It’s a lot easier to see the action in person ;-)

Plus you are in the correct time zone. I am hoping with the 14 hour time diff to EST to Korea, some events that start before noon Korea time start at 10 pm EST,so hopefully a bunch of 9 am to noon finals going on in Korea that we can pick up on EST. For the guys in Europe, those morning finals will be no good, but afternoon/evening finals will be perfect in Europe.

Have a great time. Feel free to post pictures from being there live!

Cyclocross should really be in the Winter Olympics. I know the IOC has a rule about snow and ice, and I love to watch curling every four years. But CX is needs to be there too.

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Don't drown. Don't crash. Don't walk.

Well I think you basically ruled out Cyclocross with the snow and ice part. Seriously, there are already enough cycling sports in the summer games. No need for another one in the winter. I think technically all of the winter sports have some element of sliding on snow or ice. I can't think of a winter sport that does not involve some element of low coefficient of friction on frozen water.

Eric Heiden -1980 - won 5 gold medals in speed skating meaning he had more than slow twitch fiber development. Then again the 10k speed skating times are so much faster than running at that distance the development of aerobic system may not be primary trainging focus. One of the few posters that can say they skated with/against him in the late 1960's!

short track=roller derby on ice. Lots of fast twitch too. I vote they leave the island

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

There's no "technically" about it; as rotosound points out, it's actually an IOC rule, written in black-and-white in the Olympic Charter:


I looked it up and quoted it and linked it when TheJeff started yet another change.org petition to get cyclocross or cross-country running in there, despite this obvious and well-known stipulation.

Now that we've addressed that once again, can we all stop blathering on about cycling and running for five minutes and focus on enjoying some of the minority sports that only have some exposure once in a blue moon!

I, for one, am thoroughly looking forward to it!

I thought this short article in NYT Magazine this weekend captured the essence of cross country skiing (or any endurance sport for that matter):


https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/31/magazine/winter-olympics-cross-country-skiing.html


Key quote: "Cross-country skiing expresses something deep about the human condition: the absolute, nonnegotiable necessity of the grind. The purity and sanctity of the goddamn slog."

you know, yes and no. what i didn't like about that article was that it called nordic skiing the least watchable winter olympic sport. i find it the most watchable, for the very reasons the author cited. i don't want to get too picky, but it would be nice to see something in the times about nordic written by someone who understands it, and appreciates it for what is, rather than someone who doesn't get why anyone would do it, hates it, intends never again to engage in it, and doesn't see why anyone would watch it.

but the pictures were pretty, the text was professional, and i guess some coverage is better than no coverage.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I went to the short track medal heats at Vancouver 2010. Hands down the best winter Olympic sport to watch in person (now that the NHL ruined Olympic hockey). I vote they stay on this island.

Nope it is the endurance sport thread. Belongs in the most watchable winter Olympic sport thread then

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

If anything, I'd say fat biking over cyclocross. Since the whole point of fat bikes is for snow conditions.

There was a front page article in yesterday's Sunday Times, about the widespread doping in the Winter Olympics; particularly nordic skiing.

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29 years and counting

Shhh!

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"Go yell at an M&M"

XC-skiing is the most popular TV sport in Norway. Number two is biathlon.
Yes they are beating soccer.
Here you have the list
1 Xc-skiing
2 Biathlon
3 Alpine skiing
4 Team handball
5 Ski jumping
6 Track
7 Norwegian soccer
8 International soccer
9 Cycling
10 Long track speed skating

Endurance athletes are of course stars and get a lot of media attention. The same way American football players are stars here in the USA.
I have stopped getting upset over people not understanding endurance sports. Most likely they are just jealous of fit people.

I wish I could just pipe Norwegian sports tv into my tv. I guess my inability to speak Norwegian might be a problem. For now I will have to rely on your ytube updates. Whats up with the team handball?

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Team handball is a popular sport for both men and women in Europe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a-DXRsb3H0


In Norway the female national team is more popular on TV than the men.


It is a great sport. Hard, physical and lots of contact.

This was brought up during the CX World Championships coverage on Olympic Channel over the weekend

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

I hope that skimountaineering gets back into the games. The sport is very intriguing and I've started to race it this year myself. It's so much fun. You run up mountains and then jump into hard downhills. When XC skiing is line road cycling, skimo is mountainbiking.

I was an alpine skier as a kid, turned into a (mountain) runner in my teens and now skimo fuses my two passions.

Kudos that you considered alpine skiing for endurance events. Our training 15 years ago was very versatile. Wenn did a lot of jumping and weights and coordination but we also biked and run a lot. The endurance side
of skiing is often underrated. (But I was not lacking in endurance but power)

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

I found a new appreciation for the Nordic events this weekend... while Zwifting on Sat AM I was watching the Olympic channel and they replayed the Sochi Women's Nordic relay race (I believe it was 4x5k)... my first thought was that it was going to be a little dull to watch but left it on. And wow... that was an amazing race and some true grit and determination.... now i'm actually putting the Nordic events on the top of my list for the next few weeks. :)

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______________________________________________
Team Zoot

Here you have a link to all world cup races in English the last years.
https://www.youtube.com/...assicSkiTrack/videos

Xc-skiing is of course not boring :-)

I have been learning to XC ski this winter; thanks for linking to the videos, plenty of inspiration there!

+1 to this

another +1

nordic is my favorite winter sport to watch.. not going to get anything on NBC broadcast coverage I know, maybe a snippet of biathlon if Lowell Bailey or Susan Dunklee come through..
nice NPR story,
https://www.npr.org/...-first-olympic-medal

I prefer watching the Nordic skiing and biathlon (will be sad with no Bjorndalen) to the downhill events. I also get hooked into curling. One thing I'd love to see in person someday is bobsled/luge/skeleton - we almost went up to LP a few months ago as a last-minute trip when there was a World Cup event there.

As someone who's all-time favorite sporting moment was watching the Miracle on Ice game as a 14-yr old, I'll still watch men's hockey (local rooting interest with Harvard's Ryan Donato and BU's Jordan Greenway). I'll admit that with some of the ridiculous young talent that has come into the NHL in the past 2-3 years it would have been fun to see them in the world stage in mid-season form, but I'll watch regardless. Women's tournament should be good as well.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

Short track isn't about fast or slow twitch. It's about not falling over.

#StevenBradbury

The 50k always gets me excited, especially when offered in classic format (which 2018's edition will be).

These times bring back fond memories of my XC ski days in Sweden from the late 90's - I'd rub elbows at some regional start lines (or prestigious events like the Wasaloppet) with the likes of Botvinov or the aspiring Kenyan XC ski racers...bizarre. Now I can barely watch the racing (unless its a YouTube feed or something...you gotta love Texas, right?).

While I agree that Nordic events are exciting, I wouldn't put a country that dialed into a 12 hour long show about chopping wood as a great example of people who know what good TV is.

Well, Norway just had 55 hours of Ole Einar Bjoerndalen's races without any commercial breaks.
I have tried to watch American football or baseball. 2 seconds of actions and then breaks.

I rather watch endurance sports in a country where endurance sports athletes are heroes and not something strange.
The joke among foreigners in the USA is that no American can participate in the olympics without have cancer...................;-)

But it is better now with the olympic channel. You now have commentators talking about the sport and not everything else.

Who is your favorite in the 30k?
Alex, Sundby, Klaebo, Cologna or any other?

My predictions:

Mens 30K skiathlon:

1. Cologna
2. Harvey
3. Calle Halfvarsson

Cologna has been on fire so I put him #1. I put Calle at #3 because Sweden seems to always have an amazing peaking plan.

Womens 15k skiathlon

1. Charlotte Kalla
2. Jessie Diggins
3. Heidi Weng

I would love for Diggins to win but like I said above: Sweden always has amazing championships performances and Kalla is probably the best female at timing her peak. Jessie could seriously win the skiathlon gold if she is even with Kalla with 1k to go. I don't think there is anyone on the world cup that can empty themselves more than Jessie Diggins.

Has Cologna beat Klae bo in any races?

Could any of you smart winter-people explain a little bit about ski jumping to me? I'm being serious; what is the profile of an athlete that excels at this? Flexibility and a strong core to hold proper position are obvious. But the take off? Is it basically just one huge burst of power, kind of like a weightlifter? The only endurance-type analogy I can think of is a BMX or cyclocross racer at the start of a race, where the top guys will put out 15-20 watts/kg to get off the line.

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Any run that doesn't include pooping in someone's front yard is a win.

Thanks, that link is outstanding!

My personal favorite Oly/Winter Sports event is the 4x7.5km Biathon Relay. The US team seems to always frontload the squad and tease me into thinking they are going to be medal contenders.

I'm happy to include Alpine Skiing in the "endurance" mix. If we consider the 800m a mid-distance event, no reason not to include equally anaerobic events from skiing.

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John Hartpence, Athlete & Coach
tripence@gmail.com, @coachpence

When I tried out for it, they made us put our balls on a scale...no dice for me.

needless to say, Primoz Roglic (a former Slovenian ski jumper, successful too) is a premier Time Trialist and damn good all rounder in the pro peloton.

That being a single data point, I would think success comes from telling yourself that you can overcome the impossible...if you've ever had the privilege standing atop a K140 jump and look down, there is nothing natural about letting yourself push off that bench

Agreed. Halvard had posted that link a year or so ago and it's great stuff for the trainer.

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Any run that doesn't include pooping in someone's front yard is a win.

The above plus you want to be a lightweight with a crazy huge single vertical jump....I think Spud Webb would be the perfect body type for ski jumping which is a combo of jumping and flying. Basically everything that makes a lightweight bad for cycling aero, in terms of frontal body area vs weight, makes them good for flying....you need frontal for lift when you turn into an airfoil, you want lightweight for anti gravity while flying, . But you need the vertical jump part too so that you can convert your terminal velocity to the right flight path and get relatively high above the snow for the flight phase.

But hey, ski jumping has nothing to do with slow twitch muscle fiber, so are we allowed to talk about it outside of Nordic Combined?

Dev

I hope for my countryman Cologna and he was very strong in the Tour de Ski. However, Klaebo is a real beast and flying. Absolutely fantastic to watch him. The question is whether he can live with the pressure. But considering how cool he looks while dominating events, I guess that shouldn't be a problem.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

Not an urban legend. Not frequent, but you do hear the phrase from time to time. Succeeding due to the failure of others.

Great story,

Before the days of go fund me, some dude from a country with no snow tours around the world skating and hand making skates to fund that.

...then wins gold!

Hope is dont step on any ski-jumpers toes here, but ski jumping is very little about physical attributes. Its A highly technical sport where your ability to float ontop of the air is far more important than how hard you jump. Timing the jump, floating and balancing the air, and some luck with the wind gives medals:-) og yea - and you better not weigh more than 100lbs;) you though the tdf’guys were skinny? Were taking about A sport that has formally imposed restrictions on minimum weight.

I'm not aware of him ever making skates though. Doesn't seem to make his Wikipedia CV...

Well in 2017/2018 pretty much Noone has (only pellegrino in the sprint) :)

Im guessing klæbo wins the 30km - Im unsure of cologna. Tour de ski - athletes Do not have a good record of medalling in following championships..

My guess is

1. klæbo
2. Sundby
3. Harvey

1. Bjoergen
2. kalla
3. Weng

For those in the US, fasterskier.com has a good schedule of biathlon and xc skiing events and times in east coast time. A lot of the live stuff will be very early morning for us east coasters.

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I'll fully admit that I'm an uneducated armchair critic, but I've just been watching some of the short-track speed skating semi-finals and am I the only one that thinks it's a bit of a joke?!

It's like the BMX of the Winter Olympics; a good starting sprint is obviously very important, as is line and positioning through the corners and ultimately it's decided by good and consistent surges of speed out of each corner. That's all very well and good in terms of the athleticism, but the reality is that, like BMX, every race seems to be decided by crashes and ill-discipline between the racers with often the best-athletes hitting the deck before the race is over.

It seems like if you're outside the top 3 coming into the last few laps the usual modus operandi of the skaters is to sling a stupid move up the inside of the next bend and take everyone else out because you have nothing to lose. Otherwise, if someone makes a legitimate move on you and you're too gassed to respond, then just cut them off on the next bend, again because you know your race is done anyway.

To my uneducated viewpoint the whole sport could do with some more discipline and/or regulation such as individual athlete lanes, as per long-track skating, or at least leader/overtaking lanes as per track cycling? At the moment, there's not much pleasure in watching the best-athletes run off the ice and supposedly the pinnacle event of the sport being decided by the commissaires.

Go ahead, shoot me down!

 
The level of fitness and technique that these athletes need just to "play the game" is off the hook. Several years ago, one of my short track skating friends of coerced me in to giving it a try, with proper skates. I grew up and still was playing ice hockey at a high level, and am also a life long nordic skier, both skate and classic, so I thought it would be a piece of cake.

The speed skating experience was easily the most humiliating athletic experience of my life. Getting yourself around that rink with your back parallel to the ice while keeping your but in right position will break you, not to mention handling skate blades with a flat grind.

As with most sports, you should try it before you mock it. You might learn something!

Kalla won in convincing fashion.
Bjoergen
Parmakoski

I watched live because my wife rolled over at 2 am and knocked over a glass which shattered on the floor and woke me up.

Nice of Norway to share the medals. Happy to see the Finns back in the mix. We have an Finnish international student visiting us a lot so she will be happy. What happened to the Finnish ski jumpers?

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

I don't doubt the strength, fitness and skill required and displayed by the athletes at all and I'm certainly not mocking them.

I'm railing against the way the competition event is conducted that arguably robs those athletes from a fair contest.

Rubbing is racing yo.

I think I could appreciate the athleticism more if it didn't look like demolition derby on ice...

I have only done long track and not short track for most of the reasons you mention, however, all the items you mention is part of the sport. Everyone knows it going in....so you're either a small agile lightweight and you roll the dice in short track or a big guy with long levers and a lot of weight (power/Cda) and you do long track. There is no place for small guys in long track and big guys in short track, just like there is no place for big guys in ski jumping and tiny lightweights in downhill or super G!!!

I really don't know how you change short track either than 2 person racing with 2 lanes with crossover points, which arguably is a possibility, since they do it in long track, ,or you do like cycling and have a single lane and make the skating loop larger and have a 2 man pursuit format. I don't think what you are saying is impossible. Might be nice to see a few events that are 2 man head to head. In XC skiing there are the sprint events which after the prelim rounds are head to head, and there can often be a lot of body/ski/pole contact and often the strongest skier does not win, and that's OK, as tactics should be part of racing, just like in bike racing.

At 5'6" 138 lbs I have the perfect body type and muscle composition for short track (way too much fast twitch for an Ironman guy) and exactly wrong mental profile for short track.

I'm living in Canada for the year and to be honest one of the best bits has been curling. Really genuinely a fun game (I'm loathed to call it a sport) which has tonnes of skill, tactics, a great community atmosphere and ethics.
It's the thing I'll miss about here most for sure.

Korean women are hot.

Krueger (Who?) sixth at Norway nationals wins after crashing.
Sundby
Holund Sounds like a French guy but not!

Norway tough to beat.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

I am visiting Norway this weekend. Not the worse day to be a Norwegian.
Both Kruger and Holund are racing for the same club in Oslo, Lyn.
They have been training together since they were 12-13. Kruger won a world cup race ealier this year.
Sundby is also from Oslo, and from the club closest to Lyn, Roea.

Be top 10 in the Norwegian championship is not easy.

Link?

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"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5

Every year in late fall on a Saturday off:

*turns on tv*

Me: Godammit! Curling again

*cut to 2.5 hours later*

Me: WHY ARE YOU LEAVING ALL THESE ROCKS IN PLAY!

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Dan Mayberry
Amateur a lot of things, professional a few things.

this is awesome!!

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

I love watching short track. (Well, I love watching any sport). I think swimmers do a silly amount of annual turns in the pool. But I wonder how many circles the short track athletes do in a year. Must be crazy.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

Going to Norway next week. Hoping there’s still some ski racing on to watch with locals

Does the whole Norwegian team use the same wax in a race like this?. I just thought it was amazing how Kruger pulled away from Sundby with 3-4 km to go. Just saw the crash now this morning I only caught the last half of the race. He had to make up alot of ground in the classic section when the lead group was just hammering it. I don't think Sundby wants a sprint finish I think if he could go he would have.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Swedish girls are the good ones in swedish xc team now. Kalla and Stina Nilsson have great chances for new medals.

Calle Halvarsson seems to always be out of shape/ in problems. Other guys seems to have best days behind them but had great days with golds.
Cologna has won some race this year. He is one of the guys who has biggest chance to beat the norwegians.
Klaebo will probably win atleast the sprint.
Norway will win both men relays.
Women side will be Sweden vs Norway with Finland and US (?) as outsiders

Forcade delivers in the biathlon. Much happiness in France. Followed by Samuelson (good to see the swedes in skiing) and Doll. Biathlon = exciting. BTW brutal conditions. Wind just wiping through and super cold.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Can someone give me some insight on something?

How come, two different, albeit similar events, have a combined element so that the person who wins gold in one has a huge advantage in the other separate event?

I'm thinking of the Sprint biathlon and the pursuit biathlon?

Seems almost harsh on competitors to carry over the advantage.... What is the history to this? You could feasible win two medals through one stellar performance if you absolutely smash the field in the first competition...

It would be like giving Phelps a 3s headstart in the 400IM because he dominated the 200IM.

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Blog: http://www.coopstriblog.wordpress.com
Latest blog: Setting Goals. With or Without Gin.
Date: 10/31/2017

Loved watching Kalla win in a break away at the end...it's a nice change to seeing all the Norwegians (sorry Halvard but it does get boring after a while from the predictability) dominate everything such as on the men's side. Just because it mixes it up and I find myself not rooting for a team that just dominates all the time. I like the underdog aspect. Really liked that a German won the biathlon & not Fourcade. I was really hoping Alex Harvey (Canada) would have pulled off a podium spot but ended in fifth in the skiathlon.

Yeah. Such a surprise with Samuelsson and some girl was 5th. Noone in Sweden expected that. Great race by Forcade. Impressive. Boe didnt manage to deliver so far. Gonna be exciting games.

If Sweden can just step up in hockey game its gonna be nice to watch them too

Agree about the underdog thing. Its nice with some surprises on and off. Can also like a win for long services
Harvey seems to be a great dude probably will have good chance later on

I agree, this is stupid. Either award one medal for the combined medal, or decouple the events. To me its like awarding a 100m fly medal and then canceling the fly leg in the 400m IM and then awarding a second medal for the full 400m IM but only running the back, breast free. Seems stupid to me.

On another note, I really enjoyed watching the downhill leg on the Alpine combined (downhill + slalom). I think this is a cool event and with the legs being way longer than 20 seconds, there is an element of endurance to those runs too. Not sure how many of you guys remember that US Track Cycling Olympic Gold medalist Steve Hegg was also on the downhill ski team and beat Billy Johnson a bunch of times. But it is cool he won the 4000m pursuit at the LA Olympics....so he had plenty of endurance to last that 4+ minutes....and he has a Canadian connection:

https://www.upi.com/...-in-a/6594460180800/

But the elite sportsman is being given a direct advantage over his competitors due to his result in another event.

I can't think of another single Olympic event in which this occurs.

And I understand it brings in another psychological element of being chased but it can't be a disadvantageous element or the competitor would just wait for the field to catch up...

And I also don't really understand the point about the events being back to back because surely this is the same for all competitors as the fields are the same between the two events?

Just trying to understand a sport I've never really had the opportunity to watch before.

Thanks

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Blog: http://www.coopstriblog.wordpress.com
Latest blog: Setting Goals. With or Without Gin.
Date: 10/31/2017

Unfortunately, the alpine combined event is slowly dying away. There is more and more specialisation into the speed and technique events. Guys like Bode Miller could take victories in each discipline at the same time. With the girls that lasted a bit longer and maybe Shiffrin is the next. But you don't usually see it with the guys anymore. So the combined event is to see who is the besteht allround skier. Very sad should this event stop.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

Hey, I raced XC skiing for 30+ years, so I get it the duration and psychological challenges. Nevertheless, the logical comparison of running the 100m fly separate from the last three legs of the 400IM and then giving out a 400IM medal for the 300m event is pretty well the same, and while I get your point of the duration and the psychological aspect, that's not a good enough reason to award medals in this manner.

Is the Biathlon Pursuit not modeled after the old X-C Ski pursuit races? I remember racing those back in the day, and they were an olympic discipline up until they merged the two into the Skiathlon and added the transition aspect to the race... I personally prefer the skiathlon format for the reasons you guys mentioned, it's one medal race, not a separate medal event affecting the outcome of the next medal event...

The XC Sprint races were pretty legit this morning... Can't say that I am surprised by the winners (was kind of hoping that Falla came back at the end on the ladies side, and that Diggins would have had more in the tank to potentially bump the OARs out of the podium conversation)...

Yet Klaebo's turbo mode was again something special. Hoping to see it again in the upcoming days, hopefully at the end of a longer event (if he takes the last leg in 4x10 km), although I doubt he's yet capable to repeat something like Northug did at the end of 50km in Falun.

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Need more W/CdA.

In high school pursuit racing you can win the classic race, the skate race and the pursuit. One year the skate if first, the next it is classic first. My legs, lungs and arms ache just thinking back to one day pursuit events. I remember when the world cup athlete pitched a fit about moving it to a one day 2 race event instead of having the two races on separate days.

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Pactimo brand ambassador, ask me about promo codes

Well this event really favoured slalom guys. Took back huge amount of times. should probably try to have a race more balanced.
Nice with a mixture of different style though

Here you have some videos about skiing from NRK (Norway's BBC)

X-country men
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJstPagYu7Y

Klaebo like Forrest Gump
Run Klaebo run
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaus-kt7qII

PYEONGCHANGNAM STYLE

Much happiness in Norway as Norwegian wins 20k individual biathlon. Forcade misses 2 at last shooting station. Some guy from Slovenia picks up a medal shooting perfect. Hanna Oeberg wins womens 15K. All is happy in Sweden too.




Meanwhile transplanted Dutchman wins 10K gold for Canada!



I am nominating this as top endurance sports day at least so far.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Tough watching the men's individual and seeing Tarjei Boe missing his last two shots (maybe two out of the last 3) to lose any chance at a medal. Really impressive by Johannes Thingnes to keep it together after missing a shot on the first shoot.

Sweden has to be ecstatic after getting two individual medals and coming close to a third with both Samuelsson and Freddy Lindstroem despite Lindstroem (ranked 25th) being the only Swede of either gender in the top 40 of the WC standings.

Ted-Jan becoming the local here here in Calgary...

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___________________________________________
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2020 National Masters Champion - M40-44 - 400m IM
Canadian Record Holder 35-39M & 40-44M - 200 m Butterfly (LCM)

Yepp happy and surprised again :) Nice with some underdogs winning :)
Only thing that could make Swedes disappointed now if hockey team flops . Some surprises there too with Slovenia beating Russia and Slovakia beating US team.

Did you guys watch the team pursuit. Unfortunately, for us in Canada, not a good result like the Vancouver olympics



I was really impressed with the Kiwis making it to the semis vs South Korea!



I wonder how many watts these guys are putting out to go mid 3:xx for 3000m

fabulous-thanks

Canada was missing a third powerhouse skater, unfortunately Ted had to keep looking back to make sure the third didn’t get dropped.

Agreed about the kiwi team. All from an in-line back ground and two of the guys basically had to beg the third to come out of retirement....just so they would have 3 skaters!

Maurice

Watching these figure skaters on the long program, they have some seriously good combo of endurance and power (slow twitch and fast twitch). Those long programs are killer endurance requirement....no joke. A bunch of years ago, I coached two ex figure skaters and got them to Kona in 1 year. They had amazing engines and were the ultimate game day pressure cooker performers. I've never coaches athletes who could focus like figure skaters...makes sense, when you grow up performing in front of the the pressure of the entire arena, trying to pull off routines when your bodies are turning to jello and are sucking wind at the same time. Some seriously awesome athletes over there. Probably the last group of athletes that anyone on ST will give respect to, but they have mine (oh, and it's one of the few sports my wife will watch with me, other than tennis and the odd downhill ski events)....tomorrow nite women's downhill...full combo of fast and slow twitch (on a plus note the air gets denser later in their run vs a hill climber)!!!

As an old xcskiier and dancer (yes I have dances on stage) I have experience from both worlds. As a dancer endurance is not something that they work on a lot, but the best do. The hard part is that you cannot show anything in your face, it is a performance. Figure skating athletes workout a lot due to all the technical elements and the time it takes to learn the different dances.
I have to say I miss the days I had good coordination :-)

The mixed biathlon was exciting. Oh and France won and Norway got second.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Really hoping Jessie and Kikkan can pull off a medal in sprint relay.

I didn't see this thread until now- i think the pursuits are a good move to get more viewers/make it more spectator friendly. That pursuit/hunt intrigues viewers. And in XC races (not biathlon), many skiers (not all) have a stronger discipline (freestyle vs classic) which might turn the tables on them.
I'm curious about biathlon a few decades ago. Obviously it was classic style and morphed into skating. Was there a time when both disciplines were used?

Klaebo is young sprinter with very good fitness for longer races- but if they can have a viscious pace from the start, he may not be able to hold on. Similar to Northug back in the day; if he could draft or hang on to the last K, the race was his. Maybe Alex Harvey can pull off the 50K again (was classic when he won it last year).

I have always wondered this also and also think the racing format is Stupid!.....You win a gold in the sprint and get a head start in the pursuit and which makes it easier to win another medal....its like the award medals for the halfway point of a race and at the end also.....Stupid!

I have never been more attracted to an athlete. She is beautiful, can ski and shoot...what else could a man want...only an Italian would put him/herself "together" like that for such a brutal event!

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"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5

Holy cow, that was a dramatic women's team sprint throughout! Congrats to the U.S. girls of getting the gold medal, really didn't see that coming.

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Need more W/CdA.

That ladies team sprint final was a hell of a race. The gold was won on Diggin's move on her second leg... turned it from a pack race, to a 3 horse race, took some pressure of of Randall to realize that if she just hung in, they were assured a medal. That gave her the confidence to race from the front and to set up the finale...

In terms of the question above on biathlon... There are technically no skate races, they are freestyle, so theoretically you could still have a mixed race, just nobody opts to classic because they know that they wouldn't be competitive...

I guess we could add the skicross to the events that require not only tremendous fast twitch fibers but a lot of endurance too. With the length of the course and the multiple rounds you certainly need your aerobic system in place.

Heck, I think the course gets crazier every four years. I am a gold skier and I guess I could make it to the finish line if I had to (and could ride it allne and take my time). But man these guys are fighting man vs. man at high speeds over some serious jumps. It's always one of my favourite events to watch. Unfortunately it is very dangerous too.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

Evo Niskanin wins 50 K classic. Followed by two OAR athletes which given Russia's history makes me wonder if they were doped. Happy for the Finns who seem to have struggled with cross country in the last few decades.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Here is the interesting historical context. Finland celebrated its 100th year of independence from Russia on Dec 6th....today Listanen skied away from the Russians for the gold. An excruciating 4th again for Canada by Alex Harvey in 2018, just like Devon Kershaw at 2010 Whistler. I really enjoyed the tactics and ski change "pit zone"....it was just like formula 1 racing with pilots and pit crews trying to decide on optimal equipment tactics vs time losses of "tire changes". I don't think Alex Harvey from Canada took the last lap ski change (or maybe he used his changes earlier), but on the last climb when Larkov took off on Sundby and Harvey, you could see both of their skis slipping and both went into a herringbone climb, and Larkov looked like he put 5 seconds on them between the climb and downhill. Listanen's tactics in terms of changing skis paid off. That medal from Finland was truly a team effort between the athlete and pit crew. You never know if the wax is going to be "that much better" until you find out. I heard on the commentary that the Finnish pit crew decided to change the grip wax for hard wax vs Klister since the hard grip wax glides better (but it grips less well in conditions that are icy/wet).

In any case, chapeau to Finland, while a little bummed that Alex Harvey maybe finishes his olympic career with no medals after all those world cup and world championships. My personal connection to the Harvey family was from Alex's dad Pierre. Pierre raced in road cycling in the LA Olympics and XC skiing at the Sarajevo Olympics (both in 1984). Pierre won the first triathlon I did back in 1985. I actually beat him out of the water and then watched this guy ride by with what looked like a motor on. In any case, I had no clue who he was at that time till the finish line and started talking to him and he told me to get some skis, learn how to do it, and my engine on the bike and run would be better. So I did and had a great 30 year run in the sport. Fast forward to 2007 at the 50K at XC ski Nationals, Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw lapped me at my 39.5K.....my goal was to not be lapped, in the 5x10K course, but got to watch them in the sprint finish from the tourist lane on the other side of the stadium! Our sports are cool because we can be in the same race on the same course as the Olympians!

Watching Bjoergen in the 30k reminded me of watching Lance on the final climb on many TDF stages. Blowing people away and not even breathing hard. Although her skis did seem to be running better than Kalla's. She gapped Kalla on several downhills.

Marit is and always has been a beast. The fact that she was talking to the coaches about changing skis while going uphill, well, plain scary. I love that she was the first to hug Kikkan and Jessie after the win in the sprint (with a huge smile on her face). She was genuinely happy for them. Sad to see her go, but hey, that's one less Norwegian Jessie won't have to contend with.

Kalla just looked tired. She had a BIG program (not unlike Diggins). And 30K classic just ain't her bag.

Feel bad for Weng and Oestberg. Maybe the TDS was not a smart idea this year. They either cooked themselves early season with WC / TDS, and / or the coaches didn't get them the recovery they needed.

That's funny. If you saw a pro cyclist that age, who had started racing in the 90s, destroy the field l would bet you wouldn't say Oh, he's a beast. I'm not sure why the Norwegians seem to get such a pass when it comes to doping. Anyone winning tons of races in the early/mid 2000s in any endurance sport has to be pretty suspect.