heywoodu

And Arito taking the gold by showing two incredibly good first full laps. Arito: 25.37 - 27.65 - 28.87 - 30.35 - 1:52.24

Nah, this is junior/youth skating

See? Now that is the pure profile of a good sprinter who's used to a track like SLC, where one can keep gliding forever....already in his second full lap it was starting to show. Losing 2,3 seconds in lap time there is just way too much. Taran: 25.56 - 28.67 - 29.07 - 30.44 - 1:53.74 Tobon: 25.73 - 28.20 - 30.11 - 31.63 - 1:55.67 Amaya: 25.03 - 27.58 - 29.88 - 33.31 - 1:55.80 Slotegraaf: 26.22 - 28.84 - 30.18 - 31.63 - 1:56.87 Llop: 26.08 - 29.15 - 30.28 - 32.49 - 1:58.00 Diniz: 24.96 - 28.85 - 30.91 - 34.75 - 1:59.47 Yang: 24.68 - 29.11 - 33.42 - 37.40 - 2:04.61

Here it's often called "de schaatsmijl"

Yang started with what would be a very good opening on senior level....but kinda bombed down Slotegraaf: 26.22 - 28.84 - 30.18 - 31.63 - 1:56.87 Llop: 26.08 - 29.15 - 30.28 - 32.49 - 1:58.00 Diniz: 24.96 - 28.85 - 30.91 - 34.75 - 1:59.47 Yang: 24.68 - 29.11 - 33.42 - 37.40 - 2:04.61

I'm really curious how Diego Amaya will do in the 'skating mile' today. Timewise he's up there with the best, but of course that says nothing considering his time was in SLC and the others definitely weren't. Still, vamos.

Yes, writing well is critical to having a good article

I read the speed skating and biathlon, since I don't care much about figure skating I probably won't read those I only had a tiny remark or two: That's basically like saying "skiing fast is critical to a good result in alpine skiing" or "climbing well is critical on a big climb in road cycling". It has nothing to do with this format, it's simply a part of the sport. Plus the first sentence makes it sound like the format meant the lead changed at every exchange, but that's not the case. It sometimes happens, it sometimes doesn't. Mind you, those are only small things, I thought the articles were excellent to read

Myrthe de Boer somehow manages to hold on in the last lap and takes the gold That was close, it looked like she was going to lose it in the last lap as well.

That must be terribly disappointing, wow.

Too bad the speed skating live timing doesn't give the rather essential lap times.

Excellent choice to go and play for some good points in Bangkok!

Trump is starting to tweet in Farsi, that can't go wrong!

[hide] #32 Will the winner of Ice Dance Free Dance be the same as in the Rhytm Dance? [Yes] #33 What will be the biggest stone difference in a single curling game of Day 4? (step - 1) [10] #34 What will be the time difference between men's and women's winner of Speed Skating 1500m? (step - 1 sec) [13 seconds] #35 Which country will have its 2nd best athlete ranked highest in the men's Giant Slalom? [France] [/hide]

That is pure history right there! I know she's competing for Austria, but Kramer is born in the Netherlands - not far from where I live actually - and moved to Austria with her family when she was 11. This move was shown in a Dutch TV program apparently, which follows families that move to other countries. My parents remembered her mom dying pretty soon after they made the move to Austria, so that's rather sad. Dutch federation advisor has said Kramer has always been on their radar and she's always welcome to come back, but I doubt that'll happen

Warren's daughter is a little pumped this week, again.

BDO, come on people

Wayne Warren vs Jim Williams, the all-Welsh final is coming up. Here's some more wonderful graphics from earlier on, thanks to the BDO

Well yeah, if it wasn't clear: I like the new format and I like that, in theory, slalom skiers have harder conditions on the slalom. Just today wasn't a very perfect example with both Brignone and Holdener being all the way in the top of the super-G rankings - and Vlhova was well on her way to being in there as well.

Plus it just makes the most sense. When looking for the most allround skier, one should have the most technical + most speed-focussed events in it --> slalom + downhill Just like the decathlon needs runs, jumps, throws etc

If those slalom runs are as insanely short as in Nagano (35 seconds or so), sure

And just finished the slalom, what a party for Yule Not many venues have such an awesome atmosphere as Adelboden, where now of course, especially after a Swiss win....it's time to Vogulisi Berner Oberland ist schö-ö-ön

Yeah, slalom specialists always had better chances in the past 10 years or so, but it's not like it was 100% Speed specialists did sometimes manage to take a win here and there in between the technical specialists Just do a normal downhill and a normal slalom. Although that'd make it pretty easy for slalom specialists as well. Being world class in slalom and meh in speed simply gives you a bigger chance to win a combined than being meh in slalom and world class in speed, so I guess technical specialists will always keep the advantage.

I know the alpine combined can often give interesting results despite not having the most exciting competition, but dear Lord, this must have been the most boring AC I've ever seen Pretty much the best slalom skiers in the field topping the super-G, yeah, bye excitement

I highly doubt it.