Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[kingjr]

Hede is loosing this one.
No offence to Klaebo, bit this is the wordt skating OG field in a long time. No Russians, no Ree and Krüger (both perfect for a hard course in soft conditions), Amundsen got sick before the Olympics and the best Central European skaters Moch and Vermeulen are totally out of shape.

When have Moch and Vermeulen ever beaten Klæbo in a 10k F race?

 

[kingjr]

It's crazy that Norway would have lost 10km skating, their best race collectively, were it not for Klaebo. The GOAT.

It's not so crazy considering that only 4 are allowed to start.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Desloges could’ve won this with a slightly better pacing strategy. He was a bit too fast the first 1,8 in my opinion.

 

[kingjr]

Someone needs to do a deep-dive one day into how much time Klæbo gains on descents compared to climbs in individual races. @Peyresourde Something for you to consider if you ever get bored with cycling ;-)

 

[KZD]

Finally Klæbo wins an individual skating race, in the best possible timing. Gold medal #8, on Sunday he should beat the Winter Olympics gold medal record in the relay.

Massive race from Desloges again, after silver in the 20k, another one today, a much needed new face in the XC skiing world.

I didn't expect Hedegart to blow up in the last km but at least he gets a medal and hopefully gets selected to the relay or team sprint.

 

[meat puppet]

Would be interesting to know what kind of pacing strategies the top skiers followed. At almost 30kph and very upright position while producing propulsion, aerodynamic drag is a significant factor. Probably going deliberately slightly(?) into the red on the uphills where drag is less prominent due to lower speed, recovery downhill, and thresholdish on the flats is the way to go.

 

[YavorD]

Yeah, unless his teammate collapses in the team sprint.

Gonna be iconic if we see another Jorgen Brink.
Perhaps we can see a Valnes or Amundsen (in the relay) climb?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

QFM hitting all targets in prone is a story in itself, but I'm not sure I believe he can do it in standing, too. The same goes for Jacquelin. Hiidensalo keeps performing well.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

The French pirate might actually do it, unless he blows up in the last lap which wouldn't be the first time.

QFM is beating him easily.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

The French pirate misses the medals

 

[kingjr]

The French and Norwegians are completely in their own league on the skis.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

The French and Norwegians are completely in their own league on the skis.

Don‘t forget the Swedes.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

A strong sprint to the line has earned Sondre Slettemark a spot in the pursuit!

 

[kingjr]

Don‘t forget the Swedes.

Samuelsson and Ponsiluoma are at their normal level at best, under normal circumstances Samuelsson shouldn't be ten seconds behind the slowest Norwegian.

 

[Brullnux]

The French and Norwegians are completely in their own league on the skis.

Today it looked like the Norwegians absolutely aced it. Shocked to see Perrot slower than Laegreid

 

[BullsFan22]

Hede is loosing this one.
No offence to Klaebo, bit this is the wordt skating OG field in a long time. No Russians, no Ree and Krüger (both perfect for a hard course in soft conditions), Amundsen got sick before the Olympics and the best Central European skaters Moch and Vermeulen are totally out of shape.

And a 20:36 for a 10km…LMFAO

 

[Brullnux]

It's a shame but Giacomel has crumbled under the home Olympic pressure. His individual performance was fine(ish), but this was maybe his worst race of the year.

Needs a mental reset before the pursuit and to do it as calmly and unthinking as possible. It might help him to think a medal is impossible, and treat it as the best possible race practice for the mass start.

 

[search]

The start lists for the women's relay are out as well now - without any major surprises:

SWE: Svahn - Andersson - Karlsson - Sundling
NOR: Fosnaes - Slind - Simpson-Larsen - Weng
GER: Gimmler - Hennig - Hoffmann - Fink
FIN: Matintalo - Niskanen - Ryytty - Joensuu
SUI: Weber - N Kaelin - M Kaelin - Fähndrich
USA: Kern - Brennan - McCabe - Diggins
ITA: de Martin Pinter - Ganz - de Centa - Cassol
CAN: Mackie - Drolet - Gagnon - Schmidt
FRA: Pierrel - Pagnier - Perry - Claudel

A fit Gismondi would have certainly helped the Italians, but going by her results, she still seems to be sick.

I guess there's a minor chance to drop Svahn, but likely not in a decisive way. The battle for 3rd will probably be more interesting, with neither Germany nor Finland looking great so far. Let alone USA.

 

[Mayomaniac]

The start lists for the women's relay are out as well now - without any major surprises:

SWE: Svahn - Andersson - Karlsson - Sundling
NOR: Fosnaes - Slind - Simpson-Larsen - Weng
GER: Gimmler - Hennig - Hoffmann - Fink
FIN: Matintalo - Niskanen - Ryytty - Joensuu
SUI: Weber - N Kaelin - M Kaelin - Fähndrich
USA: Kern - Brennan - McCabe - Diggins
ITA: de Martin Pinter - Ganz - de Centa - Cassol
CAN: Mackie - Drolet - Gagnon - Schmidt
FRA: Pierrel - Pagnier - Perry - Claudel

A fit Gismondi would have certainly helped the Italians, but going by her results, she still seems to be sick.

I guess there's a minor chance to drop Svahn, but likely not in a decisive way. The battle for 3rd will probably be more interesting, with neither Germany nor Finland looking great so far. Let alone USA.

Yeah, Gismondi still hasn't recovered after she got sick around christmas

 

[Samu Cuenca]

It's a shame but Giacomel has crumbled under the home Olympic pressure. His individual performance was fine(ish), but this was maybe his worst race of the year.

Needs a mental reset before the pursuit and to do it as calmly and unthinking as possible. It might help him to think a medal is impossible, and treat it as the best possible race practice for the mass start.

His shooting was already getting worse prior to the games.

When he was still leading the World Cup, he was interviewed by Danish television (he may very well have said similar to other media) and explained that he cared more about the crystal globe than the Olympics and compared it to some cyclists peaking for Paris-Roubaix and others for the Tour de France.

It may simply have been a way for him to try and cope with the pressure of having to compete on home spil, but it does now appear that he really isn't a Pogačar who's capable of doing both, and winning the WC could also be difficult if his shooting doesn't improve.

 

[BullsFan22]

I think Switzerland has a real shot at a medal tomorrow. The two Kälin sisters have been very good in Val Di Fieme, especially Nadja. Weber can sprint quite well and is a good all rounder, maybe a bit better in classic, so a really strong scramble leg for the Swiss. Fähndrich is obviously their best sprinter and she had a very good skate race yesterday.

I wouldn’t look past them tomorrow.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Samuelsson and Ponsiluoma are at their normal level at best, under normal circumstances Samuelsson shouldn't be ten seconds behind the slowest Norwegian.

Hey, Ponsiluoma got through the mixed relay without any penalties, that's above his normal level!!!

 

[Sciatic]

He's Scottish, seeing the sun in February ia absolutely cause for undress for their people. You have to respect his culture.

“Sun’s out, guns out” 😊

 

[dobrien]

I guess there's a minor chance to drop Svahn, but likely not in a decisive way. The battle for 3rd will probably be more interesting, with neither Germany nor Finland looking great so far. Let alone USA.

I don't think anyone of those first leg skiers is dropping Svahn; she has shown in the past when on form she is a very sold distance skier and 7.5k is not far. And she really showed some in the sprint, those were some long, very tough rounds leading to the sprint final, and then making the likes of Sundling look mortal, frankly I won't be at all surprised to see Svahn detonate this race on the opening leg rather than struggle to not get dropped.

What a team for Sweden; you have Ribom, Ilar, Dahlqvist, and Hagström on the sidelines, that is arguably a medal winning team right there. Wow.

Norway has a really solid team but they simply are not going to touch Sweden; that said chances are good no one else will touch them either, Slind and Weng be good, maybe if Fosnaes or Simpsen-Larsen has a really off day.

The Germans will likely have good skis and if all of them ski their A-game they're clearly a solid threat for Bronze; I also see Finland in with a shout for Bronze too; again, so much of the fight for the last medal will come down to who has the skis and which team can avoid having that one skier who just melts down on the day. Also agree with BullsFan, Switzerland is for me a dark horse for a medal, they have been getting some sneaky good results and if they medaled that would be the highlight of the competition so far for me. (Along with Estonia cracking the top 10! )

Sad to see Finland without Parmakoski; her results don't merit inclusion on the squad but still, she was always a favorite of mine, end of an era.

And then the US. Holy. Crap. If this team gets near a medal I will believe hell has frozen over. Honestly, I'd love to be wrong, but wow. Only Kern is the right pick in the right leg, period. I don't know in what universe you select Brennan for this; she's done NOTHING to warrant a relay spot. Maybe for the coaches it's "Here's your (not very realistic) chance to finally win a medal Rosie", or maybe a lifetime service award or maybe are hoping for a miraculous return to something like her former self but after finishing over 6 minutes down in the skiathlon I can't fathom her finding the form to do anything but set the squad back. The only thing she has going for her is she didn't ski the sprint or 10k so might be relatively fresh. As inconsequential as Swirbul has been she would still be a better choice imho, Rosie is just so far off right now.

And putting Diggins on anchor, what in the actual hell? I originally thought she should be 1st skate leg but with this lineup 2nd classic leg would be so much better. I can hear Chad Salmela and Kikkan Randall now, "If anyone has the pain tolerance to close 3:30 in 7.5 kilometers to Jonna Sundling it's Jessie Diggins!". What a disaster; I would dearly love to be proven wrong here but I will honestly not be at all surprised if they are 7th or even 8th.