Monzanator

2 hours ago, hckosice said:

 

Actually not, from what I remember her last wins they always played the whole 2 parts of the anthem, sadly the last time that the correct version was played was in Zagreb.

In Flachau they messed it totally playing only the 2nd part lol and today in sestriere they played only the first part..which is actually considered as a faux-pas, since our national anthem is composed of the 2 parts..

 

but yeah, let it be, I can live with that, Petra won (ex-aequo with Brignone this time) and that´s what matters, the 2020 winning streak is still on, 3 races this year - 3 wins

Sometimes the shorter versions are in use and the organizers don't even realize they made a protocol mistake. For instance the Polish anthem has the chorus repeated twice but over the years I've heard a ton of versions where it was only repeated once. Hell, I saw our athletes surprised that someone actually played the longer one, it's actually the lesser used version even though officially it's the correct one.

6 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Oh they most definitely won't  I don't think we'll ever see Pyeongchang again neither, the world championships there showed how dead it is.

Khanty-Mansiysk made hosting the WC races in Pyeongchang even remotely possible, now with the Russian venues banned there's no point in going to Korea for a one-off event. Everyone would probably skip it anyway

4 hours ago, RobtheAggie said:

Thank you so much.  I wonder here and n the US if Fort Kent still has an A.  Lake Placid and Valcartier in Canada might as well.  I would assume that Jericho, Bozeman, West Yellowstone, and Auburn, Can have a B.  There are a few note that if there is a C, they would have that.  Canada has around a dozen or so that host local to national events.

 

I wonder if Nagano has kept their venue up?  Also Beijing, (I forgot the actual name) would need to be A when it is finished.  

 

I appreciate the list a lot.

Nozawa Onsen was only the back-up biathlon venue for 1998 OG and it's a ski resort first and foremost. I don't think the range is still there, the official site shows all kinds of skiing slopes and half-pipe which is far more popular in Japan than biathlon.

The "A' license is up for renewal every 8 years at most. I doubt whether third string US venues still have the 'A' license when for example the second Norwegian venue in Sjusjoen only has a "B" license. Presque Isle has probably rendered Lake Placid pretty moot in the NE area. Local events can be hosted at "C" license venues tbh.

There are some new venues in Latvia (Madona) and Estonia (Haasja) that are on the "B" license as well. Duszniki Arena in Poland have been upgraded to "B" in 2017.

3 hours ago, heywoodu said:

And doesn't Beijing have an A license? Or just not yet? Since they're getting a World Cup in the pre-Olympic season (and well, the Olympics  ).

Well, it will obviously get one but probably on a temporary basis. I seriously doubt IBU stages a World Cup round there except for the pre-Olympic test and the WOG.

Tessa Worley is not on the Sestriere GS start list. Did I miss something?

4 hours ago, RobtheAggie said:

Good relay.  Lots of changes in the lead.    Germany in relay for a good portion of the race and kept the fans really enthused.  

 

Does anyone know where a list of the Class A and Class B venues is?

You can't really find any list AFAIK but there are the usual World Cup suspects that are automatically 'A' listed. Raubichi and Otepaa have been granted the 'A' license as they will host World Cup races in the Olympic season (I assume they are long-term replacements for the banned Russian vanues in Khanty-Mansiysk & Tyumen). The only IBU 'A' licence venue that is unlikely to host any World Cup races soon in Lenzerheide but they are more focused on the alpine skiing anyway.

So the way I see it the 'A' list is:

Ostersund

Hochfilzen

Le Grand Bornand

Oberhof

Ruhpolding

Pokljuka

Anterselva

Oslo-Holmenkollen

Kontiolahti

Nove Mesto

Canmore

Presque Isle

Soldier Hollow

Pyeongchang

Minsk-Raubichi

Otepaa

Lenzerheide

Any news on Adrian Smiseth Sejersted?

Wait, someone confused Slovenia with Slovakia again?

5 hours ago, hckosice said:

 

I doubt Petra will use this kind of excuses, I mean, dude, she already lost, what, some million of races and I never heard she said it was because of how the track was buld. In the opposite she usually claimed "Mikaela was too strong" "Mika was skiing really good" "I did a silly mistake" "I was not focused enough" "I don´t feel in perfect shape yet" etc...but never heard from her to say something about wrong waxing, not well prepared skis, how the track was build or bad snow, which you know the best, racing in warm temperatures is her weakest weapon. but still never made excuses because of this, so I think you should not be worried about that, she don´t search for stupid excuses, that´s just not her style, at least from what I know her. This was the first time she said something about the track and it was just after journalist asked her about the topic,but still she did not accused anyone just said "The 2nd run track was obviously harder and was not favorable for me so that´s why I didn´t feel comfortable and logically lost a lot of time" no accusation, just forced statement, I mean, things every skier said at least once

 

It was Magoni who was directly accusing. I agree the guy has a how to say "special character" and I admit he use some "strange methodes" but still, untill his methodes will be legal, who is legitimate to blame him

 

This war is clearly only between the coaches, and the medias used or are trying the occasion to put more fuel on it than it really is necessary, the athletes in other side are certainly not the best friends but are respecting themselves (both climing that) and that´s what matters

 

Anyway, once again I am really annoyed about this topic and I realy want to stop wasting my time in this, I even feel like I have to appologize to all who had to read two pages full of trash topic that belong rather for a cheep tabloid than in a serious sport forum we want to have.

Well, you posted the Slovakian media version first so if you want to blame anyone for wasting time it's actually you and nobody else   

One thing that has come out of it is that Livio Magoni is definitely a liar and shouldn't be trusted anymore. I don't blame him for his methods, I blame him for being a liar, period

2 minutes ago, phelps said:

 

yeah, but the original "skeleton" it's still there and the costs to have a good make-up and make it again the best and most difficult track on the sliding sports circuit are not as high as building a new track...

 

they started with a reasonably low budget and even if they said it would take a bit more money, I don't think the total costs would eventually raise up to immoral level...

 

and they also signed a document to keep it working full time for at least 25 more years after the Olympics...

I don't trust the Italians to keep up to their promise. The other luge track in St. Caterina went belly up in less than 10 years since the Turin OG. And now you say 25 years guaranteed? No way. Paperwork can be easily rendered useless. It will require some public money and well, Italy seems to have public funding issues every other year?

Kamil Stoch said it's a miracle the big hill in Predazzo is still standing as it's in terrible shape especially the in-run (hence why they held the two ski jumping rounds at the normal hill last weekend). This speaks of bigger problems with overall maintenance of these venues. And luge might be somewhat popular in Sud Tirol but I just don't see how the new track lasts beyond 10 years without a regular spot on the World Cup schedule.

Women's slalom simply needs a new winner. Just anyone! Can't trust Holdener though so I have no idea who's gonna be the next winner not named Shiffrin or Vlhova.

Fact is, if Vlhova wants to even think about the overall challenge, she needs to add some SG and DH starts. Shiffrin is no Vonn with regular 5-6 DNFs across the season.

24 minutes ago, dcro said:

Yeah, if IOC approves natural track luge, then we have a conclusive proof that they will do just about anything to keep the hosts happy and boost their medal count.

 

Watch out for MMA in 2028 and pencak silat whenever Indonesia hosts it. I mean, even pencak silat is not nearly as exclusive as natural track luge - 23 nations have won medals at WCh level.

 

 

Luge & bobsleigh track is the single most expensive and most useless thing required for the Olympics. The old Cortina track is basically ruined anyway, right?

It's in IOC interest for the host nation to have a successful Games to boost the attendance and other such stuff.

32 minutes ago, hckosice said:

 

and for us building the track deliberately just against one opponent is more shameful. I don´t believe in coincidences, the second run in Flacahau was bizarre, placing that particular changing direction gate just right on the place where Petra fell out 2 years ago is sorry, but no a coincicdence. period.

 

He did not set a track to help his skier, this was clearly the worst slalom run of Mikaela I saw since PyeongChang, one can really easily start to think that he set this run just to make sure Petra does not succeed, and this IS for us a much bigger deal than filming someone training on the same slope.

 

and why we would have be terrified because Americans dislike something ? who they are to say us what we can do and what we can not, because this is evil evil in USA ? I don´t buy your arguments in this case, if it was me they are accusing of I would film them again and again just because.

 

 

and anyway as I wrote, I am starting to be really annoyed and pissed about this whole bullshit. I turn the page, you have your true and I am really not thy type of guy to forcibly pushing my opinions to others and arguing endlessly around one crap.

I see you're into the conspiracy theory full-time now.

Okay, this means every slalom that Vlhova loses from now on will be because those damn coaches want her to fail and deliberately set a pattern that doesn't suit her. You've got a good excuse whenever she loses now.

You're the one making all these phoney accusations and consipracy theories. I said from the start that no coach can influence his skier or some other skier by setting a specific pattern of gates. But you disagree and play to the conspiracy tune yet accuse me of spreading crap?

Who fucking cares where Vlhova crashed out 2 years ago?  Shiffrin has enough slalom wins not to bother where Vlhova crashed out but nope, she needs a specific pattern of gates to make sure Vlhova crashes out again in the same place just to prove some looney Slovakian theory

I have no clue about water polo so these standings are somewhat shocking

2 hours ago, Gianlu33 said:

It was popular only in Alto Adige/Sudtirol and in Austria (what surprise ). Probability 90% of international events are hosted by this two regions

 

Only 4 countries ever won medals in Natural Track Luge World Championships: Italy, Austria, Russia (Soviet Union) and Poland. And every Polish medal has been won by the two guys in doubles I mentioned earlier. Hell, this could be the most exclusive sport in the world, more nations have won World Cup medals in rugby & cricket

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIL_World_Luge_Natural_Track_Championships

3 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

I'm not saying I think they will.

It has to be said Shiffrin doesn't generate as much media buzz in the USA as Lindsey Vonn so this is the only chance this thing never takes off.

Just now, heywoodu said:

I'm disappointed you're from a time where there was live TV.

Yes, I'm shocked how I graduated from school without the aid of internet & cell phones   I actually read real paper books in my life too!

4 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

 

I am very much aware, I think I saw your name on a list of supercentenarians a while ago  

I actually remember watching Gerda Weissensteiner on live TV. Does this qualify for the supercentanarian class?

5 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

 

Turning mosquitos into elephants is not about how rich or popular something is, it's about turning something tiny (Vlhova's coach filming Shiffrin) into some sort of big deal.

 

Before we go all NFL vs football (I'd prefer to watch NFL anyway), let's get back to the point and that is Magoni shouldn't be a dick and turn around his statements and Shiffrin's camp should shut up about this being a big deal. Back to skiing.

That's the thing, you view this from European perspective. For Americans filming your opponents to gain an advantage IS a big deal. It's not about Magoni or Vlhova but about the actual process so they won't shut up. They came in hard on MLB and NFL-title winning teams so you think they will shut up over Magoni? Not a chance IMO.

2 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Yeah, if you see a German name (either as name of an athlete or of a competition venue) you can pretty much bet your ass it's in Italy  

99% of Italians competing in winter sports come from Sud Tirol and have a German heritage. I wasn't born yesterday, you know

20 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

From my understanding, yes...

It’s also popular in Russia, Ukraine, and Romania. New Zeland has some depth as well. 

Damian Waniczek & Andrzej Laszczak from Poland won the World Cup standings in 2002 and also won four World Championship medals during their career. They had 10 World Cup wins in the doubles as well. That was the high-water mark in Polish luge for sure, sadly it came at natural tracks which nobody cares about.

1 minute ago, heywoodu said:

 

I've heard of that, yes, but Americans are not to be taken serious when it's about sports...especially about their own sports  They can and will blow it up all they want, I don't much care. Time and time again we see Americans are utterly addicted to 'turning mosquitos into a zoo full of elephants'  

NFL generates 13 billion dollars per year. The most popular association football league in the world (English Premiership) generates 5.3 billion per year. You better take NFL seriously, buddy! There's so much money involved they are no mosquitos whatsoever.

2 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

And to complete this trio of posts: if you're gonna be training in public space, which I'm guessing both Vlhova and Shiffrin regularly do, you can be filmed. It's public space, get yourself a private mountain if you want to forbid someone to film you. What's next, forbidding to save video footage of races 'because otherwise it can be used to analyze my skier!'?

I suppose you have never heard about the NFL spygate?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spygate_(NFL)

Americans are VERY sensitive over this and they clamped down on NFL's most successful team of the last 20 years. Because Magoni filmed an American skier this will be controversial enough for shit to hit the fan.

1 minute ago, hckosice said:

 

Thanks for the links, did not know about it.

 

I´m definitely not good in German, sorry for that, but it looks to me like he said they were training on the same hill or so, so they filmed her, ok. I admit it. it was stupid. Maybe they should ask them if they can do it or not..but I still don´t see any prove they did it again and if he said one week later to the medias all over the world that he did not send anyone to film Mikaela to spy her somewhere kilometers away, I believe him. like why would he be so stupid to lie 7 days later to the medias ?

 

Anyway, ok. This topic is more for the gossip and medias which are actually really trying to put more fuel than it is necessary. and personally, I am not going to fight the whole night about it. I was more than happy that Petra beat Mikaela, such things does not happen often, so I am enoying it and I am pretty sure filming her once when they were training side by side (once again, if I understood correctly) was not the reason why Petra beat her in Zagreb.

Guess my German is better than yours so I'll translate:

"Ich weiß, dass es nicht ganz korrekt ist. Aber andererseits zeigt das ja nur, dass die anderen Läuferinnen sehr intelligent sind und wir nur von den Besten lernen wollen. Das ist unser Job"

"Es ist wichtig, dass wir uns Mikaela ansehen, denn sie ist die beste Skiläuferin der Welt", sagte Magoni. "Wir können uns kleine Verbesserungen abschauen. Wenn du gescheit bist, kannst du einiges dazulernen."

"I know it's not exactly right. But it also shows that other athletes are very intelligent and we only want to learn from the best. This is our job.

It is important that we see Mikaela because she is the best skier in the world. We can look up small improvements. By watching we can learn something."

So his talk about not having time, resources or people to send to film Shiffrin's private runs is a flat out lie. Can't spin this any other way. He can shove his conspiracy theories down the drain.

Btw, he was Tina Maze's coach before and this reminds me how he sold the image of Maze being the best skier in the world over Lindsey Vonn. I suppose he's trying to sell the same shtick with Vlhova over Shiffrin, just not enough wins yet since Maze had more than Vlhova for sure.

In USA this could be blown up since they just grilled the Astros MLB team for stealling pitcher signs and New England Patriots got pantsed for filming the sidelines during games before. USA absolutely hates any form of cheating especially when it comes to filming other competitors.

Isn't like Italy the place where natural track luge is the most popular?

1 hour ago, hckosice said:

 

yep and no.

 

 

nosense. No one is saying that, Shiffrin is the best skier ever, everyone knows that. and ok

 

 

That´s not Vlhová´s fault nor Swenn-Larsson´s or Hansdotter´s

 

 

anyway, this reminds me how everyone was bashing Ante Kostelic and his team, looks like small countries don´t have the right to be successfull in this sport because they are not from the "right" countries

Right. And Poland is the "right" country in alpine skiing?  I'm like the one guy who should always support Slovakia in these winter sports. However when someone pulls the "gate pattern was fixed to favor someone" bullshit then I'm OUT. I've been watching alpine skiing for 28 years to know better. I suspect Livio Magoni wants to play the mind games now that Vlhova has won two slaloms in a row but he's just making Vlhova look very sour in all of this. Lindsey Vonn was the last drama queen, do we really need Vlhova to fill that void?

Btw, Livio Magoni has admitted to spying on Shiffrin's private training so hell yeah, it's been confirmed alright.

January 6th (he admits it). It's said the interview was taken on January 3rd.

https://www.spox.com/at/sport/mehrsport/wintersport/2001/Artikel/ski-news-petra-vlhova-spioniert-trainings-von-mikaela-shiffrin.html

January 15th (he denies it and accusses everyone of conspiracy).

https://www.skiracing.com/stories/ski-racing-media-releases-full-magoni-spying-interview

Well, I'm sorry but Magoni has been caught with his pants down and exposed as a liar