Official xc skiing world cup thread

[roundabout]

13 seconds. Shame for Bauer. What could have been for him

Although having said that he doesn't seem to be going that well even if he lost contact through misfortune

 

[Nastyy]

13 seconds. Shame for Bauer. What could have been for him

It looked like Bauer was struggling with the pace before his fall and he would've been dropped anyway, he's no match to Hellner and Manificat in skating.

 

[python]

northug did almost zero work...when one recalls his antics for the show, i start
losing some respect.

 

[roundabout]

I still think Northug will finish second.

Let's see...

 

[python]

cologna managed to put another several seconds into the chasers...amazing !

 

[Nastyy]

Harvey is the biggest disappointment for me today, was hoping he could go with the Manificat group but he's having a bad day.

 

[goggalor]

In before Northug DQ.

 

[python]

In before Northug DQ.

just read on a ski forum northug stepped over the line 5 times ! if true i would not be surprised if he's dq-ed...

 

[meat puppet]

python could you give a direct link to that forum - apparently im not following enough forums already.

missing today's race really sucks, sounds like it was a decent one. FU computer problems.

 

[Bavarianrider]

just read on a ski forum northug stepped over the line 5 times ! if true i would not be surprised if he's dq-ed...

Has anyone the adree of this forum?

 

[Amsterhammer]

Bischofshofen qualifying cancelled due to serious snow fall.

Probably another Austrian conspiracy.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Bischofshofen qualifying cancelled due to serious snow fall.

Probably another Austrian conspiracy.

Armin Kogler(Co host) was totally ****ed on Asutrian TV that they were cancelling. He more or less called todays jumpers *****s without any courage

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Why do they have that many relays anyway? They're so boring when there's nothing at stake.

I know. Should be more Individuals and Mass Starts, fewer relays. Especially the Mixed Relay, which in effect denies a couple of WC rounds' audiences the chance to see a lot of the stars.

They could use the relays in some of the IBU Cup rounds, however, to give more people a run-out. Those feel like they are almost exclusively Individuals and Sprints.

 

[python]

Has anyone the adree of this forum?

http://www.nrk.no/sport/langrenn/1.7942278

northug straying off course

if you don't speak norvegian - the swedes considered but did not launch an official complaint. after some deliberations northug received an official reprimand but no penalty. people with 'long' memory recall that several skiers (richardsson penalised by 7 min, petuchov …) were not spared in similar situations)

my persoanl take today - northug whilst still awesome is looking less of a chmpion to me now - showmanship antics, sucker’s tactic today, questionable sprint against the guys he ‘sucked’ all day….

 

[goggalor]

I know. Should be more Individuals and Mass Starts, fewer relays. Especially the Mixed Relay, which in effect denies a couple of WC rounds' audiences the chance to see a lot of the stars.

They could use the relays in some of the IBU Cup rounds, however, to give more people a run-out. Those feel like they are almost exclusively Individuals and Sprints.

Yeah, definitely more mass-starts, and a lot fewer sprint-pursuit combinations.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Yeah, definitely more mass-starts, and a lot fewer sprint-pursuit combinations.

The problem is, it's about inclusivity. 60 skiers can start the pursuit, while just 30 can start the MS. And if you have lots of MS races, the skiers outside of that top 30 can't score enough points to get into the top 30 and displace them. And at the moment, people like Jean-Philippe Leguellec, Vincent Jay, Tomasz Sikora, Serhiy Semenov and Serguei Sednev are outside the men's top 30, and in the women there's people like Selina Gasparin, Anaïs Bescond, Miriam Gößner, Andreja Mali and Natalia Sorokina. Hence why they don't tend to hold the first MS of the season until the New Year, to allow a reasonably selective sample of results. I'd personally like to see more Individuals, though to be fair they originally had an Individual, Sprint and Mixed Relay planned for Annecy-Le Grand Bornand, only to have to replace it with a second Hochfilzen round, and for whatever reason Hochfilzen isn't suited to the Individual, so they had another sprint and pursuit, making it 3 in as many WC meets.

 

[python]

to add to my post above about northug's lack of penalty today...

the same 'long' memory people recall that somehow Bjørndalen was also not penalized when he bypassed the official course in 2009 in korea...the implication is that norges get away with more than the sweedes the finns or the russians can get away with...fair or not.

 

[Nastyy]

to add to my post above about northug's lack of penalty today...

the same 'long' memory people recall that somehow bjorn daehlie was also not penalized when he bypassed the official course in 2009 in korea...the implication is that norges get away with more than the sweedes the finns or the russians can get away with...fair or not.

Whaat? Björn Daehlie in 2009? Surely you're confusing him for someone else, and probably a biathlete 'cause there are no XC races in Korea.

And about the races in biathlon.. I would also like to see more Individual races, the sprint+pursuit combination can get a bit tiring, especially if there are big gaps after the sprint. I find relays exciting, though they can be boring when the good teams send their second choices.

 

[python]

Whaat? Björn Daehlie in 2009?

if you need a spelling clarification (my bad) whilst resisting a clear inference that many nordic skiers and biathletes believe that norwegians receive a preferential treatment here you go - Ole Einar Bjørndalen.

 

[goggalor]

The problem is, it's about inclusivity. 60 skiers can start the pursuit, while just 30 can start the MS. And if you have lots of MS races, the skiers outside of that top 30 can't score enough points to get into the top 30 and displace them. And at the moment, people like Jean-Philippe Leguellec, Vincent Jay, Tomasz Sikora, Serhiy Semenov and Serguei Sednev are outside the men's top 30, and in the women there's people like Selina Gasparin, Anaïs Bescond, Miriam Gößner, Andreja Mali and Natalia Sorokina. Hence why they don't tend to hold the first MS of the season until the New Year, to allow a reasonably selective sample of results. I'd personally like to see more Individuals, though to be fair they originally had an Individual, Sprint and Mixed Relay planned for Annecy-Le Grand Bornand, only to have to replace it with a second Hochfilzen round, and for whatever reason Hochfilzen isn't suited to the Individual, so they had another sprint and pursuit, making it 3 in as many WC meets.

Good point, I didn't really think of that. Maybe they could have a max number of athletes for each country? Though I guess the problem is that there's still only room for 30, which is very little.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Personally, my way around it is that at present they have a sprint on one day and a pursuit on another; why not have 3xMS qualifying races of 30 contenders each on one day, each with only 1 prone and 1 standing shoot, rather like the current sprint? Those races will only last what, 25 mins? So you can hold 3 in an hour and a half. You could either have three randomly selected groups of 30 (or slightly less if need be), with the top 10 of each race going through, or you could have a first group, second group and third group, with 15, 10 and 5 going through. It could then be a tactical thing for the coaches, which of their athletes they enter where - or alternatively you could have it down to ski times, but then risk one race being held in better conditions and everybody going through and eliminating several good contenders from the following day's 5-lap Mass Start final, rather like how Simon Fourcade shot clear in terrible conditions and put in a fabulous ski time at Hochfilzen - only for the weather to completely clear up later on and see himself being overtaken by imperfect performances not just from the likes of Bø and his brother but the likes of Simon Schempp too...

 

[Ferminal]

I didn't know that you are rooting for the dominant skiers of this season.

Oh I'm not, it's just the racing I wanted to see. Cologna destroying Northug was good though

 

[zapata]

F this. Conspiracy theories aside, ski jumping is quickly becoming a joke.

 

[goggalor]

F this. Conspiracy theories aside, ski jumping is quickly becoming a joke.

Yeah, I can't be bothered to watch it anymore. It seems like every race there's a delay, and a half-hour competition takes two hours to finish. It's so boring. And when they do finish, the Austrians always win anyway.

 

[Tyler'sTwin]

Swedish coach, Staffan Eklund, says Helena Ekholm might retire after this season. "The most important thing for swedish biathlon right now is to somehow get Ekholm and (Anna-Maria) Nilsson to continue their careers towards Sochi. But you cannot change someone's mind if they've lost their motivation."

Helena will make a decision after this season. Pichler said he thinks she will call it quits.