dcro

It's either no snow or too much snow this year...

Looks like no. He most likely missed his chance for a gold in Vancouver, in Torino and Sochi just winning a medal was a big success. And if we are going to win a medal in Pyeongchang, then that's going to be in women's slalom, since that is the only event scheduled for 14th of February in which Croatia is going to compete. Since 2002, on every Winter Olympics we won a medal on Valentine's day... That stat was especially astonishing in 2010 and 2014. In 2010, Jakov Fak was our only athlete who competed on 14th and he won a medal out of nowhere. In 2014, Ivica won combined silver on 14th, even though he was very much out of shape for a whole season. Despite his bad shape at the time I still expected a medal, because men's combined was appropriately scheduled for 14th.

Well, they were never anywhere near podium. It was the best race for Ivica in a while, however after the race he said that this was his last WC race... Maybe only WCh in combined to come, but that's it.

The other two persons on the podium are also "no names". It was a joke, completely decided by the weather conditions (first ten starters in downhill had a huge advantage)...

Last starter Andreas Sander with the 7th fastest downhill time, looks like conditions improved a lot by the end.

Yes, but that was caused by weather conditions. Any downhill race where someone like Jansrud is 3 seconds slower than the first starters is irregular.

Why? The outcome had nothing to do with the discipline...

What a race

Zubčić

He does actually, just not too often.

Looks like they actually decided to make downhill even shorter. Instead of Combined downhill which starts at 2140 meters and has 32 gates, they will have short downhill from 1900 meters and 26 gates. And yes, I hope that special downhill will have a full length. Absolutely my favourite.

[hide] Preliminary Round January 14th - January 25th, 2017 16 Nations, 4 Groups, 1st and 2nd Nations from each Group will qualify for Quarterfinals Group A Date and Venue Team 1 T1 T2 Team 2 January 14th 2017, h. 17:00, Stade de l'Amitié, Libreville Gabon 2 0 Guinea-Bissau January 14th 2017, h. 20:00, Stade de l'Amitié, Libreville Burkina Faso 1 1 Cameroon January 18th 2017, h. 17:00, Stade de l'Amitié, Libreville Gabon 0 1 Burkina Faso January 18th 2017, h. 20:00, Stade de l'Amitié, Libreville Cameroon 3 0 Guinea-Bissau January 22nd 2017, h. 20:00, Stade de l'Amitié, Libreville Cameroon 1 0 Gabon January 22nd 2017, h. 20:00, Stade de Franceville, Franceville Guinea-Bissau 1 3 Burkina Faso Group B Date and Venue Team 1 T1 T2 Team 2 January 15th 2017, h. 17:00, Stade de Franceville, Franceville Algeria 2 1 Zimbabwe January 15th 2017, h. 20:00, Stade de Franceville, Franceville Tunisia 0 0 Senegal January 19th 2017, h. 17:00, Stade de Franceville, Franceville Algeria 2 1 Tunisia January 19th 2017, h. 20:00, Stade de Franceville, Franceville Senegal 2 0 Zimbabwe January 23rd 2017, h. 20:00, Stade de Franceville, Franceville Senegal 1 1 Algeria January 23rd 2017, h. 20:00, Stade de l'Amitié, Libreville Zimbabwe 0 2 Tunisia Group C Date and Venue Team 1 T1 T2 Team 2 January 16th 2017, h. 17:00, Stade d'Oyem, Oyem Côte d'Ivoire 1 0 Togo January 16th 2017, h. 20:00, Stade d'Oyem, Oyem DR Congo 1 0 Morocco January 20th 2017, h. 17:00, Stade d'Oyem, Oyem Côte d'Ivoire 2 1 DR Congo January 20th 2017, h. 20:00, Stade d'Oyem, Oyem Morocco 1 1 Togo January 24th 2017, h. 20:00, Stade d'Oyem, Oyem Morocco 1 1 Côte d'Ivoire January 24th 2017, h. 20:00, Stade de Port-Gentil, Port-Gentil Togo 1 2 DR Congo Group D Date and Venue Team 1 T1 T2 Team 2 January 17th 2017, h. 17:00, Stade de Port-Gentil, Port-Gentil Ghana 2 0 Uganda January 17th 2017, h. 20:00, Stade de Port-Gentil, Port-Gentil Mali 1 3 Egypt January 21st 2017, h. 17:00, Stade de Port-Gentil, Port-Gentil Ghana 1 0 Mali January 21st 2017, h. 20:00, Stade de Port-Gentil, Port-Gentil Egypt 3 0 Uganda January 25th 2017, h. 20:00, Stade de Port-Gentil, Port-Gentil Egypt 1 1 Ghana January 25th 2017, h. 20:00, Stade d'Oyem, Oyem Uganda 1 3 Mali [/hide]

Probably not, because Maneva herself was also suspended during her career. It's similar to Marion Jones' disqualification from 100m in Sydney. IOC decided not to give Ekaterini Thanou the gold because she was also suspended at some point.

Sidenote: Xiexia Chen won China's first gold at the Beijing Olympics.

Rodeš 8th with BiB 56. Although, he did lose some time in the middle part. 3 skiers in top 15. However, to be honest I will be happy if one of them earns points today, as their current downhill form is awful. Zubčić is probably the best bet. Ullrich is actually probably the best downhiller that we currently have, but starting outside of top 30 won't help too much... A shortened downhill would be a welcome sight too.

How do they feel about having a Totallympics fan club?

Speaking of new year, the traditional Global Dressage Festival in Florida has started this week. This effectively means for me watching late evening/night live streams every second Friday (until the end of the March). Bring it on.

Yes, the chances that Slovakia will have a relay are only 99,97%

[hide] Preliminary Round January 11th - January 20th, 2017 24 Nations, 4 Groups, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Nation from each Group will qualify for Round of 16. Group A Date and Venue Team 1 T1 T2 Team 2 January 11th 2017, h. 20:45, AccorHotels Arena, Paris France X X Brazil January 12th 2017, h. 17:45, Exponantes Hall XXL, Nantes Russia 8 Japan January 12th 2017, h. 20:45, Exponantes Hall XXL, Nantes Norway 1 Poland January 13th 2017, h. 17:45, Exponantes Hall XXL, Nantes Japan 12 France January 14th 2017, h. 14:45, Exponantes Hall XXL, Nantes Brazil 8 Poland January 14th 2017, h. 17:45, Exponantes Hall XXL, Nantes Norway 2 Russia January 15th 2017, h. 17:45, Exponantes Hall XXL, Nantes France 5 Norway January 15th 2017, h. 20:45, Exponantes Hall XXL, Nantes Brazil 3 Japan January 16th 2017, h. 20:45, Exponantes Hall XXL, Nantes Poland 2 Russia January 17th 2017, h. 14:00, Exponantes Hall XXL, Nantes Norway 6 Brazil January 17th 2017, h. 17:45, Exponantes Hall XXL, Nantes Poland 8 Japan January 17th 2017, h. 20:45, Exponantes Hall XXL, Nantes Russia 5 France January 19th 2017, h. 14:00, Exponantes Hall XXL, Nantes Russia 5 Brazil January 19th 2017, h. 17:45, Exponantes Hall XXL, Nantes France 4 Poland January 19th 2017, h. 20:45, Exponantes Hall XXL, Nantes Japan 10 Norway Group B Date and Venue Team 1 T1 T2 Team 2 January 12th 2016, h. 14:00, Arena de Metz, Metz Slovenia 11 Angola January 12th 2016, h. 17:45, Arena de Metz, Metz Macedonia 5 Tunisia January 12th 2016, h. 20:45, Arena de Metz, Metz Spain 4 Iceland January 14th 2016, h. 14:45, Arena de Metz, Metz Iceland 2 Slovenia January 14th 2016, h. 17:45, Arena de Metz, Metz Tunisia 7 Spain January 14th 2016, h. 20:45, Arena de Metz, Metz Angola 5 Macedonia January 15th 2016, h. 14:45, Arena de Metz, Metz Iceland 3 Tunisia January 16th 2016, h. 17:45, Arena de Metz, Metz Slovenia 7 Macedonia January 16th 2016, h. 20:45, Arena de Metz, Metz Spain 17 Angola January 17th 2016, h. 17:45, Arena de Metz, Metz Slovenia 6 Tunisia January 17th 2016, h. 20:45, Arena de Metz, Metz Angola 12 Iceland January 18th 2016, h. 20:45, Arena de Metz, Metz Macedonia 9 Spain January 19th 2016, h. 14:00, Arena de Metz, Metz Tunisia 6 Angola January 19th 2016, h. 17:45, Arena de Metz, Metz Macedonia 2 Iceland January 19th 2016, h. 20:45, Arena de Metz, Metz Spain 3 Slovenia Group C Date and Venue Team 1 T1 T2 Team 2 January 13th 2016, h. 14:00, Kindarena, Rouen Belarus 6 Chile January 13th 2016, h. 17:45, Kindarena, Rouen Germany 3 Hungary January 13th 2016, h. 20:45, Kindarena, Rouen Croatia 19 Saudi Arabia January 14th 2016, h. 20:45, Kindarena, Rouen Hungary 2 Croatia January 15th 2016, h. 17:45, Kindarena, Rouen Chile 9 Germany January 15th 2016, h. 20:45, Kindarena, Rouen Saudi Arabia 15 Belarus January 16th 2016, h. 17:45, Kindarena, Rouen Hungary 8 Chile January 16th 2016, h. 20:45, Kindarena, Rouen Croatia 5 Belarus January 17th 2016, h. 17:45, Kindarena, Rouen Germany 15 Saudi Arabia January 18th 2016, h. 14:00, Kindarena, Rouen Saudi Arabia 15 Hungary January 18th 2016, h. 17:45, Kindarena, Rouen Belarus 4 Germany January 18th 2016, h. 20:45, Kindarena, Rouen Croatia 9 Chile January 20th 2016, h. 14:00, Kindarena, Rouen Saudi Arabia 9 Chile January 20th 2016, h. 17:45, Kindarena, Rouen Germany 0 Croatia January 20th 2016, h. 20:45, Kindarena, Rouen Belarus 3 Hungary Group D Date and Venue Team 1 T1 T2 Team 2 January 13th 2017, h. 14:00, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Qatar 6 Egypt January 13th 2017, h. 17:45, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Sweden 4 Bahrain January 13th 2017, h. 20:45, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Denmark 8 Argentina January 14th 2017, h. 17:45, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Denmark 8 Egypt January 15th 2017, h. 14:45, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Argentina 5 Sweden January 15th 2017, h. 17:45, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Bahrain 5 Qatar January 16th 2017, h. 17:45, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Egypt 0 Bahrain January 16th 2017, h. 20:45, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Denmark 2 Sweden January 17th 2017, h. 17:45, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Qatar 5 Argentina January 18th 2017, h. 14:00, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Argentina 1 Egypt January 18th 2017, h. 17:45, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Denmark 7 Bahrain January 18th 2017, h. 20:45, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Sweden 5 Qatar January 20th 2017, h. 14:00, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Bahrain 2 Argentina January 20th 2017, h. 17:45, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Sweden 4 Egypt January 20th 2017, h. 20:45, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Qatar 3 Denmark [/hide]

I also saw a South African flag.

Lol, mixed team parallel snowboard.

Several awards have been presented for 2016 recently... FEI AWARDS Best Athlete - Nick Skelton Rising Star - Sönke Rothenberger Best Groom - Mark Beever Against All Odds - Rodolpho Riskalla Eventing Nation Award Best Eventing Athlete and Horse - Phillip Dutton - Mighty Nice A well deserved award following their incredible adventure towards the Olympic bronze medal.

First dressage competition of the year was held this weekend in Las Vegas (it was World Cup qualifier for the North American League). Steffen Peters & Rosamunde won with 78%. They are very much on the way to WC Final in Omaha with that score. However, probably the most interesting pair that competed in Las Vegas was Dawn White-O'Connor & Legolas. Legolas is the horse that Steffen rode in Rio, and now he offered the ride to his long-time assistant rider. Dawn's scores were obviously lower than Steffen's scores with Legolas, but it will be interesting to see how they improve.

That moment when Moelgg takes the lead with 22nd fastest second run.

Here come the first WC points for Istok. Fun fact, his name means East in Croatian.