heywoodu

He gave Jaziri a win, else it'd be sad to lose right after such a nice win against Dimitrov.

Yeah, me neither. Coming up with semi-finals inside a group phase, that's the next urban thing to make sports more complicated...

What's this strange thing with a group phase where every team only plays 2 of the 3 other teams in the group, like in the Fort Lauderdale major at the moment? That is absolutely ridiculous! Imagine having a Champions League group in football with FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Tottenham Hotspur and AEK Athens, and PSG only has to play AEK and Tottenham, whereas AEK has to play PSG and Barcelona...?!

Meanwhile South Africa seems to be taking Zimbabwe's very succesful path to famine, eternal hunger and everything bad. http://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/world-economy/the-time-for-reconciliation-is-over-south-africa-votes-to-confiscate-whiteowned-without-compensation/news-story/a8a81155995b1adc1c399d3576c4c0bc

Probably somewhere in the middle, since basically every 'extreme' is usually a bad thing.

Serena Williams winning it is absolutely, completely ridiculous. Nothing against her, but if you give this award to someone who played exactly two tournaments (and only one of which in a respectable way) in a sport where the calendar is completely filled up....no. Just turn off the lights, cancel the show and go home.

Not like they really have a chance in Tokyo, but it's fun to take the minor golds in between

Easy

Yeah I noticed that a few times

He seriously said that? I've still got the Eurosport Player on with his commentary (but am listening to the TV), let me rewind

These are the semi first round finals now, right?

Done

Why is Colombia wearing Belgian suits?

That would indeed be both better and way easier for the general population to follow and understand.

Is Krupeckaite still there? I feel like she's literally been around since the first time I ever saw track cycling on TV

I'm waiting to hear more about this... And talking about biathlon with people in real life for the first time....I know, right?! That's such a relief!

Why are the team pursuit semi finals never called semi finals, but heats 3 and 4 of the first round? This pursuit system is so annoying.

Did the Russian boys use skis or motorbikes?

Like always with track cycling, Tissot Timing is perfect for results, programs, start lists and, yes, live timing http://www.tissottiming.com/2018/ctrwch/nl-nl/Default/

50k for gold, 40k for silver....and still 15k for a 5th place, nice

What are their names? Two out of Buttercup, Bubbles and Blossom?

If I was religious, I'd be praying for it to remain this cold (around -5 during the day, -10/15 at night) for at least two more weeks, but sadly that won't happen. As soon as temperatures are dropping significantly for an extended period of time here, people start talking about the possibility of finally having the (in our country) legendary Elfstedentocht again, loosely translated to 'Eleven Cities Tour'. What is this Elfstedentocht? Well, obviously it's speed skating, come on, it's the Netherlands. It's a race over almost 200km, which was first held in 1909. Competitors (many thousands of them) pass through eleven cities of the Friesland province, having to get some sort of stamps along the way to prove they passed the checkpoints (yes, there's modern timing, but we don't need to abolish all traditions in exchange for modern stuff). The problem is, this race can only happen when the lakes and rivers along the way are frozen over enough. Including the first one in 1909, there have now been 15 editions of this race, but sadly the last one already was 21 years ago now: 1997. So now that it's getting cold again, they've stopped the 'traffic' on the waterways and stuff like that, hoping that it'll help freeze things over and get strong enough ice To illustratie, the finish of the last edition:

But...underwater track cycling...Flood the whole damn velodrome and use weighted bikes. We might be onto something super urban here.

Oh well, day 1's program: And the start lists and results and live stuff: http://www.tissottiming.com/2018/ctrwch/nl-nl/Default/

It's -10 degrees here and I'm starting to think about searching for my winter jacket.