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#1
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billy demong
question; Is Billy Demong fast enough to ski on a relay team with the other
US guys in a straight up nordic relay 4x10k ? Freeman, Koos, Demong, Newell - sounds like a tough team to me. |
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#2
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billy demong
That's actually a weak team. Newell and Koos are sprinters who haven't
done well at distances beyond that. It is a good question I wonder about too, what the relative (skate) speeds are on the nordic combined circuit vs the cross-country one. Maybe Terje or one of the other Europeans has some info on this. Gene "Jeff and Stephanie Kalember" wrote: question; Is Billy Demong fast enough to ski on a relay team with the other US guys in a straight up nordic relay 4x10k ? Freeman, Koos, Demong, Newell - sounds like a tough team to me. |
#3
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billy demong
ahhhhhhhhhh gene, come on now ... sprinters HAVE made the jump up to 10k
!! - Zorzi, Svartedal, etc ... I'm just thinking Koos and Newell have been at or near the top, they CAN do it for 10k in the right race. Like Zorzi drafting off Alsgaard for 10k then trying (unsuccessfully) to outsprint him. how about Demong though? why have they never even tried him? is he not close at all? The norwegians do it with their biathlon guys.... |
#4
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billy demong
My recollection is that early sprinting was not particularly
specialized. Skiers with good distance results who were also known for their finishing sprint abilities, such as Zorzi and Svartedal, could be said to have made the jump in the other direction. But many of them, including those two, continued doing distance races with decent WC results or better. That can't be said at all of the U.S. sprinters. My sense is that as sprinting has become more specialized, so have the natural abilities and training of more of the athletes chosen for it (Bjoern Lind comes to mind). I was hoping to find a 4x10 relay result from last season, but all I can find is that Newell came in 72nd at Davos in early December and 27th at the nationals a month later, both in 15K classic. He was 6th in the 15K skate at nationals in March. I think he mentioned on his blog how he hadn't trained for distances and wanted to work on that, if for no other reason than to improve his endurance for long sprint days. Koos was well back in the 10K classic at spring nationals, but did come in a close second to Babikov in the 50k classic. In Europe he stuck to sprints. As for Demong, it's interesting that the crossover idea hasn't come up publicly. I wonder if it's just a matter of his preference, or if there aren't some major logistic if not coaching, organizational or political questions at play. Gene "Jeff and Stephanie Kalember" wrote: ahhhhhhhhhh gene, come on now ... sprinters HAVE made the jump up to 10k !! - Zorzi, Svartedal, etc ... I'm just thinking Koos and Newell have been at or near the top, they CAN do it for 10k in the right race. Like Zorzi drafting off Alsgaard for 10k then trying (unsuccessfully) to outsprint him. how about Demong though? why have they never even tried him? is he not close at all? The norwegians do it with their biathlon guys.... |
#5
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billy demong
Political? maybe you're on to something.
I just look at all the hours and time Newell and Koos spend on skis and I can't believe they can't crank out a world class 10k. these guys put in some MAJOR hours. basically they're doing a one MILE sprint, over and over through prelims, semi's finals. Its not like a 100m dash. I think they can pull off a great 10k ... sometime, somewhere... JKal. On Jul 30, 11:57*pm, wrote: My recollection is that early sprinting was not particularly specialized. *Skiers with good distance results who were also known for their finishing sprint abilities, such as Zorzi and Svartedal, could be said to have made the jump in the other direction. *But many of them, including those two, continued doing distance races with decent WC results or better. *That can't be said at all of the U.S. sprinters. *My sense is that as sprinting has become more specialized, so have the natural abilities and training of more of the athletes chosen for it (Bjoern Lind comes to mind). I was hoping to find a 4x10 relay result from last season, but all I can find is that Newell came in 72nd at Davos in early December and 27th at the nationals a month later, both in 15K classic. He was 6th in the 15K skate at nationals in March. *I think he mentioned on his blog how he hadn't trained for distances and wanted to work on that, if for no other reason than to improve his endurance for long sprint days. Koos was well back in the 10K classic at spring nationals, but did come in a close second to Babikov in the 50k classic. *In Europe he stuck to sprints. As for Demong, it's interesting that the crossover idea hasn't come up publicly. *I wonder if it's just a matter of his preference, or if there aren't some major logistic if not coaching, organizational or political questions at play. * Gene "Jeff and Stephanie Kalember" wrote: ahhhhhhhhhh gene, come on now ... sprinters HAVE made the jump up to 10k !! - Zorzi, Svartedal, etc ... I'm just thinking Koos and Newell have been at or near the top, they CAN do it for 10k in the right race. *Like Zorzi drafting off Alsgaard for 10k then trying (unsuccessfully) to outsprint him. how about Demong though? why have they never even tried him? is he not close at all? *The norwegians do it with their biathlon guys....- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - |
#6
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billy demong
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#7
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billy demong
any races where Demong has gone head to head with any other USST skiers ??
I seem to remember Billy D. did some spring races this last ski season ... and did quite well? JKal. |
#8
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billy demong
HMMMM ?? Who Terje ?
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#9
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Had Billy been totally trashed in NC due to bad jumping, this might have come up before. FAct, he's battling for podiums at the highest level of his sport.
There is the Biathlon thing indeed... Semi-related : Carolina Kluft has decided to quit heptathlon, and is representing Sweden in Beijing on long jumpo and triple jump (the latter totally new to her). She is the best heptathlete ever. From indoor testing, the US ski team probably knows really well what Billy's numbers are compared to the XC-onlies. Billy being as good as he is, that should translate decently into predictable snow times. It's not like they're being tested when running or cycling, Billy can inline and rollerski like no-one's business and I think is tested in the same way as the XC team. |
#10
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billy demong
On 31 heinä, 16:12, Terje Mathisen
wrote: You should remember this! There's been just one _really_ fast skier on the NC circuit, he went on to become (ski) coach for the US team. He did quite well on his leg of the national xc relay championship. So, what's the name I'm thinking of? Jennifer? Lene Alexandra?:-) The NA readers would appear to be - no big surprise here - somewhat, eh, ahistorical - or are they just too lazy to answer your little quiz? Anyway, the name you're thinking of is that of Trond Einar's big brother, but unfortunately it seems to be there is a hole in the chunk of cheese that is my brain and I'm too lazy to look it up in Wikipedia... BTW *how* well did he do in the NOR relays? FWIW the now retired Hannu Manninen - who wasn't the only fast skier in the past fifteen years but certainly one of the very fastest in the combined and on his best days the truly dominantly fast skier - did reasonably well on a couple of occasions, but usually it was either on a non-decisive leg or in the absence of a direct fight between him and a top specialist. (OTOH he was good enough to battle with the best nationally and internationally in the specialist sprints - but that was perhaps before the true sprint specialists had emerged and anyway a relay leg is a very different animal.) Anders (who is eagerly looking forward to next spring and the opening of a 1.3 km XC "ski tunnel" a jogging distance away from his home ) |
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