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Minkkinen shows she's here to stay 19/20! Chase is on! Hauser gets her! Hannah Oeberg starts 59th, finishes 9th, beats Elvira who started 5th.

And the commentators are not as good, at least in English.

Believe that the management had named today as key test races for the next phase of the season - so effectively Olympic places - so everyone was even more than normal like a Coke bottle that had been left in the sun and then vigorously shaken.

Did think exactly the same thing, but did not dare to post it. But then the Russian no 1 Bolshunov is a particularly hard guy to like.

Tbf these are pretty.small towns, really.

Always happens. They have the best coaches & ski preparation so it just takes 1 or 2 of the pool of a dozen young athletes to step up a level & the tradition continues.

Nightmare vision of 1-2-3 looms.

Wright blows it 8/8 fast and heading for a big lead.....then 0/2.

Jess Diggins give all the young 'uns a lesson.

Another British Gold - Mia Brookes in the Snowboard Big Air in Beijing.

Ok, take the Norwegian World Cup regulars, add the top Norwegian club skiers, guess what happens.........

That was a cracking race today, good omen for the season.

Eggert & Benecken get their season off to.a start with a whopping great crssh!

So Minkinnen takes it, and there's going to be plenty PBs all down the list and encouraging results for the small teams. Freed & Rousseau both Top 40, so points & a decent Pursuit start.

Battle is now between Magnusson & Michelon, Norway &Germany not bringing much. leads again with.Minkinnen! At the line she leads by 16 secs, not many big names left out there!

Off we go for the Women's Sprint - good news is we have had more snow. Preuss is a DNS so already out of the overall challenge. Bened first to get through at 0 0 Charvatova 0 1 but just leads Benet. Jakiela takes the lead after 2!

Just what the sport needs - another young classic sprinter!

Confirmation about the broadcasting rights. If I'm reading it right, for most of Europe it will now be exclusive to Discovery/Eurosport or whatever brand they use. For outside Europe, it's on YouTube. For Planet VPN....well, let us know if you find out. fil-taker-list-25-26-winterberg-1.pdf Also, should have mentioned above that the Nations Cup races today are just over one leg, whereas there are two runs in each of the World Cup races.

Got our first competition of the season coming up in Solitude, Utah this weekend. Live on Discovery Plus etc, plus also YouTube and the Olympic Channel. If you are new to the sport, the sprint races on Saturday will be the format you'll find easy to understand. ISMF ISMF Skimo - YouTube

Oh dear oh dear. Going to be ructions with this one. Established international diver Sofia Lyskun wants to transfer from..... to ! Somehow I think the three year rule will be enforced. Sofiia Lyskun: Ukrainian federation 'expresses deep indignation' after champion diver switches to Russia - BBC Sport

Still think there is a win in there this season.

Have been seeing mixed signals about this all week, but seemingly tonight's premier Men's Downhill of the season IS going ahead in about 30 minutes from now. Gaah! "Shortened run". Unusually, normal start gate, but cuts off the usual final jump, so a bit like one of those Olympic practice runs where every just stands out of tuck.

Bump for the Luge World Cup starting this weekend, starting at Winterberg rather than Igls for technical reasons (lazy Austrians ). Since we are now going to Winterberg twice this season, this particular weekend will not count towards Olympic Quals, as discussed already, There has been some changes for us oldsters, so maybe a guide for beginners as well. Broadcasting Good and perhaps not so good news. There is a new deal with Discovery/Eurosport. All three days of the weekend are now being covered including the Friday races which usually are not shown. Unfortunately, not clear whether the FTA option via YouTube and/or the FIL Page will still exist, or will be geo-blocked. Hopefully also they will stick with the excellent commentary format of one pro comms person on-site paired with a willing volunteer from the non-competing athletes. Race formats There are four sets of races now. Nations Cup on Friday - the Qualifying races for the Saturday / Sunday World Cup. Top sleds are pre-qualified so don't take part here. Mixed Races on Friday - These races are for the smaller nations who don't have large enough teams to participate in the Team Relays. Nations can either compete as a pair or as single nation partnerships along the lines of old historic friendships like /, /, /, / etc. World Cup Races on Saturday and Sunday - The standard four formats of Men's Singles, Women's Singles, Men's Doubles, Women's Doubles Team Relay on Sunday - Always exciting relays races in which the big nations run one team from each of the WC formats. Unlike every other form of Winter Sports team event, this is the one in which it is quite normal for even the biggest and best teams to seriously mess up & either disqualify themselves or have some kind of significant time delay. Sprint races - Everyone hates them so hopefully they have been killed. Beer The race track at Winterberg is sponsored by a brewery and in the past winners have been given very large glasses of the product! Unfortunately, this is the alcohol-free version of the beer.

Uldal our first contender to go 15/15 Botn joins him All of a sudden things go back to normal Laegreid 19/20 Uldal first leader to get 20/20 but ski speed is not enough.....Botn also 20/20 will surely get in as the leader So here's our exciting new season 1 & 2 and probably also Bakken & Old Man Laegreid 19/20 top 5. Hey Kulbin goes 20/20 Will get a top 15!

Florent Claude our first outsider chance today - 0 0 0 after 15. Well 19/20 might get somethon. Rastorguevs is Mr Consistency - misses shot 20 as he always does when he shoots 19/19. Mandzyn 0 0 5 . Ah, dropped his rifle.