Biathlon at the Winter Olympic Games Beijing 2022

[Fly_like_a_don 1,090]

French and Norwegians liking the pursuit for sure . I agree with @FancyFenchel may be a separate 6km sprint qualification at least for world championships, olympics or as alternate they can follow world team challenge idea . They can use same sprint for pursuit but decrease the gaps by half resulting in more even field. 

[De_Gambassi 1,223]

 

The usual french team for tomorow's race in the usual order. Once again, we"re playing it safe, betting only on a norwegian meltdown.

[heywoodu 15,141]

12 minutes ago, Fly_like_a_don said:

French and Norwegians liking the pursuit for sure . I agree with @FancyFenchel may be a separate 6km sprint qualification at least for world championships, olympics or as alternate they can follow world team challenge idea . They can use same sprint for pursuit but decrease the gaps by half resulting in more even field. 

In World Cups or biathlon world championships there is no problem at all, it's their own sports' event, so do whatever they like. It's just nonsense to have a set of Olympic medals for what's essentially a qualifying event.

 

But yeah, it's never going to change, so anyway. The chance is bigger to see the supersprint added at one point and the qualifying of the supersprint being awarded a set of medals as well later  

[Olympian1010 7,975]

I think the pursuits are okay as they are unique to biathlon, so at least they offer something different from the rest of the program. That said, I agree with the popular criticism of them.

 

My suggestion: 5km Mass Start Sprint (5 1km loops, 4 shooting rounds). Contested with two semifinals of 60 athletes (top 60 from Sprint), and final of 30 athletes. 

[Monzanator 4,502]

55 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

I think the pursuits are okay as they are unique to biathlon, so at least they offer something different from the rest of the program. That said, I agree with the popular criticism of them.

 

My suggestion: 5km Mass Start Sprint (5 1km loops, 4 shooting rounds). Contested with two semifinals of 60 athletes (top 60 from Sprint), and final of 30 athletes. 

How many people will get lapped on a 1 km course if Olsbu or Boe hit the turbo button? Again, no love for the minnows as if the French/Norwegian dominance is the only way to go

[maestro 650]

My suggestion for the pursuit, if they want to keep it, is to make each missed target cost more than the previous one. Something like one missed shot equals one penalty loop. A second missed shot, even if it comes at a different shooting round than the first, equals two more penalty loops. A third missed shot equals three more penalty loops and so on. I think in this way, it would be easier to have many and big momentum shifts during a pursuit. 

[JoshMartini007 2,537]

Just make the event have two rounds, a time trial round where athletes go in reverse world ranking order every 5 or so seconds at a time and the fastest 60 athletes based on their time qualify to the final where their start time is based off the difference from the time trial winner.

 

[Triplecast 156]

3 hours ago, Olympian1010 said:

 

My suggestion: 5km Mass Start Sprint (5 1km loops, 4 shooting rounds). Contested with two semifinals of 60 athletes (top 60 from Sprint), and final of 30 athletes. 

You have more or less described the Super Sprint that is done in the IBU Cup.  To add, you get 3 spare rounds per shoot, and if you leave any target standing, you are eliminated from the race.

 

 

[Triplecast 156]

6 hours ago, De_Gambassi said:

The usual french team for tomorow's race in the usual order. Once again, we"re playing it safe, betting only on a norwegian meltdown.

I'm curious as to what you think the lineup should be.  Guigonnat replaces Jacquelin?

[De_Gambassi 1,223]

3 hours ago, Triplecast said:

I'm curious as to what you think the lineup should be.  Guigonnat replaces Jacquelin?

No  I'd have liked QFM in 3rd and Jacquelin in 4th. aka the suicide squad, but also the only one who could fight with Norway for gold.

 

With this team,we're maximizing our medals chances, not so much our gold medal chance. Which is is OK anyway.