Biathlon 2019 - 2020 Discussion Thread

[Monzanator 4,487]

Just now, heywoodu said:

 

The amount of times I've gotten a message saying this or that miss was "on the edge" is uncountable  At least that wouldn't be an issue with laser rifles, or less so, but I doubt that's a good thing.

 

VAR was supposed to fix the bitching about referee mistakes in football and look, there is more bitching about VAR now. The idea of "fixing" or "improving" something looks good on paper but then reality kicks in. The same will happen if biathlon even thinks of laser rifles. And will the athletes use their personal rifle all the time like today? Obviously not IMO.

[Olympian1010 7,954]

6 minutes ago, Monzanator said:

 

Ski jumping is way bigger in Poland than USA. Reports are 2020 could have been the last year of FIS Cup events. Climbing the hill by foot shouldn't take place in XXI century. Without the elevator Iron Mountain has no chance of hosting World Cup events anytime soon. Someone who preaches change should embrace that.

 

If you want "insane stunts" rather than World Cup that's your choice. I bet incidents of people breaking legs or necks won't make the global news though.

Yeah we should have elevators and whatnot in the hills, but that’s expensive to build and maintain, and like I said, those tiny communities don’t have the money.

[heywoodu 14,953]

Just now, Monzanator said:

 

VAR was supposed to fix the bitching about referee mistakes in football and look, there is more bitching about VAR now. The idea of "fixing" or "improving" something looks good on paper but then reality kicks in. The same will happen if biathlon even thinks of laser rifles. And will the athletes use their personal rifle all the time like today? Obviously not IMO.

 

 

Athletes not needing/having their personal rifle would actually be something I'm in favour of. It's such a huge obstacle for smaller nations to even have a decent rifle.

[Olympian1010 7,954]

6 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

 

Wind tends to affect laser light less than a physical bullet, for example.

 

6 minutes ago, Monzanator said:

 

Have you ever heard of split rounds in biathlon?

Both great points  I would definitely take away from some of the external challenges of shooting. Hypothetically, should laser rifles be introduced, maybe we should make the targets smaller to compete the challenge?

[Monzanator 4,487]

Just now, heywoodu said:

 

 

Athletes not needing/having their personal rifle would actually be something I'm in favour of. It's such a huge obstacle for smaller nations to even have a decent rifle.

 

Either you're IN or you're OUT though? What about alpine skiing and custom made skis for top stars? It's a tech race everywhere! In ski jumping it's down to material for the suits and those damn boots again this season. Let's don't fool ourselves everyone has an equal chance because it's not the case.

[Olympian1010 7,954]

4 minutes ago, Werloc said:

 

Well, the World Cup I think has less pursuits this year, but really a fuck tonne of relays that I would definitely cut down on to add one more individual or do something like a single-mixed concept with 30 athletes starting with short skiing intervals and 4 prone + 4 standing shootings with 20 best qualifying, 5 qualifying that collected most points during that stage and 5 qualifying based on best shooting percentages. 

 

3 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

 

Yeah relays are weird. I mean, biathlon has way too many, cross-country barely has any. They could just meet in the middle.

That’s why we should just do away with the gender relays like @Wumo said. Relays are the one discipline where there’s no excuse for not mixing men and women. It would also mean more room for events like the individual.

[heywoodu 14,953]

Just now, Monzanator said:

 

Either you're IN or you're OUT though? What about alpine skiing and custom made skis for top stars? It's a tech race everywhere! In ski jumping it's down to material for the suits and those damn boots again this season. Let's don't fool ourselves everyone has an equal chance because it's not the case.

 

Yeah in in cross-country skiing the big teams have 50 freaking pairs of skis per athlete and a whole science team of wax technicians behind them. I know it ain't gonna happen, but some sort of cap on the equipment budget would be nice.

[Olympian1010 7,954]

5 minutes ago, Monzanator said:

 

VAR was supposed to fix the bitching about referee mistakes in football and look, there is more bitching about VAR now. The idea of "fixing" or "improving" something looks good on paper but then reality kicks in. The same will happen if biathlon even thinks of laser rifles. And will the athletes use their personal rifle all the time like today? Obviously not IMO.

But we don’t know any of that, until we were to try such a thing, we wouldn’t know the consequences. 
 

People hate that you can’t “game” the rules under VAR. 

[Monzanator 4,487]

1 minute ago, Olympian1010 said:

 

Both great points  I would definitely take away from some of the external challenges of shooting. Hypothetically, should laser rifles be introduced, maybe we should make the targets smaller to compete the challenge?

 

The external challenge is what makes the whole sport exciting though! You can't have it all perfect all the time. Hell, New Orleans Saints must play in Green Bay outdoors in the snow and nobody says "it's unfair"

[Olympian1010 7,954]

5 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

 

 

Athletes not needing/having their personal rifle would actually be something I'm in favour of. It's such a huge obstacle for smaller nations to even have a decent rifle.

Laser rifles are also much cheaper from my understanding. Plus, you don’t have to pay for bullets or safe storage.