heywoodu

Ah yeah, noticed that too. Oddly the location of the finish itself looked (but maybe wasn't) the same, but the road towards it - specifically until around 300 meters - didn't

And Gjerdalen's time was 10 minutes faster than the fastest time ever. The start location was different though, so it kind of makes me wonder if they'll count these course records and if the distance was the same That solo win for Gjerdalen

What's the character after the Z in the left one?

Yep. Karlsson quite clearly had the speed to pass her, but yeah. Wrong choice.

STOP THE COUNT

Paralympic snowboarding legend Bibian Mentel, who was one of the main people to get snowboarding on the Paralympic program and who has kicked cancer's ass 15 (!) times, has been told by doctors that this time they can't treat her anymore, and she should probably start saying her goodbyes https://www.ad.nl/show/bibian-mentel-heeft-uitzaaiingen-in-haar-hersenen-en-neemt-afscheid-van-naasten~a09743fa/ She was about to qualify for Salt Lake in 2002 aged 27 and then got bone cancer, followed by years and years of new bouts of cancer and dominating the world of para-snowboarding in between.

Absolutely, although Lithuania is still not the one deserving any blame for that (and at least I didn't read any posts here like anything was directed against them instead of against FIS). Anyhow, no Thailand, Australia and Armenia at the start tomorrow. Chances for Brazil keep on living.

It's not hate towards Lithuania at all (at least that's not how it was meant from my side), it's more of an amazement at the incredible opportunity missed by other countries and Lithuania being the 'image' of that opportunity. With some luck, it might be the exact same thing for Brazil in the men's event.

Right, yeah I was too focussed on top-30 meaning two tickets

Parmakoski beating out Diggins for bronze in a sprint is just the absolute image of USA's and specifically Diggins' championships..

There's Lithuania already and, with that, their two Olympic tickets.

I wonder why countries like Korea or Australia didn't go for it. Just like Brazil they could easily have had four women competing here.

Lithuania at the start, now all they need to do is just keep going until they get lapped and their second ticket is 99,9% certain.

But these rules were known before the season, surely it shouldn't have been too hard to at the very least pick up the free points wherever possible?

Lithuania right now is in 33rd. If they don't DNS or DNF tomorrow in the relay (remember, being lapped is not DNF), this is how the area around the 30th place looks: Really nothing to blame Lithuania for, it's potentially very painfully poor/late planning by some other countries...

Fuck, Lithuania in the relay tomorrow. Only 15 nations, meaning they'll score a shitload of points (160). It's going to really be a matter of hoping they have nobody in both the 30k and the World Cup in Engadin while hoping Brazil can and does compete there.

But I do like her being a multitalent, since she is a junior world championships medalist in mountainbiking as well

Mixed feelings, I do like Fossesholm (and am neutral towards the Weng's) If anything I just want a fun race. I mean, cool if Sweden beats Norway, but it doesn't make it any more fun if they do so by a minute

Bolshunov is completely destroyed

De Fabiani still had a chance to show something good if he had a good day Sunday, but yeah...still, for athletes who aren't realistically going for medals it sucks just as bad.

That's two or three extra points for Brazil, provided Jaque stays safe.. Sucks though, obviously.

Is Latvia expected to use all four, even those who are rather far behind Eiduka?

Meanwhile, the updated rankings (again, manually, so the usual disclaimer). It's going to be incredibly interesting/important to see who'll compete where in these last few races where points can be scored.

That's odd indeed. The rule was (different from what I was thinking) top-10 in the qualifying race plus under 180 points on the FIS list (so not specifically in the qualifying race), but even so, Ponya being a biathlete doesn't have those points. Weird.

Excellent race for Jaque