US skiers compared: XC, Biathlon, Combined?
 

If the skiers on our various Nordic teams were to race head to head,
who would win?

US skiers compared: XC, Biathlon, Combined?
 

On Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:23:08 -0800 (PST)
jeff potter wrote:

If the skiers on our various Nordic teams were to race head to head,
who would win?

At what distance and technique?

US skiers compared: XC, Biathlon, Combined?
 

On Feb 24, 2:32*pm, wrote:
On Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:23:08 -0800 (PST)

jeff potter wrote:
If the skiers on our various Nordic teams were to race head to head,
who would win?

At what distance and technique? *

Would they all stop and shoot, and then do a jump?

US skiers compared: XC, Biathlon, Combined?
 

On Feb 24, 3:07*pm, Spunout wrote:
On Feb 24, 2:32*pm, wrote:

On Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:23:08 -0800 (PST)

jeff potter wrote:
If the skiers on our various Nordic teams were to race head to head,
who would win?

At what distance and technique? *

Would they all stop and shoot, and then do a jump?

I'd bet that the straight XC'ers would win 75% of the time over the
biathletes and combiners in a straight ski.

Here's why I say that: I suspect "athletic Darwinism" is at work.
What I mean by that...athletes tend to self-select the sport that best
suits their combination of strengths and physiology.

For example, let's take a parallel universe: a triathlete (S/B/R)
versus a duathlete (R/B/R) versus a straight up runner (R), as me

I could compete well locally as a runner, but could not compete
regionally or nationally. At 6' & 170lbs, I was too big to get real
fast (16 minutes for 5k). But that was plenty fast as a triathlete
regionally. But, my swimming held me back at the national level. So,
I "settled" for duathlon and qualified several times for worlds.

So, if we look at body "styles" for the different Olympic folks. It
seems to me, though I haven't looked at their physical measurements on
the web, that the combined guys seem taller, longer, and bigger in the
legs then the XC and biathletes.

In any event, this is a very interesting question...

US skiers compared: XC, Biathlon, Combined?
 

femike99 wrote:
So, if we look at body "styles" for the different Olympic folks. It
seems to me, though I haven't looked at their physical measurements on
the web, that the combined guys seem taller, longer, and bigger in the
legs then the XC and biathletes.

Huh?

NC skiers must be good jumpers as well, and ski jumpers tend to be quite
short...

In any event, this is a very interesting question...

Self-selection must be part of it.

Terje

--
- Terje.Mathisen at tmsw.no
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"

In the US, as that particular country is being discussed on this global venue, the NoCO skiers seems to absolute world top class. Few in the world match them.

Biathlon, the best US athlete in the world is a solid top-30 for ski speed at WC level, and at days better. The fastest biathlete in the world can match the best XC skier, over say 10-15km skating.

XC, one guy is a pretty solid top-15 of the world (excluding biathletes), on good days 4th.

If the good XC guy doesn't have a good day, I don't know to choose between him, the best biathlete, or one out of 3 NC skiers for being fastest over 10K skate.

Best of the best against each other, the best global NC guy (very possiby from US) will not match either the best Biathlete or XCer. I would pick the biathlete, as he doesn't need to focus on classic, and spend more time skating. Shooting is something to train on during rest, and in between intervals, doesn't hurt skating speed one bit I bet.

US skiers compared: XC, Biathlon, Combined?
 

I remember Demong did a big spring 30k or 50k out west last year, or the
year before and beat some bigger US ski team names (guys who only XC, not
jump or shoot)

will see if i can google it up.
JKal.


"jeff potter" wrote in message
...
If the skiers on our various Nordic teams were to race head to head,
who would win?

US skiers compared: XC, Biathlon, Combined?
 

Just read that Demong can crank out a sub 4:30 mile and has gone 14:52 for
5k running.
Wonder where that ranks against our best XC skiers that run? Freeman is a
good runner, anyone know his best 5k? Also Daehlie, Alsgaard, Northugg are
runners and have done some track running/racing... anyone know their bests?


"jeff potter" wrote in message
...
If the skiers on our various Nordic teams were to race head to head,
who would win?