Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[BullsFan22]

It seems like Nepryayeva is called Terenteva nowadays. Shes married to Terentev I assume.

Nepryayeva and Stupak was very good and they are both still pretty young, so they should still be competitive. Nepryayeva won the World Cup fair and square in 21/22, but she wasn’t impressive at all before Christmas that year. In the 8 races before Tour de Ski she had a 5th place as her best result. Then in Tour de Ski she was solid and she was good in Beijing and Lahti, so those 2 months was very, very good. If the she comes back next year she will definitively be a contender for World Cup overall and the new point system should fit her well as she’s taking points in all kind of races, but when it comes to the Championship I would still back the Ebba and Frida (and Niskanen for the classic and Diggins for the skate) at their best above the best version of Nepryayeva.

Stupak is solid but never give me the vibes of a racer that will win big or regularly.

I think you are overselling Sedova (nowadays she’s Kuleshova) a bit. She has only one time been top 10 (9th) in the distance cup, and she hasn’t raced internationally since World Cup final in 2019.

Stepanova is hard to judge as she raced so little among the best before the Russians were banned. I wonder if she’s become better classic skier the last two years.

The Russian women’s best chance in the Championship is of course the relay, and then likely Terenteva the best option for the individual races. But to be fair I haven’t spent much time looking for results in Russia this season, so I have no idea how they have been skiing this season. For all I know Stepanova could have become a beast winning with one minute every week. I guess I’ll see when they return.

Kuleshova was out of the 19/20 season due to pregnancy and she then chose to sit out the next year as well, plus much of 2022. She said she regrets the decision to miss the Olympics. In retrospect, she would have been a strong asset, but likely would have taken a spot in the relay from either Sorina or Stepanova.

Stepanova has had big wins in skate races the last two seasons. I think she can deal with any skate race. Imo she would be challenging for the podium (at least) in skate races, especially distance. She also finished 7th in the Olympic sprint, just missing the final.

Of the current skiers, Stupak and Terenteva have individual World Cup wins, and I think they would have a few skiers challenging for wins right now. Of course we can’t be 100% sure at the at the moment.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Kuleshova was out of the 19/20 season due to pregnancy and she then chose to sit out the next year as well, plus much of 2022. She said she regrets the decision to miss the Olympics. In retrospect, she would have been a strong asset, but likely would have taken a spot in the relay from either Sorina or Stepanova.

She did some races both in 20/21 and 21/22 in the national circuit and was way off the level needed for returning to the national team and the Olympics in the races she did in November/December that season. Now she’s obviously been training better since than and it seems like she won some medals in that Spartakiad they did some weeks ago, but missing 5 seasons of international skiing really puts her in the box of wildcards.

 

[BullsFan22]

She did some races both in 20/21 and 21/22 in the national circuit and was way off the level needed for returning to the national team and the Olympics in the races she did in November/December that season. Now she’s obviously been training better since than and it seems like she won some medals in that Spartakiad they did some weeks ago, but missing 5 seasons of international skiing really puts her in the box of wildcards.

Agreed. We’ll see what happens.

 

[BigCoward]

He's insanely good. The argument as to who is the greatest ever can easily be made for any of the top 3, but I'd take JTB.

Edit. Best, not necessarily greatest (for now anyway).

 

[KZD]

He's insanely good. The argument as to who is the greatest ever can easily be made for any of the top 3, but I'd take JTB.

Edit. Best, not necessarily greatest (for now anyway).

Well, he is already bragging about being the GOAT on social media (for me its still Ole)

 

[BigCoward]

Well, he is already bragging about being the GOAT on social media (for me its still Ole)

Urgh, has he really. What did he say exactly?

 

[KZD]

Urgh, has he really. What did he say exactly?

'' I’m the G.OA.T and you know it

See you next year, everybody knows I’ll do it if I want

''

 

[BigCoward]

'' I’m the G.OA.T and you know it

See you next year, everybody knows I’ll do it if I want

''

Jesus, what an a$$goblin

 

[Mayomaniac]

Jesus, what an a$$goblin

It's the same dork who was using a golden rifle before even winning a gold medal (in a olympic year).

He might be a great athlete, but he isn't exactly humble.

 

[kingjr]

It's impossible to repeat OEB's feat of being at the top of the sport from a period that, from today's viewpoint, looks like the Middle Ages, to something pretty close to what we have today. So, G.O.A.T. I'd reserve for him. But JTB is certainly the best biathlete ever in absolute terms.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

It's the same dork who was using a golden rifle before even winning a gold medal (in a olympic year).

He might be a great athlete, but he isn't exactly humble.

I also particularly liked him getting some special gloves that read "WORLD CHAMPION" in gold after winning the sprint in Kontiolahti, wearing them for the first time for the pursuit... where he promptly missed 8 targets and dropped from 1st to 31st, by far the worst ever championship pursuit by a sprint winner.

 

[BullsFan22]

The funny thing is, he’s not even from Trøndelag.

 

[Silhouette]

Norway's depth is just incredible.

1100 athletes competing in the Norwegian XC national championships this year, more than ever before.

Petter and Even Northug take the silver in the team sprint behind Klæbo and Tønseth. Petter looked stronger than everybody else on his relay legs, more than 5 years after he retired.

 

[BigCoward]

Petter and Even Northug take the silver in the team sprint behind Klæbo and Tønseth. Petter looked stronger than everybody else on his relay legs, more than 5 years after he retired.

Could you imagine the arrogance clash if him and Klaebo had been in their primes together?

If I was building an all time relay team for Norway I'd still have Northug on the last leg.

 

[kingjr]

Could you imagine the arrogance clash if him and Klaebo had been in their primes together?

If I was building an all time relay team for Norway I'd still have Northug on the last leg.

Agreed, if there's one thing I would pick Northug over Klæbo for, it's the sprint at the end of a freestyle race.

 

[Silhouette]

13 km into the 30k and Johaug is more than a minute ahead of Laukli in 2nd place. Individual start and a hard course.

2 minutes 9 seconds after 20 km....

 

[Norbea]

20 km and Johaug is 2 min ahead of Laukli.

 

[Norbea]

She took the foot of the pedal in the last few km and ended up winning with a margin of 2 min 48 sec

 

[BullsFan22]

LOL

 

[dobrien]

13 km into the 30k and Johaug is more than a minute ahead of Laukli in 2nd place. Individual start and a hard course.

2 minutes 9 seconds after 20 km....

She took the foot of the pedal in the last few km and ended up winning with a margin of 2 min 48 sec

I need to sit with this a little longer, maybe get a different perspective, but this is my initial gut reaction...

If this isn't clinic worthy I don't know what would be. Not only did she crush Laukli, Astrid O. Slind 3:15 back, Heidi Weng 3:34 among others. Even if some of this might be attributed to Laukli et al perhaps being tired from a long WC season, this is an absolutely ridiculous level by Johaug. These aren't just any three random skiers she just nuked, all are solidly near the very top of the World Cup, and I imagine a classic interval start would have been even worse. Is there a single woman in the world who could have lived with this today? Jeez.

What Nordic really needs right now IMHO is the Russians and the viewership that comes along with them (I'm speaking purely from a sporting perspective, for the sake of argument just keeping politics out of it for the moment. Please no hate mail.). More competition, more viewers. The LAST thing it needs on the woman's side, just my .02 here, is Therese Johaug coming back and destroying everyone seemingly at will. I can't imagine being interested in watching that, and I'm a big fan of the sport. For anyone who thinks Jessie Diggins' personality is forced, you REALLY want to see forced, let's just have more of Johaug screaming "JA!!!" at the top of her lungs crossing the line after obliterating the field, as though the outcome was ever in doubt.

 

[Silhouette]

The result was entirely expected in this course and conditions at this time of the season. Johaug would not start this race without being reasonably sure she would crush the competition.

The 50k individual start for men was the most entertaining race of the season with Augdal winning before Klæbo. May 50k mass starts die a sudden death and never return.

 

[dobrien]

The result was entirely expected in this course and conditions at this time of the season.

No offense, but I don't really agree that something like this would be 'entirely expected'. She's been out of World Cup competition for 2 seasons and had a child, and she didn't just win, she simply obliterated a number of the next best skiers on the planet all while appearing to shut it down near the end. Outside of peak, and I mean PEAK, Jessie or Ebba, or maybe a missing Russian or two, who else is there in the world who could even think of touching this level?

This is the last I'll say on it other than that the clinic thread might need to be resurrected. Wow.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I need to sit with this a little longer, maybe get a different perspective, but this is my initial gut reaction...

If this isn't clinic worthy I don't know what would be. Not only did she crush Laukli, Astrid O. Slind 3:15 back, Heidi Weng 3:34 among others. Even if some of this might be attributed to Laukli et al perhaps being tired from a long WC season, this is an absolutely ridiculous level by Johaug. These aren't just any three random skiers she just nuked, all are solidly near the very top of the World Cup, and I imagine a classic interval start would have been even worse. Is there a single woman in the world who could have lived with this today? Jeez.

What Nordic really needs right now IMHO is the Russians and the viewership that comes along with them (I'm speaking purely from a sporting perspective, for the sake of argument just keeping politics out of it for the moment. Please no hate mail.). More competition, more viewers. The LAST thing it needs on the woman's side, just my .02 here, is Therese Johaug coming back and destroying everyone seemingly at will. I can't imagine being interested in watching that, and I'm a big fan of the sport. For anyone who thinks Jessie Diggins' personality is forced, you REALLY want to see forced, let's just have more of Johaug screaming "JA!!!" at the top of her lungs crossing the line after obliterating the field, as though the outcome was ever in doubt.

Yup, Johaug screaming in delight was kind of endearing in about 2011 when she won the Oslo 30k in that style, but by the time she's winning every endurance race by almost literally running away from everybody and still screaming like it's her first race win all over again got old very quickly.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Johaug is simply an alien.
Klaebo really is a complete athleze now, one has to damit. Augdal winning out of nowhere. The depth in Norway is simply mindblowing.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Johaug is simply an alien.
Klaebo really is a complete athleze now, one has to damit. Augdal winning out of nowhere. The depth in Norway is simply mindblowing.

Yeah, even if some of the top skaters weren't there/in shape that is an impressive result. I also wouldn't have thought that Krogh would still finish 4th, ahead of Andersen. Krogh is just so inconsistent nowadays, he has a hand full of impressive (mainly skating) distance races every season, but is rather unimpressive during the other races.

Ree really hasn't done anything impressive since dominating the 2022 50km race at the national championship (39 sec ahead of Holund, guys like Andersen and Krüger finished over 3min behind him).