Monzanator

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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!

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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?

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

Shiffrin hardly ever celebrates tbh. Her gold medal at Vail WC was like the most non-celebration I ever saw. You're obviously biased so for you Team Vlhova is the good guys and Team Shiffrin is evil personified. Vlhova is #2 so if anyone plays the mind games it's her camp. You always attack the leader not the other way around. Guess after two wins in a row her camp thinks she's ready to be crowned the real leader of the pack. I predict a failure in that effort Flachau is Shiffrin's worst slalom course on tour, even Hansdotter beat her there before when she could never beat her anywhere else

[hide] Main Round January 16th - January 22nd, 2020 12 Nations, 2 Groups, the 1st and 2nd Nations from each Group will qualify for the Semifinals Group 1 Date & Time (GMT +1) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 January 16th 2020, h. 16:00 Spain 8 Czech Republic January 16th 2020, h. 18:15 Croatia 8 Austria January 16th 2020, h. 20:30 Belarus 7 Germany January 18th 2020, h. 16:00 Belarus 3 Czech Republic January 18th 2020, h. 18:15 Spain 7 Austria January 18th 2020, h. 20:30 Croatia 4 Germany January 20th 2020, h. 16:00 Croatia 7 Czech Republic January 20th 2020, h. 18:15 Belarus 10 Spain January 20th 2020, h. 20:30 Austria 3 Germany January 22nd 2020, h. 16:00 Croatia 1 Spain January 22nd 2020, h. 18:15 Belarus 5 Austria January 22nd 2020, h. 20:30 Czech Republic 2 Germany Group 2 Date & Time (GMT +1) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 January 17th 2020, h. 16:00 Slovenia 1 Iceland January 17th 2020, h. 18:15 Potugal 8 Sweden January 17th 2020, h. 20:30 Norway 5 Hungary January 19th 2020, h. 14:00 Slovenia 3 Hungary January 19th 2020, h. 16:15 Norway 2 Sweden January 19th 2020, h. 18:30 Potugal 6 Iceland January 21st 2020, h. 16:00 Norway 7 Iceland January 21st 2020, h. 18:15 Potugal 5 Slovenia January 21st 2020, h. 20:30 Hungary 1 Sweden January 22nd 2020, h. 16:00 Norway 4 Slovenia January 22nd 2020, h. 18:15 Potugal 7 Hungary January 22nd 2020, h. 20:30 Iceland 4 Sweden [/hide]

Egan was 9/9 and threw away a Top 20 with her last missed shot

The look on her face during Shiffrin's wins said a lot already and now she wins two SL in a row and starts running her mouth? Really? The idea that a gate pattern helps the coach's athlete is just a huge fraud. Guess every slalom that Vlhova doesn't win from now on will be blamed on the guy who set the pattern?

Total bullshit. I see Vlhova's camp tries to play some mind games. Watch out if she wants to play the villain card! Strikes me as a very bitter loser now.

I read the same about Japan and that was many years ago.

Tiril Eckhoff destroyed the field once again. She was 15 secs faster than Denise Herrmann on skiing time alone. Kamila Zuk has firmly established herself as the number one. She finished 15 secs. ahead of Monika Hojnisz despite one penalty loop. She had 5th fastest skiing time only behind Ekchoff, Herrmann, Olsbu & Oeberg. I thought Hanna Sola's PB was better than 30th before today but she sure pulled the upset result of the day.