Biathlon 2019 - 2020 Discussion Thread

[Monzanator 4,487]

5 hours ago, Werloc said:

 

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. 

 

That's the thing, there was never a Bailly dominance period. After Forsberg retired there was a slew of tep performers like Wilhem, Henkel, Liv Grete or Bailly but the competition was so intense none of them dominated on their own. Even Uschi Disl was never really a dominatrix through 15+ years even though she was always there fighting for podiums. One can argue Martina Glagow or Katrin Apel had higher peaks than Disl and most certainly Henkel & Wilhelm had them as well.

 

Not even gonna mention the Russians, Pyleva, Koukleva or Zaitseva had the higher peaks while Akhatova and Ishmouratova were the reliable backups. Akhatova had 70+ individual Top 10s in World Cup but only two wins and Ishmouratova finally winning a race at age 34 was quite a story in 2006 (before she won the 15km individual at the Turin OG).

[RobtheAggie 340]

Biathlon is the setting for a new non-fiction book that I was sent.  Anyone up for a book club?  To be clear, this is not my normal type of books that I read.  But I thought it interesting that Biathlon from Australia is the setting for a spy/romance book.

 

Triple terror

Author:	A K Leigh
Publisher:	[Sydney] : Escape Publishing, 2019.
Edition/Format:	eBook : Document : Fiction : EnglishView all editions and formats
Summary:	The Farris triplets are taking their cold case business international... When no-nonsense police officer and champion biathlete, Nina Farris, is approached by the Australian Federal Police to stop a suspected terror attack at the Winter Olympics in Beijing, she is hesitant. Even knowing her identical triplet sisters, Lizzie and Carrie, will be there to help with the investigation does nothing to ease her anxiety. Because, there is one competitor she absolutely does not wish to see . . . Andrei Strasinski, Russian secret agent, has been commanded to use his dual citizenship and go undercover to compete for the Australian Winter Olympic biathlon team. Which means competing closely with the one woman he can't forget - the one he betrayed. Tormented by his dark past and the lies he was forced to tell Nina whilst undercover, he knows he must come clean about everything, even if it means turning her away from him forever. With the terrorist closing in, friends in peril, and time running out, Nina and Andrei will have to face their history to stop the bomber and earn the chance of a future

Edited March 24, 2020 by RobtheAggie

[Grassmarket 3,384]

20 hours 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?

If anything I think most modern athletes are over-trained rather than under-trained.  There’s a lot of slack.

[RobtheAggie 340]

7 hours ago, Grassmarket said:

If anything I think most modern athletes are over-trained rather than under-trained.  There’s a lot of slack.

 

If the 2020/21 season starts as it should, we could see some very rested athletes.  That could lead for some very good races.

[RobtheAggie 340]

Hippolyt Kempf has been named the head of the Nordic section of the Swiss Ski Association.

 

It also looks like Sweden is not a happy place right now.  Possible more defections to biathlon.  

[RobtheAggie 340]

Anastasia Khaliullina has been hospitalized with suspected Covid19.  She won the Individual and was 2nd in the relay at the Junior Worlds.  She insists that the test was a mistake and that she does not have the virus.   

[heywoodu 14,953]

1 minute ago, RobtheAggie said:

Anastasia Khaliullina has been hospitalized with suspected Covid19.  She won the Individual and was 2nd in the relay at the Junior Worlds.  She insists that the test was a mistake and that she does not have the virus.   

 

Awesome that she is apparently not only a talented biathlete, but also a doctor and medical scientist?  

[Gianlu33 4,537]

Chenal announced his retirement

[Bohemia 1,377]

 

 

[heywoodu 14,953]

Rule breakers in the background!

 

 

 

@brunamoura would be so happy if this actually happened