Cross-Country Skiing 2020 - 2021 Discussion Thread

[Olympian1010 8,313]

I’m just a little upset that I was promised five races from @heywoodu, and only got the full rundown on three 

[heywoodu 16,468]

16 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

I’m just a little upset that I was promised five races from @heywoodu, and only got the full rundown on three 

I haven't gotten to today's race yet and the last one is tomorrow  

[heywoodu 16,468]

Right, today was the kick-off for the fourth and final stage of the Brazilian rollerski circuit. The third one consisted of three races, this one is made up of two races: today's 5/10k freestyle with individual start and tomorrow's 7.5/15k classic pursuit.

 

The women's win went, not entirely surprising, to @brunamoura, who is still three months away from the one moment where she has to be in top shape, yet already broke another PB, this time on the most frequently held race: 12:02 minutes, sub-12 is coming next year. Second place for Mika Picin, half a minute behind the win and ten seconds ahead of Duda Ribera.
https://www.fis-ski.com/DB/general/results.html?sectorcode=CC&raceid=36650

 

The men's win went to Lucão Lima, like he did in last week's classic sprint - he is showing some serious improvement and versatility. Too bad he won't go to the European snow season, unlike Olympian Victor Santos, who finished in third this time - half a minute behind. Second place went to @Jesús, who is very much on his way to Beijing 2022 and deservedly so. There are Chilean talents coming up, but they're still young and too far behind him for now.
https://www.fis-ski.com/DB/general/results.html?sectorcode=CC&raceid=36649

[heywoodu 16,468]

Right, the final race in the Brazilian rollerski circuit 2020, at least the last one that will count in the standings. There will be another one in December, but due to that being a late addition basically just to help a specific athlete prepare for the season, it won't be counted in the standings.

 

The women's 7,5km classic pursuit was of course won by @brunamoura, who had half a minute of a head start and despite having terribly slow rollerskis, even on the downhill they barely increased speed, managed to increase that gap a little: roughly 40 seconds towards Mika Picin at the finish, so the fastest time of the day as well. Bit of a lonely third place for Duda Ribera, who couldn't threaten Mika but also wasn't threatened from behind.
https://www.fis-ski.com/DB/general/results.html?sectorcode=CC&raceid=36652

 

In the men's 15km pursuit, the podium finishers of the previous day came together: Victor Santos caught up with @Jesús and both of them caught up with leader Lucão Lima. This ended in a sprint finish, where Victor took revenge on the day before and sprinted to the win, which might be a sign for the federation that they're right in only sending him to Europe as far as men go. Second place for Lucão, our Chilean Totallympian finished in third. Fastest time of the day was for Yuri Rocha, who moved up from 8th to 5th with a time that was 15 seconds faster than Victor's.

https://www.fis-ski.com/DB/general/results.html?sectorcode=CC&raceid=36651

 

Now that all is said and done, I'd say it was a good event with five good races. Some diverse results in the men's events, five wins for @brunamoura as revenge for suffering her first loss in ages last month and some heavy personal circumstances which people who paid attention to her social media will have seen. Despite all that, several PB's and convincing wins, while the top shape isn't even there yet - as it shouldn't be, that's for the end of February. On to the winter!

 

[heywoodu 16,468]

Does anyone have a clue on where to find a track map for the World Championships races in Oberstdorf, more specifically the women's 5k freestyle qualifying? I do see the ticket map here, but annoyingly there are literally only seats available somewhere halfway on the track:

https://www.ticketmaster.de/event/fis-nordic-world-ski-championships-2021-cross-country-2402-tickets/405119

 

And I'm not really sure what one can see from there. I mean, if it's close enough to yell some support and commands on an uphill or something, that's fine, but I'm a little afraid it's only next to the downhill where support won't do much.

 

From what I can see on a video from last season's World Cup sprint there, this could possibly be an area where there's an uphill as well, but I'm not sure.

[JonPhi 250]

14 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Does anyone have a clue on where to find a track map for the World Championships races in Oberstdorf, more specifically the women's 5k freestyle qualifying? I do see the ticket map here, but annoyingly there are literally only seats available somewhere halfway on the track:

https://www.ticketmaster.de/event/fis-nordic-world-ski-championships-2021-cross-country-2402-tickets/405119

 

And I'm not really sure what one can see from there. I mean, if it's close enough to yell some support and commands on an uphill or something, that's fine, but I'm a little afraid it's only next to the downhill where support won't do much.

 

From what I can see on a video from last season's World Cup sprint there, this could possibly be an area where there's an uphill as well, but I'm not sure.

http://medias2.fis-ski.com/pdf/2021/CC/2058/2021CC2058PROG.pdf
Look from page 31 on

[heywoodu 16,468]

Thanks. Too bad it looks like there's only a small uphill visible from the Egli Hill stands, whereas the largest and most decisive part is on the outer part of the course...especially the large Burgstall climb could be crucial to have some support, but I don't think it'll be possible to walk that way..

 

 

[JonPhi 250]

Norway seems to miss all World Cup races until the World Championships https://www.dagbladet.no/sport/norge-stopper-alt-for-vm/73150191

 

And the FIS will not cut the Programme of the Tour de Ski, so I think Finland and Sweden will not participate.

[rybak 3,432]

5 minutes ago, JonPhi said:

Norway seems to miss all World Cup races until the World Championships https://www.dagbladet.no/sport/norge-stopper-alt-for-vm/73150191

 

And the FIS will not cut the Programme of the Tour de Ski, so I think Finland and Sweden will not participate.

 

Good thing for the sport, at least cross-country skiing will be more interesting and competitive for other nations. 

[dcro 10,211]

There you go. Nigeria instantly guaranteed to qualify for the Olympics.

 

https://www.fis-ski.com/DB/general/athlete-biography.html?sectorcode=cc&competitorid=150093