Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

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Feb 20, 2010
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Amundsen is a real beast, Norway's closest skier to Bolshunov. Hedegart with a great second place, hopefully he focuses more on cross-country skiing because he may have a shot of getting himself selected to the Olympics for the 10k and relay.

Anger super strong today and the Italians looked really good as well.
I think for this year at least it's a no-brainer. He's too far down the pecking order with rifle in hand to even make the World Cup whereas he has shown the ability to more than just hang at the World Cup level in XC. I anticipate he's just better at the longer stretches of skiing without the brief recoveries of the shooting, because he wasn't even especially spectacular at the IBU Cup level for ski speed (I mean, he was quick, but nothing like 'yea, this guy could podium on the XC World Cup' quick), yet he seems very much at home here.

Looks like the annual situation is developing, where Diggins hangs onto the back of the front group looking exhausted throughout, then gets herself well-placed at the bottom of the last ramp and sprints her way to at least the podium. She's been looking shot for several kilometres but never letting go and now fighting her way to the front in the final kilometre. It happens every year at Ruka and you'd think some of the others might have learned by now.

Lol, Karlsson even had her boxed in at the base of the climb, and then opened the door for her in what I can only assume was a completely ill-advised attempt to challenge Sundling's burst to the top of the hill. Sundling was just way too strong though and that was every bit as comprehensive as Amundsen's finish earlier.

In the tensest and most closely-fought battle in cross-country, however, Keidy Kaasiku outsprints Kaidy Kaasiku for 37th by barely half a second to take a 2-1 lead in the battle of the Kaasikus. Over three races the difference between the two has been about 2 seconds total.
 
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Jul 10, 2009
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CAS has now decided that FIS must give athletes with AIN eligibility the possibility to qualify for the Olympics


Will be interesting to see who exactly that will be, and where they can return to competition.
Probably not Bolshunov, for a number of reasons...

Bolshunov hits rival

Now we'll see how serious Svahn and the Swedes are about their boycott threats.
 
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KZD

Feb 21, 2019
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Heartbreaking finish for Leinamo, hopefully she can get her win soon.

I can't forgive IBU for having many relays and only 3 individual races in the World Cup every year.
 
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Jun 22, 2010
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If Korostelev ain’t close to a medal, then all Russian (male) skiers are ‘hogde podge’

He is the only one that will likely be allowed to go. If he is allowed to go. I was just assuming he wouldn’t go. They will likely allow random skiers. I hope I am wrong.

In 2018 they didn’t allow anyone that raced in Sochi, and the Russians still won more medals in Korea.

Hopefully it is Korostelev and the likes of Pekletsova. They’ll have chances to medal. I can’t wait to see the Scandinavians pouting.
 
Feb 20, 2010
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Heartbreaking finish for Leinamo, hopefully she can get her win soon.

I can't forgive IBU for having many relays and only 3 individual races in the World Cup every year.
The Individual is a purist favourite rather than a crowd pleaser, unfortunately.

It always throws out the most interesting and unique results and is the most rewarding for those who are already into the sport and enjoy poring through the live timing, but it's probably the hardest format for a new fan to sink their teeth into.
 
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KZD

Feb 21, 2019
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Botn just did the perfect individual race, 0 misses and if he wasn't the fastest on the course he was surely close to it.
 
Feb 20, 2010
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Hit 20/20 and set the fastest ski time and you'll pretty much always win unless you spend longer on the range than Vanessa Voigt's last shoot yesterday. Norway's insane production line continues, these guys were always good, just blocked from progressing by the depth. It's still an absolute bearpit of a battle for starts but the removal of the Bø brothers does mean that at least some of those fringe guys will get a long enough run in the team to do what Uldal did last year rather than just picking up the pieces in the last trimester or taking fill-in duty when the big guns skip the last WC before the Olympics as would have happened in previous years...