Official xc skiing world cup thread

[gustienordic]

In the Doping in XC Skiing thread, there was some interest in starting a thread to discuss world cup Nordic & biathlon. It seems to me this is a good place.

The World Cup starts this weekend in Norway? It got moved from Beito, but I still think is in Norway.

My predictions are the Russians; Sedov, MV, & Legkov

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Probably belongs in the "other" General forum (the Café). That's where the Nordic/Biathlon worlds thread was; this is referring to "Road cycling: General".

I will probably post a lot in here, predominantly about biathlon. Lord knows I love some biathlon.

 

[roundabout]

Yes, Saturday it is for cross-country.

It's in Sjusjoen close to Lillehammer I think. Snow cannons at full blast to get it ready.

For the biathlon fans there will be some familiar names racing

Tora Berger in the women's race and Hafsas, Svendsen, Boe and Lars Berger in the men's

Also it seems Landertinger is planning to race next week in Kuusamo in the 10 freestyle but he'll need to do the classic sprint first. Will be interesting to see how well he could handle it.

 

[Amsterhammer]

Is there a topic for Alpine skiing and ski-jumping? That's where my interest lies.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

The Cafe works for me.

 

[gustienordic]

Probably belongs in the "other" General forum (the Café). That's where the Nordic/Biathlon worlds thread was; this is referring to "Road cycling: General".

I will probably post a lot in here, predominantly about biathlon. Lord knows I love some biathlon.

I love watching Leif Nordgren race; he's a young American skier who recently skied in the World Biathlon Champs. I just so happened to go to high school with him, and skied on the same team with him. He was three years older than me, but I started skiing with him when I was in 7th grade. Its so great to see him tearing it up on the World Cup circuit!

 

[Nastyy]

Yes, Saturday it is for cross-country.

It's in Sjusjoen close to Lillehammer I think. Snow cannons at full blast to get it ready.

For the biathlon fans there will be some familiar names racing

Tora Berger in the women's race and Hafsas, Svendsen, Boe and Lars Berger in the men's

Also it seems Landertinger is planning to race next week in Kuusamo in the 10 freestyle but he'll need to do the classic sprint first. Will be interesting to see how well he could handle it.

Sjusjöen is just 20 km from Beitostölen, amazing how such a short distance can have a huge impact on the conditions. They have amazing trails there, I think the trails cover something near to 400km.

Off-topic but I've got to say that few things are more unattractive than watching Tora Berger ski.

After his win in 2009, Hafsås has been nowhere to be seen. What happened to him?

Manificat to win the men's race and Björgen to win women's. Look out for Saarinen and Jauhojärvi, they both have improved their skating. Not that they would podium but top-10 could be in their sights, which would be a big improvement from previous years.

Concerning biathletes doing XC races, I would like too Martin Fourcade have a go. He's the one who could really give the specialists a hard time.

 

[nobilis]

Great thread. I can't wait for the start of the Biathlon, Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined season, my 3 favorite disciplines.

 

[meat puppet]

Okay, let's get it on then!

Today's races are 10k freestyle for the ladies and 15k for the men. I think the usual suspects will be featuring well in both races, but expect to see some surprise performers and underperformers too. It is early season after all.

 

[gustienordic]

Okay, let's get it on then!

Today's races are 10k freestyle for the ladies and 15k for the men. I think the usual suspects will be featuring well in both races, but expect to see some surprise performers and underperformers too. It is early season after all.

I'm calling
1. Cologna
2. Hellner
3. Vylegzahin (I can't spell Russian names)
4. Magnificant
5. Sunbry
6. Legkov
7. Matti Heikken
8. Berger
9. Harvey
10. Pillar
15. Northug

 

[gustienordic]

http://www.fiscrosscountry.com/news/here-are-racing-suits-for-the-upcoming-winter,2554.html

Could the Swedish suits get any more boring? Also not sure how I feel about the German ones. Hopefully Norways are a bit different than last year.

 

[meat puppet]

I too think Legkov and Vylegzhanin will be up there. Espescially Legkov had quite an early season last year and I expect him to repeat it. Cologna and Hellner too. Alex Harvey to do well too.

Björgen, JK, TJ and Kalla will probably be the top dogs in ladies and Björgen likely for the win. In the next category there will be the likes of Saarinen... and it'll be interesting to see if Lähteenmäki will do well.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

http://www.fiscrosscountry.com/news/here-are-racing-suits-for-the-upcoming-winter,2554.html

Could the Swedish suits get any more boring? Also not sure how I feel about the German ones. Hopefully Norways are a bit different than last year.

Gah, not sure about the gold on Germany's. The gold and red should swap places. Sweden = seriously dull. I like France's dedication to not looking at all French, and the Italian kit from last year was waaaaaay better.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Berger doing herself no harm at all with her showing. Pretty good. Marit Bjørgen has hit the ground running, and running very fast indeed. Kowalczyk 17 seconds back after 2,5km

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Justyna is in horrible form.

I know it's essentially pre-season, a bit like being in great form at the TDU, but Tora Berger's taking some pretty big scalps here - Haag, Steira, Lähteenmäki, and she could feasibly outpace Kowalczyk here.

Looks like Skøfterud has a very good chance of adding to her collection of 2nd places. Make that 3rd as Kalla has just outdone her. Marit Bjørgen has almost caught Therese Johaug (!!!).

Kowalczyk is over a minute off the pace; Bjørgen was more than 20 seconds ahead of anybody. Insane.

Tora Berger has indeed beaten Justyna Kowalczyk. And Therese Johaug too.

With Katrin Zeller the top German in 30th place (most of them cramping the area from Nicole Fessel in 45th to Stefanie Böhler in 57th), and Tora Berger finishing 4th - we can probably say that the German love of biathlon really, really hurts their XC skiing, for the women at least, as they have at least a couple of women faster than Berger.

 

[meat puppet]

Bejasus. Norwegian nationals in women's race. Björgen super dominant. Insane how she can be always in form.

Yeah, early season. If I had to guess, Saarinen, Kowalczyk and... hell, all the others, have probably done tough training blocks just recently and have not tapered too much.

And yes, a very fine performance from Tora berger indeed.

 

[gustienordic]

I'm impressed with Randall's race, top ten in a distance race? Thats not very common for her.

And seriously? Johan Olson winning by 30 seconds? That seems a little ridiculous!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

It does feel ridiculous, but it's the equivalent of the TDU, so it remains to be seen whether Olsson has made a huge and surprising step up or if this is a one-off born of people like Cologna not reaching peak power yet.

 

[gustienordic]

4 x 10 & 4 x 5 tomorrow! should be an exciting race.

 

[Walkman]

And seriously? Johan Olson winning by 30 seconds? That seems a little ridiculous!

Olsson has been taking it easy the last couple of week because of an injury and is likely sort of peaked while other has been training hard and still feeling the effect of that very training. I wouldn't think so much about it. Especially since he has said that his body can only handle one or two races a week, hence he will be skipping the TdS.

 

[roundabout]

Olsson on his day can be quite impressive (see the Olympic 30k). Could have been one of those days.

 

[gustienordic]

Olsson on his day can be quite impressive (see the Olympic 30k). Could have been one of those days.

That is true. Same with Sunbry, he can really put it down some days. I'm a little surprised at Piller's race however. I was expecting a little better.

 

[meat puppet]

The first ladies relay in. The Norwegians did a good race and snatched the victory easily it appears. Or make it double, in fact. Ingemarsdottir basically blew Sweden's chances by digging too deep on the first leg. The Finns did basically what I expected, though ideally they should have been able to stay with NOR2. Saarinen did quite well, Lähteenmäki seems to be a bit off and so is Roponen. Sarasoja skied on her level.

And maybe it is just me but was Johaug wearing a very very visible black thong under her racing suit? Not very classy I guess, though I dont really complain either.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

After the classic, Norway I, II, III and IV were up in the top 6, it was crazy. Germany II looked decent at first with Denise Hermann but she clearly tired at the end of the leg. Ingemarsdottir lost almost all the time Sweden lost; Kalla even gained time on Bjørgen, although that was mainly with Bjørgen showboating at the end.

In the men's race Germany II are outpacing their seniors, everything staying rather more cagey and together than the women's race as it often does.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Cologna nearly pulled back a minute on his leg, but Switzerland just don't have the depth. Lars Berger is fun.