https://www.fantaski.it/news/2024/11/22/tommaso-sala-si-rompe-il-crociato-in-allenamento.asp   Now the entire Italian team will be hanging on Vinatzer, who will finish maybe 30% of the races in the season. Tragedy. Sala was not an outstanding skier, but he could have made it to the top 10 several times. The biggest debacle in slalom in decades is coming  This winter seasons haven't even started yet but I'm fed up with him. We have regression in every discipline, Vittozzi disease, disaster in men`s alpine skiing, what else? Unfortunately, we have been much better in summer sports than in winter sports recently.

Tense men's semi but  10  8 after 11.      made a 3 in the 10th!

Violette Braun is the first  woman in a World Cup since 2009. Today she obliterated the NR in the 1500 by 3 seconds (2'04) on a rather slow track. Second 1500 ever for her, first was in Inzell a few weeks back (2'07) with what seemed like very good conditions.   It means a lot of room for improvement and a good sign for the 3000 which is her real strong event at the moment - she lacks basic speed but had one of the fastest final laps today, 10th over Div A and B. Faster last than penultimate lap must be quite unusual too.

When? I understand this is a joke about this great job 

The same thing happened after Turin 2006. That hall later was never used for skating competitions again, only the Indoor ECH in athletics was organized there once in 2009 and that was it. After that it was only used for commercial fairs etc. It will be the same with Milan. Regarding the indoor arena in Collalbo, it was a great idea to make it an Italian center of skating sports for many years: good location, high altitude, tourist town. Well, but according to the organizers, it`s not worth doing it, but why? Why is`t not worth doing anything here but Germany has a similar track in Inzell and it is possible there? They should hire a good manager who will develop a plan for them to make it worth doing. The same is with the bobsleigh track in Cortina. It was also not worth renovating it and if Salvini's and other big politics and determination hadn`t come into it, the competition would probably have been in Austria or St. Moritz.   The cooperation with the Netherlands is probably only supposed to concern short track. Besides, this cooperation will not do anything if we don`t have at least one indoor track for training in the summer and early autumn. The Dutch Federation isn`t a charity and will not build us infrastructure for free so that we can train on it. There are no miracles. It`s probably more about taking advantage of the opportunity to train with someone like Fontana, who is a legend in short track. After 2026 this cooperation will end, when she leaves.

For Ghiotto to win 2 golds at the Olympics, he would have to be the second van der Poel or Sablikova in they pick of form. You have to be a genius to beat this whole coalition of Norwegians, Dutchmen etc. However, I don't see that much talent in him. I'd like to be wrong, but I'm afraid that he'll end up with some silver-bronze in the 10 km and that's it. If he starts losing to Eitrem now, who is 22 years old, it won't bode well for the future, and there's also Roest + maybe another Dutchman will jump out. Generally, our team is poorly prepared for this season and it's not like Ghiotto is on individual training on the moon and has just come down to earth and will now win everything while the rest of the team are in terrible form. Of course, the lack of form of Bosa or Trentini means e.g. 20th place, not 10th, but for Ghiotto it could mean 4/5 place, instead of 1st. It's the same with the team. For today, the only positive performance for us is Lollobrigida's 2nd place in the b category of the women's 1500 meters and Fontana's solid performance in the same event. The rest is terrible.

Costantini & Mosaner will back to play together for the frist time since Beijing 2022 Our NOC and Federation do an amazing work.

Right now I’m watching Scotland-Switzerland at the European Curling Championships, even though Germany-Norway would probably be a more interesting game… (can’t find any streaming options for it)   At 4:00am Scotland-Italy in the women’s bronze medal match, and at 9:00am TBD-TBD in the men’s bronze medal match   We’ll see if I’ll have enough time for the Davis Cup, Women’s/Men’s Slalom WC Gurgul, Skeleton WC Yanqing, BPT Challenge Chennai, BWF China Masters, WTT Finals Fukuoka, GSOC Kioti National, Freestyle Skiing WC Beijing, Alpine Skiing WC Killington, Moguls WC Ruka   Also will be following along with the Canadian Curling Olympic Mixed Doubles Qualifier, UCI Champions League Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Open Water WC Neom, Luge WC Lillehammer/Cross Country WC Ruka, Ski Jumping WC Ruka   Friday (November 22) 4:30 PM: NBA - Warriors v. Pelicans 8:00 PM: ISU Speed Skating World Cup Nagano - Day 2 10:00 PM: European Curling Championships - Women’s Gold Medal Match   Saturday (November 23) 5:00 AM: European Curling Championships - Men’s Gold Medal Match 4:00 PM: NHL - Canucks v. Senators 8:00 PM: ISU Speed Skating World Cup Nagano - Day 3   Sunday (November 24)   Monday (November 25) 7:00 PM: NBA - Warriors v. Nets   Tuesday (November 26) 4:00 PM: NHL - Canucks v. Bruins   Wednesday (November 27) 4:30 PM: NHL - Canucks v. Penguins 7:00 PM: NBA - Warriors v. Thunder   Thursday (November 28)   Friday (November 29) 1:00 AM: ISU Speed Skating WC Beijing - Day 1 10:00 AM: UCI Track Cycling Nations League Apeldoorn - Day 1 12:00 PM: NHL - Canucks v. Sabres

As far as I am concerned, there are two very simple problems: infrastructure and the lack of cooperation between sports federations. Let me explain. The MiCo2026 Olympics will provide virtually no legacy in ice sports, there is still a lack of an indoor hall, there is no federal centre that has been promised for so many years. It could have been an opportunity to make a nice roof in Baselga di Pinè, but instead they preferred to make temporary facilities in Rho.   The second problem is the total lack of cooperation between roller skating and speed skating, we have a huge pool and we are not exploiting it. Fortunately we are doing a few small collegiate events, the technical collaboration with the Netherlands absolutely must be exploited.   I am not so negative however about the current situation, Ghiotto practically on the 10k seems to be off the scale (watch out for the Czech and Norwegian) and he can medal in the 5k and drag the pursuit team. In the mass start you have more cards in both the men's and women's, let's see what Fontana does. And a Fontana-Peveri-Lollobrigida pursuit team can also play for a third place

Canada Team Size Prediction for Winter Olympic Games 2026 Milano Cortina   Ski Sports   Alpine Skiing  (13) - That's been the team size the last couple of Olympics so it's a safe bet again. Cross Country Skiing  (10) - Not too familiar with the qualification system. Probably around 6 men and 4 women. Ski Jumping  (5) - Loutitt, Strate and Maurer for sure on the women's side. Possibly a 4th will qualify. On the men's side, if Bowd-Clowes returns, then he should also qualify. Nordic Combined  (0) - Been a nonexistent sport for a while. No athletes competing in the World Cup or Continental Cup. Freestyle Skiing  (32) - Should qualify a team in mixed aerials which means a maximum team size of 32 athletes. Which athletes in which disciplines to be determined. Snowboarding  (24) - Full teams in slopestyle and big air. Then somewhere between 1-4 athletes in the other disciplines. Biathlon  (6) - Based on the Nations Cup last year, the men finished outside the top 20 and wouldn't qualify a relay team (and that's without Russia and Belarus). With Christian Gow's retirement, that makes things even more difficult. Women's relay should still qualify though. Ski Mountaineering  (1) - Gonna be optimistic here and say that one athlete will qualify either through the World Rankings or continental quota.     Skating Sports   Speed Skating  (16) - 7 to 8 men, 8 to 9 women. For now, I'll say 8 of each gender. Short Track Speed Skating  (10) - Full team size. With the current skill level of the team, anything else would be a tragedy. Figure Skating  (12) - Most likely 1 man (I hope) and 1 woman, then 2-3 pairs and 2-3 ice dance couples. For now, let's say 2 in pairs and 3 in ice dance.     Sleigh Sports   Luge  (7) - 2 women + 1 entry in each of the other disciplines Skeleton  (4) - 1 or 2 men + 2 or 3 women Bobsleigh  (14) - 2 men's crews (in both events) and 3 women's crews (in both events)     Team Sports   Curling  (12) - Full team or else you might as well burn the federation to the ground. Ice Hockey  (48) - Both men's and women's teams already qualified       Total Optimistic Prediction  -  (229) Total Pessimistic Prediction  - (184)   Total Realistic Prediction  -  (214)