OlympicsFan

I wish the German federation would take the same approach.

He almost certainly will be the favorite for silver. Of all the „established“ guys I only see Dressel and maybe Minakov matching that time, so normally he should win bronze at worst, but in an Olympic year you never know. I don’t think anyone in 2016 predicted that Schooling would go that fast at the Olympics.

Hard to imagine that this is true, but if it is, you certainly didn’t watch close enough (at least in Nemeth‘s case). In 2019 Nemeth went 48.17 at trials in March and then 48.10 at the world championships (but only in the final, in the heat and semifinal he was slower than at the trials). In 2017 he swam 48.64 at trials in April and then he went on to swim 48.82 at the European junior championships and 48.95 at the junior world championships. About Milak: I don’t think that he should/will race this event at the Olympics. Even if he improves by 0.5 seconds he would still only have an outside shot at bronze. My prediction: Hungary won’t have a single athlete in the final, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if one of them made it (which would be a good result for Hungary). I would be extremely surprised if both guys would make it (not saying that it is impossible, just that it is unlikely).

1) Neither of them has gone sub 48 ever, unlike tons of other guys. 2) It is completely normal that times improve over the years. Just because those times were enough to make the final in the past doesn’t mean that they will be enough to make the final this year. Obviously you can think whatever you want, just wanted to put things into perspective since I had the impression that you don’t really know much about swimming. Objectively it isn’t realistic to expect both of them to make the final.

Also very unrealistic ... I doubt that Milak will swim this event at the Olympics, at best he will have a super small chance to win bronze. 2 American guys, 2 Russian guys, Chalmers and Scott are almost guaranteed a spot in the final, which only leaves two open spots and guys like Miressi, Chierighini, Nakamura, Correia, He, Mignon or Metella are as fast as your guys or even faster. I think 1 guy in the final would be a very good result for you.

Just because a sport was there since the beginning, doesn’t mean that it should have more Events today than it would normally deserve. Personally I believe that the number of events should at least somewhat reflect the importance of a sport/the number of people that actually are active in that sport.

Certainly helped that tons of the best guys didn’t even bother to show up. Sadly the results of the junior world championships can’t be taken seriously this year thanks to most nations skipping it.

They should play a song by t.A.T.u. or the Ukrainian national anthem.

According to Wikipedia the following nations have the biggest diasporas in Japan: China (800k) South Korea (450k) Vietnam (400k) Philippines (300k) Brazil (200k) Western nations with the biggest diasporas: USA (60k) UK (18k) France (14k) Australia (12k) Canada (11k)

How can you say that it is „unsurprising“, when she (as far as I know) has never finished top 10 before?

Yes, glad that only scrubs like the Gold and Silver medalists in men’s slalom at the Last world championships compete in this event.

Interesting that even Bulgaria knows how to produce world class talents. I guess at this point the German coaches are the only ones who don’t understand how biathlon works. If you want to win races, you have to be elite in cross-country and somewhat decent in shooting, sadly Germany seems to follow the complete opposite approach. All „talents“ are good/solid in shooting and horrible in cross-country.

Sorry, but what exactly do you mean?

Interesting fact about Tatalina (who won the big air event): Less than two weeks before winning the gold medal, she was only third in the European cup behind Elisa Nakab from Italy and 14 year old Muriel Mohr from Germany. Pruskova who won silver at the world championships was only 4th in the same event.

Crazy to think that Peiffer and Neuner are the same age, but Neuner retired 9! years earlier.

Makes sense. I think he was the most talented guy at the junior worlds. It was super impressive that he was among the best in the cross-country despite being two years younger than most of the other top guys. He looks like a 10 year old kid too, so he has a lot of room to grow and become even faster. If I remember correctly his dad? is from Norway, so it might be in his genes to be good in cross-country. France also has some girls who are good enough to get a chance and I hope that girls like Passler, Skrede and especially Repinc will become regulars in the World Cup too sooner rather than later.

Interesting, but shouldn’t affect their medal chances.

Surprising quota for Germany? Did Germany already qualify Someone before this tournament?

When exactly was it possible to win a bronze at world championships with a zero spin?

He said that the Olympics don’t motivate him because they aren’t about the athletes anymore. Also I don’t think that the atmosphere in China would have been great for biathlon. You are quite right about the German future. On the men’s side there are some nice talents, but on the women’s side the only good talent is Grotian (born in 2004).

Germany nominated its squad today including 16 yo Youssoufa Moukoko! Sadly Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz weren’t nominated, which indicates that they will play at the senior European championships. Surprisingly Karim Adeyemi and Mergim Berisha also weren’t nominated, not sure why though ... Not sure what to expect when 4 of the top 5 talents are missing.

Yes Rajit, you are quite correct.

I can’t believe how disgusting the judges in Aspen are. Yesterday Höflich got fucked by the Austrian and Swiss judge and today Gütl (scored 83.50) got 76 by the Swiss judge (by far his lowest score), while Vicktor scored 77.75 and got 75 by the two Swiss judges (clearly his lowest scores). Obviously some influential people in Switzerland/Austria have a problem with Germany becoming good in freestyle snowboarding. I hope that Snowboard Germany won’t just remain silent. If there is no other way, then the German judges should underscore Austrian/Swiss athletes in the future just out of principle. Edit: Annika Morgan missed the big air final by one place and of course in both her runs her two worst scores came from the two Swiss judges. Rolling the dice to determine the results would be more fair than this travesty, I hope that someone will be hold accountable and that we will have professional judges at the Olympics.

I think the top 5 in the medal table at the Olympics will be: 1) Norway 2/3) Germany/China 4) USA 5) Russia

Very weird results in women’s team. When you look at the individual results, France, Russia and Hungary should be clearly the best, but in reality Poland and Italy made the final.