Winter Sports - Alpine Skiing, Cross-Country, Biathlon and more

[Preuss]

I think Pinturault will win the crystal globe this year, he was unlucky that the season was cancelled last year

 

[EscGeek]

i'm watching ski jumping in Wisla and DJ is playing "Light Me Up"

 

[JamieBrown]

Good start for the german ski jumpers. Eisenbichler and Geiger aiming for the Best on both days. Austrians Daniel Huber being the legit 3rd best jumper of the whole weekend. Couldn't watch any session so far, but luckily can catch up with sunday's competition now

Let's see if any of the mentioned above is able to contain the current strength and get the gold at either ski flying, where norwegians and slovenians will shoot back latest, or the 4HT.

Note of the weekend: Sadly the finns aren't even able to compete, which seemed to be given to the current circumstances, but an estonian brother, as well a canadian held above the underdog's flag

 

[Edweis]

I think Pinturault will win the crystal globe this year, he was unlucky that the season was cancelled last year

Obviously, I hope so but if last season taught something is that anything is possible. He's the most versatile of the bunch, getting nice rankings in almost all disciplines, however he's not always consistent. He is DNF quite a few times in slalom which makes him lose essential points. I always thought it was a shame he didn't put more emphasis on SG, he's doing rather well there considering it isn't among his specialties.

 

[Preuss]

Obviously, I hope so but if last season taught something is that anything is possible. He's the most versatile of the bunch, getting nice rankings in almost all disciplines, however he's not always consistent. He is DNF quite a few times in slalom which makes him lose essential points. I always thought it was a shame he didn't put more emphasis on SG, he's doing rather well there considering it isn't among his specialties.

Go hard or go home, isn't that what they say? He DNF a lot in slalom, that's true, but the point system used by FIS rewards the winner (and the top 4-5 for that matter) a lot. So let's say he finishes 10th, he'll get some points but a DNF won't hurt him that much if we look at the point system.So I think he's willing to risk a lot to win, which equal 100 points, and the reward of risking everything is worth it, more so than an eventual DNF

And edit: Kilde won like one race last season. He was consistently good but I never knew he was fighting for the crystal globe so I was shocked when he won it

 

[JamieBrown]

What happened this week?

Ski Jumping: We've seen an early dominance by Markus Eisenbichler, who would've won the 2nd AND 3rd competition of this winner again with a bit more luck. Norway's Halvor Egner Granerud stepped in and marked his 1st career win on the WC stage, confirming his good performance of the other competitions. That leaves Eisei, Granerud, Johansson, Kubacki, Zyla, Sato and Geiger as the early constances of the season. Maybe the ski flying champion and/or 4 hills winner will be among them. The austrian a squad will take a while to come back, it's not even certain they can attend Planica. The slovenes seem inconsistent, but Pavlovcic and Lanisek performed rock solid. Severin Freund got his comeback in the Top 10 of a competition. Estonians Artti Aigro is a big surprise. The finns and czechs are underperforming more than ever, the frenchman Learoyd is missed with no further news.

Nordic Combined: Jarl Magnus Riiber will win the World Cup once again, the germans are performing better in jumping, but once Riiber misses a competition another norwegian steps in. Congrats Jens Oftebro on his first career win as well.

Biathlon: Johannes Boe dominates once again, got 2nd and 1st. Hardly to beaten, but if beaten, then it's another norwegian. Congrats Sturla Holm Laegreid on his first career win. The young norwegians made a big impression this weekend overall. The womens WC will be more open, Denise Herrmann wants to earn the yellow jersey, but had a horrible 2nd shooting in yesterdays sprint. The swedish team had a big impact on the first two Top 10's, with Hanna Öberg on sunday's peak and now in yellow, closely followed by more or less unknown Skottheim. I'm always up for swedish athletes to win, and I guess we will have a thrilling winter ahead once again.

Alpine skiing: Didn't follow this weekend, there were some parallel events.

 

[Zonne147]

I'll also make the balance of the weekend and give my opinion about who do I expect to be at the top this season

Ski Jumping
Is this Markus Eisenbichler's year? Too early to say. What I love about Ski Jumping is that it is so unpredictable. Not that seeing Eisenbichler at the top is a big surprise, he has been doing very well in the last few years, but ski jumping is all about confidence and Eisenbichler is the most confident right now, we will see for how long it will last. Karl Geiger has to be considered one of the favorites to win the World Cup and he had a very solid start, we can't say the same about last year's winner Stefan Kraft that's been really unlucky, after a false start he was now forced to stop. Unfortunately, I believe it's going to be a very common thing this season and in every sport

Nordic Combined
Jarl Magnus Riiber is just the best. There are no words to describe his 2019/2020 season. I hope this year will be a bit more balanced but I can't see him not winning the World Cup. Hats off to Jens Luraas Oftebro, that got his maiden win this weekend and also to Johannes Lamparter, massive surprise, he was the best jumper of the weekend but did unexpectedly well in cross country skiing.

Cross Country Skiing
Men: Klaebo vs Bolshunov. Klaebo was the best in the first chapter, we'll see how it goes in Davos. Iversen had a good start (as always), happy that Erik Valnes got his first career victory, one of the best sprinters rn.
Women: Svahn - sprint, Johaug - distance and Johaug overall again I think. Another Russian athlete coming from nowhere (Tatiana Sorina) and what a start from the Swedes, 1-2-3 in the sprint race and very good performances in the other two races.

Biathlon
Women: I said it one week ago and I say it again - I think that either Marte Roeiseland or Hanna Oeberg will win the Overall this year. Roeiseland has missed several races last year to be at her top condition for the Worlds and she had perfect champs, so I believe she will race for the overall this year. Oeberg has been getting stronger and stronger and I'm sure she'll shine again. Her ski and shooting performance last Sunday was brilliant. Herrmann and Wierer both did very well in the Individual and not so well in the Sprint, both on skis and with the rifle. The defending champion was never one of the fastest on skis but her Sunday performance was too average. And what to say about the Swedish team?? Persson, Brorsson, "the other" Oeberg and especially Skottheim. False start for Tiril Eckhoff, happy to see Vittozzi scoring 10/10, ski speed is not yet there though.

Men:
Johannes Thingnes Boe. I believe we'll all be shocked if he doesn't win the World Cup for the third time. But there is a bunch of great athletes that will definitely provide entertaining races, really looking forward to what the French team can do, last year Jacquelin and Fillon Maillet, it seems that Fillon Maillet is still far from his best though. Sweden had an impressive start too, with both Samuelsson and Ponsiluoma, but the highlight of this season opener in Kontiolahti was Sturla Holm Laegreid for sure. He closed his debut season in a very good way (4 races, 4 interesting results) and opened the new one even better (first career win).

Alpine Skiing
The Parallel event is always very unpredictable, but this weekend's winners couldn't have been more predictable. Vlhová got her 3rd win out of four races and is probably Shiffrin's biggest threat to win the total score. Not the best start for Shiffrin, but she needs to get into the competition thing again, 300 days without racing is a lot. Alexis Pinturault won over Henrik Kristoffersen this time, we'll see it in the end of the season but (very blind and unpopular) I feel that neither of them will raise the big globe at the end of the season. Why not Odermatt or Kilde again???

Honorable mention
I like it when small nations that invest a lot on a specific sport succeed - Artti Aigro, Kristian Ilves and Tuuli Tomingas are all national heroes right now I believe!!

 

[JamieBrown]

Honorable mention
I like it when small nations that invest a lot on a specific sport succeed - Artti Aigro, Kristian Ilves and Tuuli Tomingas are all national heroes right now I believe!!

Yes, they were great all over the disciplines. Is it too early to call Finland a small nation as well?

 

[Zonne147]

Yes, they were great all over the disciplines. Is it too early to call Finland a small nation as well?

I also thought of writing about that but it would be way too much

But yes, the future is not looking good for them, after Poutianen's retirement they have been almost inexistent in alpine skiing, quite the same with Ahonen in ski jumping (Aalto is a promising jumper though), Manninen in Nordic combined (Hirvonen and Herola are solid though) and now Makarainen in biathlon. Maybe the Niskanen family and Parmakoski will save them

 

[JamieBrown]

I also thought of writing about that but it would be way too much

But yes, the future is not looking good for them, after Poutianen's retirement they have been almost inexistent in alpine skiing, quite the same with Ahonen in ski jumping (Aalto is a promising jumper though), Manninen in Nordic combined (Hirvonen and Herola are solid though) and now Makarainen in biathlon. Maybe the Niskanen family and Parmakoski will save them

Aalto, like almost every WC squad athlete(Nousiainen, Määttä), had far better results tho. In Biathlon it doesn't seem hopeless. Mari Eder always struggles in the beginning, when the weather is far too cold for her asthma and the men had promising results in the last season by Tero Seppälä and now in the individual by Tuomas Harjula. Hiidensalo also delivered some points in his career.

Witnessing the downfall of finnish wintersports since the 2006/2010 olympics is saddening me tho. I hope it's not too late for them to catch up xcrossed

 

[Zonne147]

Aalto, like almost every WC squad athlete(Nousiainen, Määttä), had far better results tho. In Biathlon it doesn't seem hopeless. Mari Eder always struggles in the beginning, when the weather is far too cold for her asthma and the men had promising results in the last season by Tero Seppälä and now in the individual by Tuomas Harjula. Hiidensalo also delivered some points in his career.

Witnessing the downfall of finnish wintersports since the 2006/2010 olympics is saddening me tho. I hope it's not too late for them to catch up xcrossed

Well, it doesn't seem hopeless in any sport, but Finland is a country that was used to have at least one athlete getting wins/podiums very often and in some cases fighting for the World Cup standings, in almost every sport.

I also strongly believe that the ones you have mentioned will do very well this winter (except for Nousianen and Maatta). And even in alpine skiing, which has been the least successful sport for them among the ones we're discussing, a 17 yo racer has impressed recently, getting her first world cup points in Levi's slalom.

And it's not too late for them to catch up, at least in one sport, remember when everyone said Sweden was done in biathlon when Bergman, Ferry, Ekholm and Zidek retired? After 5 or 6 very negative seasons (Lindstroem not included), let's give a look at where they are now and at what they have won since the 2018 Olympics

 

[Edweis]

But yes, the future is not looking good for them, after Poutianen's retirement they have been almost inexistent in alpine skiing,

Actually alpine skiing is not hopeless anymore. In Levi last week there was a 17yo girl, Rosa POHJOLAINEN, who made quite an impression. She only participated once in WC before (Levi 2019) and she already qualified for second run last Sunday ! She ended up 14th after 1st run (with bib 63 !) and from what our commentators were saying, before she went DNF1 on Saturday, she was faster than Vlhova.
I know it isn't saying much, it happens almost all the time, but let's enjoy the light while it lasts

EDIT : and I just saw you talked about her in your last message oops

And edit: Kilde won like one race last season. He was consistently good but I never knew he was fighting for the crystal globe so I was shocked when he won it

People like Kilde is exactly why I think consistency is the key. I realized he was in the race for the globe mid-February but it's still shocking to think he only won one race while Alexis won 6 (same as in 2015-16).
This first win in Lech will really help him get into the right mindset for this season. Talking about parallel, I'm glad we got a fairer format, all the athletes are saying so too.


Our biathlon's team got decent results this weekend but nothing spectacular. Some might still have a hard finding their footing now that Martin isn't there anymore, but I'm not worried, they're hungry, they want to win more than anything.

 

[Zonne147]

#siblingspower today

Tarjei and Johannes Boe
Hanna and Elvira Oeberg

Fantastic!! Congrats to Peiffer and Chevalier for their top 3 finishes too, especially to Anais, getting a podium spot in the third race after her comeback.

Also Ponsiluoma (and the Swedes in general)

 

[JamieBrown]

What happened this week?

Norwegians won all over again. Thanks. See you next week. Bye^^

















Jokes aside. What happened this week?

Ski Jumping: Markus Eisenbichler got bad luck with the wind but managed to avoid the big crash and could get a 4th place the day after. Questionable if he's going to forget the situations easily and repeat his good jumps from Wisla and Ruka, anyways Halvor Egner Granerud is the athlete to beat.

Biathlon: Big dominance by Sweden and Norway, lead by Hanna Öberg and Johannes Thingnes Boe. The day they got beaten, each the other nation stepped in and Tiril Eckhoff got a confidence boost for this season finally and Sebastian Samuelsson got his 1st career win. Germany got good results again, it all depends on 2-3 athletes each gender, which was enough for two 3rd places in the relays.

Nordic combined: Did not happen this weekend

Alpine skiing: The only sports where the norwegian domination is yet to come, but I bet it will with Aamodt Kilde in the speed competitions and Kristoffersen stepping up his game in the technical competitions. But these early results leave no good cause for Kristoffersen in the overall world cup. The croats have a strong podium contender again after the great Kostelic era. Hello there Filip Zubcic.

Honourable mention
Jakov Fak has made an early start, with four Top 7 results and Zan Kranjec got a 2nd place behind Zubcic on Saturday. Does that heal some scars the ski jumpers leave? @EscGeek

 

[Looren]

Still didn't watch any race

But Odermatt seems to have progressed very much

 

[EscGeek]

Honourable mention
Jakov Fak has made an early start, with four Top 7 results and Zan Kranjec got a 2nd place behind Zubcic on Saturday. Does that heal some scars the ski jumpers leave? @EscGeek

I guess it does, but for me, ski jumping is by far the most exciting to watch of the three. Once Lanišek stops being so nervous at round 2, the overall picture will improve imo.
I loved seeing Zubčić and Kranjec on top this weekend btw. It was so refreshing.

 

[Edweis]

Still didn't watch any race

But Odermatt seems to have progressed very much

He was really impressive today. In the first run he was already the only one close to perfection (the others made a lot of little mistakes, mainly about tempo), and gosh what a second run. He was on the edge all along as he showed a lot of activity, but he still was precise enough to stay on track and make a real demonstration.

 

[Zonne147]

Before Sölden, I had Odermatt as one of the outsiders to win the overall title, and I'm starting to believe that he is actually a contender to win the whole thing along with Kilde, Pinturault and Kristoffersen (Henrik has to improve a lot though, he relies a lot on technical disciplines). Too bad Marco has missed the parallel event.

But we must wait and see how he will perform in the speed events
He did better than Pinturault last year in Super G

 

[Morty]

Actually alpine skiing is not hopeless anymore. In Levi last week there was a 17yo girl, Rosa POHJOLAINEN, who made quite an impression. She only participated once in WC before (Levi 2019) and she already qualified for second run last Sunday ! She ended up 14th after 1st run (with bib 63 !) and from what our commentators were saying, before she went DNF1 on Saturday, she was faster than Vlhova.
I know it isn't saying much, it happens almost all the time, but let's enjoy the light while it lasts

I saw her Saturday run, and it's true. She was ahead of Vlhova on the last split, but DNFed 3 gates before the finish. Hope she gets more runs in the World Cup, it could just be that Levi is her home track, but when she's faster than Vlhova there, she definitely has talent. Will be interesting to see if she can follow up on this.

 

[Gogerko]

Omg this thread is the best thing ever. Didn't know it existed