Winter Olympics?

[72gmc]

Team sprint news gives me an excuse to watch this again.

[kdawg]

I told y’all. Ice skating be crazy.

[robin3mj]

The cross country section of the Large Hill Nordic Combined was utter chaos.

Nordic Combined is an insane sport. Imagine if Track and Field had an event where you long jumped to determine head start/ deficit for a 5k or 10k road race.

The 4x5km relay was pretty gripping- at the bell lap, places 2-4 eased up and let the lead guy go and turned it into a chase for the final two spots. Much like cycling, they were basically jogging (as Olympic XC skiers go) until the final sprint.

[j44ke]

Is team sprint only ever classic ski? Or is there a freestyle ski version of the team sprint?

[9tubes]

Team sprint news gives me an excuse to watch this again.

Reminds me of Stephan Roche in the 1987 TdF. He scored a big win on the Tourmalet or something similar and after the finish he collapsed to the ground. Some reporter leaned over and stuck a microphone into his face and asked him how he felt. His reply was something like "well, I'm not quite ready for a woman yet."

[caleb]

Hell yes, Jessie. Well done.

[caleb]

More about nordic skiing:

- The backside of the distance loop was nice. Looked like a real nordic course.

- The weather for the 50/30k was fine. Today was seven above and a little gusty. Get over it. These are winter sport professionals. They can take a little winter weather. Shortening races when it's above zero is lame. Our high school kids routinely race in worse.

- Johaug was otherworldly. Her ability to V2 the uphills was on another level.

[j44ke]

Hell yes, Jessie. Well done.

And Rosie Brennan! 6th place after an incredible effort trying to catch 3rd - which she essentially accomplished, as per irritating moments in cycling, with very little help from others in her group.

Therese Johaug is the Annemiek Van Vleuten of cross country skiing. Or vice versa. Van Vleuten is called The Alien by the peloton. Hard to tell whether that is a term of endearment or a wry slight. Johaug is similarly out of this world physically and pain threshold. The images of Johaug celebrating in the finish area by herself seems strange given all the hugging that appears elsewhere.

If you can find it, watch the men's and women's mass start Biathlon events. They were both on Friday I believe. Lots of drama.

[72gmc]

Re Rosie, that might be “no help”

Has to be maddening to be sandbagged by a competitor (Niskanen) who already had a medal, and notably faster skis.

“I literally tried everything I had and nobody wanted to work with me”

https://fasterskier.com/2022/02/digg...-of-the-games/

Niskanen has 5 4th-place finishes in her Olympics history and was determined not to finish 4th again. Achieved, but it’ll be interesting to see how Brennan races her going forward.

[Marvinlungwitz]

Yikes. Frozen privates.

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sp...ce-2022-02-20/

[robin3mj]

To medal at 1.4km and 30km distances is so crazy. Chapeau to Ms. Diggins.

[rabo]

Wondering if the tremendous upset about kamiela valievas coach shows a double standard.
We rave about an gymnast girl with a sprained ankle performing the horse jump, but the coach telling her “ why did you quit “ in a not so nice way is abuse.
The Russians say we have no idea about their relationship.
Which made me think about Lou Reed,s great song
Coney Island baby
Quote the first verse

You know, man, when I was a young man in high school
You believe in or not, that I wanted to play football for the coach
And all those older guys
They said that he was mean and cruel but you know
I wanted to play football, for the coach
They said I was a little too lightweight to play lineback and so I'm playing right-end
Wanted to play football for the coach
'Cause, you know some day, man you gotta stand up straight unless you're gonna fall
Then you're going to die
And the straightest dude I ever knew was standing right for me, all the time
So I had to play football for the coach
And I wanted to play football for the coach

[j44ke]

Re Rosie, that might be “no help”

Has to be maddening to be sandbagged by a competitor (Niskanen) who already had a medal, and notably faster skis.

“I literally tried everything I had and nobody wanted to work with me”

https://fasterskier.com/2022/02/digg...-of-the-games/

Niskanen has 5 4th-place finishes in her Olympics history and was determined not to finish 4th again. Achieved, but it’ll be interesting to see how Brennan races her going forward.

So this is class - 1st and last

[72gmc]

So this is class - 1st and last

Yes, it is. Maybe Johaug has always been like this and it wasn’t publicized along with her dominance. Anyway, I’m glad she’s like this now.

[caleb]

Yikes. Frozen privates.

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sp...ce-2022-02-20/

Meanwhile, Andrew Musgrave raced in a headband to show the weather wasn't very cold: https://fasterskier.com/2022/02/orga...ng-a-backlash/



And,

Ivan Yakimushkin, the Russian who won the silver medal in the event, said he didn’t freeze during the race, either.

“I even broke a sweat,” he said.

There's long been a feeling - validated here - that distance races have been marginalized because they aren't commercially valuable. When folks are saying that the difference between racing 28k and 50k is irrelevant, that pretty easily translates into distance itself being an irrelevant part of the sport. This is a sore spot for the distance specialists that isn't going away soon.

[72gmc]

Team parallel slalom confusion:

If one course is clearly faster than the other, and one skier is so fast she’s almost winning from the slow course, wouldn’t you move that skier to the fast course to set a blazing time?

[Bob Ross]

As usual the ice skating judging is something else

The more I watch Olympics -- summer or wnter -- the more I want to see objective competitions where there are no judges. Did you win the race? Great, you get the Gold Medal. Did you skate/ski/jump/flip farther/faster/more times than the other competitors? Great, you get the Gold Medal. Did you execute some non-specific skill in a way that caused four-out-of-seven biased individuals to rank you slightly higher than the other competitors because of subjective impressions? Great, you just won a beauty contest. Find another television reality-show to perform in.

The weather for the 50/30k was fine. Today was seven above and a little gusty. Get over it. These are winter sport professionals. They can take a little winter weather. Shortening races when it's above zero is lame. Our high school kids routinely race in worse.

An elementary school teacher in Fairbanks AK once told me "We don't even cancel recess until it gets to -20° below zero F."

[j44ke]

Speed skating, cross country skiing, biathlon - that’s all I need to be entertained.

[robin3mj]

Speed skating, cross country skiing, biathlon - that’s all I need to be entertained.

Same.

[caleb]

I think short track speed skating is one of the best spectator sports. Roller derby with knives on your feet. Perfect.

Also, shoutout to Peacock for getting it more or less right this time around. After a massive disappointment for the Tokyo Games, this time they followed through with the promise to make the events available on demand. I'm looking forward to going back and watching what I missed, too.