To be fair, this sport is pretty much universally known as ‘skimo’. It’s like referring to triathlon as ‘tri’
2 Likes
I started uphill skinning 12 or so years ago and what I enjoy there has zero overlap with what I saw on TV from the Olympics. “Earning your turns” has become very popular during the pandemic over here in Europe, so I think it’s understandable they want to join the bandwaggon. Still, the gap between the everyday version and the olympic competition format is somewhat like hillwalking and an 800m track race.
1 Like
I was partially taking the piss to be funny. BUT, Jornet and Bonnet aren’t even trying to be in the conversation for this…so was the OP taking the piss?
1 Like
I’m firmly in the camp that this was a big swing and a miss. It sounded awesome when they talked about it leading up to the telecast. The races itself were beyond lackluster. Not long enough and the races were almost completely decided on the transitions. Hey, coming from the tri world we all understand the importance of transitions but they shouldn’t completely decide the race. Also, the downhill portion was almost pointless. I watched every race and not once was that a factor in any race as far as I recall.
1 Like
I think there was one men’s semi-final where the battle for second went to the line…
…but yeah, the sprint format is not it, IMO.
1 Like
given the skimo races I have done, I found this a big fail. My only experience was in VT a few years ago. Skin up 1500’ vert, ski down about 2/3 of that, boot pack up 1/3 on a different trail, and not any clean steps, and then ski to the bottom, repeat 2 more laps for a total of about 4500’ vert… I was in my 50s and deep in the field, but enjoyed it.. was expecting something like THAT..
yeah, to me it looked like 90% of the race was determined on the transition speeds. almost no passing in the actual racing and definitely nothing in the downhill.
Seems like as good a sport as any to start the “let’s include one Average Joe in every field” for viewership and perspective.
NBC/IOC would genuinely get more of my time if they did this. Surely it has to happen sooner or later if they keep going down this road. I know Michelle (wife/athlete) feels the same.
We’ve been dreaming up various professional coaching constraints such that “Joe survives and isn’t maimed” odds are within humanity-accepted levels. It varies a lot per sport. 
Ms. Coventry, now you know where to find us when you need it all scoped and spec’d.
Last summer olympics, they had snoop dogg do a 200m run before an event, he hit 34s which is decent for someone at 50+. So yea, maybe a celeb before an event would be cool. This year in winter olympics Colin joost did a 2 man bob sled
The audio from Colin’s bobsled run is great.
Certainly a good “Joe survives and isn’t maimed event” unlike a lot of of the other winter sports.
Looking at results from some of our races, an average Joe would take 3-4x as long to complete the sprint course, because their transitions are bad and because learning how to push hard for 2-3minutes (like in a 800-1000m) run is difficult.
An average enthusiast (from Canada/US, with specialized equipment, some specific practice and training) is probably looking at a 20 second deficit at the first transition. I think that would quiet the “transitions completely decide the race” camp.
In all formats, because you are climbing for 90% of the race, it’s all about w/kg. VAM is roughly proportionate to w/kg and there’s no hiding in the draft, there’s no drag force increase from moving faster through the air so the time gaps can be big. Think about the spread in w/kg between a population of athletes.
It did look, in that ridiculously short sprint format, that ‘take out’ speed had some bearing, to get first/second to the chicanes, provided the athlete could back it up, to and up the steps.
absolutely.
Emily Harrop was clearly the strongest in the women’s sprint, then screwed up a transition and got bronze instead. On the relay which was longer, she climbed away from everybody, twice.
The sprints are unsatisfying to watch, at this level most of the difference is in transitions. The skin rip/jump is fun to watch tho.
I’ve skiied on one of the same and iced up courses that the ski world cup races are done on (Kitzbühel Hahnenkamm Streif) and it would be downright comical to watch me side skidding down parts of it for the first minute. Then it would be painful. If I actually tried to ski it with regard to a fast time, I’m pretty sure they’d need to airlift me out!
The bully of my youth - from Austria, with love
1 Like