Biathlon 2019 - 2020 Discussion Thread

[hckošice 14,834]

IBU cleared biathletes in Doping case. The International Biathlon Union says cases against nine Kazakh athletes, six of them from last year’s Winter Olympic team, were dismissed because of insufficient evidence. None are Olympic medalists.

[RobtheAggie 340]

In the, we should have seen this coming department ...  China has hired two very famous former biathletes to be their men's and women's coaches in the run-up to the 2022 Olympic Games.  Ole Einar Bjørndalen will coach the men and his wife Darya Domracheva will coach the women.

 

Also, some nice pictures here.  My favorites:

 

 

 

and this one.

 

 

Edited September 12, 2019 by RobtheAggie

[heywoodu 15,145]

15 minutes ago, RobtheAggie said:

In the, we should have seen this coming department ...  China has hired two very famous former biathletes to be their men's and women's coaches in the run-up to the 2022 Olympic Games.  Ole Einar Bjørndalen will coach the men and his wife Darya Domracheva will coach the women.

 

 

 

Didn't really see these two coming though, I'd have though they would go with proven coaches instead of proven athletes  

 

Will Tobias Torgersen still coach their IBU Cup team?

[RobtheAggie 340]

1 hour ago, heywoodu said:

Didn't really see these two coming though, I'd have though they would go with proven coaches instead of proven athletes  

 

Will Tobias Torgersen still coach their IBU Cup team?

I would have also thought they would have thrown a ton of money at either Wolfgang Pickler or Siegfried Mazet, I guess that is what I was talking about.  I will be very interested to see how these two work as coaches.  With almost no coaching experience, that is a lot of pressure of over 1 billion people.  No idea about Torgersen with the IBU Cup team.

[heywoodu 15,145]

51 minutes ago, RobtheAggie said:

I would have also thought they would have thrown a ton of money at either Wolfgang Pickler or Siegfried Mazet, I guess that is what I was talking about.  I will be very interested to see how these two work as coaches.  With almost no coaching experience, that is a lot of pressure of over 1 billion people.  No idea about Torgersen with the IBU Cup team.

To be fair, a very significant portion of those over 1 billion people probably don't care much at all

[RobtheAggie 340]

2021 World Championships "Officially" awarded to Slovenia.  One thing that I did not know:

"It will not be the largest world championships by the number of spectators, but it will be certainly be remembered, as the venue stands in the middle of the Triglav National Park," said Tomaž Šušteršič, the secretary general of the organizing committee.  I had no idea that Pokljuka was in a National Park.

[heywoodu 15,145]

Just now, RobtheAggie said:

2021 World Championships "Officially" awarded to Slovenia.  One thing that I did not know:

"It will not be the largest world championships by the number of spectators, but it will be certainly be remembered, as the venue stands in the middle of the Triglav National Park," said Tomaž Šušteršič, the secretary general of the organizing committee.  I had no idea that Pokljuka was in a National Park.

Yeah I heard that makes it pretty hard to reach  Or maybe not specifically hard, but a bit of a long journey every time. Not like places like Lenzerheide or Obertilliach where it's only a few minutes drive from the hotels of most athletes.

[RobtheAggie 340]

So Craftsbury, VT is building a new 15 point firing range.  Which is good to see.  They are also paving trails for rollerskiing.  One thing this does beg the question of is what is the cost 15 vs 30 slots?  I know it would not be double.  Just curious.  I can not wait for snow!

[RobtheAggie 340]

So today there is quite an assortment of random things to mention:

 

Mount Van Hoevenberg at Lake Placid, NY is in the news again.  There is an extensive renovation taking place at the 1980 Olympic Facility for the upcoming World University Games.  The Biathlon complex has undergone quite a bit of work this summer and will continue into next year.  There have been some challenges to what is going on by environmental groups.  But this one is different.  Apparently the New York State Police have been using the Biathlon range for their annual firearms training.  Some neighbors say that it was semi-automatic firearms that were used.  Not sure how one could use a semi-automatic weapon on a Biathlon range, it would destroy the targets. 

 

Speaking of environmental issues, Maddie Phaneuf, who by the way has a very interesting story about battling depression sparked by getting sick at the Olympic Games, spoke recently at the University of New Hampshire about how climate change is affecting biathlon.

 

Miriam Neureuthe (nee Gössner) had been trying to compete in only nordic skiing, but has finally announced her retirement from competitive sports.  She never recovered from the cycling accident, and could not make it past the domestic team for Germany in Nordic skiing.  

 

Although a little old, here is a book review of Everyone to Skis: skiing in Russia and the rise of Soviet biathlon.  I have read it and it is a pretty good read.  It also give some insight into the culture where the use of illegal drugs would have been possible.

 

Margarita Vasileva has been suspended by the IBU for failing 3 doping tests over the past 12 months.  Odd that it takes three failures to get suspended.  She is suspended for 18 months.

[heywoodu 15,145]

2 minutes ago, RobtheAggie said:

Margarita Vasileva has been suspended by the IBU for failing 3 doping tests over the past 12 months.  Odd that it takes three failures to get suspended.  She is suspended for 18 months.

I think three missed doping tests would be a better translation than three failed ones.