Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[BigCoward]

I'll be damned, slind did it

Took a bucket in the last 5 k.

 

[meat puppet]

Took a bucket in the last 5 k.

And trended upwards from the 10,6k split on.

 

[Mayomaniac]

See, I told you that Slind was gonna win. 😃
Yeah, the groups played a big role.
Laukli was probably instructed by team cringe not to help Carl, despite it being beneficial to her own ambitions. That said, Carl probably started too fast, otherwise you'd expect her to gain time on the 2nd half.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

What happened to Carollo? Was with Amundsen who started 1min later at the turning point only to loose +1min on the downhill, did he crash?

We saw him in the picture behind Amundsen at the TV point at 15 km and he looked cooked with very stuff movements. Could be a crash, but looked like he just couldnt keep up.

Laukli was probably instructed by team cringe not to help Carl, despite it being beneficial to her own ambitions. That said, Carl probably started too fast, otherwise you'd expect her to gain time on the 2nd half.

I don’t think Laukli was able to help. She must be what, 15 kilos less than Carl and shes generally very bad in the high speed skating. When we saw then crust at the top and Carl chased Janatova Laukli even had to give a smal gap and she was fighting as hell just to keep contact.

Carl really blew it with that super fast start. Leading with 10 seconds after 5 minutes of racing is definitively bad pacing.

In the women’s race the groups made a huge difference. It’s hard to know how much help Johaug got, but she was thanking Fosnæs in the finish area, so I guess a bit more than just in the stadium at the end. Slind had huge advantage with a lot of help from Ilar in the last 10 km.

All in all a great course, would be even better with bigger start gaps and if the race ended with one loop of the normal 5k loop.

 

[BigCoward]

I cant see a route to Diggins winning now. Unless/even if she wins a classic sprint.

 

[BullsFan22]

My opinion is that tomorrow Slind and Johaug will work together to keep the gap. Niskanen starts 20 seconds behind Slind and considering the good form she is in, she could close the gap quickly (hopefully she’s smart about it), and those 3 will work to stay away from Diggins and likely Weng. If Weng wants to have a chance in this tour, she better work with Diggins, Carl, Ilar and whoever else joins up.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Niskanen catching Slind with 20 seconds wouldn’t be impossible. But with Johaug just a couple of seconds behind Slind I think there is close to 0% chance that Niskanen will catch up with them. I see Johaug and Slind going together and being the fastest group out there, and I expect big margins. I think the question about groupings are if Carl will start full gas and catch up 7 seconds on Niskanen or if she’s going more conservative and waiting for Diggins and Weng.

 

[KZD]

After today chances of Johaug or even Niskanen winning increase a lot as Diggins suffered more than expected and would have lost more time if it wasn't for Kern.

I don't think its impossible that Niskanen catches the two Norwegians as she is in peak shape but if I was Carl I would do everything I could to close the gap at the start.

 

[DenisMenchov]

Prime Bolshunov would gain a minute on eberyone but Amundsen I'd recon. The guy spent his best years outside of top competition. Ironically, he was kicked out just as he absolutely demolished Klaebo in Beijing. Who would have thought back then that we would be taking about Klaebo winning all golds at World Champs just 3 years later?!

 

[BullsFan22]

Prime Bolshunov would gain a minute on eberyone but Amundsen I'd recon. The guy spent his best years outside of top competition. Ironically, he was kicked out just as he absolutely demolished Klaebo in Beijing. Who would have thought back then that we would be taking about Klaebo winning all golds at World Champs just 3 years later?!

I believe Ustiugov is more talented than Bolshunov, but unfortunately we didn’t even see 1/4 of his potential fulfilled. Anyone able to upend a peak Sundby race after race when they’re 40 seconds ahead of the chasing group, to win qualifications by 4, 5 seconds, to drop a peak Pellegrino in a skate sprint, has some serious talent. Imagine a team sprint with those two men. Should have happened in 2022, and obviously in 2018, but we can thank the poodles in the IOC.

 

[OJRvE]

Without the help from Ilar. Slind is not winning yesterday’s race. Johaug got some drafting downhill as well. I think it’s strange FIS does nothing to prevent it and fans actually consider this to be part of the sport.

Multi-loops with skiers drafting other on different laps are worse but this is not great either.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Without the help from Ilar. Slind is not winning yesterday’s race. Johaug got some drafting downhill as well. I think it’s strange FIS does nothing to prevent it and fans actually consider this to be part of the sport.

Multi-loops with skiers drafting other on different laps are worse but this is not great either.

Some of the Italians have said that you should have a drafting ban, like in cycling ITTs and Vermeulen suggested that next time the start interval should be 1min between each skier, so 2min between every top skier.

I guess they didn't sleep well last night, way too many fireworks once again and at 1:30 there was a fire alarm and a smaller hotel in Toblach had to be evacuated.

 

[BullsFan22]

Some of the Italians have said that you should have a drafting ban, like in cycling ITTs and Vermeulen suggested that next time the start interval should be 1min between each skier, so 2min between every top skier.

I guess they didn't sleep well last night, way too many fireworks once again and at 1:30 there was a fire alarm and a smaller hotel in Toblach had to be evacuated.

That’s rather unfortunate. But even if everything went well for new years there, why would they start today’s races earlier than the other races? I know they have to transfer to Val Di Fiemme after the race, buts it’s not like they’re flying to China and they need to leave early. Not the first time this has been the case, sadly.

 

[search]

That’s rather unfortunate. But even if everything went well for new years there, why would they start today’s races earlier than the other races? I know they have to transfer to Val Di Fiemme after the race, buts it’s not like they’re flying to China and they need to leave early. Not the first time this has been the case, sadly.

to get things finished before the ski jumping starts.

Already yesterday, Gustaf Berglund started the race with Marcus Grate's poles, by the way. Let's see what they manage to do with the lack of sleep on top

 

[BullsFan22]

to get things finished before the ski jumping starts.

Already yesterday, Gustaf Berglund started the race with Marcus Grate's poles, by the way. Let's see what they manage to do with the lack of sleep on top

I understand that it’s the four hills tournament, but xc always gets the short end of the stick.

 

[KZD]

If the Tour de Ski didn't end with the final climb, Anger could actually podium this. He was crazy strong today.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Anger is a beast, he has been great over the last 2 days.
He was always leading the chase.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Niskanen starting fast, but there's a ton of hip and upper body rotation in her diagonal stride today. When Diggins looks smoother than you in classic skiing it might be a problem.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Niskanen catching Slind with 20 seconds wouldn’t be impossible. But with Johaug just a couple of seconds behind Slind I think there is close to 0% chance that Niskanen will catch up with them. I see Johaug and Slind going together and being the fastest group out there, and I expect big margins.

3 km into the women’s race it looks just as I expected/feared. The gaps will be massive today.

 

[Mayomaniac]

3 km into the women’s race it looks just as I expected/feared. The gaps will be massive today.

At some point Niskanen's classic skiing looked as bad as Rosie Brennan, but she seems to have found a bit more stability right now.

Heidi Weng trying to pull a Gerrans on Diggins...

 

[Mayomaniac]

I expect Slind will try to wreck Johaug with her uphill double poling on the 2nd climb during the final lap

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

I expect Slind will try to wreck Johaug with her uphill double poling on the 2nd climb during the final lap

I don’t think so. Johaug is too strong. But Slind should crush her in the stadium and win.

 

[BullsFan22]

Didn’t expect for Stewart-Jones to hang on to Weng and Diggins.

 

[KZD]

Well on the plus side Diggins won't win the Tour de Ski this season, on the down side Johaug has now a very big chance of winning this.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Didn’t expect for Stewart-Jones to hang on to Weng and Diggins.

Not to mention that her diagonal stride looked awful, sideways butt wiggle all the way.

Looks like she started a bit slower and paced herself well by not trying to stay with Carl.

Niskanen's diagonal stride looked Brennan levels of awful from the start, poles pointing outwards instead of more straight downwards and lots of hip and upper body rotation.

Fis still doesn't know how to doba stage race pursuit, you either start with the real gc gaps and count the result ar the finish line or you start with yesterday's stage gaps and just count the gap at the finish. Stage gaps + counting the effective skiing times at the finish line is a shitshow that only hurts guys who got a big gap the previous day...