Wumo

I'm just just glad to see a nation with half the population size of my country can start a relay team in the WC. Oh well, maybe one day we will see a Danish relay team in the WC. (First we have to convince a bunch of Norwegians and Swedes to switch nationality. Then we might have a chance.)

Well, all went as expected, Norway won, Germany came second and France third. Not a surprising podium. And of course, Lithuania was the last nation to cross the finish line, as usual. At least they were not lapped this time. It was a bit of a suprise to see how bad Dombrovski's shooting was yesterday.

[hide] Main Round January 19th - January 23rd, 2018 12 Nations, 2 Groups, the 1st and 2nd Nations from each Group will qualify for the Semifinals Group I Date & Time (GMT +1) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 January 19th 2019, h. 18:00 France 2 Spain January 19th 2019, h. 20:30 Germany 4 Iceland January 20th 2019, h. 18:00 Brazil 6 Croatia January 20th 2019, h. 20:30 Iceland 5 France January 21st 2019, h. 18:00 Spain 4 Brazil January 21st 2019, h. 20:30 Croatia 3 Germany January 23rd 2019, h. 15:30 Brazil 2 Iceland January 23rd 2019, h. 18:00 Germany 1 Spain January 23rd 2019, h. 20:30 France 2 Croatia Group II Date & Time (GMT +1) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 January 19th 2019, h. 18:00 Tunisia 5 Sweden January 19th 2019, h. 20:30 Denmark 6 Hungary January 20th 2019, h. 18:00 Norway 7 Egypt January 20th 2019, h. 20:30 Hungary 3 Tunisia January 21st 2019, h. 18:00 Sweden 3 Norway January 21st 2019, h. 20:30 Egypt 7 Denmark January 23rd 2019, h. 15:30 Tunisia 2 Egypt January 23rd 2019, h. 18:00 Norway 5 Hungary January 23rd 2019, h. 20:30 Denmark 4 Sweden [/hide]

It's great to see heywoodu is not the only Dutch person who follows biathlon passionately. Do you know this guy, @heywoodu? https://twitter.com/vincetaskin_

The President of the Russian Biathlon Association Vladimir Drachev will address what he perceives as harassment of Alexander Loginov to the IBU. The Russians are annoyed that there are constantly derogatory comments about Alexander Loginov who returned last season - We will talk about the harassment of Loginov with IBU, says Drachev to Russian Sport-Express. Not even Team Sky is such a big cry baby.

Nordic combined skier, Magnus Hovdal Moan, has announced he will retire after this season.

I wouldn't trust an Italian guy to do the waxing of my girlfriend's...

Are we about to start a new viral "what colour is this"-discussion, like "the dress"? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dress

What piece of music is playing?

Rikke Moller Pedersen has decided to end her career. Rikke Moller Pedersen has had a great career, where she has won 25 medals at the European Championships and World Championships, as well as a bronze at the 2016 Olympic Games with the Danish team. Her biggest achievement, however, is the world record she set at the Barcelona World Cup in 2013 in the time of 2.19.11 on 200 m breaststroke. A world record that Rikke Moller still owns. - It has been in the back of mind and filled the last couple of years. I will face a lot of challenges during this year, and I really thought I would be ready to take on these, as I usually do, but now I have come to the decision that I have no more to give to my own swimming, says Rikke Moller Pedersen. What the future will bring, Rikke Moller Pedersen has still not decided, but she will not let go of the swimming yet. - I put my own swimming on the shelf, but I have a lot of experiences and experiences I would like to pass on to young people who want to swim. I do also have a lot of other projects I want to realise.

IHF has decided who will receive a wildcard for the World Championships in 2025 and 2027 - and at the same time decided on new guidelines for the distribution of wildcards. In the future, it will be the country that will host the next Olympic Games, which will receive a wildcard for the World Championships three and one year before the Olympics. This means USA receives a wildcard for the WCH in 2025 and 2027. One question which comes to mind. What happens if the Olympic host qualifies for the WCH and therefore does not need a wildcard? In 2024, it is Paris that hosts the Olympics, but since France is defending world champions in both men's and women's handball, France hardly needs a wildcard for the World Championships in 2021 and 2023. The IHF Council has not decided on any guidelines who, in that case, will receive a wildcard. According to the minutes of the meeting in the IHF Council, the wildcard for USA in 2025 and 2027 is conditional on the USA handball team having "reached a certain level". It is IHF who will decide whether USA at that time has the necessary level to be able to compete at the WCH.

First individual WC podium place for Noel. Allez Noel!

Qatar is leading 6-0 against North Korea.

Well after her performance today, I think Gontier could be available. I have heard that Italy is not so interested to keep her anymore.

Hammerschmidt is still recovering from an ankle injury. She was operated back in October. She is now back in the gym, but there is still a bit to go before she is back in the World Cup. She could miss the whole WC season. From Biathlonworld  This is the latest update from her Instagram.

I hope this will not be last time we will see Veith in WC, but I fear a second knee injury could make her decide to end her career.

Start confirmed at 14:15 CET.

Next decision for the race start will be taken at 14:00 CET.

Two new events have been added to IAAF World Relay programme. A mixed 2x2x400m relay and mixed shuttle hurdles relay. The mixed 2x2x400m, a form of an endurance relay event, requires both members of the team to run two 400m legs of a relay. Each team can choose to start with a man or the woman. The athletes then take it in turns to run their two legs of the relay. Inspired by a mixed relay event introduced to biathlon in recent years, the 2x2x400m replaces the 4x800m relay, which proved to have limited appeal at previous editions of the World Relays. The men will run 110m hurdles in one direction and will then hand over to the first woman on the team, who will run back up the straight to hand over to the second man, and so on. To account for the extra distance, women will run out an extra 10 metres at the end of their leg. https://www.iaaf.org/news/press-release/world-relays-2019-shuttle-hurdles-2x2x400

17-year-old Monika Skender has qualified for the sprint finals in Dresden.

Swimming: I would suggest a max quota of 50 swimmers on each distance. (That would cut about 80-90 quotas) If we could cut some distances, the 4x200 m relay for both women and men, and of course, the mixed 4x100 m medley. (48 quotas)

You are probably right. She has not registered any time on 6.4 km split yet. She has probably been disqualified. Edit:

What happened with Drndic? How can she be faster?