Werloc

Selina Gasparin is in too

I thought Kuzmina would help raise this up to at least "bad"

Well, I decided that I have to vote 'good' for Lithuania. Even though we got a world champion in Athletics and one world champion in indoor Athletics, a decent amount of medals from Swimming and a gold from Rowing, there were just some disciplines that did not go too well for us and I'd say that they outsway the good results, so I couldn't vote for 'very good'.

OMG, the snowflakes are cuuuute af

I think it's a national winter sport criteria back in Norway (for cc-skiing and biathlon), or so I've heard rumours By that I mean that nearly all of them claim they suffer from it.

So, three world cups are completed and it's time for the Christmas break. I think it's the right time for some minor stats to see how the Olympic season is shaping up compared to 2016-17 season. Men's tour already a little bit more interesting, since in the first 8 races, 7 of them were won by Martin Fourcade and 1 went to Anton Babikov, whilst this year, we have 5 for Johannes, 2 for Martin and 1 for Tarjei. During the 8 races, Norway (in 2016/17) went on the podium four times, two for Johannes and two for Svendsen, this season is ruled by the Boes only. Unlike this season, where Shipulin managed to land on the podium once, in 2016-17 season Shipulin had four podiums by now, with Babikov's 2 and Tsetkov's 1, seeing that this season is not that great for the Russians at the moment. Germany had two podiums: 1 for Peiffer and 1 for Schempp, compared to this years' two for Erik Lesser and three 4th places for Schempp (it's only a matter of time, hopefully). Lastly, in 2017/18 we also have Quentin (2), Guigonnat and Fak (3) on the podium, whilst last year we had Chepelin, Quentin and Lindstrom. The peculiar thing on the women's tour, which partly might be caused by Dahlmeier's absence during Ostersund, the Yellow bib has already went through 5 different owners, compared to Dahlmeier and Koukalova sharing it throughout the whole season last year. There were 5 different winners during those 8 races - 3 went to Dahlmeier, 2 to Koukalova, whilst 2017/18 already has 6 different winners (Herrmann and Kuzmina - 2) and three of them are first time winners. Biggest national improvement, in my opinion, goes to Belarus that already have 3 different athletes on the podium on 4 occasions, whilst they only had 1 from Yurkevich in the very first race and one by Domracheva at the end of the season. Dorothea had three podiums for Italy, whilst this season it's only 1 by her and 1 by Vittozzi. France had 4 different ladies on the podium before Oberhof and this season it's only Braisaz on three different occasions. Slovakia and Ukraine have struck luck this year to get on the podium combined 7 times (4SVK and 3UKR), but when someone wins, there's also someone whose losing and that's Russia, United States and Czech Republic that have not gotten on the podium just yet in the women's field. Anyways, to summarise, Norway HAVE ALREADY surpassed their gold medal quota from last season (6) as they already have 8 now. Germany and France seem to be on track for a good performance on the medal table. Disaster for the Czech Republic, that finished the 2016/17 season with 21 podiums, they haven't even claimed one just yet, they desperately need Koukalova back. Slovakia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Slovenia are already having a better season just after these three world cups. Ukraine has the same 0-1-3 medal score by now as they've had in 2016/17, so anything more is already an improvement. Countries that could still use some work, Russia definitely stands out, cause they're far behind schedule. The Makarainen country (ok, that's unfair, since Laukkanen is top tier now as well) is slightly behind schedule after the three world cups and Austria still has a lot of work to do, whilst Italy seems to be on track. Props to anyone that read this.

7th place on the medal table, I'm pretty satisfied Of course, better performances from Titenis, Šidlauskas and Bilis would have been welcome.

The way Kryuko fought for that was beautiful to watch. You could see how much it mattered for her.

I'm excited to finally see Croatia back in the biathlon game. It's still a long way to go, but having enough athletes for both mixed relays is the first step in the right direction.

OH MY GOODNESS, MY DREAMS ARE COMING TRUE Karin Oberhofer took part in the women's sprint at IBU cup, SHE IS BACK!!! Also, Dominik Landertinger is back as well.

The women's tour this year is beyond my expectations entertaining Of course, there'll hardly be a season better than the one where Neuner, Henkel, Makarainen, Ekholm, Berger were separated by a couple of points back in 2010/11 season.

Amazing swim for Rapšys Good time and a second gold for Lithuania.

Welp, Sjoestrom

Hm, can Danas Rapšys snag a medal in 200 Freestyle this evening? That would be our third medal

Weirdly, pretty successful races for Lithuania (if we're looking at our athletes capabilities)

Yet they seem to be having a pretty wonderful season and outclassing USA.

Well, Dahlmeier seems to be on her way back to the top. Kinda sad for Vittozzi, she managed to hold out against Hermann, but still missed out at the end Lithuanian performance - abysmal. Also, I'm wondering why the Swedes are keeping Elisabeth Hogberg in the IBU cup, as it seems that she is the Swede on form at this moment.

Yes, I did not note all of the changes, because I gave up half-way out of being tired Anyways, I'm really waiting for this sprint, if our women can't get into top 60 here, they can't do it anywhere. (well, maybe Oberhof, Oberhof is known to be an amazing venue for Diana).

Nice, seems like it's going to be a good championship after all

I'm kinda sad for Hasilla. He was not even the worst performer out of Slovak men and to kick him out merely based on the relay results when the wind was very unfair, I think it seems pretty unfair in his case, especially since he now loses the chance to compete in a venue that's been working for him and arguably, the best performance for the Slovak men's team is recorded in 2013/14 Annecy.

Interesting, there were 104 starters among the women in 2nd world cup and there's only 94 tomorrow in the sprint: Karolin Horchler was replaced by Franziska Preuss Kadri Lethla is back for Estonia after a decent performance in IBU cup, replacing Regina Oja. The situation with Italian women seems to be pretty bad, because with Runggaldier's illness, they're only starting 3 athletes tomorrow (OBERHOFER PLEASE COME BACK) Seems to be some sort of situation for Austria, as the women's relay didn't start and right now only Innerhofer is signed up for tomorrow. Another big one is that Domracheva is missing tomorrow. Both Chevalier sisters are starting tomorrow for France. Three best Kazach athletes missing. Only 4 Norwegians with SOLEMDAL out. Fenne, Tandrevold replaced by Nicolaisen and Brun-Lie. Elisa Gasparin for some reason in IBU cup and only three Swiss starting. Slovaks starting with one less as well. Aaaaand that's pretty much it. Dare I say, the easiest sprint of the season by far, with chances for some athletes to sneak in PB's.

Perhaps that's what the Czechs need to get back on track? It's been pretty miserable for everyone that's not Vitkova. It's strange how with one person gone, the results fall apart for everyone around her.

Well, anyways, a pretty decent time from Meilutytė and I'm happy for our first medal from Danas Rapšys, that should take away some pressure.

Dahlmeier is not getting the preferable treatment in Germany even being Dahlmeier Starting close to the end of the race, so at least the race will be alive.

First good news of the week. Gabrielė Leščinskaitė starting in the world cup instead of Natalija Paulauskaitė