NearPup

He won’t be going to the Olympics due to injury. If he was healthy a top 10 would be possible.

What happened?

Glad he made it given he posted the 4th best time in the world cup this year...

That's the maddening thing, this is someone who clearly has the potential to be the greatest Winter Olympian in the history of New Zealand. Why isn't the NZOC rolling out the red carpet for him?

It’s more the principle of the thing. The US federation is on record saying Wright would be selected if available. If he is snubbed by New Zealand why would he keep competing for them when another country, with much more depth in the sport mind you, was not just willing but practically begging to send him to the Olympics? When one country wants you and another doesn’t, you compete for the country that wants you.

Which is why athletes who have the opportunity to represent a country with sane selection criteria should leave the New Zealand team for a team that actually appreciates their talent and their potential. Not selecting a 19 year old who has scored world cup points in biathlon is malpractice unless you have a ridiculous amount of depth in that sport, there shouldn’t even be a discussion over whether or not to select him. The Americans will gladly support Wright if New Zealand decides he isn’t good enough for then.

If the Olympic committee don’t select him then he should absolutely switch to the US. Talk about an NOC being ungrateful, the fact that his selection is even in question is ridiculous. This is an athlete almost any other NOC would be extremely happy to select.

Do you know when they make the team announcement?

This will be a complicated team to select on the men’s side… the max quota cut to nine per NOC is just unreasonable.

N’tab should really build an ice rink in Senegal and switch nationality at this point. This is two Olympics in a row where he would have been selected by virtually any other NOC.

There is nothing more exciting in speed skating than what happened in pair 5: a drag race to the line to win the pair, along with a close race with the clock. One of the best speed skating race I’ve seen.

For the same reason the senior worlds are always in Europe: it’s where the ticket sales and the TV viewership is the best.

What an incredible failure by the organizing committee. The bubble can’t fail when you fail to create a bubble…

There are now eight people on the men's matrix. The 1500m is going to be a very nervous wait for N'tab...

Men Women Selection order Distance Rank at OQT Athlete Selection order Distance Rank at OQT Athlete 1 1.000 1 Thomas Krol 1 5.000 1 2 5.000 1 Patrick Roest 2 MS 1 3 1.500 1 3 3.000 1 Irene Schouten 4 1.000 2 Kai Verbij 4 3.000 2 Antoinette de Jong 5 10.000 1 Jorrit Bergsma 5 500 1 Femke Kok 6 MS 1 6 1.000 1 Jutta Leerdam 7 1.500 2 7 1.500 1 Antoinette de Jong 8 500 1 Merijn Scheperkamp 8 5.000 2 9 1.000 3 Hein Otterspeer 9 1.500 2 Ireen Wüst 10 1.500 3 10 1.000 2 Antoinette de Jong 11 5.000 2 Jorrit Bergsma 11 3.000 3 Carlijn Achtereekte 12 10.000 2 Patrick Roest 12 1.500 3 Marijke Groenewoud 13 500 2 Dai Dai Ntab 13 1.000 3 Ireen Wüst 14 5.000 3 Sven Kramer 14 500 2 Jutta Leerdam 15 500 3 Kai Verbij 15 500 3 Michelle de Jong

Men Women Selection order Distance Rank at OQT Athlete Selection order Distance Rank at OQT Athlete 1 1.000 1 1 5.000 1 2 5.000 1 Patrick Roest 2 MS 1 3 1.500 1 3 3.000 1 Irene Schouten 4 1.000 2 4 3.000 2 Antoinette de Jong 5 10.000 1 Jorrit Bergsma 5 500 1 Femke Kok 6 MS 1 6 1.000 1 Jutta Leerdam 7 1.500 2 7 1.500 1 Antoinette de Jong 8 500 1 Merijn Scheperkamp 8 5.000 2 9 1.000 3 9 1.500 2 Ireen Wüst 10 1.500 3 10 1.000 2 Antoinette de Jong 11 5.000 2 Jorrit Bergsma 11 3.000 3 Carlijn Achtereekte 12 10.000 2 Patrick Roest 12 1.500 3 Marijke Groenewoud 13 500 2 Dai Dai Ntab 13 1.000 3 Ireen Wüst 14 5.000 3 Sven Kramer 14 500 2 Jutta Leerdam 15 500 3 Kai Verbij 15 500 3 Michelle de Jong

Ya, I feel like I've heard "here comes Diggins!" on NBC and related Comcast networks a million times since 2018...

Guessing Michelle de Jong's Olympic qualification is going to be pretty marginal. Nice to see her on the matrix after missing out so agonizingly in the 1000m tho.

Oh, right, forgot he doesn't do that xD

lol NOS is making fun of van der Poel for not speaking Dutch. "If the Dutch produce a suit that is 20 seconds faster over the 10k then maybe they have a chance to beat me"

Men Women Selection order Distance Rank at OQT Athlete Selection order Distance Rank at OQT Athlete 1 1.000 1 1 5.000 1 2 5.000 1 Patrick Roest 2 MS 1 3 1.500 1 3 3.000 1 Irene Schouten 4 1.000 2 4 3.000 2 Antoinette de Jong 5 10.000 1 Jorrit Bergsma 5 500 1 6 MS 1 6 1.000 1 Jutta Leerdam 7 1.500 2 7 1.500 1 8 500 1 Merijn Scheperkamp 8 5.000 2 9 1.000 3 9 1.500 2 10 1.500 3 10 1.000 2 Antoinette de Jong 11 5.000 2 Jorrit Bergsma 11 3.000 3 Carlijn Achtereekte 12 10.000 2 Patrick Roest 12 1.500 3 13 500 2 Dai Dai Ntab 13 1.000 3 Ireen Wüst 14 5.000 3 Sven Kramer 14 500 2 15 500 3 Kai Verbij 15 500 3

Bergsma wins the 10000m in a very solid 12:42, which clinches his spot on the Olympic team (not that it was ever really in doubt, he should also be selected for the mass start and the team pursuit). Roest is second, adding another distance. The day's big winner is Sven Kramer.

Especially since is arguable the favourite to win the short track relay... and Schulting is not so much the favourite to win the 500m in speed skating :P

Wait, Sven Kramer is competing in the 10,000m tomorrow? This changes everything (for NOS)!

Couple ones. In aerials, the skier is launched straight into the air and travels a very short distance horizontally. In big air the skier is launched forward moreso than upwards. Aerials is a lot like diving - every jump has a degree of difficulty based on the number of flips and spins. Every jump is judged based on form in the air and landing, and that is multiplied by the degree of difficulty to get a final score. Big air is scored more subjectively, with a 0-100 scale. There are no set degree of difficulty. Aerials tricks must be pencilled (i.e. the body of the aerialist should remain as straight as possible) to achieve high form scores. In big air pencilling leads to massive deductions. In big air grabbing the skis during tricks is one of the most important way to increase your score. Grabs are not permitted in aerials. In big air you tan takeoff forwards or backwards (switch). In aerials you can only takeoff forwards. In big air the judges take into consideration whether you did a trick in your natural or unnatural spin direction. This isn’t taken into account in aerials. Even though on the surface big air and aerials look very similar there is zero overlap between the competitors. The techniques used in both are quite different.