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Just now, RobtheAggie said:

 

I saw this, but decided not to post it.  I wonder how they will perform on the larger stage.  Lowell Bailey and Tim Burke, if given enough time will help out a lot.

I saw something today about the overall decline of youth in the US involved in HS sports.  On a document found here, there are only 9,959 doing Nordic Skiing in HS.  Now I know the level in HS is suspect, and the the more elite skiers often skip HS and do club only, but to understand that puts it on par with Dance.  More info on page 10, it gives a breakdown on HS and participants by state.

Well I live in a place that hasn’t see snow (at least in a measurable amount) since 2012 and 2008. Mammoth is 4 hours away and they do have good trails and programs, but they’re just no accessible for the larger population of SoCal. I also think there’s a lot of reasons for decrease participation in youth sports in the US. There’s a reason Norway and to a certain degree China have the best youth sports programs in the world. I’m not going to lecture about it on this post though. I love Nordic Skiing, even more than Alpine, which I’ve tried a few times. The nature of the sport just makes it so expensive (especially since we’re taking about the US). 

 

I don’t hope so much that these athletes perform well, of course I’d love for them to medal, and will cheer for them should there be a live stream, but I hope more that they’ll have a good experience and use the games to propel themselves onto the international scene and see and learn things that make them better athletes.

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https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1084052/us-biathlon-athletes-for-lausanne-2020?sfns=mo @RobtheAggie

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Just now, Kirkpatrick said:

Gold for China! Zhang. I noticed both her and Tang being good in all the events.

 

Is this the greatest Chinese biathlon result? It's summer, but still nice...

Greatest  result of all time was the 2016 YOG Single Mixed Relay

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Just now, RobtheAggie said:

The Super Sprint really is a quick and can be an very exciting event.  I just realized why no US skiers were there.  The US Rollerski Championships just finished.

 

I do wonder of there is such a big discussion about the wheel techs as there is about the ski wax? 

 

When it comes to roller sports it’s material and wheel size that matter. The taller the wheels, the faster you’ll skate. Material can have some small differences too, but generally not enough in the long run to affect much (unless you have stripped wheels, worn down wheels, or too new wheels)

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Just now, RobtheAggie said:

 

As another aside - watch two Koala fight.

 

 

And now back to biathlon.

 One last aside - watch a koala become  best canoe athlete

 

 

Now seriously, Biathlon talk

Edited August 18, 2019 by Olympian1010

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20 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

There's no too much in speed skating

 

I know, not fair and everything, but this was epic. Just, epic.

 

  Hide contents

 

 

But fine, we're digressing, this is about biathlon  I'm kind of annoyed at there not being full results from Australia yet, come on.

A rare cuddlemeheywoodu production 

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Just now, heywoodu said:

I still don't know if I'm sad about it or not, it depends entirely on the legendary Medeo speed skating rink. If they put a roof on it I'm happy they didn't get it (and this seems the likely option), if they leave it as it is, I'd be happy if they get it  

 

Medeo = epic

Yeah Medeo was a cool venue too. They’d have to put a roof on it because it snows to much. The Almaty ski jumping center is very nice as well.

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3 hours ago, heywoodu said:

I should have some photos from around there from when my girlfriend was running around the course sending photos of the biathletes in action while I was watching the live stream (she competed in the cross-country instead of the biathlon there). Don't specifically remember bushes and trees, but I do remember it was this beautiful open snowy plains.

Yeah, it might be my favorite venue outside the major World Cup ones. I’m kind of sad they didn’t get the 2022 Winter Olympics (especially since Kazakh sport is doing well right now)

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3 hours ago, RobtheAggie said:

Jillian Colebourn wins the Oceania Cup Super Sprint.  Not many details to be found.  

 

Some good pictures of the Short Individual, but no results yet.  

 

 

Love the names.

 

The hat is really nice!

 

It is also neat to see the very different trees at a Biathlon venue.  Looks like it has 15 lanes.  

 

Yeah I liked the names too. Reminds me of the nicknames for the different age groups of youth athletics. The hat is about as Australian as biathlon will ever get. I was also marveling at the trees around Hotham. It’s like that at the Aussie ski resorts too. It’s a really unique environment (I’d cool if the YOG went down there) that makes the Hotham course special amongst biathlon venues. The trees actually remind me a bit of the large shrubs and bushes at Weber (Park City) biathlon venue and Almaty biathlon center.

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On 01/08/2019 at 03:15, RobtheAggie said:

Should we try and get Totallympics as an official IBU fan club?

I’d be down. I don’t watch every race, but make sure to watch a good amount every season. I will say that seeing live last year was awesome, so when they come back to the US in 30 years I’ll go rep Totallympics Biathlon 

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11 minutes ago, RobtheAggie said:

Do not forget Venezuela for Cross Country!  OK, maybe they have more important things to focus on right now.

 

There actually have 3-4 cross country skiers. One of them would be good enough to compete at the hypothetical games.

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2 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Forget sliding sports, if you do that there's literally only three possible hosts  

Well that’s what I’m saying, should the hypothetical games go to any of those cities, sliding sports could be added to the program. If not, oh well.

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18 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Colombia, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, USA, Canada: cross-country

USA, Canada, Argentina, Brazil and Chile: cross-country and biathlon

If the games were hosted by Whistler, Salt Lake, or Lake Placid; All the sliding sports could be contested as well. I’m so upset PanAm Sports hasn’t tried to revive the idea.

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9 minutes ago, RobtheAggie said:

I did find this on the Brazilian website about how one qualifies for the team.   At least I think that is what it says.  There is a general criteria found here.  Considering the lack of snow, Brazil's federation website is pretty good.  Argentina's has not been updated since 2012.  Chile does not have one, just an e-mail address.  

This is why we need to bring back the Winter Pan American Games. We have at least 5 countries that could compete in cross country skiing and biathlon for sure. Not to mention alpine skiing, speed skating, and figure skating.

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3 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Absolutely, never found anything about it other than the PDF's she usually sends me (which she gets from the national federations).

 

I believe it's in August, done in several stages. Haven't I posted about it in this thread before? If not, I'll take a look when I'm back at my laptop

I don’t think you’ve posted about this year’s yet.

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7 minutes ago, RobtheAggie said:

What are the dates for this.  I have been unable to find anything online.  I might be simply showing my lack of tech Davy here.

There’s not a lot of information about them ever. He’s just lucky enough to know someone 

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33 minutes ago, RobtheAggie said:

This was posted a few days ago in Biathlonworld.  It is about the new disciplines that were tested over the past few seasons on the IBU Cup.  Reading between the lines, I suspect that we see in a few seasons their introduction.  Maybe at the opening weekend.

 

Also, the IBU has approved a new strategic plan.  Part of it deals with doping as expected, it will be discussed in October at the "IBU's Extraordinary Congress in Munich from October 18 to 20".  I would love to see how them plan to grow the sport in other areas of the world.

So IBU is really trying to kill the importance of Shooting huh? The unpredictability of the shooting is one of the best aspects of the sports, and it gives lower ranked competitors a chance to upset the higher ranked ones.

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2 hours ago, heywoodu said:

That was @Olympian1010

If you though that was good, just wait until the Tour of California comes through 

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16 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Argentina and Chile have had biathletes for quite some time though, the Sri Lankan guy didn't seem to have a single bit of experience in it  That mostly seemed like someone who wanted to enter as many sports as possible in his career

OG Pita Taufatofua

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24 minutes ago, RobtheAggie said:

Soo lots of interesting discussion points in the press.

 

I did not know it, but India held their Biathlon national championships!  That would be great to see them on the IBU Cup.

 

Russuan Anti-Doping Agency has reported that there were only 16 cases of suspected doping for 2018, whereas 57 from 2017.

 

Valentina and Vita Semerenko will be back for at lest one more year.  It seems like there was serious tension this year with the team.  

 

Krasimir Anev talks to the Bulgarian press  - does not like the future of the sport from his country.

 

Laura Dahlmeier is weighting on retiring or not.  She gave an interview with ARD radio where she said she will decide in the next month or so.  

Thanks for the recap. I’d love to see India at the IBU Cup too. I know Sri Lanka attempted to enter a skier at the Asian Games, but they wouldn’t let them. Argentina and Chile have unentered teams too. 

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1 hour ago, RobtheAggie said:

I will be the 2nd leg of the Men's relay.

 

On a more serious note, are the smaller nations who compete the germination of a particular athlete or a concerted effort from the nation?  Take Brazil by example.  Is that the athletes or the nation?  I have an idea, but I was wondering.

And @dezbee2008 can be the women’s leg of a relay. One only need one more person and we’re off to the IBU Cup

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5 minutes ago, RobtheAggie said:

Would say a Biathlon Federation of Catalonia be allowed?  If Greenland is, I would think that Catalonia would be allowed.

I’m setting up a USVI federation too

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Just now, Monzanator said:

 

I like Chop-liver

How’d I know you’d say that 

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18 minutes ago, Monzanator said:

Doherty 10/10. @RobtheAggie will be happy about it

What am 1? Chop-liver?

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3 hours ago, RobtheAggie said:

Clair Egan does well with a 1+0 and +33.3 11th place.  Joanne Reid goes 0+0 with +50.1.  Dunklee goes 2+2 to finish 58 +2:30.

 

Two in the top 15 is a great result.

 

Indeed. Met Clair’s mom at the World Cup. I’m can guarantee she is very proud of her daughter