Norway enjoyed such a skiing advantage for years now. It's that Frode Andresen and Lars Berger couldn't hit 5/5 to save their lives before
I think back then it was only one of their athletes at best, now you have 2 or 3 on every side. Also no one cared when Berger dominated cross-country but never won any races. One nation dominating is bad for the sport/product.
Edit: Also Eckhoff isn’t exactly a sharper shooter but still wins tons of races. I fear that biathlon will turn into a second cross-country.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Absurd skiing time by Eckhoff once again. I hope that IBU will start breaking the Norwegian dominance, sadly I have no hope that they will change anything until their product is dead.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Incredible results for Austria in alpine skiing and biathlon, I hope for the sake of their athletes that the Austrian fans won’t expect their athletes to repeat those fluke performances at the Olympics. Also every race without a Norwegian gold is good. I can’t deny that it is funny to see Sweden and Austria doing so well with German coaches.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
They don't have individual stars but they know they strenght lies in the team. Same as these 4x100 Japanese relays that always hoover around Top 5-6 in athletics World Champs or Olympics and even get a medal when one of the big teams drops the baton
Weird comparison ...
In the 4 x 100 m relay you can make up a lot of time with great exchanges, something similar isn’t possible in biathlon. I would rather see it like this: France/Sweden have many athletes who are inconsistent, but can make the podium on a good day without other athletes failing. Ukraine on the other hand has 4 consistent athletes who can’t make an individual podium without other athletes failing. France/Sweden win more individual medals, because they only need one of their athletes to have a good day, but in the relay Ukraine wins more medals because Sweden/France almost always have one athlete who messes up and destroys their medal hopes. I think this is usually the reason, not sure what happened today with the French women in the cross-country, maybe they had bad material. Hettich was incredibly slow, hard to imagine that France was even slower ...
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Picking Hettich over "world class" Hammerschmidt as you've described her probably indicates how badly Hammerschmidt has tailed off. Can't use the injury excuse anymore. But who would have been the next in line? Weidel? Grandma Hildebrand?
I know that you like to troll, but maybe you should drop it if you want a serious discussion. I never said that Hammerschmidt is world-class, but she certainly has been world class before, which is pretty obvious when you look at her results. Hettich was incredibly slow today, hard to imagine even someone like Voigt would have done worse.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
French ladies are such a disaster at world championships relay, three time in a row ... only 5 misses but so slow, even behind Austria with 15 misses!!!
Wow, really weird. Usually French ladies are very good in cross-country, certainly better than Germany for example. At least their men make up for it.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
What a surprising turnaround. I don’t even want to imagine what would have been possible without a roadblock like Hettich. Somehow German coaches always find a way to sabotage their own team, I still have nightmares from the 2010 Olympics ...
Norway certainly deserved the gold, but them dominating biathlon is the worst thing that can happen to this sport. They already ruined cross-country. Biathlon relays, especially on the women’s side, are among the most unpredictable team events, much better than pointless events like cross-country/luge/ski jumping/Nordic combined team events.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Oh well I don't know why I see a Bulgarian dominating biathlon in few years. Milena Todorova has got great ski speed, something which the bulgarians lack. Would have won gold by considerable margin had she shot clear, I know many can say the same but a Bulgarian female biathlethe being able to say that is definitely new ( at least in the last 5 years maybe) She should work on her shooting for next season.
I remember her doing the same at junior level. I am not sure whether she will ever be able to fix her shooting. Some years ago there was a girl from Kazakhstan who was in a similar position but never fixed her shooting. Also very weird to see someone from Bulgaria skiing that fast, considering that they are completely nonexistent in cross-country.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Women’s Relay could be highlight of the championships.
Norway far away of the rest, and then a fight between at least 5 nations for the rest medals, because all have at least 1 or 2 weak points in their relay.
It is very unlikely that the race will unfold like that.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
I kind of like this result. Davidova is one of my favorite athletes in biathlon. A medal for Öberg was pretty much a guarantee. German athletes consistent as usual, but always with one miss too much. Who would have thought before this season that Preuß would beat Herrmann in an individual with the same number of misses. Just shows how horrible Herrmann is this season. Personally I would prefer it if biathlon world championships would only take place every 2 years. Having them every year makes the results pretty much meaningless.
Mironova could still win a medal sadly.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Disgusting result. Once again a random Eastern European coming out of nowhere right in time to steal a medal. Their dictator will sure be happy about this.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
@OlympicsFan arguing with you has no absolute point, because you only nitpick one thing from the whole message and then try to drive your point into the ground.
Just say that you don’t have any arguments and have to make up fake reasons for escaping the discussion and then we can all live happily ever after.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
And it is not only Biathlon where something goes really wrong in Germany. There are no young people in ski jumping, Nordic combined and alpine skiing. The women’s alpine skiing team is a disaster and also no medals at juniors in Nordic combined and Ski jumping. Something goes really wrong in the federation there.
But I would not even say that the Norwegian women’s team have such a great depth. In the men’s field yes, but not in the women. Norway has two great women at The Moment with Eckhoff and Roeiseland, but surely both will retire in the near future (2022/2023). After them comes Tandrevold, who could take there step, but she also isn‘t that strong then last season. And after these three there is a big gap ... the only Girl is Knotten, but she is far to slow on her skiis. And then comes not really much ...
Ski jumping: Germany has had extremely successful years and both Althaus and Wellinger are still young. On the men’s side you also have Constantin Schmid and Luca Roth (Silver in the individual competition and gold in the team at 2019 junior worlds). The women’s team also won silver at 2019 junior worlds.
Nordic combined: Geiger is still very young and for example Julian Schmid won 2 golds and 1 silver at 2019 junior worlds.
Alpine skiing: It has been like this for at least a decade. In the past decade Germany never had any depth, but this current men’s team might be the best team Germany ever had. Both Weidle and Dreßen are still young (compared to most of the athletes who dominate their events). You seem to forget that for example Germany always used to be nonexistent in speed events on the men’s side.
You need to do one of the following 3 things:
a) Stop trolling or
b) Educate yourself or
c) Check you expectations
Germany just had fantastic winter Olympic Games, despite not really being a winter sport country. I don’t really know what your expectations are, but clearly they are completely absurd. How do you see the situation of the US? They have 4 times the population but won 8 medals less at the last Winter Olympics. By your standards this must be the biggest failure in the history of human kind. Also what about Russia? A traditional winter sport country with a 50 % bigger population but 14 medals less at the last Olympics ... ?
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Yeah, I have no idea why Germany has such huge depth issues in biathlon. Other than Army cutting down fundings which would be strange since biathlon is like very popular in Germany. The Horchlers becoming full-time World Cup starters at age 30 was the first strike, they're gone and we have Anna Weidel shooting 10/10 and finishing 49th in Oberhof which is basement level tbh. Hammerschmidt was always #5 or 6 at best, below relay-worthy but without the top performers she's like a stable number 4 now. Herrmann will turn 33 IIRC, Hinz keeps blowing hot & cold and there's only Preuss that has improved after Dahlmeier's retirement. It doesn't look good at all.
Over on the men's side there are Doll and Peiffer and well, Kuehn tends to do well from time to time and that would be it. What's up with Nawrath is anyone's guess and Schempp has succumbed to age.
You clearly have no clue about Hammerschmidt. There was a time when she was world class and in that shape she would currently be number 2 or 3 for every nation except Norway. I also have no idea what people are expecting in terms of depth. Currently there are at best 2 nations with at least 2 athletes who are able to win on any given day (Norway and Sweden). It makes no sense to compare this German team to the days of Henkel/Disl/Glagow/Wilhelm. Germany dominating like that was a complete anomaly and mainly down to Sweden and Norway completely wasting their potential. If all nations would reach their potential, then Germany should be 4th at best behind Norway, Sweden and Russia (maybe also behind Finland, the US and Canada). Biathlon in the end is just a version of cross-country, so it is difficult to have a lot of depth when cross-country is pretty much nonexistent in your country, which is the case in Germany since basically no one gives a shit about cross-country and I don’t remember it ever being much different (even when Germany dominated men’s cross-country)
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Athletes like Hettich are getting a chance because the depth of the German team is absolutely gone. Right now you have a neverending stream of average athletes.
Hettich is nr. 3 German this season, Hammerschmidt is struggling to regain her old form, Hinz was really underperforming the entire season and young talent is at such a bad spot that Hildebrand might fight her way back into the World Cup team.
I'd say the men's side is still salvagable at the moment, compared to the huge hole that the Germans need to climb out of on the women's side.
First of all: Hettich is only one year older than Carrara and 2 years older than Lardschneider and is having far better results, but for you the Italian girls seem to be some sort of generational talents while Hettich is a scrub.
Obviously you haven’t really followed German biathlon for the past decade, otherwise you would know that Germany basically always had the problem (remember the 2014 olympics?) and it only got covered up shortly by Dahlmeier and Preuß. I think every nation would have massive problems when two generational talents (Neuner and Dahlmeier) both retire within a couple of years, despite easily being capable of dominating for another 5+ years. At this point I wouldn’t even blame German coaches if they would have given up. What’s the point of developing transcendental talents when they retire as soon as possible?
In the end anything but a Swedish and Norwegian dominance for many years would be extremely shocking. It is only logical that the nations that dominate cross-country also dominate biathlon. I think you can for example compare it with Jamaica or the US in athletics 400 m/400 m hurdles/100 m hurdles. They have an abundance of great athletes in the 100 m (cross-country), so those who aren’t good enough to make the team there will switch to an other event/sport (biathlon). I think only Russia could break/out-dope their dominance. The solution seems really simple and maybe some day the other nations will realize it: You can’t beat Norway/Sweden at their own game (cross-country), so put all your best talents into biathlon. Herrmann has shown that a decent cross-country athlete with minimal talent for shooting can dominate biathlon pretty quickly. Even Gössner used to be almost unbeatable when she had a good day. Sadly Germany seems to prefer producing snails who are good at shooting and then the coaches are surprised when the Norwegian and Swedish girls completely dominate them.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Braunhofer, Bionaz, Giacomel, Trabucchi, Lardschneider, Carrara are going to be wrecking kids soon.
They are all so young and fresh, Italy's development is looking extremely good for the near future.
I think they're only losing to Norway right now in regards to development of capable junior athletes.
Cool ... junior results don’t mean anything. Right now Italy has one world class athlete in Wierer and she will soon be gone. Germany also produced tons of promising juniors who never turned into anything. Until someone proves himself at World Cup level it is absolutely pointless to make predictions. Of all the female athletes you mentioned none seems remotely special. Öberg is younger than Lardschneider and Carrara and only 1 year older than Trabucchi and is already World class. At that age Neuner and Dahlmeier were already close to retirement.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
I think it could have something to do with the fact that athletes are stuck in IBU cup until they're 24-26ish.
Most recent talented German biathletes got their chances to run in the World Cup team when they were a lot younger - Dahlmeier, Preuss.
Norway is one of the hardest teams to get into, but even their athletes come into the World Cup a bit more younger and fresh.
I don’t think so. They would get to be part of the World Cup team if they would be talented enough. Even Hettich got a chance and she is slow like a snail.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Totally, and the fact is, Italy is looking like an absolute super team in 2-3 years, so unless you're Norway, it's pretty ideal to invest into your talent a bit more. You have 6 spots, save at least 1 for development.
What? I think Wierer will be gone by then.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Sorry, but where had Germany talented XC skiers on the men’s site in the last few years? Yes, some won Medals at U23 Championships but they haven‘t take the step into the world class. And so it is in Biathlon. After 2014 there came no more talented athlete in Biathlon. The last ones were at this time Dahlmeier, Preuß, Hinz and Doll.
Sorry, but are you even aware of what „talented“ means? Winning a medal at U23 worlds is pretty much the definition of being talented. By that definition Notz, Brugger and Moch were/are all very talented. Obviously they haven’t reached anything at senior level (so far), but results at senior level have almost nothing to do with talent. The most important factor for being good at senior level is nationality = having access to a superior doping program.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Posted
I think back then it was only one of their athletes at best, now you have 2 or 3 on every side. Also no one cared when Berger dominated cross-country but never won any races. One nation dominating is bad for the sport/product.
Edit: Also Eckhoff isn’t exactly a sharper shooter but still wins tons of races. I fear that biathlon will turn into a second cross-country.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
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