Cross-Country Skiing at the Winter Olympic Games Beijing 2022

[Monzanator 4,502]

4 minutes ago, OlympicsFan said:

The norwegian/finish/swedish athletes/coaches should instantly retire. Germany has no business beating them. I guess this shows the lack of talent in cross-country skiing. Hennig, Sauerbrey and Carl have potential to be better in 2026 and hopefully U23 world champion Lisa Lohmann will take Krehl's place soon. Maybe this german team can again fight for a medal in 4 years time.

women is like the men in 4x100 athletics. They don't have single athletes at the top but always perform in the relay. SInce 2002 they only missed the relay podium once!

[OlympicsFan 858]

I am really surprised to see that Germany won a medal in women's relay at 5 of the last 6 olympics (2018 being the only exemption). No other nation won more than 3 medals during that period ... (Norway, Sweden and Russia all won 3 medals and Finland won 2)

[OlympicsFan 858]

Stepanova (born 2001) seems to be an extraordinary talent, Karlsson might have a challenger. Also if Germany could only find a decent 4th leg (maybe Lohmann) ... Krehl almost lost the medal singlehandedly.

[JonPhi 250]

4 minutes ago, OlympicsFan said:

I am really surprised to see that Germany won a medal in women's relay at 5 of the last 6 olympics (2018 being the only exemption). No other nation won more than 3 medals during that period ... (Norway, Sweden and Russia all won 3 medals and Finland won 2)

They are just always on time in top form While in the past it was mostly due to a very strong individual performance, mostly Nystad, today was a fantastic performance of the whole collective. They simply took advantage of the fact that Norway and Sweden are completely out of shape and Finland has set up completely wrong.

[OlympicsFan 858]

22 minutes ago, Vektor said:

Flop Olympics continues for Norway, at this rate Germany will win the medal table thanks to the sliding sports. 

Russia and the US are also dangerous. Sweden could have won the medal table with normal results in cross-country skiing and biathlon. Also don't count out Norway, they could still win 5 or 6 golds in biathlon alone. Maybe even the Netherlands could win the medal table?

[JonPhi 250]

6 minutes ago, Orangehair43 said:

The dirty cheaters won. Germany will get the gold when all Russians eventually lose their medals as they shouldn’t even be there

At least the first three ladies have been around for a long time and have not been involved in anything so far, so one should be careful with such statements. Stepanova is more likely to be undescribed, although she has already won at junior level. With someone like Loginov it is something else, but not all athletes from Russia are doped.
Then the medals of Pellegrino and Stadlober would also be questionable, they also train in Russia.

[Swewi 382]

God Frida is not in the right place. Who would think she would Lose it for Sweden. Amazing last leg by my third cousin Jonna 

[JonPhi 250]

1 minute ago, OlympicsFan said:

Russia and the US are also dangerous. Sweden could have won the medal table with normal results in cross-country skiing and biathlon. Also don't count out Norway, they could still win 5 or 6 golds in biathlon alone. Maybe even the Netherlands could win the medal table?

At least Roeiseland will win 3 golds and the men at least 2 in the Biathlon as well, I think. Germany has to rely on Bobsleigh and Skeleton

[OlympicsFan 858]

24 minutes ago, JonPhi said:

Russia and Germany did everything right tactically, especially Stupak was the decisive athlete. And nobody knows why Finland put the two classical specialists on freestyle.

Agreed. Not sure if there is any woman nowadays who can just close a 25 second gap on her own. Johaug, Björgen and Kalla used to be able to do it. Smart move to put your best athlete on the first position and open up a gap. I doubt that Germany would have won a medal without this russian move. Also you have to give weaker athletes the chance to overperform, which is far more likely if they believe that they can win a medal (which is easier to do when they are near the top of the race). I guess part of the russian gold also belongs to Germany (considering that german Markus Cramer is one of their coaches) ...

[OlympicsFan 858]

11 minutes ago, JonPhi said:

They are just always on time in top form While in the past it was mostly due to a very strong individual performance, mostly Nystad, today was a fantastic performance of the whole collective. They simply took advantage of the fact that Norway and Sweden are completely out of shape and Finland has set up completely wrong.

Krehl was rather horrible, the other 3 dragged her to a medal. I hope that she will soon be replaced. With a decent 4th athlete Germany probably would have won gold.