists with it's changes.
Frankly the sport is dying and the Scandinavians have nothing to do but cry about the fluor ban and how someone could mess with their Skis by putting such a product on the snow (mainly the Swedes are the one complaining)

I'm with you on the other changes (shortened races, too few classic races) diminishing the sport, but I'm glad about the fluor ban as a means to protect workers, namely waxers. In several analyzes of the PFAS contamination in blood samples from dozens of professions, professional ski waxers and firefighters have a higher level of contamination than in any other profession. In fact waxers have more contamination in their system "than fluorochemical plant workers and individuals in communities with PFAS-contaminated drinking water." That's not a good thing. I'm guessing we've all breathed in our share as well.

Source: "Occupational exposure and serum levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS): A review," American Journal of Industrial Medicine (Dec. 2022).

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajim.23454

 

[BullsFan22]

The Italian team for Ruka

Men: Pellegrino, De Fabiani, Ventura, Graz, Daprà & Barp (Ventura always gets a spot, because Italian internal politics are nearly as messy as the Russian ones).

Women: Franchi, Ganz & Comarella (yeah, only 3 women is a bit meh, but i guess the young ones will get more chances once the World Cup hits Central Europe)

Mocellini will miss Ruka and also more races because of a hand injury right before the recent Finnish races.

Can the team use Sinner? How are his xc skiing skills? We know he can alpine ski 😁

 

[Mayomaniac]

I'm with you on the other changes (shortened races, too few classic races) diminishing the sport, but I'm glad about the fluor ban as a means to protect workers, namely waxers. In several analyzes of the PFAS contamination in blood samples from dozens of professions, professional ski waxers and firefighters have a higher level of contamination than in any other profession. In fact waxers have more contamination in their system "than fluorochemical plant workers and individuals in communities with PFAS-contaminated drinking water." That's not a good thing. I'm guessing we've all breathed in our share as well.

Source: "Occupational exposure and serum levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS): A review," American Journal of Industrial Medicine (Dec. 2022).

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajim.23454

Yikes, that sounds really bad...

 

[Mayomaniac]

Can the team use Sinner? How are his xc skiing skills? We know he can alpine ski 😁

I don't think he can, but they might as well try something.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

The Italian team for Ruka

Men: Pellegrino, De Fabiani, Ventura, Graz, Daprà & Barp (Ventura always gets a spot, because Italian internal politics are nearly as messy as the Russian ones).

Women: Franchi, Ganz & Comarella (yeah, only 3 women is a bit meh, but i guess the young ones will get more chances once the World Cup hits Central Europe)

Mocellini will miss Ruka and also more races because of a hand injury right before the recent Finnish races.

Won't Sanfilippo be part of the women's team as well during the season?

 

[Mayomaniac]

Won't Sanfilippo be part of the women's team as well during the season?

She should. She did well in the rollerski races in Italy and is training on snow at altitude in Livigno.

 

[OJRvE]

Main takeaway from Sweden is Ribom and Dahlqvist looks good despite their different issues. Sundling won but was really challenged by Ribom. Had expected more but it is not now what really matters. Reported in media the issue Svahn had last two months is not related to her shoulder but hamstring. Should be able to compete tomorrow though and possible all three days in Ruka.

The men’s side weak as usual, Grate won and is probably better than ever though and Anger looked okay. Myhlback distant third with strong double pooling. Impressive of course but the level is not that high.

In Norway, Skistad did what was needed. Hard to tell how much faster she could have gone but probably a lot. On the men’s side Evensen and Jensen impressed, Valnes won and the french guys skied outside the course and ruined their chances. Nice to see Wang from China back, hopefully his Visa will be extended beyond December.

 

[dobrien]

Svahn starting tomorrow but no Frida? None of the sites I go to had any information on this, whether it was planned, if she's not feeling well, nothing. Anyone have any info?

Katherine Stewart-Jones starting, will be interesting to follow her.

 

[OJRvE]

Svahn starting tomorrow but no Frida? None of the sites I go to had any information on this, whether it was planned, if she's not feeling well, nothing. Anyone have any info?

Katherine Stewart-Jones starting, will be interesting to follow her.

Its according to plan. She will race on Sunday instead. I think Andersson is the only of the top skiers on the womens side who will do all three days.

KSJ was on the start list today but DNSed. I don’t have any info there so hopefully she will start tomorrow. Could be a good results even if foreign skiers often seem to preform bad in Swedish national openings.

 

[dobrien]

Its according to plan. She will race on Sunday instead. I think Andersson is the only of the top skiers on the womens side who will do all three days.

KSJ was on the start list today but DNSed. I don’t have any info there so hopefully she will start tomorrow. Could be a good results even if foreign skiers often seem to preform bad in Swedish national openings.

Thanks for the info, much appreciated. Hope KSJ starts; she had a breakout year last year and really would love to see her build on that. Better to bust the rust today than next week IMHO!