Discussion: XC World Champs in Oslo

http://www.attackpoint.org/discussionthread.jsp/me...

Discussions started here a couple of days ago. Moving out into the open now...

Interesting news for the next race, the mens 15km classic. Canada is resting Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw and instead racing: Len Valjas, Ivan Babikov, George Grey and Stefan Kuhn. Of those guys Valjas is a pure sprinter and Stefan has mostly been racing sprints since his come-back (but he's just a great all-round classic skier). It's really not Babikov's best distance either. Harvey and Kershaw are racing the team sprint which looks to be Canada's best shot at a medal. If Kuhn has an amazing race and beats Grey he could replace him on the relay.

That IS interesting about Kershaw and Harvey. I thought the 15k classic would be one of Devon's best chances.

I guess you have to pick and choose your battles, unless your name is Marit Bjoergen although there is talk in the Norwegian press that she will drop the team sprint. It doesn't sound like Northug will start the 15k classic either.

To answer the question from the discussion on Sudden's blog, I have been watching on the Norwegian station NRK. They have live streaming and they also have video if you don't catch it live.

Is the sprint relay classic or skate this year?

Who will Northug be racing with?

it will be classic, I believe. opposite the individual sprint. Hattestad, I would guess. I haven't read anything about that.

Anybody have hopes for Eldar Rønning tomorrow?

I would never discount a Norwegian in a classic race, but I think it's Dario Cologna's race.

Lukas Bauer

You can get an account to watch it live (with 1hr delay) at www.tvkaista.fi. Might be tough for those of you who are -tongued (not many people will get that joke).

The Eurosport coverage (with English/Scottish commentary) can be obtained live at www.fromsportcom.com. I recommend the Sopcast version - you need to install a Sopcast player (from http://www.sopcast.org/player/).

Cologna was quite weak on the 30k duathlon, i would not say that he is the biggest favourite. Northug will not go the 15k classic.

Rønning and Sundby are the biggest norwegian hopes.
they showed that they are capable of going for a medal.
Bauer is just focusing on this race and the 50k, so he should be dangerous.
As well as Teichmann, never forget him.
And Daniel Rickardsson, he showed a good shape in Drammen, maybe he kept it until today.

As a Swede I have to go for Richardsson as he was really impressive last week in Drammen. He also showed some good form in the first part of the duathlon before his skis died.

its quite strange that the sweds skis died when everybody else had good skis

Looking forward to the 15km! The only "real" XC-skiing race left - i.e. with interval start - in the World Champs (I hope we don't see the same development in orienteering). I believe in Rickardsson ahead of Rønning and Johnsrud Sundby. Bauer is very dangerous if he is back in top shape, but it looked like he was surprised that he was only 10th in Drammen... And maybe Teichmann digged out his good old championships shape?

I didnt even know that was possible (skis dying). Ski waxing is pretty much becoming a science.

Another great day for Ski Service Team of Finland.

great day for Finland!

Great day for Heikkinen and Finland - and of course Norway... (jankoc had it right there...).

North American skiers doing very close to what the Swedes did (17-22-34-42). Apparently the Swedish Waxing Team are not having their best Championships - I don´t think there´s too much wrong with the shape of the Swedish athletes. 17th and 22nd may be a "so-so" place, but definitely not what the athletes (Olsson, Södergren) have been hoping for while 34th and 42nd are total disasters for Hellner and Richardsson :(

Kris Freeman 24
Noah Hoffmann 29
Ivan Babikov 30
Lars Flora 39
Len Valjas 48
Simeon Hamilton 51
Sttefan Kuhn 52
George Grey 57

PS. Swedes are not the only ones with problems. Cologna, Bauer and Teichmann have been mentioned as favourites but are also far behind as are French and Italian skiers. Waxing or shape??

i was out in the tracks in Oslo this morning. Not the official tracks, but tracks which are close to holmenkollen and were newly driven up. it was really tough to get good glide and wax today, so yes i think it was waxing which pulled a lot of athletes out of the game!

Wow, when was the last time the Finns raced this well?

According to Babikov's twitter the Norwegian TV station NRK1 is showing a full 15km classic race from Oslo1982.

>Wow, when was the last time the Finns raced this well?

Part way through Lahti Worlds in 2001???

At whistler olympics there no cross country skiing at all. I mean XC skiing as we know it, individual, classic style, interval start race with decent distance (not sprint). Still feel sorry for Andrus Veerpalu.

Very few knicker race suits in Whistler as well. And wooden skis.

Is the distance relay a "real" ski race?

RE: Jagge vs Nev-Monster

I guess we have to accept that times are changing. But of course I also agree that the "traditional/real" kind of skiing (i.e. individual starts and the lonely skiers fight against nature and his own fatigue) gets too little attention nowadays. This is and has always been a typically Scandi perspective on skiing.

Some of the major changes are based on how to attract TV audiences and spectators but I don´t necessarily think spectators in the "new" XC ski countries really are "stupid" when they don´t understand how to follow and appreciate a traditional individual start event. Maybe it just is that they like the new ways better since they don´t have the same traditional views to build on?

...and with Petter Northug even the previously so traditional Norwegians are beginning to appreciate the Mass starts and Chase starts where they are sure to get at least one medal.

PS. Does anyone recognize the similarity with orienteering here? How much should the sport be adapted to spectators vs what the athletes themselves want?

Hej Torbensfunk: just what are the trails like that is making them so rough? Lots of people are writing that this is the hardest course in the world.

Canadian Brooke Gosling wrote: "Oslo has layed out a course that requires huge lugs, legs of steel and the ability to put yourself into a pain cave and hang out there for the duration of the race...its pretty awesome!"

The mass start 50km is the biggest weak point in the current championship schedule. From a fans sensory perspective the excitement of watching a group sprint to the finish of a long race is satisfied by the 30km pursuit. I think a switch back to individual start for 50km would keep the biggest number of skiing fans happy. It isn't really clear to me who the phantom tv audiences are out there waiting to find Nordic skiing on their television sets.

>>>Very few knicker race suits in Whistler as well. And wooden skis.

Now, those would be real ski races. One long loop, wood skis, individual start, knickers. Really separate the men from the boys.

But who would watch that?

Well we can all agree on the exceptional television entertainment value of an old finnish man telling stories of war time hardships.

At least it´s shorter than the 50km mass start ;)

long ago the old finnish man won 7 olympic skiing medals (3 gold) and 5 world champs medals (2 gold). he was the first sportsman which i recognised, think i was some 6 yrs. i guess a lot of kids now imagines to be matti heikkinen, petter northug or marit björgen on the track.

Gold for Sweden today: Ida Ingemarsdotter and Charlotte Kalla in the Classic Team Sprint Relay.

The Men are up soon.

GOLD FOR CANADA!!! :)

Wow, congratulations Canada!!!! What an awesome finish!

CANADA!!!!!!!

YESSSSs!!!!

Sitting out the 15k obviously paid off.

WOW!!!!! And Alex Harvey is how old?

Kershaw got stronger each time out and Harvey well he is such a great skier to watch eh and he is so so strong. Harvey is 23 I believe.

(Edit): He turns 23 this September.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/french-immer...

My fingers work faster than my brain.

Man, did Hattestad ever stretch too early!

http://www.nrk.no/sport/meisterskap/ski-vm-2011/ny...

I think Hattestad knew he was beaten.

Awesome! So inspiring. Go Canada!

@nev-monster: it is dirty and slow snow with earm conditions

Thanks for the conditions update Mr. Funk.

Quietly I guess the Ladies 4x5km Relay went today:
Gold Norway
Silver Sweden
Bronze Finland

9. USA
14. Canada

So, Mens distance relay up next. Any predictions? Who's racing what leg?

Can we see this live at all?

AZ >> I think you can at nrk.no. Someone else (edit: Brent L) mentioned that they were watching that, but I don´t know under what conditions.

Try this: http://nrk.no/skivm/?pvdeventid=1238 "Direkte" would be the live coverage if it works.

At least that´s where I can find some info when I´m not watching Swedish TV.

Thats at least what i watched from when I didnt have a TV around.

@Nev-monster
Predictions for mens relay: Same top three as in the women's relay. Another nordic duel :D

@nev-monster ...the problem is that there was a lot of snow falling right the weeks before Ski World Champs. Than the snowed got hard due to ice cold weather and than when the championships started it still was cold, but just round about -4 degrees but a real high humidity, that made it really hard to find good waxing. looks like finnland and norway were the onliest countries the first days to find good skis. now it got warmer and warmer and you are more likely to use "Klister" with some dry wax on top of it.

Kershaw and Harvey sitting this one out in favor of the 50k. Oh well.

Wow, what a relay! Northug is simply unbelievable...

What a man!

Guess i was only 2/3 right, but id rather have Germany do well, than me being right. So thats awesome. Great success!

never underestimate the germans ;)

Northug's anchor at the Olympics was crazy good for their silver as well.

Japan in 6th? Wow, good on them!

Canada tends to take sprint heavy teams to Europe and it would be good for them to have a spare distance skier available (Graham Nishikawa maybe).

I believe that somewhere Sudden called Axel Teichmann to win the Bronze.

Torbenfunk: nothing like the high humidity to make waxing fun. We get that in early season in Ottawa were you start out on Blue Extra (like any perfect day of skiing) and you have to go warmer and warmer to get any grip.

Just watched the end, what was with Northug's little stopping show at the finish? I mean, he had clearly already won, but it's not like he had a whole Jeopardy song lead.

he likes to fool Hellner

Cristina>>As Hellner said after, "Northug is cocky. That's just his style."

Its also part of the "Bjørn Dæhli different finishing styles." At one point Bjørn had a different one for every time.

edit: he had actually planned a 360 , but found out he didnt have enough time, so it was only a 90 degree turn.

Norwegian Idol or Battle of the bands

Oslo 2011 World Champs XC Skiing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeS_CnB499U

vs

Trondheim 2010 WOC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orAQjvhirow

I haven´t seen the interview with Hellner yet but what he says ( "Northug is cocky. That's just his style.") is very true.
On a Swedish XC ski forum the general feeling is that Northug is a bad loser, but maybe even worse as a winner...

That said you can´t be anything but impressed by the way he can handle these situations. With the present layout of the XC World Champs he´s no doubt the best skier in the world (but then he didn´t race the 15KM classic).

When did hellner say that? He did not say anybad words about oetter in the interviews with the norwegian press and they asked hellner what he thinks about it

I remember Northug looking miserable receiving his silver for the Olympic relay last year. The rest of the team was happy, but he was doing a Dale Begg-Smith impression.

I´m refering to what Boris said above - but as I said I haven´t actually seen or heard him say that - presumably in an interview in Swedish TV though...

Edit: I´ve seen the interview now and Hellner didn´t really make a strong comment about this. Boris´s quote is correct but it was rather low key from Hellner and the other team members - just saying that they know this is Petter´s style and are used to it.

Hellner did not say anything what you guys are saying. Hellner said: i know better like that. He is that way. ....nothing about cocky or something like that
Hellner and northug have been together in las vegas playing poker. Hellner won there

In the interview I saw he said "kaxig" ("kaxig" in Swedish = "cocky" in English), so I think Boris´s translation is correct enough. But as you say they know each other quite well and all this is only part of the game...

Was it with svt? Because he even did not say kaxig in norwegian tv

SVT, yes.
But he played it down - not wanting to make anything out of it even if the reporter asked specifically about that...

Vinterstudion on SVT - around 16 minutes into this.

Vasaloppet tomorrow - same day as the final 50km race in Oslo.

I´ll try and follow both since TV coverage is excellent. I don´t know if there are broadcasting rights involved if you visit from abroad, but there will be lots from Vasaloppet on SVT Play.

On Vasaloppet web-site you can follow live results from the adventures of BorisGr (startnr 6549) and any other AP:ers that may be there.

but vasaloppet will be in finish before start of the 50k

What time are each race?
Therese Johaug is pretty impressive.

vasa from 07.30 ...
50k from 13.00

@nev Is that pretty and impressive? Although she looked nice in her gold dress that was a bit over the top. Gold jackets were bad enough. It's not just Northug who is kaxig.

they had no choice with the swix-jackets. swix is the main sponsor, if swix says they have to wear them, they have to.

Go Boris!

Just saw Boris pass the finish line!!

Boris Granovsiy USA place 2941 06:07:15

Congrats on a great race

@theshadow
I think the dress was designed by some profiled person or something similar, so I dont think it was her decision alone. But what do you meant the jackets were bad? they were hillarious!

the dresses were designed by the norwegian designer who is making the dresses for "skal vi danse" which is a tv program, so i reckon there was some kind of deal

Is this what you people are talking about?

the athletes likely had no choice but NSF had a choice. Having said that, I guess it is no different than pro football, basketball and hockey teams having champions hats made up beforehand. Apparently, the jackets are being auctioned off with the proceeds going to charity so that is good.

@jj -yes that is what we are talking about. I guess I was just hoping someone would take the bait and post a picture so we could look at Therese's fine...errrr dress.

Congrats Boris. Well done.