phelps

Nowadays Colombia are way ahead of anybody else... then Italy and Spain are the best among the old powerhouses (and 2 places where the discipline is relatively popular), but South Korea and Chinese Taipei have started to show up with some super skaters, especially in the sprint disciplines for TPE and in the longer races for KOR... FRA and BEL are also very competitive, GER have some good sprinters, NED sometimes presents some good skaters, but they normally are ice speedskaters using the roller version to train for the winter season, so they don't have consistent performances (the only real Dutch champions who had a good career also with the inline skates are the Mulder bros) and then there are always some other Latin American Nations (especially ARG, CHI and VEN), who once every while can find their place under the spotlights... USA used to be the main contender for ITA a few years ago (when ITA were the top Nation and the USA had people like Parra, Hedrick and Jen Rodriguez doublin'up ice and "streets"), but now they are just marginal to roller skating...

so, it was time for some fresh air...

however, I have the feeling of a true missed chance by Ghiotto...he could have gone as low as 12.45... but somehow he failed like he did in Pyeongchang...he just can't get back to 2017 shape...

p.s. to my excuse...raisport streaming is at least 40 secs behind yours... I noticed that when you wrote the post about Fish's time...

or maybe not...great reaction by Bloemen...he's going to take silver..."double" for Canada...

Bergsma is going to take bronze...

still nothing compared to Kramer 2010 edition...

rip also Ghiotto-Nauta...

sub 12.30 coming... maybe not... but the record is going...

aaarghh! Ghiotto is starting to die...

the problem is that he's racing against Fish...

let's see... however, he has a good PB (12.53) and some experience (he was 5th in 2017)... we really need him to perform well...

hopefully, Ghiotto can make up for this one...yesterday he was more than decent over the half distance...

and Nick stops... tbh, I didn't expect him to have a great race, as he just came back (with a modest time) from a flu (and after losing the entire last season after the horrific Pyeongchang injury)...

rip Tumolero...he hasn't stopped but almost...

realistic? with someone trying to catch the javelin? are you a fan of splatter/snuff movies? or just an extreme sadist?

surely that was more spectacular for the fans...but the numbers say that regularity was more effective in establishing a faster time...

yes, I don't know how I came out with that name... I'm pretty sure I've heard of him...was he a cyclist, maybe?

it's impressive how much "regular" they've been through the entire effort, especially Kramer (29.83 his fastest lap and 30.60 the slowest)...

tbh, I've always seen him racing like that...also his former teammate Frank Dittert used to race the 10k with that pace, accelerating towards the end and leaving the impression they could start earlier and skate a bit faster...

false start over 10k

Beckert! 12.47 sub-12.30 incoming...and also well before Bloemen and/or Fish, I guess...

no idea, however Belgium and France are both really good in roller speedskating... France used to have Italian coaches...but I don't think it's the case anymore...

he also was a former successful inline speedskater that switched quite late to ice speedskating...that's why they all have awful technique... years of track/road inline speedskating leave signs in your technique also when you switch completely to the ice version of this sport...

must remember that he's a successful inline speedskater, taking advantage of the Franch team very good coaches... so, it's not fully a self-made man...only the ice stuff is "fully personal" (with the help of some friends)...