RobtheAggie

US Women keep the same 4 - Maddie Phaneuf still the odd woman out. Swiss Women have the 3 Gasparin, Haecki, as well as Cadurish - no change. Wierer goes 9th and Eckhoff goes 85th Swiss men keep Hartweg out of the race. Stalder, Tamborino and Finello join the Beard. US has Paul Schommer in the first group (?) starting right behind Loginov, and just ahead of Fak, Eberhard and the Swedish missile Ponsiluoma. Boe's are 89th and dead last on the start list. Men's List Women's List People will pay attention the entire races tomorrow.

I seem to remember that the team was having two issues. First, was issues getting Visas, 2nd was something dealing with the military and the requirements to get out of their jobs and ski.

The first Alpine Cup race was scheduled for tomorrow in Martell. It is cancelled but the other events in the new year are still scheduled at this time. Other dates: FORNI AVOLTRI (ITA) 07.01.21 - 10.01.21 Individual | SPRINT ARBER (GER) 01/28/21 - 01/31/21 Individual | SUPER SPRINT POKLJUKA (SLO) 03/18/21 - 03/21/21 Individual | SUPER SINGLE I think that we will see some interesting names in the smaller/regional races during the Christmas break. Estonia will host the Baltic Cup for example. WIth no IBU CUP until later, these races, if they happen, stand a very good chance to see in increase in competitors as well as quality.

So the list from the DSB is this: Denise Hermann/Benedikt Doll (GER)- Franziska Preuss/Simon Schempp (GER)- Dorothea Wierer/Lukas Hofer (ITA)- Marekta Davidova/Michal Krcmar (CZE)- Lisa Theresa Hauser/Julian Eberhard (AUT)- Evgeniya Pavlova/Matvey Eliseev (RUS)- Vita Semerenko/Dmytro Pidrushnyi (UKR)- Elisabeth Hoegberg/Torstein Stenerson (SWE) Add Belarus to the list Dzinara Alimbekava - Anton Smolsky - Belarus There will also be one more team. I say make is a combo US/CAN team. No one is heading back to the NA this Christmas. What I might think that we will see is either a French or Norwegian team, or maybe a combo Baltic Team. I am thinking about ratings which this is about.

It will be interesting to see what the course looks like. For this, I will miss the sharp turn at the bottom of the hill in the course in the city.

Sorry, I realised I out it in the wrong thread and moved it to the general discussion thread. I wonder who France gets? I also wonder if it will be a few more teams due to added space of boing outside?

Some of the teams for the Christmas Biathlon race at Ruhpolding Belarus - Dzinara Alimbekava and Anton Smolski Russia - Evgeniya Pavlova and Matvey Eliseev Germany - May include Denise Herrmann and Benedikt Doll. Ukraine - Ukrainian team - Vita Semerenko and Dmytro Pidruchnyi

I do not anticipate any changes to the US team.

Now we know what happened to the Romanian biathletes: "The IBU has conducted the final SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests for event participants at the BMW IBU World Cup Biathlon in Kontiolahti, Finland," an IBU statement read. Two athletes from Romania and Moldova have tested positive. The Finnish health authorities have evaluated the positive tests and informed all relevant parties that both persons who tested positive will be quarantined. Both athletes were already in quarantine last week as they were contact persons of a team member who tested positive."

Anfisa Reztsova, the former Soviet biathlete who won 2 medals in the 1988 Olympics, and is the mother of Darja Virolainen, stated that she "she agreed to have an abortion in exchange for a two-room apartment in Moscow region which was given to her by the national sports bosses" prior to the 1988 Olympic Games." Granted this is only her side of the story, but wow!

[hide] Nation Captains FRA Fillion Maillet GER Hermann Nation Women SWE Brosson SUI Haecki BLR Alimbekava NOR T. Eckhoff Nation Men GER Doll UKR Pidruchnyi AUT S. Eder BEL Claude [/hide]

Interesting behind the scene look at the two weekends in Finland.

Swiss start and end with their two youngest. Interesting. I guess by the time it gets to Hartweg, there will not be a ton of pressure. US is just trying to not get lapped. Italy and CZE put their best at 2nd and 4th. As an aside, I would love to have a team where Dale or Horn could not make it because it was too strong. Wow. Just don't get lapped, that is my wish for the US.

US did pretty well in the Relay. Irwin held her nerve. It was hard to watch Reid trying to hold off Roeiseland at the wall. Nothing she could have done there. Knotten fell on the hill, then had serious trouble on the range. Tough day for them. Congratulations to Samulesson. Great day for the Swedes.

One of the major figures in the history of biathlon in the United States passed away on Thursday. Bill Spencer, athlete, coach, official and all around good guy died. He was involved in the 1960 Olympics (first Olympic biathlon) all the way to the 2002 Winter Olympics in SLC. https://www.sltrib.com/sports/2020/12/04/utah-biathlon-standout/

I agree that the Swiss women are not firing on any cylinders right now. The more I hear, Austria is a good outside candidate.

The Swiss women could do really well, or could flame out. Who knows. The US could be in the top 10 if Dunklee actually has a good race. She has not up to this point. Estonia should be in the top 10. It will be interesting to see how many teams can avoid being lapped.

The Men's Relay Start List is up, 25 teams! The women have 22.

Thoughts from the women's race: Sweden looks really, really strong this season. 2 of top 3, 5 of top 23. Ouch! Alimbejava has gone 8,6,7 in three races. I wish I had her on my team. Eckhoff with some redemption For the US - Dunklee did better, 31st with only 1 miss, and Egan also only had one miss. Reid missed the Pursuit by 2 second. It has been since Anncey last season that the US women had three in a Pursuit. For the Swiss - Haecki is so frustrating! They were decent today. Any idea why Amanda Lightfoot did not race? Jill Colebourn had a good first shooting, then it all went wrong. Mari Eder with 7 misses on the day!

Thoughts from the men's race: I love that in the top 11 there were three whose bib numbers were 80 or higher. Granted two were from Norway ... The two Romanian biathletes DNS, any idea why? What happened to Eliseev on the last lap? Swiss with 4th, great race Weger, and 100 with Tamborino. Hartweg missed 3 but Finello does well with a 23rd. He had two misses, and for skied really fast. As for the US, things are making this season look like it will be a really long one. Brown and Doherty both make the pursuit, but they are a long way back. Doherty only missed one shot and was 2:10 back! Nordgren missed 4 in the prone, and Schommer who has become one of my favorites due to his really good youtube channel missed two in the stand. Just not strong at all. Moldova had two, one who shot clean and almost made the pursuit. Rastic of Serbia finished in 80th.

I think that it is just cross country skiing events.

As an FYI, Norway, Finland and Sweden have both pulled out of all FIS events until the new year. They are not satisfied with the COVID protocols in place and with an situation that happened

The Start lists are here: Men's Women's

I assume you are talking about at Datacenter. If that is the case, you can sort of do this by clicking the top row of "shooting" or "t" that will help you see who shot clean, etc. But I do not know a way to get the ski times only on that.

Veronika Vítková is a mother now. She announced on Facebook that her daughter Eliška was born last Saturday.