NearPup

No requirement to use poles in big air :P

It would be a big upset if Norway doesn't win the medal table, and an even bigger upset if it isn't Norway or Germany.

This is very bad for Kramer's Olympic chances

Isn't N'tab ahead of Verbij?

Since the Olympic trials in speed skating are cancelled the process for selecting the team is up in the air, but this is more or less what I expect it to look like based on results this Fall: Laurent Dubreuil: 500, 1000 Alex Boisvert-Lacroix: 500 Connor Howe: 1000. 1500, TP Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu: 1000, MS Tyson Langelaar: 1500, TP Ted-Jan Bloemen: 5000, 10000, TP Graeme Fish: 10000 Jordan Belchos: MS, TP Marsha Hudey: 500 Kaylin Irvine: 500 Brooklyn McDougall: 500 Maddison Pearman: 1000 Valérie Maltais: 1000, 3000, MS, TP Ivanie Blondin: 1500, 3000, 5000, MS, TP Isabelle Weidemann: 1500, 3000, 5000, TP Alexa Scott could be selected in the 1000 or 1500 to give Blondin, Weidemann or Maltais a rest and/or as the alternate for the team pursuit.

Carlijn Achtereekte is one lucky skater, though to be fair she won the Olympics by whopping eight time the margin she got third at these trials xD

Breaking news: Sven Kramer's chances at Olympic qualifications are hurt by a fall from Hein Otterspeer and by Dai Dai N'tab being in first place after the first of two 500m races. Kai Verbij is second and Merijn Scheperkamp is third. This was actually a really impressive performance by N'tab, given Otterspeer false started and fell right in front of him at the start of the crossover.

A false start *and* a fall in N'tab's pair, and neither were him!

The MLG horns feel very out of place in speed skating, but especially to celebrate someone being 4th after 6 pairs.

This is a real farce...

The rest of the week NOS will talk about nothing other than how each skate influences the chances of Kramer being selected by the matrix. Every time there is a finish time they will show Kramer's 50000m victory in Pyeongchang and talk about how the result affects his chances of repeating. Whenever Kramer is in the arena they will show him at least once every ten minutes. If Kramer qualifies they will stop everything to have a parade and a fireworks display. I actually think that's reasonable. Because the 500m is a bit of a lottery N'tab inherently has a better chance of sneaking in a medal than Kramer does (even though both are extremely unlikely).

Mixed Doubles Olympic Trials have been cancelled due to COVID-19. Curling Canada will pick the team that goes to the Olympics.

ca, can or canada. I guess it depends if it will be consistent across every country site or not.

She didn’t even make the top 3 in Manitoba despite the second and third ranked teams from Manitoba being absent (Team Jones because they are going to the Olympics and team Einarson as defending champions). Fleury can still make World though, the top two ranked unqualified teams play-off for the final spot.

Well this will take some cleanup *sigh*

No, they mark the third skaters in the time list as alternates. Notice they are highlighted in yellow. There is two things wrong about the Wikipedia lists that I’ll have to correct - the thousandth of a second isn’t taken into account for the time ranking and third skaters per NOC can go on the reserve list even if they are beyond 30th place (500-1500) or 20th place (3000/5000) in the time tanking.

Ya, this is a long time problem with how their qualification system is worded. “X NOCs will have 2/3 sleds” rather than “a maximum if X NOCs will have 2/3 sleds”. Frustrating, too, since it’s such an easy fix…

Strong words (in Swedish) from Bäckström, calling the NHL's withdrawal from the Olympics "a joke". https://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/hockey/a/9KGGkq/nhl-svenskarna-om-os-beskedet-ett-skamt Will be interested to see what players say in public.

They have finally (finally!) acknowledged their dumb "third athlete can't qualify by time ranking" rule. But they still manage to make it super confusing xD

Quebec is locking down tighter than the rest of Canada. Pro sports aren’t cancelled outright, my guess is that the logistics just weren’t workable. They had to get a special exemption from the provincial government just to hold the event. That was granted three days ago, but right after that the government tightened COVID rules.

The world record in the men’s 3000m is 3:37.28. I’m guessing these training races don’t count.

Multiple (as in, almost all) media outlets are reporting that the NHL and the NHLPA have agreed that sending players to the Olympics is not going to happen. At this rate we'll go ten years between best-on-best International ice hockey (2016 World Cup to 2026 Milan Olympics).

Oh I'll happily take the other side of that bet. Name your terms :P

The past decade or so has just been an incredible turnaround for Canadian swimming. This might be the best the team has ever looked entering a quad.

…and the Olympic trials have been cancelled due to COVID. No word yet on the effect that will have on the team’s selection.