Biathlon 2020 - 2021 Discussion Thread

[RobtheAggie 337]

So thoughts after watching the Swedish races:

1.  Estonia women might surprise some people this season.  They have been getting better each season, and they looked good.  

2.  Stina Nilsson will have a learning curve, but I think that she will do fine.

3.  I would love a few of those lesser-known Swedish women on the US team.  I am sure that some of them have a relative in the US!

 

 

 

I love the fact that Switzerland won the 2025 bid.

[RobtheAggie 337]

21 hours ago, JonPhi said:

French Test Races

Men 13.5km
1. Quentin Fillion Maillet
2. Emilien Jacquelin +13.4
3. Simon Desthieux +19.1
4. Fabien Claude +1.32.9
5. Antonin Guigonnat +1.35.0

Women 12km
1. Anais Bescond
2. Julia Simon +32.7
3. Anais Chevalier-Bouchet +40.0
4. Caroline Colombo +55.6
5. Justine Braisaz-Bouchet +59.3

Was this a short individual?  The men had a good top three grouping.  Looks like Claude and Guigonnat missed one or two more shots.  It is good to see Anais Bescond with a good performane.

 

I love talking about actual races!

[heywoodu 13,540]

2 hours ago, RobtheAggie said:

So thoughts after watching the Swedish races:

1.  Estonia women might surprise some people this season.  They have been getting better each season, and they looked good.  

2.  Stina Nilsson will have a learning curve, but I think that she will do fine.

3.  I would love a few of those lesser-known Swedish women on the US team.  I am sure that some of them have a relative in the US!

 

 

Tuuli Tomingas was especially impressive, it's been quite a while since she managed to show her junior form! Too bad that last shooting went entirely wrong though.

 

As for Nilsson, yeah she should probably be able to get herself a place in the Swedish IBU Cup team this or next season, who knows what can happen after that. She isn't there yet (which is fine), but I'm interested in seeing her in the IBU Cup somewhere and see what she can do there.

[Werloc 3,127]

3 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Tuuli Tomingas was especially impressive, it's been quite a while since she managed to show her junior form! Too bad that last shooting went entirely wrong though.

 

As for Nilsson, yeah she should probably be able to get herself a place in the Swedish IBU Cup team this or next season, who knows what can happen after that. She isn't there yet (which is fine), but I'm interested in seeing her in the IBU Cup somewhere and see what she can do there.

You know who also had a promising junior form? Gabrielė Leščinskaitė who was just as impressive as Tuuli Tomingas, but our juniors almost never translate youth performances into success. 

[heywoodu 13,540]

9 minutes ago, Werloc said:

You know who also had a promising junior form? Gabrielė Leščinskaitė who was just as impressive as Tuuli Tomingas, but our juniors almost never translate youth performances into success. 

Was she really though? I mean, I've been looking for five minutes now and Tomingas really seems to have been a whole level (or at least a half one) above Lescinskaite in those years...especially on days where she didn't entirely mess up her shooting.

[Werloc 3,127]

9 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Was she really though? I mean, I've been looking for five minutes now and Tomingas really seems to have been a whole level (or at least a half one) above Lescinskaite in those years...especially on days where she didn't entirely mess up her shooting.

Well, they've been rivals from when they were children, every race you wouldn't know which one would come out on top.

 

Yeah, nowadays Tomingas ski speed is miles ahead, whilst Gabrielė still has the better shooting, but can't move if her life depended on it.

[heywoodu 13,540]

4 minutes ago, Werloc said:

Well, they've been rivals from when they were children, every race you wouldn't know which one would come out on top.

 

Yeah, nowadays Tomingas ski speed is miles ahead, whilst Gabrielė still has the better shooting, but can't move if her life depended on it.

Ah, so even before the global youth races  Yeah, I couldn't find results of those even if I tried  

[RobtheAggie 337]

I also enjoyed "seeing" racers from Romania, Greece, Latvia and the UK on the start list.  Greece was the most optimistic one to see.  Maybe they are putting more resources into the sport now.  

[Werloc 3,127]

1 hour ago, heywoodu said:

Ah, so even before the global youth races  Yeah, I couldn't find results of those even if I tried  

Well, her prized achievement is a silver medal in the Youth Olympic Festival Individual race, after that she bombed in most of her junior races due to not managing stress, but she also landed 39th in her first ever World Championships, individual race, when she was 18 or 19?

 

Haven't landed near top 40 ever again.

[heywoodu 13,540]

3 hours ago, RobtheAggie said:

I also enjoyed "seeing" racers from Romania, Greece, Latvia and the UK on the start list.  Greece was the most optimistic one to see.  Maybe they are putting more resources into the sport now.  

To be fair, Nikolaos Tsourekas and especially Apostolos Angelis have been around at IBU level for quite a while now  

 

The Russian Moldovans were there as well, and Australian Darcie Morton saw a chance to race and so went there.