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#1
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World Championships Postlogue
The snow was a huge factor. Namely, massive new falling, heavy wet
snow during racing. From the USA perspective, we had (from memory without cross checking, forgive errors): Newell in 5th, individual sprint, nice. Kris Freeman 19th in pursuit, after a crash where he hurt his shoulder. Kris Freeman in 12th in 50k CL with that shoulder, on soft conditions which do not suit him, but he worked on that, and it showed. Nice Worlds results for Kris, noting that with some racing luck going with him instead of against him, he may have had far better results, but this is some really solid stuff considering the important details. Bottom line results: Two Top 20's at Worlds. Nordic combined Billy Demong is Silver medalist ! Huge & exciting ! Norway: puts together a Gold-Silver in 50k CL with Estil in Silver, Hjelmeset in Gold. Pretty cool, snatching Medals from the Germans who have been so tough to beat in mass start races. Norway: Junior Sensation in Silver in Womens 30k CL mass start. Fantastic, from last at the start due to a fall. What is up with the Norwegian youngsters?! Norway: Northug first falls on his face in the pursuit, getting worldwide judgement thrown at him for racing immaturity, then incredible comeback in the anchor leg of the relay. Words fail to decribe the move he put on. It was the same move he put on in the pursuit, only this time it he stood up, and all doubters are silenced, and turned into adoring fans of the kid. There is no doubt that if he had not tripped himself in the pursuit, gold medal there as well. Good worlds. I may have glossed over some other important details. What did I miss? |
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#2
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World Championships Postlogue
"delltodd" wrote:
Good worlds. I may have glossed over some other important details. What did I miss? The women's performances, especially distance. Rumor has it that the best relative distance time performance came with skis borrowed from elsewhere. The men's distance performances other than Kris Freeman (considering that he was sick, Freeman did quite well in the 50k, giving support to his decison to train with his own coach away from the USST center). rm |
#3
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World Championships Postlogue
"delltodd" skrev i melding oups.com... Norway: Junior Sensation in Silver in Womens 30k CL mass start. Fantastic, from last at the start due to a fall. What is up with the Norwegian youngsters?! It was Junior Bronze; Steira won the silver. -- Terje Henriksen Kirkenes 69:41:41N 30:00:28E |
#4
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World Championships Postlogue
schreef in bericht ... "delltodd" wrote: The women's performances, especially distance. Rumor has it that the best relative distance time performance came with skis borrowed from elsewhere. Please elaborate on that? Thanks! |
#5
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World Championships Postlogue
I agree; this was a great worlds. I thought it was, overall, more
interesting and fun to follow than the Torino Olympics. I really enjoyed the 30km and 50km races, both of which - but especially the men's - went a long way to disproving the "mass starts are terrible" argument. The pursuits did, too. It was great to see packs get winnowed down to a few leaders who vie for the podium. Four is the perfect number of racers on the finishing straightaway, because then there's a German to be disappointed (Stehle, Angerer). I also reveled in Virpi Kuitunen's dominance. Well, kind of dominance, since she skipped races. She won short, she won long; she won on teams, she won alone; she won in freestyle, she won in classic. Here's hoping that she wraps up the World Cup titles, too - and doesn't turn out to be dirty. I was a bit disappointed that the U.S. didn't medal in XC, and that Canada didn't, either. But heck, what's two more years to wait? I was also disappointed to read that turnout was bad. I hope that doesn't mean the FIS will be reluctant to stage worlds outside Europe, since it sounds like Canmore would be a superlative venue. I was not disappointed to see that there were no doping violations - until Sunday, when the young Russian speedster Shiriaev was dinged for EPO. One thing that perplexed me, contrasting the men's 50km at Sapporo to the 50km at Torino, was the perception (perhaps incorrect) that there is a smaller pool of racers who are capable of winning a long classical races. The Torino marathon had a massive sprint finish, the Sapporo marathon (like its precedent at Oberstdorf) the opposite . If this is a real phenomenon, I wonder about the explanation - overemphasis on skating in training? chance (Veerpalu out, for instance)? less interest in racing classic? |
#6
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World Championships Postlogue
tassava wrote:
One thing that perplexed me, contrasting the men's 50km at Sapporo to the 50km at Torino, was the perception (perhaps incorrect) that there is a smaller pool of racers who are capable of winning a long classical races. The Torino marathon had a massive sprint finish, the Sapporo marathon (like its precedent at Oberstdorf) the opposite . If this is a real phenomenon, I wonder about the explanation - overemphasis on skating in training? chance (Veerpalu out, for instance)? less interest in racing classic? Drafting is _much_ easier in skating! Terje -- - "almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching" |
#7
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World Championships Postlogue
"Terje Mathisen" schreef in bericht ... Drafting is _much_ easier in skating! Could you please elaobrate on that? Is it the slightly higher speeds (greater gains), shorter skis (getting closer behind), or something else? |
#8
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World Championships Postlogue
On Mar 6, 3:02 pm, "Jan Gerrit Klok"
wrote: "Terje Mathisen" schreef in ... Drafting is _much_ easier in skating! Could you please elaobrate on that? Is it the slightly higher speeds (greater gains), shorter skis (getting closer behind), or something else? Skate speed is a little higher creating a little larger draft The skis can be more overlapped in skating allowing the skier behind to be closer than in classic where you just line up the tips and tails; and those tails come flying up & back at you in classic striding & Kick DP which tends to make you think harder about just how close you'd like to be to the skier ahead because it can upset both skiers on contact. In classic when you have DP terrain, then you have drafting but in striding generally drafting is not much of a factor. When you are skating even V1 up a hill for some reason you can still pull a draft off the skier ahead to some degree. |
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