heywoodu

A group of athletes (presumable from unqualified nations, of course) has tried to change the qualification criteria for Beijing. Rather unsurprisingly, that has now been rejected by FIS. If I understood correctly, their main aim was to have more qualifying chances than a single event (world championships a year before the Olympics) and a World Cup nations ranking. I agree partially with them, but only partially: I do think qualifying has been made a tad too hard, but on the other hand, nations with a few at least capable athletes, smart enough to do some basic maths, were able to qualify through the rankings (see Brazil as example, which got an extra ticket that way). Plus we know how shitty the general FIS points system is in alpine skiing and cross-country skiing, as compared to for example the way more fair system of IBU points in biathlon, simply because every FIS race gives points, no matter what the quality is, whereas IBU points can only be earned in serious, competitive and international events with large fields.

Uuuugh just go back to having the events in separate weekends, as had been succesfully the case for many years There is just no single valid reason for the nonsense that is combining these two events.

Lots of wind and rain expected for Paris - Roubaix on Sunday, this could be epic (finally)! Or, you know, it could once again be a dry disappointment, but one can keep hoping

That would be a dick move, to be fair. Decide this 1 year or more before the Olympics or don't decide it, but not when the Olympics are right around the corner. Plus, 'based on the result', how exactly is that going to be determined? Will there be a set value of scores they have to stay within or will it be a matter of some expert saying "Hmm yeah...no....yeah alright"?

A more colorful version of Saw is my description so far after one episode. More colorful and less gory.

If you want to watch some weird shit, Squid Game. That is weird shit Very much looking forward to watching episode two.

That is incredibly likely to be added at some point, but surprisingly they seem to actually take some time to let women's Nordic combined be worthy of being added. It definitely will be, it has been growing fairly rapidly the past few years, but it's still too 'young' right now. Give it a few years of actually having an established World Cup circuit and it'll be fine and added no doubt.

Hamilton and Verstappen were indeed lucky with the rain coming in, but did make brilliant use of it. Huge shame Norris made the wrong call though Anyway, this was Hamilton's chance to deal a big blow to Verstappen in the title fight and he didn't. Not his fault obviously, he can't do more than win, but Verstappen was too good for Hamilton to make a big difference. Might have been a fairly crucial race in the overall picture, but there's a long way to go yet.

Could you add cross-country skiing to your list, por favor?

Ah, that slightly refreshes the memory and also reminds me why this probably won't be missed a whole lot in terms of overall quality

The whatnow?

Apparently a Chinese guy posted a 33.83 500m in Beijing (sea-level!) today (?) Could be Gao Tingyu, but not sure. @Vic Liu Could that be the name listed in 1st there? Just to clarify: 33.83 would be truly insane on a non-altitude track. Shinhama's 34.07 in Heerenveen is already considered an insane outlier...

Hello hello

At least Evenepoel's hard work paid out, they're not even making it a secret he was riding for Alaphilippe instead of Van Aert https://www.hln.be/dossier-alaphilippe-volgt-zichzelf-op-als-wereldkampioen/lefevere-geeft-opmerkelijk-interview-na-zege-alaphilippe-evenepoel-heeft-voor-julian-gereden~a09f3f3a/

For Stuyven in his home city Van Baarle First Dutch medal since Leon van Bon of all people 24 years ago.

Valgren and Stuyven going for silver.

And that's it for everyone not called Alaphilippe.

Meanwhile a little over 20k left and there's 16 riders left with a shot at the title. Probably a little less, assuming Van Baarle, Bagioli, Madouas etc are focussed on supporting their leaders.

Yeah, there already was barely any cyclist with a bigger celebrity status in Belgium (no matter the nationality) than Van Aert before the pandemic

And we've got a group in the lead with quite some potential in it Copy-paste from another place, which I assume is (at least mostly) right: Tratnik, Asgreen, Evenepoel, Bissegger, Demare, Roglic, McNulty, Cort, Haas, Declerq, Eenkhoorn, Swift, Hoelgaard, Cosnefroy, Erviti.

175k to go and the first three serious contenders for the title have opened the attacks already with Evenepoel, Cort Nielsen and Cosnefroy.

After Jason Dupasquier (19) in the Moto3 world championship and Hugo Millan (14) in the junior Moto3 world championship, we have lost another rider, another teenager Dean Berta Viñales was involved in a hard crash in the first race of the World Supersport 300 championship in Jerez and passed away shortly after, only 15 years of age. Cousin of MotoGP rider Maverick Viñales, for what it's worth. All other track action (WSSP and WSBK races) for today have been cancelled, obviously.

And I believe Maldives was unfortunately missing.

Vos with silver behind an Italian for the 12668th time Too bad, Vos is basically the only rider in this Dutch team I'd have liked to see win after this umpteenth fiasco Whatever happened, Vos is basically the only one in the team not to blame for her not winning, oddly enough.