RobtheAggie

Olga Podchufarova will not compete this weekend as her Slovenian citizenship has not been issues yet.

One other thing, Uliana Kaisheva made up 30 seconds on the last lap of the sprint to win. That is moving.

The event has been cancelled, there will be no replacement, and the 3rd round will not be made up.

Sorry to interrupt the fun name discussion, but there were some races yesterday. Lots of misses in the Mass Start 60. There was only one in the men's race who shot clear (Tshchenko of Ukraine) but he finished in 24th. The top 5, Three Norwegians and two Germans had 2,2,2,3,3 respectively. I wonder if the format lends itself to additional pressure. The women also only had one shoot clear (Steiner of Austria) and she finished in 4th place. Once again, the shooting will be on view this weekend with a Supersprint, Spring and Pursuit.

Some good news out of Mongolia due to the YOG. It seems that the success there, best finisher was 12th, has encouraged Mongolia to create a Youth National Team.

Random news and notes: 1. NorAM 5 will be hosted in Valcartier, Quebec this weekend. 8 Feb - Sprint 9 Feb - Pursuit 2. Next Alpine Cup event is 15-16 Feb in Arber, not sure if that will need to me moved. 3. Estonia is not having much natural snow, and the European Open Championships look like they will have not a whole lot of snow.

Here is an article that adds some interesting, albeit Google Translated info from Vittozzi's mother. "Nadia Fontana, mother of Lisa Vittozzi, who in turn lashed out against technical management through some comments on social networks: “It is true, there are timelines to be respected but nobody thought of respecting Lisa last year when one step away from the Cup they blew her balance allowing Doro to rest. The fault was clearly not Doro’s but of the technicians who at a World Cup were unable to handle the situation. Lisa has not digested this thing and will never digest it and has done well to say what she thinks, like it or not she is so, clear. Toads hurt and you have to spit them out to be healthy. As a mother, I am very proud of what she is and what she said. So many things are not known and therefore one should not make assumptions without knowing“.'

The timing is what is perplexing to me. Why right before the World Championship? Do you think they both race the mixed relay? What about the women's relay. I think yes to both, but it will be an interesting side note.

8 Feb Martell Sprint 9 Feb Mass Start 60 I want to see the Mass Start 60 in person. That would be really interesting to see that many people leaving at the same time. Maybe one day.

Glad to be the barer of good news.

Arber stage moves to Italy.

Here is an interesting article about one of the ways that the US finds new potential skiers.

The Chinese team has not gone back to China since November, so fears of the coronavirus will not prevent the team from competing. Speaking on China, the official ski test event on the new Olympic course has been cancelled due to fears of the virus. The event, which is one for the ski techs to work on potential waxes, was to be the first event on the new course.

Junior men sprint is over. Khalili of Russia and Reithmueller of Germany missed out on the medals, but were both were in the top 10. Soerum of Norway had the fastest ski time and overcame one miss to win. Hartweg, the highly touted Swiss had the 2nd fastest range time, but only the 21st fastest ski time. He ended up in 9th. Stvrtecky of Czech Republic finished 2nd, while Lazouski of Belarus got the bronze.

Youth Women saw Zingerle of Italy overcome one miss to ski very fast and win by over 20 seconds. Not quite as much of a spread in the Youth Women as the men's race, only 6 different nations represented.

In the Youth Men another Russian with the gold as Kovalev takes the win. The Czech's get the silver and Maxime Germain of the US got the Bronze! In fact if you look at the top 10, there were 2 Americans, a New Zealander, a Belorussian, two Norwegians, a Slovenian, French Czech and a Russian. Great diversity and 18 within 1 min of the leader. In fact the top 33 are all within 90 seconds of the top. This could create a very interesting pursuit.

Catherine Beh in the prone had four penalties, but instead to go to the penalty loop, she used the fourth spare. This led to the disqualification of the entire Ukrainian team.

Congrats to France on the Junior Women's side of things. We had another DQ, this time it was Ukraine. The race for 3-5 was much closer than 2-3.

Pretty exciting Junior Men relay this morning. @Werloc 12th! That is great. Italy got a DQed. Great last leg by Reithmueller who led Germany to 2nd behind Russia.

Italy made a real race of it at the end, but congrats to Bakken who held her nerve and only used one spare round.

Same thing for the 3rd US biathlete, not a good last shooting. The Youth female is closer than the Youth male was. Norway once again in the lead. Lots of teams so far have avoided the penalty loop. The US is 0+4 after 5 shoots, but are 5:38 behind. Just slow on the skis.

with the gold in convincing fashion 0+6 with a 0+9 to finish in 2nd. goes 0+10 and grabs third. Poland was 0+0 for a long time and in 2nd place before falling back into 6th. Slovenia, Austria and Italy also avoided the penalty loop.

Oops, Greece is still going. This must be a non-lapped event. US misses 8 shots on #6!

@Werloc Dinda really struggled with the stand. I am sorry. The US is surprising me. Also, something happened to the Swiss. I am pretty sure the Greeks have been lapped, but there must have been an injury or broken equipment that caused them to pullout during the first leg. Keller and the Swiss are now listed as DNF by the 7.1 KM mark.

Great day of races. I am really looking forward to the World Champs.