avlar

Bump for the Luge World Cup starting this weekend, starting at Winterberg rather than Igls for technical reasons (lazy Austrians ).   Since we are now going to Winterberg twice this season, this particular weekend will not count towards Olympic Quals, as discussed already,
 
There has been some changes for us oldsters, so maybe a guide for beginners as well.
 
Broadcasting 
Good and perhaps not so good news. There is a new deal with Discovery/Eurosport. All three days of the weekend are now being covered including the Friday races which usually are not shown.    Unfortunately, not clear whether the FTA option via YouTube and/or the FIL Page will still exist, or will be geo-blocked.  Hopefully also they will stick with the excellent commentary format of one pro comms person on-site paired with a willing volunteer from the non-competing athletes.  
 
Race formats
There are four sets of races now.
 
Nations Cup on Friday - the Qualifying races for the Saturday / Sunday World Cup.  Top sleds are pre-qualified so don't take part here.  
 
Mixed Races on Friday - These races are for the smaller nations who don't have large enough teams to participate in the Team Relays.  Nations can either compete as a pair or as single nation partnerships along the lines of old historic friendships like /, /, /, / etc.
World Cup Races on Saturday and Sunday - The standard four formats of Men's Singles, Women's Singles, Men's Doubles, Women's Doubles
 
Team Relay on Sunday - Always exciting relays races in which the big nations run one team from each of the WC formats.  Unlike every other form of Winter Sports team event, this is the one in which it is quite normal for even the biggest and best teams to seriously mess up & either disqualify themselves or have some kind of significant time delay.  
 
Sprint races - Everyone hates them so hopefully they have been killed. 
 
Beer
The race track at Winterberg is sponsored by a brewery and in the past winners have been given very large glasses of the product!  Unfortunately, this is the alcohol-free version of the beer. 

Found this jewel
 
The last 3 minutes of the  -  Vancouver 2010 semifinal
 
The only minute when Canada was feeling some fear during the whole tournament
 
 

Florent Claude our first outsider chance today - 0 0 0 after 15.  Well 19/20 might get somethon.
 
Rastorguevs is Mr Consistency - misses shot 20 as he always does when he shoots 19/19. 
 
 Mandzyn 0 0 5 .  Ah, dropped his rifle.
 
 

Suspect others will boycott as well 

In doubles women If China finishes the next races, I understand that Germany loses its 2nd team? In men`s doubles Georgia didn`t finish the last competition and probably nothing new country will join, so we can expect 5 countries with 2 teams: Ger, Aut, Ita, USA, Lat. Currently Slovakia has 2 teams, but they will probably lose them to Georgia in the next starts.

They unveiled the route for the 2026 Giro and it's way softer, than what we have seen in recent times. But it's going to finish in my home town, so that's fine by me. 

I see some calculations of quoats here. But they do not look like correct ones
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luge_at_the_2026_Winter_Olympics_–_Qualification

oh i see. I wondered if there was something wrong with the doubles or something.

Got Post 2 updated with compiled results.

What's going on with the tickets is so disgusting.   Beyond the lottery and the prices.   Each stadium have 4 categories.   And when you buy the tickets you dont know what place you are going to get within your category.   So let's use SoFi stadium.   A place I've been to about 70 times.    I attached a picture from a football game im at.   So the place im sitting at.  Is the same price as the very bottom!!!   Im third level.   And category 4 , the cheapest ticket is a tiny place at the very top
 
 

To those who know more about CC Skiing: Back in Post 2, I'm only compiling results from disciplines that will be in the Olympics (to preview perhaps the podiums there).  However, I note that for each event, there are 'classic' and 'freestyle'.  This past weekend in Ruka, they skiied the 10km interval start Classic; however, in Milano Cortina, it will be the 10km interval start Free.  Would there be a benefit to tracking the disciplines that won't be contested?  (i.e. Do different skiiers excel in one vs. the other?)
 
Also, of note, only once will the 50km skiathlon be contested before MiCo.

2026 OLYMPIC QUOTAS
 
 
  Men Women Mixed Quotas Nation 500m 1000m 1500m Relay 500m 1000m 1500m Relay Relay M Quotas W Quotas Total Australia 1 1 1     1       1 1 2 Austria 1   1             1 0 1 Belgium 1 1 1 x 1 1 2   x 4 2 6 Canada 3 3 3 x 3 3 3 x x 4 5 9  China 3 3 3 x 3 3 3 x x 5 4 9 Croatia         1 1 2     0 2 2 Czechia             1     0 1 1 France   2 2   1 2 2 x x 2 4 6 Great Britain 1 1 2   1         2 1 3 Hong Kong   1 1       1     1 1 2 Hungary 1 2 2 x 1 2 2   x 4 2 6 Italy 3 3 3 x 3 3 3 x x 4 5 9 Japan 2 2 3 x 2 3 3 x x 4 5 9 Kazakhstan 2 1     2 1 2   x 2 2 4 Korea 2 3 3 x 3 3 3 x x 5 5 10 Latvia 1 2 1             2 0 2 Netherlands 3 2 3 x 3 3 3 x x 5 5 10 Neutrals   1 1   1 1       1 1 2 Poland 2 2 2   2 2 2   x 2 3 5 Slovakia         1         0 1 1 Turkiye 2                 2 0 2 Ukraine 1   1   1         1 1 2 United States 2 2 3   3 3 3 x x 3 5 8 Uzbekistan 1                 1 0 1 Total 32 32 36 8 32 32 33 8 12 56 56 112  
Before I continue, I just want to say that this may not actually be complete accurate. You might notice that there's only 33 quotas assigned in the women's 1500m. That's because after the initial assignment of quotas, there were 115 quotas which is 3 over the limit. According to the qualification system, the 1500m distances are the last events to assign quotas since they have a max quota of 36 instead of 32. For the men's event, France, Hungary, and Ukraine have the last spots and removing them wouldn't affect the quota totals. Therefore unfortunately, I had to remove one quota from Croatia, Hong Kong and Poland to get the total to 112. We'll see what the NOC does about all this. If anyone actually knows the correct procedures, please comment below.
 
Changes in Quotas from the last update:
 
Men's 500m: 
No changes
 
Men's 1000m:
In: Hong Kong 1
Out: Ukraine 1
 
Men's 1500m:
In: Poland 2
Out: Great Britain 3
 
Men's 5000m Relay:
In: Hungary
Out: United States
 
Women's 500m:
In: Korea 3
Out: France 2
 
Women's 1000m:
In: Neutral Athletes 1, China 3
Out: Poland 3, Great Britain 1
 
Women's 1500m:
In: Kazakhstan 2, Belgium 2
Out: Great Britain 1, Latvia 1, Slovakia 1, Ukraine 1, Hong Kong 1
 
Full SOQC's Below:
 
Men's 500m
 
 
Men's 1000m
 
 
Men's 1500m
 
 
Men's 5000m Relay
 
 
Women's 500m
 
 
Women's 1000m
 
 
Women's 1500m
 
 
Women's 3000m Relay
 
 
Mixed 2000m Relay
*Only for teams with at least 2 men + 2 women
 
 

News from the Olympic Test Event / Quaifier at Cortina yesterday
 
Surprises at the dress rehearsal in the Cortina Sliding Center
 
 
 

Cancelling a round in Kuusamo.. so what else is new   Zografski with a 4th and a new PB, but it's a real bummer that he doesn't have the chance to jump for a podium. This jury has really become quite pathetic the last few years. 

it's ready!
 
the new Speedskating track in Rho/Fiera (Milan) will be the stage for the 1st Junior World cup meet of the season on Saturday (10 a.m. start with 1000m, 3000m & team pursuit for juniors and neo-seniors, men and women) & Sunday (9.30 a.m. start with 500m, 1500m & mass start races, always for juniors and neo-seniors, men and women)
 
ladies and gentlemen, the track!
 

IJF reinstated russians and return their flag and anthem to the international tournaments.
No AINs in judo anymore.
And it means no Ukrainian judokas at the competitions were russians are present anymore.

Big action in division B since Ukraine in the first time in our history qualified to playoffs from third place after beating Latvia 7-6 

What shame, this is disgusting

IJF reinstated russians and return their flag and anthem to the international tournaments.
No AINs in judo anymore.
And it means no Ukrainian judokas at the competitions were russians are present anymore.

Probably 1974 3rd place match vs  After that 3-0 vs  in 1982 World Cup. Outside of WC it's Euro 1976 qualifer 4-1 vs  

Exactly! Spain 1982. The first group round draw.

FIFA did a huge mistake and did not see the problem until they placed Scotland to the group with Argentina.

Yes I remeber 1994 too.
Czerniatynski played for Antwerpen in the 90-s if I am correct - they have a good season in CWC.
But Scifo was much better IMO too. 

In 1994 I was very impressed by . That was a cool team with Kenneth Andersen, Dahlin, Brolin, Larsson, Ravelli. From that time I always support  )

and  failing to qualify elevated  to Pot 1 alas   has been on the rise with their 'new" generation. Belgium had Preud'Homme, De Wolf and Czerniatynski (old and bench player by then) in 1994. All the 1986 SF and 1990 left-overs (Gerets, Vercauteren etc.) were gone by 1994 already otherwise. Czerniatynski started in 1982 vs Poland when he was considered the "next best thing" but Enzo Scifo kinda had a better career overall IMO (and he was the "next best thing in 1994).

Document here summarising how the Luge Qualification System will work, for all you Stats obsessives.  Whole circus starts this weekend at Cortina.  
 
milano-cortina-2026-qualification-system-for-luge-v3.pdf

Yeah, Luge were also due to go there but they did not think it was ready and rearranged for Winterberg.  Obviously the athletes have revolted because IBSF had initially passed it, presumably without consulting the athletes.  
 
Also, room in the Calendar to get make-up races done in the New Year.  Bobsleigh get extra practice, so they are happy.