men's olympic 50k

any predictions?

Hellner? Soedegren? Northugg? Hjelmesett? Veerpalu? Freeman? Sundby? Bauer?
Cologna? DiCenta? Vittoz? Piller Cottrer? Teichmann? Babikov? Olsson?
Angerer? Harvey? Kershaw?

Here are my picks.
1. Northugg in a double pole sprint of course
2. Bauer - he's due
3. Hellner - having a great olympics
4. Veerpalu - old school classic skier with no sprint left
5. Babikov - tough races are his strong suit
6. Piller-Cottrer - been around forever
7. Sundby - classic specialist
8. DiCenta (is it a capital C?) - same as PillerC.
9. Cologna - more of a skater?
10. Freeman i hope, he's had a rough olympics and needs a boost.

For now: http://www.fromsport.com/video-189210.html

On Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:45:48 -0500
"outsideinmi" wrote:

any predictions?

Hellner? Soedegren? Northugg? Hjelmesett? Veerpalu? Freeman? Sundby?
Bauer? Cologna? DiCenta? Vittoz? Piller Cottrer? Teichmann? Babikov?
Olsson? Angerer? Harvey? Kershaw?

Here are my picks.
1. Northugg in a double pole sprint of course
2. Bauer - he's due
3. Hellner - having a great olympics
4. Veerpalu - old school classic skier with no sprint left
5. Babikov - tough races are his strong suit
6. Piller-Cottrer - been around forever
7. Sundby - classic specialist
8. DiCenta (is it a capital C?) - same as PillerC.
9. Cologna - more of a skater?
10. Freeman i hope, he's had a rough olympics and needs a boost.

gene ur not in the USA? live on NBC!!

wrote in message
...
For now: http://www.fromsport.com/video-189210.html

On Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:45:48 -0500
"outsideinmi" wrote:

any predictions?

Hellner? Soedegren? Northugg? Hjelmesett? Veerpalu? Freeman? Sundby?
Bauer? Cologna? DiCenta? Vittoz? Piller Cottrer? Teichmann? Babikov?
Olsson? Angerer? Harvey? Kershaw?

Here are my picks.
1. Northugg in a double pole sprint of course
2. Bauer - he's due
3. Hellner - having a great olympics
4. Veerpalu - old school classic skier with no sprint left
5. Babikov - tough races are his strong suit
6. Piller-Cottrer - been around forever
7. Sundby - classic specialist
8. DiCenta (is it a capital C?) - same as PillerC.
9. Cologna - more of a skater?
10. Freeman i hope, he's had a rough olympics and needs a boost.

Oh, didn't imagine that meet the press, etc. would be preempted.
Thanks. Just turned it on and seen ads and a break for an overtour of
Vancouver. Skiing maybe?

Gene

On Sun, 28 Feb 2010 13:36:37 -0500
"outsideinmi" wrote:

gene ur not in the USA? live on NBC!!

wrote in message
...
For now: http://www.fromsport.com/video-189210.html

On Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:45:48 -0500
"outsideinmi" wrote:

any predictions?

Hellner? Soedegren? Northugg? Hjelmesett? Veerpalu? Freeman?
Sundby? Bauer? Cologna? DiCenta? Vittoz? Piller Cottrer?
Teichmann? Babikov? Olsson? Angerer? Harvey? Kershaw?

Here are my picks.
1. Northugg in a double pole sprint of course
2. Bauer - he's due
3. Hellner - having a great olympics
4. Veerpalu - old school classic skier with no sprint left
5. Babikov - tough races are his strong suit
6. Piller-Cottrer - been around forever
7. Sundby - classic specialist
8. DiCenta (is it a capital C?) - same as PillerC.
9. Cologna - more of a skater?
10. Freeman i hope, he's had a rough olympics and needs a boost.

Looks liek Kris Freeman dropped out at 20k, 40-some seconds down.

On Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:45:48 -0500
"outsideinmi" wrote:

any predictions?

Hellner? Soedegren? Northugg? Hjelmesett? Veerpalu? Freeman? Sundby?
Bauer? Cologna? DiCenta? Vittoz? Piller Cottrer? Teichmann? Babikov?
Olsson? Angerer? Harvey? Kershaw?

Here are my picks.
1. Northugg in a double pole sprint of course
2. Bauer - he's due
3. Hellner - having a great olympics
4. Veerpalu - old school classic skier with no sprint left
5. Babikov - tough races are his strong suit
6. Piller-Cottrer - been around forever
7. Sundby - classic specialist
8. DiCenta (is it a capital C?) - same as PillerC.
9. Cologna - more of a skater?
10. Freeman i hope, he's had a rough olympics and needs a boost.

outsideinmi wrote:
any predictions?

Hellner? Soedegren? Northugg? Hjelmesett? Veerpalu? Freeman? Sundby? Bauer?
Cologna? DiCenta? Vittoz? Piller Cottrer? Teichmann? Babikov? Olsson?
Angerer? Harvey? Kershaw?

Here are my picks.
1. Northugg in a double pole sprint of course

YES!!!

2. Bauer - he's due

Not strong enough today, he looked great from30 to 40, but got into
trouble and barely hung on for a while.

Axel T was the big surprise, he seemed to drop of the end, then he came
all the way back and was very near a win.

3. Hellner - having a great olympics

Tried to split the field in order to help hlsson, faded afterwards.

Olsson did great in the end however, with his second bronze medal.

4. Veerpalu - old school classic skier with no sprint left

One of the four abreast leading at 49.2 km.

5. Babikov - tough races are his strong suit
6. Piller-Cottrer - been around forever
7. Sundby - classic specialist
8. DiCenta (is it a capital C?) - same as PillerC.
9. Cologna - more of a skater?

Should have had bronze, but so tired that he fell on the turn inside the
stadium.

10. Freeman i hope, he's had a rough olympics and needs a boost.




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

outsideinmi wrote:
gene ur not in the USA? live on NBC!!


The streaming coverage is uninterrupted, although the commentary isn't
in English. At least it isn't on the servers that were able to keep up
with the load.

Great race, and a great finish.

Bob Schwartz

It would have been less boring if the change-skis-pit had been on a longer de-tour.

Pro skiers seem to be quite challenged by having to put on their skis, and get going on them. Recreational skiers get to do this every couple of kms, to cross a road. Spoiled XC racers do short laps only, or let themselves be carried over said road :-)

Look at the time lost for some frontrunners in creashes, etc, and how easily they re-joined? A crash couldn't get Bauer out of the pack. By the end, it seemed slowed skis could.

Northug seems to be a sub-par skier for achieving good kick, OR (more likely) prefers his skis slippery. The hills seemed to gradual to drop him, and I didn't really see anyone trying. With ski changes costing around 5 seconds only, why even try?

I'm not sure Northug even felt challenged. He was able to stay on the very front for the last laps, and only had to make up 5 meters in his dash for the line. On paper, an easy win.

After 4 years of talking about tactics and how to beat Northug, I think no-one really managed to up the tempo enough to make it could. The only long getaway, up to a 14s gap I think, was a Norwegian..

Jan Gerrit Klok wrote:
It would have been less boring if the change-skis-pit had been on a
longer de-tour.

Pro skiers seem to be quite challenged by having to put on their skis,
and get going on them. Recreational skiers get to do this every couple

Huh? I've just skied 9 days in a row, on winter break, and I never took
off my skis to cross anything. :-)

of kms, to cross a road. Spoiled XC racers do short laps only, or let
themselves be carried over said road :-)

Look at the time lost for some frontrunners in creashes, etc, and how
easily they re-joined? A crash couldn't get Bauer out of the pack. By
the end, it seemed slowed skis could.

I think you're wrong here as well:

Northug seems to be a sub-par skier for achieving good kick, OR (more
likely) prefers his skis slippery. The hills seemed to gradual to drop

Not at all: Petter is simply enough of a tactician than he intentionally
allowed himself to drop a few seconds on every uphill, in order to stay
well below his long-time anaerobic threshold, then he used those
immensely powerful DP strides to pull into the lead before each of his
ski exchanges.

him, and I didn't really see anyone trying. With ski changes costing
around 5 seconds only, why even try?

A perfect ski change turned out to effectively cost 8-9 seconds. When
Peter was able to join the pack just 6-7 seconds behind a couple of
times,it was because he started from a lead, preferring to use DP effort
on the flats instead of having to go even harder on those initial
uphills in order to catch up.

I'm not sure Northug even felt challenged. He was able to stay on the
very front for the last laps, and only had to make up 5 meters in his
dash for the line. On paper, an easy win.

"On paper" indeed. I don't think there has ever been an "easy" Olympic
50K win.

After 4 years of talking about tactics and how to beat Northug, I think
no-one really managed to up the tempo enough to make it could. The only
long getaway, up to a 14s gap I think, was a Norwegian..

That was sort of intentional, the Swedes had great luck with a similar
tactic on the 15+15K.

Terje

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

Thanks for responding with your insight Terre. And congrats on your road crossing free trails :-)
Austria has made me a champ at getting out and in of skis. I at times get skiing before I'm fully engaged.

Well, if Northug is going to be careful with his strengths mid-race, he's going to be even harder to beat! I saw some others also taking a lead before swapping skis. Works out great, an extra effort, and then a few relatively static seconds while braking and swapping.

Logically smart, to have a teammate off the front, to at least get the other from having to push. And as seen in the TdS (Neikkinen, where was he) and Vancouver's pursuit, a medal can come from such an escape.