Biathlon 2019 - 2020 Discussion Thread

[Werloc 3,191]

1 minute ago, Swewi said:

In this case I think Roiseland and Eckhoff Will be more difficult to beat than the norwegian sprinters  now Johaug will get rid of one of very few who had beaten her in distance since her comeback. I could see Nilsson win the overall world cup with some more stabile distance performances But lets see what she can do in biathlon. Guess she had time to practice shooting under her injury so she can be sure she has potential for it. Appearently her plan was biarhlon after 2022 But changed her mind after injury

 

I don't know, I wouldn't put my hopes up for Eckhoff too much. The fact that she had so many wins this season was out of nowhere and everybody was used to her inconsistency especially when it came to standing shooting.

 

Seeing as Vittozzi looked like a shadow of her former self after her super season last year, I'd like to see more proof from Tiril that she is capable of being a consistent competitor, especially seeing how she completely evaporated during the World Championships and came back to her 2018-2019 season during the final shooting in Kontiolahti's pursuit.

 

As for Roeiseland, she might come back even as a bigger 'monster', she can easily reach domination levels of such greats as Darya Domracheva, Magdalena Neuner, I guess Dahlmeier too if we look at what she did during her short career.

 

In all honesty, I think the women's tour is very open right now for top talent. If you'd ask me, I don't really think that Dorothea Wierer is a super excellent biathlete, nor did I ever think that Gabriela Soukalova was too (as both previous winners of the overall world cup). The reason why Doro right now can look so good is because the women's tour doesn't have a Johannes or a Martin, which I think that Marte is capable of taking that place.

 

I think women's biathlon level is really down after the peak days of Neuner, Henkel, Ekholm, Berger, Domracheva, Makarainen, Zidek.

 

Of course, not saying that Doro or Gabi are not talented, just thinking that people perceive that they are much stronger than they actually are, regarding the competition that they are facing. Germany is at its weakest that its ever been with Herrmann being a less charismatic coinflip Gossner and Preuss + Hinz never growing into podium challenging form. French women are on a bit of a dip too, with Braisaz's and Simon's inconsistency. No real external challengers from smaller countries (that was the role that Makarainen, Domracheva and Kuzmina played) and Russia is extremely weak as well. So yeah, I'm really waiting to see if Nilsson can shake things up. 

[Swewi 460]

In Swedish But here is her instagram video announcement https://www.instagram.com/tv/B-CuQsbJ6U4/?igshid=8c6jf5jyxdfu

[Monzanator 4,769]

2 hours ago, Werloc said:

 

I don't know, I wouldn't put my hopes up for Eckhoff too much. The fact that she had so many wins this season was out of nowhere and everybody was used to her inconsistency especially when it came to standing shooting.

 

Seeing as Vittozzi looked like a shadow of her former self after her super season last year, I'd like to see more proof from Tiril that she is capable of being a consistent competitor, especially seeing how she completely evaporated during the World Championships and came back to her 2018-2019 season during the final shooting in Kontiolahti's pursuit.

 

As for Roeiseland, she might come back even as a bigger 'monster', she can easily reach domination levels of such greats as Darya Domracheva, Magdalena Neuner, I guess Dahlmeier too if we look at what she did during her short career.

 

In all honesty, I think the women's tour is very open right now for top talent. If you'd ask me, I don't really think that Dorothea Wierer is a super excellent biathlete, nor did I ever think that Gabriela Soukalova was too (as both previous winners of the overall world cup). The reason why Doro right now can look so good is because the women's tour doesn't have a Johannes or a Martin, which I think that Marte is capable of taking that place.

 

I think women's biathlon level is really down after the peak days of Neuner, Henkel, Ekholm, Berger, Domracheva, Makarainen, Zidek.

 

Of course, not saying that Doro or Gabi are not talented, just thinking that people perceive that they are much stronger than they actually are, regarding the competition that they are facing. Germany is at its weakest that its ever been with Herrmann being a less charismatic coinflip Gossner and Preuss + Hinz never growing into podium challenging form. French women are on a bit of a dip too, with Braisaz's and Simon's inconsistency. No real external challengers from smaller countries (that was the role that Makarainen, Domracheva and Kuzmina played) and Russia is extremely weak as well. So yeah, I'm really waiting to see if Nilsson can shake things up. 

 

Berger and Olofsson-Zidek were late bloomers, I mean O-Z didn't start competing in biathlon until she was 29yo! Wierer basically mirrored Ekholm's career but Liv Grete Skjelbreid basically had a better career than both of them with the only problem being she competed at the height of the German & Russian power in women's biathlon and also the tail-end of Forsberg's dominance. I'm not even gonna mention Sandrine Bailly who won 20 World Cup races, who even remembers that? Eckhoff and Wierer won double digit races and it's supposed to be big but Bailly won more than them and literally nobody talks about her at all.

 

The competition has shrunk because the German women are struggling to provide world class talent and Russia hasn't recovered from the post-doping fiasco. French women are very inconsistent and it seems like we have a ton of women who can get into Top 10 on a good day repeatedly but they're not instant winners.

[phelps 8,287]

however, Wierer is the only woman in history to win at least 1 youth, 1 junior and 1 senior world title and a world cup (actually, she won more than 1 in each class)...

 

the only dark side is that it took quite some time to adjust from youth/junior success and translate it into senior success for her (like often happens to the Italian athletes in many other sports)...

 

when looking back at her whole career, I think she eventually deserves even more credit than what she actually gets (which is already above average)...

 

 

p.s. I totally agree on Sandrine Bailly being underestimated big time when mentioning the all time greats in Biathlon/Winter Sports in general...

[Werloc 3,191]

9 hours ago, Monzanator said:

 

Berger and Olofsson-Zidek were late bloomers, I mean O-Z didn't start competing in biathlon until she was 29yo! Wierer basically mirrored Ekholm's career but Liv Grete Skjelbreid basically had a better career than both of them with the only problem being she competed at the height of the German & Russian power in women's biathlon and also the tail-end of Forsberg's dominance. I'm not even gonna mention Sandrine Bailly who won 20 World Cup races, who even remembers that? Eckhoff and Wierer won double digit races and it's supposed to be big but Bailly won more than them and literally nobody talks about her at all.

 

The competition has shrunk because the German women are struggling to provide world class talent and Russia hasn't recovered from the post-doping fiasco. French women are very inconsistent and it seems like we have a ton of women who can get into Top 10 on a good day repeatedly but they're not instant winners.

 

For the life of me, I cannot pinpoint the year when I became a biathlon fan. At one point I thought it was 2010 Vancouver, but then I started remembering stuff from earlier seasons and it's a complete mess.

 

I definitely know that I've never seen Forsberg or Liv Grete race and when I started watching, Bailly was probably at the very end of her career, which is why I'm not comfortable talking about their domination since I haven't seen it first hand. 

[heywoodu 16,004]

27 minutes ago, phelps said:

however, Wierer is the only woman in history to win at least 1 youth, 1 junior and 1 senior world title and a world cup (actually, she won more than 1 in each class)...

 

the only dark side is that it took quite some time to adjust from youth/junior success and translate it into senior success for her (like often happens to the Italian athletes in many other sports)...

 

when looking back at her whole career, I think she eventually deserves even more credit than what she actually gets (which is already above average)...

 

 

p.s. I totally agree on Sandrine Bailly being underestimated big time when mentioning the all time greats in Biathlon/Winter Sports in general...

Chardine Sloof of all places won two world junior gold medals, they don't really mean that much  

[RobtheAggie 340]

Serious question here.  How much will the inability to start summer training affect the 2020/2021 season.  Do you think that we can expect some slower times at the beginning of the season as athletes will not be able to do their normal summer workouts.  No travel to glaciers, or New Zealand, etc to train.  Any thoughts?

[Werloc 3,191]

25 minutes ago, RobtheAggie said:

Serious question here.  How much will the inability to start summer training affect the 2020/2021 season.  Do you think that we can expect some slower times at the beginning of the season as athletes will not be able to do their normal summer workouts.  No travel to glaciers, or New Zealand, etc to train.  Any thoughts?

 

Well, I think they will be able to start training during Summer, Spring will be a good time for them to relax from the sport and refresh. 

[Vojthas 949]

If Nilsson goes into the steps of Herrmann and Polish girls still will be shooting, like they do nowadays until, let's say 2024 it will mean that one of the best managed Polish NFs (which is not a very big deal, we are really bad in managing the NFs) is just an organization level, without any knowledge of sport itself.

[heywoodu 16,004]

1 hour ago, RobtheAggie said:

Serious question here.  How much will the inability to start summer training affect the 2020/2021 season.  Do you think that we can expect some slower times at the beginning of the season as athletes will not be able to do their normal summer workouts.  No travel to glaciers, or New Zealand, etc to train.  Any thoughts?

It depends entirely on where you live. If you were a Dutch biathlete, you could still absolutely put on your rollerskis and go for a long ride, but in other countries even that is sadly not allowed.