Monzanator

4 hours ago, hckošice said:

Finally some sign of life from the Czechs. Great qualification jump from Koudelka

Czech Republic still without a point in World Cup this season

50 minutes ago, Kirkpatrick said:

Some others did get it. After going through the same process.

 

But for one, some fascist politicians got involved.

Nobody knows how many 'others' were there and what are their names. It could all be a lie not to give an impression they bend the rules for ONE person. George Orwell is having a field day in his grave

21 minutes ago, DaniSRB said:

Are talibans allowing vaccines? Any news? Anyone cares of Afghanistan any more?

Probably nobody cares anymore

Yeah, vs Radwanska in AO 2013 QF. Her English back then wasn't exactly sharp either.

The women's qualifying is basically done since Sapporo & Zao won't be replaced. Therefore this nation list should be more or less official. The places are not for specific names but it's easy to guess Daniela Haralambie & Frida Westman will be the and nominations.

Nicole Konderla & Kinga Rajda should be the two selections.

The women ski jumping World Cup rounds in Sapporo & Zao will not be replaced so the next round will be held in Willingen in the last weekend of January. This also means the Olympic qualifying for women is basically done.

5 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

@Monzanator Do you happen to have any idea about the situation in Zakopane in terms of snow and such? I've sent an email to the organizers of the Slavic Cup races there as well, but maybe you've heard something  

 

Some webcams seem to show some snow on the ski jump hill only and nothing else, but it's hard to say about the cross-country tracks.

The ski jumping FIS Cup in Zakopane scheduled for the upcoming weekend has been cancelled due to warm weather. There is more rain than snow in Poland right now. I'm pretty sure the ski jumping World Cup will use artificial snow.

I suppose Australian politicians realized this Novak exemption could cost them at the next elections so are trying to save face now. There's two weeks until the tournament starts, I think he will play anyway.

Artificial snow? I wonder if everyone picks the early numbers to avoid the mud

Did he qualify at 5k? Or just a default selection based on his name?

I have to say I won't be watching much ice hockey with no NHL players. The same way I don't usually watch men's football at the Olympics with U-23 squads.

The Mass Start at Alpe Cermis is pure trash. I liked the pursuit version better. Just another reason to completely ignore cross country these days.

So, Kramer will only compete in Mass Start?

12 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

That would explain a bit of a decline, but it's like someone pushed the entire team straight off a cliff this season...

 

But yeah, massive technique issues is what I've heard both Dutch and German commentators say as well..

Kubacki going back to his old habit of an extremely high take off and dropping like a sack of potatoes clearly indicates it's a technique issue. The thing snowballed from there. After the Oberstdorf failure Dolezal blamed Stoch's result on the new boots he was using, they got back to the old ones in GaPa and Innsbruck and it only got worse. It's clear Dolezal has no idea what he did wrong in the pre-season and with four weeks until WOG shit will hit the fan very soon.

Zyla is basically a lost cause, he usually does his own thing, only when Horngacher threatened to kick him out of the team if he didn't ditch the awkward in-run position he finally came around. Dolezal doesn't have such authority whatsoever.

33 minutes ago, Federer91 said:

I just can't understand, what has happened to Poland. Everyone seems so off from the previous years. Even an all time great like Stoch is not like himself. 

The popular theory is that Michal Dolezal did something different to Horngacher and completely destroyed the jumpers' technique. Possibly too much gym before the season. It doesn't help our core is the oldest on tour, Stoch turns 35yo in May, Zyla 35yo in two weeks and Kubacki 32 in March.

Don't forget there will be two other rounds (individual + team) in Bischofshofen over the weekend (replacing Sapporo).

Australian Open caved in and will allow Djokovic to play while unvaccinated. As usual, some animals are more equal than others

30 minutes ago, prso1000 said:

If I was IOC I would contact Poland, they seem to be the only in Europe who could be interested.I don’t know about Spain/Andorra. 
 

Does Belarus have mountains ?😂

Poland has given up on this WOG fallacy few years ago (the last genuine bid was for 2006, the 2014 bid was quickly shot down in public vote). There is literally one road from Krakow to Zakopane so it would be insanely jammed if OG ever came around. Not to mention we don't have cross country loops long enough even for Junior World Champs right now. And there is no way we'd build a bobsleigh track so that would have to be hosted in Sigulda most likely.

14 minutes ago, dcro said:

I would have preferred that over a relatively weak Winter nation like Italy getting two Olympics in close proximity...

A 50 second shortened Super G or Downhill in Are would be a travesty. It was the only reason I supported the Italian bid. Cortina rarely has weather issues compared to Are.

3 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

And since I have no clue and only just started searching, is Zakopane a bit easy to get to? Like, the ski area?  

 

Main option seems to be a 'Gettransfer' ride (sort of like a taxi), which isn't cheap, but better than a 17 hour train trip...

Vienna to Krakow by train is like 8 hours?  After that there is literally ONE road to Zakopane. Should take way over 2 hours in winter. By train it's maybe close to 3 hours.

14 minutes ago, intoronto said:

That is exactly what is happening now. 

I kinda lost track of the bidding process alltogether. I'm just happy the windy Are won't host the WOG in 2026

Gasienica-Daniel in GS is a true long shot. Would need some DNFs and maybe covid cases among other favorites. It's actually good she had covid six weeks before WOG because I doubt she can test positive again so quickly.

Zakopane hosts the ski jumping World Cup on 15th/16th so there should be no trouble getting into Poland. Our right-wing government won't apply any strict measures before the single most important winter sport event in this country

I suspect there will be no bidding process at all. Venues in Europe in particular are unwilling to bid for OG, the public support is basically gone. Just award the Games to anyone who wants to wants to host them.

Kamil Stoch has been pulled from the Four Hills after finishing 59th in Innsbruck quals. This is only the second time since qualifying was introduced in 1990 that a defending FH champion failed to qualify for one of the rounds (Sigurd Pettersen in Oberstdorf 2004 was the previous one).

Overall this shapes up to be a total disaster come Beijing WOG. One might assume Natalia Maliszewska in short track suddenly looms as our biggest medal hope.

Wright 2-0 up after 148 checkout among others.