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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___________________________________________
http://en.wikipedia.org/...eoesophageal_fistula
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy
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.