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#1
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Kristina Smigun(-Vaehi) is back
After taking a couple of years off to get married and have a child,
it's nice to see Smigun is back and nearing the top. In her first race two weeks ago at Kuusamo, she finished in the mid 20s and today 3rd at Davos in the 10k skate, beating Marit Bjoergen by three seconds and losing second to Charlotte Kalla by a few tenths. To my mind, Smigun has always been one of the more sensible skiers out there, taking breaks during the season on Egyptian beaches and spending recovery time on Florida ones. She had one unfortunate break several years ago, as I recall: she was set up to train in the off season with Bente Skaari, only to have the plug pulled when Skaari decided to retire. Gene |
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#2
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Kristina Smigun(-Vaehi) is back
On Dec 12, 9:57*pm, wrote:
After taking a couple of years off to get married and have a child, it's nice to see Smigun is back and nearing the top. *In her first race two weeks ago at Kuusamo, she finished in the mid 20s and today 3rd at Davos in the 10k skate, beating Marit Bjoergen by three seconds and losing second to Charlotte Kalla by a few tenths. *To my mind, Smigun has always been one of the more sensible skiers out there, taking breaks during the season on Egyptian beaches and spending recovery time on Florida ones. She had one unfortunate break several years ago, as I recall: she was set up to train in the off season with Bente Skari, only to have the plug pulled when Skari decided to retire. A sample of Norwegian humor: http://www.nrk.no/magasin/humor/1.3185249 IIRC last season there were rumours that she was back in training and would be back in time for some late season races, but she never showed up. Apparently she had forgotten that according to the doping rules she couldn't start before she had been on the official WADA list of active athletes for six months. I'm glad to see her, but there are those who believe that she may have benefitted from "unfair advantages" gained during the time she was off the list (and therefore not subject to doping tests) and especially those who believe that she wasn't innocent in the notorious "negative B-sample" case are just as unpleased to see her do well as they are when Irina Khazova (who has just returned from, a two-year doping ban, during which she reportedly wasn't tested even once) steps on the podium. Since Terje is mysteriously silent despite Petter Northug having the best distance race of his life in Davos, I'll take this opportunity to boast that Matti Heikkinen is here to stay and to express my astonishment at the very "Norwegian (in a wet classic race)" team result: no less than four Frenchmen in the top six and five in the top eight! Oh la la! Anders |
#3
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Kristina Smigun(-Vaehi) is back
On Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:49:25 -0800 (PST)
Anders wrote: A sample of Norwegian humor: http://www.nrk.no/magasin/humor/1.3185249 The animation is funny, but please translate the text. Gene |
#4
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Kristina Smigun(-Vaehi) is back
Anders wrote:
Since Terje is mysteriously silent despite Petter Northug having the best distance race of his life in Davos, I'll take this opportunity to "Best distance race of his life", after winning the previous world cup race in Finland? What do you mean? boast that Matti Heikkinen is here to stay and to express my Heikkinen was _very_ impressive, I got to watch just the last parts of his race after skiing the longest round so far this season. Rauland has 1m snow depth, and beautifully set tracks on pretty mch all the trails. :-) We're going back up this weekend, spending 2 weeks skiing over Christmas & New Year: http://visitrauland.com/ astonishment at the very "Norwegian (in a wet classic race)" team result: no less than four Frenchmen in the top six and five in the top eight! Oh la la! Seems like one of those "one country hit the wax, the others didn't" races, and most of those have indeed been in favor of Norway. Terje -- - Terje.Mathisen at tmsw.no "almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching" |
#5
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Kristina Smigun(-Vaehi) is back
On Dec 15, 7:10*pm, wrote:
A sample of Norwegian humor:http://www.nrk.no/magasin/humor/1.3185249 The animation is funny, but please translate the text. "What Bente really did BEFORE the race, and why it only figures that she beat Smigun." The photograph was taken after the 15 km classic mass start, the second of the two races in the World Championships (Val di Fiemme in 2003) in which Skari and Smigun finished 1-2. Anders |
#6
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Kristina Smigun(-Vaehi) is back
On Dec 15, 8:47*pm, Terje Mathisen wrote:
Since Terje is mysteriously silent despite Petter Northug having the best distance race of his life in Davos, I'll take this opportunity to "Best distance race of his life", after winning the previous world cup race in Finland? What do you mean? "The best distance race of his life in Davos." Do you say "en hund begraven" in Norwegian, too? His previous best in Davos was a 34th and last year he finished 55th. It could be that he doesn't really thrive in such mid-season, non- championship altitude races and that the course in Davos doesn't suit him because its potentially lethal "first up until you're dead after the first loop if you're not careful, then down but without any real recovery" nature hits his physique, physiology and psyche harder than some others. Heikkinen was _very_ impressive, I got to watch just the last parts of his race after skiing the longest round so far this season. His lap times were within 10 s and his last lap was the fastest. Reportedly he kept his HR to about 170 (when his HRmax is 190) for the first three kilometers. His technique during the third lap was certainly much nicer to watch than that of some other skiers. It probably also helped that he knew from last year that Davos suited him. It remains to be seen, though, how well he will be able to do in Whistler where the course and the conditions may not play to his strengths - but our hopes certainly didn't take a nosedive! Rauland has 1m snow depth, and beautifully set tracks on pretty much all the trails. :-) For a little bit of Schadenfreude of sorts, view http://www.fmi.fi/?map=lumi Until Monday we in the south hadn't had any sub-zero (C) temperatures to speak of, either, and the snow cannons that are used to make the two pre-natural snow tracks in the greater Helsinki area have stood idle. Now that they are working full time, skiing enthusiasts know to begin expecting warming temperatures and rain... The tracks in the "Arctic Sport Center" that opened in August have been a bit of a disappointment and quite frankly I don't enjoy skiing there so much that I could do it more than once a week and my competitive instincts have grown so weak that I really don't see the point of going there more often. (BTW although the "ski hall" seems to be popular - there are 30-60 cars parked outside during all opening hours - the company is already in need of refinancing its loans due to higher than planned building costs. The "ski tunnel" in Torslanda, Sweden, has similar difficulties.) Seems like one of those "one country hit the wax, the others didn't" races, and most of those have indeed been in favor of Norway. It also took some unexpected depth of field to get a result like that, IMHO. Anders |
#7
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Kristina Smigun(-Vaehi) is back
Anders wrote:
On Dec 15, 8:47 pm, Terje wrote: Since Terje is mysteriously silent despite Petter Northug having the best distance race of his life in Davos, I'll take this opportunity to "Best distance race of his life", after winning the previous world cup race in Finland? What do you mean? "The best distance race of his life in Davos." Do you say "en hund begraven" in Norwegian, too? His previous best in Davos was a 34th and last year he finished 55th. OK, here's the problem! You really should have written "best Davos distance race of his life" if that was what you meant, instead of the way you wrote it which really implies that it was his best race ever, and just happened to take place in Davos. :-) It could be that he doesn't really thrive in such mid-season, non- championship altitude races and that the course in Davos doesn't suit him because its potentially lethal "first up until you're dead after the first loop if you're not careful, then down but without any real recovery" nature hits his physique, physiology and psyche harder than some others. That's very probable, Petter is not what the Norwegian commentators call a "capacity skier", i.e. someone with a huge Max O2 who likes to press very hard the entire race. Instead he has the ability to tolerate extremely varied speeds, which implies that he does better with short-term anaerobic overload, allowing very quick recovery afterwards. Seems like one of those "one country hit the wax, the others didn't" races, and most of those have indeed been in favor of Norway. It also took some unexpected depth of field to get a result like that, Sure. Terje -- - Terje.Mathisen at tmsw.no "almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching" |
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