Monzanator

1 minute ago, Kirkpatrick said:

Would be very cool if Yurlova and Hojnisz get medals.

Gonna be tough for Hojnisz. She needs 5/5 and have Kaisa, Herrmann & Olsbu all miss.

Well, Brorsson & Oeberg have blown golds away on the last shoot already. I hope Wierer doesn't follow suit!

Wierer 5/5 and everyone else completely blow it!

16 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

But that's the thing with burning out, it can come unexpectedly. You know, the brighter the flame the quicker it burns.

The days of top skiers retiring at the height of their prime is over though. And Shifrin has only expanded her skillset in speed events over the last two years. If she keeps winning races at this rate even Bjoergen's cross country record could be under threat

13 minutes ago, Shiffrin said:

Wow Alice! I knew she was going to be good when she was killing everyone in continental cup at the age of 15, but no idea she’s going to be this good this fast! Incredible and her technique is so smooth.

 

60th win for Mika! And 4 globes this season, it’s hard to realize how good her season was in this moment, but hopefully she continues this form for a couple of years. I like how she’s learning from Maze not to go for too much, but I still feel she’s going to burnout faster than people expect.

Quite frankly only the injuries can stop her tbh. And the level of competition isn't very good. Only Vlhova can challenge her here & there. Veith is basically done with injuries, Gut hasn't recovered from hers much better and the new names are not really there unless maybe Robinson becomes the fresh sensation going forward? Holdener is a well-known choker so who is gonna deny Shiffrin now?

Just now, heywoodu said:

Yeah, and rude. It's not just her, by the way  Way too many athletes don't get this rather simple bit of politeness

She was very shy for years though. It's only like in only the last two years she begins to laugh & enjoy it more. Remember her complete non-reaction to winning the gold in Vail when the crowd went nuts?

2 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Shiffrin, don't be rude and take off your sunglasses when doing an interview.. 

Neah, it's rock star attitude And now she will go shopping

Robinson on podium!

I didn't think she would handle it!

The look on Vlhova's face

Polish men have moved up to critical 17th place in the Nations Cup which would give them 4 starters in next year's World Cup. We have a minimal 6 pts lead over Slovakia with the Oslo sprint race the last one that can change the quota.

Just now, OlympicsFan said:

Insane world championships for Norway, the certainly dont have the most talented athletes, but the way all of their womens athletes are peaking here is very impressive, lets hope that this is just a fluke like Germany in 2017 (which is of course very likely).

Another shameful relay performance for Germany on the womens side, of course we all saw it coming, the german coaches just seem to be too stupid to ever pick the correct lineup. On the mens side silver is probably the best possible outcome for Germany, Rees instead of Schempp was just too much of a handicap, but you cant blame Rees, he knows that he doesnt belong there.

Norway has great skiers, they're not good enough to make the cross-country A team but they're world class in biathlon. It's only the shooting part that holds them back. However I guess Denise Herrmann doesn't regret switching over to biathlon even though she competed for wins in cc sprints?

Schempp seems to be going out with a whimper? How long will he continue? Lesser & Ress don't have much speed so it looks as if Peiffer & Doll are the only two who can do some damage in two-shoot races.

Just now, Kirkpatrick said:

 

Bjontegaard did, Abee didn't I think.

Yeah, I know. Abbe Lund must be living mad, even when OEB was ignored for the Olympics, Bjoentegaard got the spot, then Svendsen retired and it's Christiansen jumping ahead of him

I got gold & bronze spot on. Obviously France spoiled the perfect score.

Btw, has Abee Lund competed even once here? Or was he the unused sub again?

Fourcade costs the French relay team a medal. What a joke. If I were him I'd skip the Holmenkollen finals.

Winterton/Dixon cheerleading aka kneecap sucking is over.

Poland somehow managed to finish ahead of USA and a very respectable 7th! This is actually the best women's relay result this season (but Gwizdon > Piton).

Best relay legs: 1. Vittozzi, 2. Egan, 3. Herrmann, 4. Olsbu

39 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

First point: Ukaleq - like anyone else as long as it's not more than X per nation - can start in the IBU Cup whenever she wants. To be able to start in the next trimester, she needs to get under 250 points at least once (shouldn't be a problem for her). If she somehow doesn't manage to get that, she has to skip a trimester and wait for the next one.

 

Nation quota don't mean too much for the IBU Cup in terms of being able to start, I believe it's more a matter of getting some extra money if you have a certain rank. If you and I were to defect to Bhutan, start the Bhutanese Biathlon Federation and show that we're capable of safely handling a rifle, we would be welcome and allowed to represent our new nation of Bhutan in the IBU Cup even if we're lightyears behind, at least for one trimester.

My impression was that Ukaleq can use the points accumulated by her mother going forward even if she has no competition in her country. There are some entries based on nation's points like they have in alpine skiing? That's more or less how the extra six entries for Olympics in 2018 worked for teams outside Top 18(?) in the Nation's Cup (where like Japan took three of them on the men's side). So I wonder if this is to help Ukaleq have an easier path for the 2022 Olympics?

Yeah, that's the other part  

But Uiloq Slettemark only competed into her 50s to get the nation's quota for her daughter so I guess Ukaleq can start at IBU Cup level now? How those points work out exactly?

2 minutes ago, RobtheAggie said:

Would the IBU still allow her to compete for Greenland, but the IOC for Denmark?  

 

My paternal Great grandfather is Danish, Jensen, so can I ski for Denmark?  

There is no Greenland Olympic Committee so she has no choice   But there is a Greenland Biathlon Federation (of which her mother is President ) which is based in Norway.  https://www.biathlonworld.com/about-ibu/member-federations/

It's the same why England, Scotland or Wales don't compete as independent nations at the Olympics.

If you applied for a Danish citizenship I bet you'd be allowed to compete at the Olympics

2 hours ago, RobtheAggie said:

An odd piece of news from Denmark:

 

Greenland teen a big biathlon hope
Norway, Sweden and Finland are light years ahead of Denmark when it comes to the biathlon, but a 17-year-old from Greenland could help bridge that gap in the near future. Ukaleq Slettemark won the women’s 10 km individual title at the recent 2019 Biathlon Junior World Championships in Slovakia, taking Greenland’s first ever medal in an international competition. Slettemark spent some of her formative years in Norway.

 

It sounds like Denmark might be making a play for Slettemark.

Her father competed for Denmark at the Olympics already. Greenland is Denmark's dependent territory. Likewise people from Faroe Islands would compete for Denmark at the Olympics as well. Or people from Macau for China.

Right! I forgot how high finished back then. It's safe to say that was the one-hit wonder for Poliakova

But that's what makes the sport so popular! I bet everyone had more fun picking Johaug for golds in the Seefeld champs, right?

3 minutes ago, Kirkpatrick said:

Yeah, but it never seem to work for Slovakia, that's why I thought they might change things a bit.

Has Poliakova ever worked for the relay?

I did some more checking and Tamara McKinney with 18 wins is the only other skier with more wins than Paris across both genders. So he's 4th all-time counting both men & women.

I'm pretty sure they will put I.Fialkova first even the first leg is usually the slowest tbh but these teams always wants to hide their weakest member on legs 2 or 3.

4 minutes ago, Dunadan said:

I wonder if Paris has already become the skier with more WC wins among those who have not won an Olympic medal.

Nope. Franz Heinzer has 17 wins so 1 more than Paris.

Lisa-Marie Moredod has 24 wins on the women's side.

4 minutes ago, Werloc said:

And it's ABBA all over again, time to tune out of the broadcast

Damn right. You'd think they've had no other bands like ever,

I'd be playing this: