Werloc

Something that Germany desperately needed, because they're getting destroyed by Norway and France. Sweden is also moving ahead with capable athletes like the Oebergs, Samuelsson, Ponsi and new Swedish improvements like Halvarsson, Heijdenberg, plus it's probable that Andersson comes through next year as well. With the level that Norwegian men and French women have, I don't really see Germany being ready to challenge next year. Have a feeling it's gonna be Perrot, Giacomel and a handful of Norwegians battling it out next year. As for the women, I think it looks like a French year, with Jeanmonnot + Michelon and Richard getting more time to get better, it's tough to see who could be consistent enough to challenge. Although, I would love for the Oeberg sisters to have a season where they're both healthy throughout. It's also uncertain what kind of Vittozzi we're getting, if Grotian has enough time to become a challenger and in what kind of form will Preuss come back to, after her first ever season with no health issues.

So, JTB and Tarjei had 19 podium finishes in 2024/25, seeing as they're retired and won't be competing next season, thought it would be fun to do a completely unnecessary and inaccurate simulation of what breakthroughs next season might have: The most decorated biathletes of this season without Boes would be as follows: Laegreid: 6-6-3 Perrot: 4-2-2 Jacquelin: 3-1-1 Samuelsson: 2-2-2 Stroemsheim: 2-0-2 Wright: 2-0-1 Fillon-Mallet: 1-5-2 Giacomel: 1-5-1 Uldal: 1-0-3 Soerum: 1-0-2 Some interesting things happen, for example, Wright becomes sprint and pursuit world champion, Mandzyn gets a very rare podium for Ukraine at the start of the season. Horn and Frey get their first ever podium in world cup and Riethmueller gets a world cup victory. For the nation medal table, Norway still convincingly takes first place: Norway: 10-7-11 France: 8-11-5 And then everybody else fighting for scraps: Sweden: 2-2-3 United States: 2-0-1 Italy: 1-5-1 Germany: 1-0-2 Slovenia: 1-0-0 Even without the Boes, only 9 countries on the podium, but Pidruchnyi for Ukraine comes in 4th for three times, other than that, only Finland and Switzerland were close to getting onto the podium. With how things are going, seems like it's going to be Norway's year next year too with all the hungry youngsters with two extra spots on the Norwegian team.

Not only a new PB for our resident 39yo grandma (who would have guessed it, in a sprint even), but also the third best performance for Žurauskaitė. The first ever time that two Lithuanian women get points in the same race. The first time that three Lithuanian women qualify for a pursuit. Nations cup record for women as well. And mostly this result happened, because yesterday they got the news that Sara Urumova made world cup qualification at the IBU, we will have a women's relay after a 5 year hiatus and our chances to qualify our first historical women's relay squad to the Olympics is looking much much more likely now. The men might struggle to keep their 20th place a bit more tbh

Perrot was 11th, a mere 60 points behind Giacomel and he won a race as well. It was already kinda clear he was aiming to be a world class athlete. What's stopping Giacomel right now? He's missing targets, just like Ponsiluoma. If they shoot well, they're definitely podium material, so I really don't understand your negativity

Ingrid Tandrevold skips mass start and Hochfilzen due to her heart issues.

Random Preuss stats: 2024/25 Kontiolahti - 5th in Individual, 4th in sprint 0.1s behind third. 2023/24 Oestersund - 2nd in individual 0.1s behind Vittozzi, 4th in sprint 0.7s behind Arnekleiv, 2nd in pursuit 0.3s behind Jeanmonnot Hochfilzen already DNS, because sick. Lenzerheide - 4th in pursuit 2.4s behind Skogan Oberhof - 2nd in sprint 4.4s behind Braisaz Antholz - skips mass start due to not feeling that great Ends her season after Nove Mesto WCH with three world cups to go. 2022/23 Kontiolahti - starts the season with DNS, ill again Skips Pokljuka and Rupholding Doesn't qualify to World Championships, skips the rest of the season 2021/22 Oestersund - 5th in sprint 9.8s behind 3rd, 5th in pursuit 11.8s off 3rd Already DNS in Annecy & missing in Oberhof, Rupholding, Antholz Otepaa - 5th in mass start 3.3s from 3rd Oslo - 2nd in mass start 7.8s behind Braisaz 2020/21 Hochfilzen - 3rd in sprint 9.9s off 1st, 4th in sprint 0.5s behind Roeiseland Oberhof - 2nd in mass start +3.9s behind Simon Antholz - 4th in mass start, 5.5s behind Hauser 5th in Pokljuka 5th in Nove Mesto pursuit, 5.9s away from Roeiseland in 3rd 4th in Nove Mesto sprint, 6.8s behind Wierer, gets 3rd in the pursuit though 3rd in Oestersund, 11.1s behind Tandrevold in 1st 2019/20 Oestersund - 4th in sprint, 7.3s behind Davidova Sick during Oberhof 5th in Pokljuka indvidual, but skips mass start 5th in Antholz Wch individual 3rd in Nove Mesto mass start 2nd in Kontiolahti sprint 20.1s off first 2018/19 Won Rupholding mass start by 0.2 seconds and already sick at the next stage in Antholz Doesn't really do much the rest of the season, but ends with a 2nd place in Oslo. 2017/18 Unsurprisingly to absolutely no one, gets ill at the 2nd stage of the season 4th at the Olympic individual behind Dahlmeier 18.5s off 5th in Tyumen mass start, 9.8s off from 1st 3.2 from 3rd I think I've given enough examples

Yup, very nice to see Finland on the podium after so many years since Makarainen's retirement Thought this would happen, just didn't expect it so soon and kinda leaned more towards the men's team. On the other hand, it feels like Preuss is one of the unluckiest biathletes of all time. Not to mention the fact that she is sick every season, she might be up there for most 4th and 5th place finishes of all time and I can guarantee that many of them were lost podiums by just a second

Well, Johanna did have an unlucky streak with sickness and even injuries if I remember correctly.

I think you're doom spiraling too hard after just a few races... Giacomel is very strong and I think that he might definitely land on a podium this season. The Italian women's team has a lot of very talented juniors that just need some time to grow. Dorothea Wierer also took her time to grow into her best form, so why is it not possible to give some time to the other talented athletes? Not everyone is bound to crush it at 21-23 y. o.

How many more years will I have to give you points for it to become expected???

I ended up doing it in the end, what's your excuse now?

Well, probably not the greatest, but Lithuanian votes were officially sent

I'm honestly struggling to find the time or motivation to vote responsibly this year. I feel like I've put a lot of myself into this contest, but I haven't been enjoying it as much lately. I'm not as active on the forum, a lot of users that I knew before are not really around anymore & didn't think that people were particularly enjoying the Lithuanian entries that I was selecting lately as well. I used to put a lot of effort into my voting, I'm not sure if I can match that this time.

I haven't had a single moment to listen to the songs and I fear that such a moment is not coming anytime soon

LITHUANIA GJan - Neleisk Man Užmigt LYRICS: (Prašau neleisk man užmigt) Tavo  akys dydžio kaip mėnulis Naktimis  saugo miegančią mane Tobulai tobula Tobulai tobula akimirka Tavo  širdy tuzinas vargonų Kurie  naktimis man skambina dainas Tobulai tobula Tobulai  tobula akimirka Bet principai užgriūna… Ir visa tai primirštam Kai pasidaro bloga Žiūrint  viens į kitą Prašau neleisk man užmigt Kol dar tarp mūsų atvira ugnis dega, dega Neleisk man pamiršt Jog tyla gali pražudyt Ir kur ji veda Neleisk man užmigt Kol dar atvira ugnis dega, dega Neleisk man užmigt Kol dar atvira ugnis dega, dega Tavo balsas gaudžiantys furgonai Kely pasiklydus pašaukia vardu Tobulai tobula Tobulai tobula akimirka Kai tu šnabždi plaukai pakilę šoka Jie tyliai bando siekti ir paliest tave Tobulai tobula Tobulai tobula akimirka Bet principai užgriūna… Ir visa tai primirštam Kai pasidaro bloga Žiūrint viens į kitą Prašau neleisk man užmigt Kol dar tarp mūsų atvira ugnis dega, dega Neleisk man pamiršt Jog tyla gali pražudyt Ir kur ji veda Neleisk man užmigt Kol dar atvira ugnis dega, dega Neleisk man užmigt Kol dar atvira ugnis dega, dega Tarp mūsų nežemiška trauka laužo gravitaciją Tarp mūsų ledynai ištirptų greičiau nei žmonės šneka Bet kartais pritrūkstu jėgų visą tai laikyt Prašau tada Neleisk man užmigt Kol dar atvira ugnis dega Neleisk man pamiršt Jog tyla pražudys Neleisk man užmigt Kol dar atvira ugnis dega, dega Neleisk man pamiršt Jog tyla gali pražudyt Ir kur ji veda Neleisk man užmigt Kol dar atvira ugnis dega, dega Neleisk man užmigt Kol dar atvira ugnis dega, dega Neleisk man užmigt

Well, five medals for Lithuania already Difficult to believe that we can top this, but Plytnykaitė, Kaušpėdas, Juška will still be available to start next year too and might even come back stronger. There are still good chances for more medals in 100m Free for Trepočka and Juška, 100m Breaststroke for Plytnykaitė and 100m Backstoke for Kaušpedas. I'd even add the men's 4x100m medley as a decent shot if Trepočka, Juška and Kaušpėdas were swimming in it, but the coaches might save them for their individual finals on the last day.

Yeah, it's weird how Airinė Palšytė started jumping well literally in the last 7 days after 5 years of some really mediocre stuff Might be her first ever Olympics when she is actually in form, because every other time she always had some injuries and other excuses lined up for the OG.

Well, beautiful day for Lithuania, with Murdoch into semifinals, Andrius Šidlauskas (OQT) and 1st in the semis and then our 4x200 Freestyle relay with the best time into semis as well, without Danas Rapšys. With the weaker fields, we could definitely add a substantial amount of medals for our country, of course no Meilutytė and Teterevkova is a huge blow for us

Andrius Šidlauskas 100m breaststroke 59.36 Qualified with the best time to the European Championship semifinal.

Nearly 11 years ago I was participating in X Factor and they do these video intros before every live show performance, to show how you were preparing, asking questions etc. Somehow, one week it came down to hobbies & I mentioned that I really liked sports and the interviewer asked if I liked basketball and I said nah, my favourite sport is actually biathlon and it went on live TV Low and behold, a few days later after the live I get contacted by a guy from the biathlon federation to do an interview for them and we met up somewhere in the city center, I got interviewed, we talked about biathlon (this was the very first time I met a moving, living person that enjoyed biathlon then). So we kinda kept talking a bit from time to time after that interview about sports and since I knew his name, I found the courage to ask if he was the same Robertas from the forum annnnnnd coincidence - he was :DDDDDDD Nowadays, we talk about sports nearly every day, he is still working as a media liaison for our biathlon federation and is working at COSMA (our best athletics club) too, after having worked for the athletics federation as a liaison for many years too. So I'm still getting a lot of insider tea to this day from him I wouldn't be too surprised if @heywoodu has seen him too at some biathlon event

Same here, I have a 10 year lasting IRL friendship with one user from here that doesn't visit the forum anymore The story on how we met was wild

Perhaps you stepped in to eat at Užupio picerija since you were there? They make this edible basket filled with deep-fried buffalo and regular mozzarella doughnuts, that's pretty sick

Yeah, I walk through here a few times a week

I think that Germany and Great Britain are always eyeing Italy and France and thinking why are they different and why do the juries and televoters enjoy them, whilst rarely showing any appreciation towards GB or GER Of course, GB saw what works after Sam Ryder last year and I think that they did have good intentions with sending Olly. I think one problem with some Eurovision artists is when you make your sexuality your entire identity and it leaks out into the performance as well. I don't really recognise the Years & Years Olly nowadays, seems like an entirely different person. Only his voice sounds similarly at some points.

I respect your disagreement, but at the same time, I trust my knowledge. I had 7 of the 10 juries favourites in my own top 10, I've been following this contest for two decades, since 2019 I've written a lot of songs for our national selection. The Lithuanian jury is mostly comprised of artists, songwriters, producers and radio hosts that I interact with on a daily basis and share a similar philosophy with. I've also written with Silvester before and another of the songwriters behind "Luktelk". I think that with the trajectory that I'm working towards, it wouldn't be too unreal for me to end up in that jury myself one day. A few of my close friends have already had their turn this year and prior years too. I know this may come off as arrogant, but I've literally invested all my life into this industry, it's a topic where I always feel comfortable sharing my thoughts. Adding to that, my entire FB and Instagram is filled with artists, that are mostly talking about Switzerland, Ireland, France and Ukraine, while a few of my regular friends did really enjoy Croatia. Although, there's no denying the fact that Lithuanian jurors gave ten points to Croatia as well, but our country's jury is somewhat known for having a more alternative approach than many other juries.