Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[Samu Cuenca]

Let's at least hope that this means the French men will be competitive tomorrow.

Haecki Gross might not make the top 60 and miss out on the pursuit. Will be close

She probably won't take the start anyway.

 

[titan31]

Hochfilzen 2015 with Hildebrand, Hammerschmidt, Gössner could be the most recent one.

Norwegian women did it with Roiseland, Eckhoff and Tandrevold back in 2020 (also Hochfilzen)

 

[KZD]

A truly 'Norwegian' performance from the French women today.

Hoped for someone else winning rather than Simon, as she is the heavy favourite for the pursuit now.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Norwegian women did it with Roiseland, Eckhoff and Tandrevold back in 2020 (also Hochfilzen)

I figured these would have likely done it at some point, but couldn't recall the specifics - the weirdness of the 2020-21 Covid season results rather skews perception there, because performance levels in the early season were so heavily dependent on where people were and their rules meaning until we got into January the results were a bit unrepresentative (not that those three aren't top level biathletes capable of podiums at any given time, but the results were exaggerated).

Richard is hilarious at the finish there, lol.

 

[titan31]

If Simon or Braisez Bouchet go clear in the pursuit, we'll get very few finishers. Half the field are getting lapped at least id say

 

[frenchfry]

So far France has won all the medals they could have. Unfortunately I don't expect the men to keep up the streak, even with good skis. Top 4 is pretty incredible, but the French women are having a great season so it isn't that surprising.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

So far France has won all the medals they could have. Unfortunately I don't expect the men to keep up the streak, even with good skis. Top 4 is pretty incredible, but the French women are having a great season so it isn't that surprising.

The French men have been every bit as disappointing as the French women have been impressive this season.

 

[titan31]

Not like the Norwegian men have been looking very impressive lately either so could really go any way. Germans will be a danger too

 

[Salvarani]

So far France has won all the medals they could have. Unfortunately I don't expect the men to keep up the streak, even with good skis. Top 4 is pretty incredible, but the French women are having a great season so it isn't that surprising.

Scamming all the medals. Word to Julia Simon.

 

[frenchfry]

The French men have been every bit as disappointing as the French women have been impressive this season.

I have said this before but a few years ago the French women's shooting was hit and miss (mostly miss) and now it is one of the strong points. The men who used to have excellent shooting have gone in the totally opposite direction. Sports is strange sometimes.

 

[dobrien]

Laukli just keeps getting better; pretty impressive! I don't get the feeling Diggins is on the greatest day here, who knows.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

some top names are not on great form here. Karlsson being dropped like that upphill for example. Brennan and Carl nowhere when the pace is being turned up. Laukli and Weng is looking great!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I have said this before but a few years ago the French women's shooting was hit and miss (mostly miss) and now it is one of the strong points. The men who used to have excellent shooting have gone in the totally opposite direction. Sports is strange sometimes.

Simon Fourcade may have been a great athlete in his time, but his race breakdown was always absolute trash and he would always blow up after starting hard and never learned from it. It's like he's taken people like Jacquelin who used to have great race breakdown and get stronger and have some great head to head races on final laps and made him into a meek mouse who runs out of gas way too soon. Seeing Fillon Maillet implode so meekly on the last lap of his relay leg in Antholz was really tragic too. OK, not so bad as Alexis Bœuf's Antholz relay leg in 2014 basically terminating his career on the spot, but still, for a guy who has been as good as Fillon Maillet has been to now be where he is when he really isn't that old and doesn't have that many miles on the clock, while previous junior standouts like Martin Perrillat Bottonet and Martin Bourgeois République are now barely competitive at the Coupe de France let alone on the international calendar, is alarming.

C'mon Sophia!

 

[dobrien]

C'mon Sophia!

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Laukli has a great chance for her first «normal» podium, Butcan she win? how much of a gap would she need on Diggins at the top to stay away? 10-12 seconds?

 

[dobrien]

I love Flora Dolci fighting to stay on; come on!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Laukli has a great chance for her first «normal» podium, Butcan she win? how much of a gap would she need on Diggins at the top to stay away? 10-12 seconds?

Too much for any chance. If she has a good gap and then Diggins catches her downhill and wins a sprint, it's going to turn very ugly very quickly. All that heavy machinery I had set aside for bulldozing Planche des Belles Filles will have to be re-routed to Alberta urgently.

Edit: yea, it's looking pretty crappy up in here. Diggins is now racing very smart in terms of how to get the win, but dear God is it ever disappointing racing to watch. Simon Gerransing her way to the win - yes she had to work for it because others tried to make the gap, but that doesn't mean that winning Northug-style, by adding nothing to the race and then winning a sprint, is anything other than disappointing for the spectacle. Way too many of these races end with long, protracted downhills into the stadium and Jessie is so strong on those downhills; she has a clear advantage downhill over any of the athletes that can distance her uphill over this kind of length of climb, and if she wasn't winning a sprint against Delphine Claudel I'd think there was something extremely wrong with her.

 

[dobrien]

Too much for any chance. If she has a good gap and then Diggins catches her downhill and wins a sprint, it's going to turn very ugly very quickly. All that heavy machinery I had set aside for bulldozing Planche des Belles Filles will have to be re-routed to Alberta urgently.

She did her best but wasn't dropping the top tier today, needs a longer climb. Good on Claudel for giving it a go but it was a forgone conclusion. Frida apparently finding the trip over the pond to be somewhat problematic?

 

[BullsFan22]

Laukli has a great chance for her first «normal» podium, Butcan she win? how much of a gap would she need on Diggins at the top to stay away? 10-12 seconds?

Well that answers that question

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Too much for any chance. If she has a good gap and then Diggins catches her downhill and wins a sprint, it's going to turn very ugly very quickly. All that heavy machinery I had set aside for bulldozing Planche des Belles Filles will have to be re-routed to Alberta urgently.

Laukli played it safe for the sake of all of us and didnt drop the others on the last long climb. Felt like she burned her matches on lap 3.

 

[BullsFan22]

She did her best but wasn't dropping the top tier today, needs a longer climb. Good on Claudel for giving it a go but it was a forgone conclusion. Frida apparently finding the trip over the pond to be somewhat problematic?

Karlsson isn’t the greatest altitude skier.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Sundling was the last one to stat with the top 8, but she blew up and got caught, passed and dropped by the Svahn group. The long continuous effort was too hard for the sprinters.

But it’s still hard to see Krueger etc being able to drop Klæbo.

 

[frenchfry]

Simon Fourcade may have been a great athlete in his time, but his race breakdown was always absolute trash and he would always blow up after starting hard and never learned from it. It's like he's taken people like Jacquelin who used to have great race breakdown and get stronger and have some great head to head races on final laps and made him into a meek mouse who runs out of gas way too soon. Seeing Fillon Maillet implode so meekly on the last lap of his relay leg in Antholz was really tragic too. OK, not so bad as Alexis Bœuf's Antholz relay leg in 2014 basically terminating his career on the spot, but still, for a guy who has been as good as Fillon Maillet has been to now be where he is when he really isn't that old and doesn't have that many miles on the clock, while previous junior standouts like Martin Perrillat Bottonet and Martin Bourgeois République are now barely competitive at the Coupe de France let alone on the international calendar, is alarming.

C'mon Sophia!

In terms of performance, Vincent Vittoz was top notch. The mens team pushed him out because (as I recall) they didn't appreciate his methods even though under him the mens team was a winning machine. Simon Fourcade is a nice guy but I don't get the impression he brings the same intensity as Vittoz.

 

[dobrien]

Karlsson isn’t the greatest altitude skier.

Yup, and at 15 seconds back it's not like she got crushed either; she was just looking so on fire a couple weeks ago. She just sets the bar pretty high for herself I guess!

 

[kingjr]

Simon Fourcade may have been a great athlete in his time, but his race breakdown was always absolute trash and he would always blow up after starting hard and never learned from it. It's like he's taken people like Jacquelin who used to have great race breakdown and get stronger and have some great head to head races on final laps and made him into a meek mouse who runs out of gas way too soon. Seeing Fillon Maillet implode so meekly on the last lap of his relay leg in Antholz was really tragic too. OK, not so bad as Alexis Bœuf's Antholz relay leg in 2014 basically terminating his career on the spot, but still, for a guy who has been as good as Fillon Maillet has been to now be where he is when he really isn't that old and doesn't have that many miles on the clock, while previous junior standouts like Martin Perrillat Bottonet and Martin Bourgeois République are now barely competitive at the Coupe de France let alone on the international calendar, is alarming.

C'mon Sophia!

I always thought Simon had some sort of health issue, you could always hear him wheezing through the forest.