Cross-country skiing

Gary Ward20 said:It looks like Johaug isn't on the starting list for tomorrow. Does that mean she's out for the whole weekend in Ruk, or did the rules change so she can compete in distance races?

Well, the mystery is solved! You just have to watch today's classic race to see what's happening with the chase.
Frida beat Johaug by a nice margin, though if you ask me, Johaug is likely just focusing on the Olympics this season. Still,
it’s great to see someone take a win in a distance race—and Henning took third for Germany!👍

At m Ivo showed once again that he is an incredible classic specialist. However, the top 10 is basically just Russians and Norwegians, with him acting as the wildcard. It's clear we'll be watching plenty of Russian vs Norwegian showdowns all season long.

Paul White62 said:The debate is finally settled; people are only watching today's classic race to chase after the standings.
While Frida beat Johaug by a decent margin, I suspect Johaug is merely pacing herself specifically for the Olympics this season, but...
it’s always impressive to see someone dominate on distance, and Henning took third for Germany.👍

At m Ivo once again proved he's a master of the classic technique, though the top ten was essentially a standoff between Russians and Norwegians, with him acting as the wild card. It seems we are in for a long season of constant Russian vs Norwegian battles.

I honestly can't wrap my head around why they scrapped the Hand triple. Those segments always had a certain charm and provided such a unique spark to the start of the season...
Karlsson seems determined to go all-in on the World Cup title this year. When you consider that even in peak form, she stands little chance at Olympic gold alongside Johaug—though she might snag a medal even with average form—the strategy to hunt the Tour de Ski and the Ski circuit this year makes perfect sense if that's her endgame.
Erik Valnes was surprisingly strong today. I didn't think he had the capacity to contend at the top of the pack on distance.

Niskanen and the Norwegians have called it quits on the chase due to those extreme conditions—it's basically the Russian championship at this point.

Those Scandinavians are absolute pieces of work.

And honestly, Americans don't back down from any of it. 😁

neonjackal2 said:Scandinavian ladies.

And Americans aren't afraid of a little drama. 😁

Don't be like that! Every Swede and Finn except for Ivo is here. At this rate, you'll end up being angry only at the Norwegians.😁
But they are always looking for an excuse to play games; for instance, last year they barely showed up to the World Cup because of some COVID fears.

My bad. 😁

But seriously, those Norwegians act like total prima donnas.

Maltsev and Novak were absolutely killing it today—they shaved a minute and a half off their times to snag 3rd and 5th. It was a walk in the park for Bolshunov, though; honestly, nobody else in that lead pack can touch him when it comes to sprinting.

It sucks that the women's race is scheduled right alongside the biathlon. Word on the street is that Johaug is going to be out there skiing!

There doesn't seem to be any boycott happening with the women's races, at least based on the live timing, since there isn't a single broadcast or stream available anywhere.
Even the Russians aren't boycotting it, and they usually go out of their way to cover everything.

Well, Eurosport's got it covered.

And honestly? These Norwegian women have way more guts than the Norwegian guys. 😁

I wasn't even questioning whether Johaug would take the win. It’s just a total bummer I didn't put any money down on it—if you looked at the betting odds, Karlsson was the heavy favorite.

Maybe an ES player😁

I honestly wasn't convinced Johaug would pull off a win today after watching yesterday's race; Weng clearly looked like she was in peak form.
As for those withdrawals among the women, it was quite the international affair. Stupak and Sorina didn't even line up for the Russians, and then you had three Norwegians, two Finns, the Swede Dyvik, the Canadian Lampić, and more...

The competition in the men's field is looking pretty bleak right now. It feels like we’re stuck watching the same two nations dominate everything. Looking at today's TOP 15, only Novak and Manificat managed to break through from outside those two powerhouses. Even though the Russians definitely underperformed today—with only Chervotkin cracking the top 10—it still feels like a closed loop.
As for Ž Frida, she was absolutely hammering Johaug on the distance race, finishing at 6.2 miles F, just a mere 0.3 seconds behind her.

I just caught the replay of yesterday’s Ž relay, and I have to say, seeing the Russian team pull ahead of both the
Swedes and Norwegians was a total surprise—especially with Stepanov looking so dominant in that final stretch.
It is actually wild to think about the stats here; this marks the first time the Russian women have snagged a relay win in the World Cup since they took it all back in the 2004/05 season at Val di Fiemme. It’s going to be fascinating to see how these three national teams set their lineups for the Olympics, specifically deciding who takes the classical legs and who handles the freestyle. Of course, everything depends on
the track layout and the overall difficulty, but if it were me, I’d always put a sprinter on that anchor leg. After all, 3.1 milesit isn't a massive distance, and a fast finisher can always draft off a pack to make up ground.

I didn't catch the men's relay, but it’s hardly shocking to see two Norwegians and two Russians sitting in the top 4; it’s basically a mirror image of the individual races.

Klaebo is absolutely dominating the sprints again—just a walk in the park for him today.
Ž Dahlqvist is absolutely on fire right now! She’s keeping that sprint winning streak alive with her third consecutive victory. It was such a wild race, though—she actually ended up helping Brennan, who was leading the pack before taking a nasty fall on that final climb. Truly incredible stuff to watch!

So, Bolshunov didn't even show up today, though let's be real—it's not like his absence would have shaken up the standings at the top one bit.

I’m genuinely sitting here wondering if we’re going to see another (Nor!) athlete skip out on the Tour de Ski again.

neonjackal2 said:Bolshunov didn't start today, though honestly, it wouldn't have changed much at the top of the standings anyway.

I’m really curious to see if another Norwegian will decide to skip the Tour de Ski again.

It's pretty clear that Bolshunov isn't quite in peak form yet despite having one win under his belt; he dealt with some injury issues before the season kicked off, and today he was trailing quite far behind the winner, Kruger, who just secured his second victory on the 9.3 miles World Cup.
Klaebo was fantastic once again, and I'm rooting for Ustiugov to maintain this kind of level throughout the entire season. Johaug struck back by taking the win at 6.2 miles, and it was great to see three American women land in the top 4.
Davos is actually one of my favorite stops on the World Cup circuit because the atmosphere is always incredible—maybe we should see more races held here! As for the Tour de Ski, I fully expect the heavy hitters to sit this one out.

In my opinion, Boston is always the most underwhelming stop on the Skilled Trades circuit. There’s never any snow, and clearly, everyone else feels the same since the top contenders never seem to show up there.

Dahlqvist continues the downward trend in the sprints.

Sprinting and team sprinting. Give me a break. Seriously, what a joke.

The new edition of the TDS kicks off tomorrow with the sprints! They’ve actually cut two races from last year's schedule, which might explain why such a massive chunk of the elite field is showing up despite the Olympic interference.
On the women's side, it'll be a bit different without the legendary Johaug, and looking at the men, it seems like we won't see Ustygov out there either.
That puts Karlsson right at the top of the list as the heavy favorite for the overall win, whereas the men's division looks like it's going to be an absolute blast with a heated battle brewing between Klaeb, Bolshunov, and Kruger...

I honestly believe Diggins can throw some serious shade at Karlsson, mostly because we’re looking at just one individual start for distance, even if it is classical style.
I have no idea why they didn't make that final climb a pursuit instead of giving us three mass starts. If Diggins manages to sharpen her sprinting and can just hang with Karlsson during those mass starts, I think we're in for a very interesting TDS. Unfortunately, given this specific lineup of talent, without any real distance races, it’s going to be tough for skiers like Kruger to really make their mark.

It is frankly a shame what they’ve turned the TDS into... I still remember that legendary pursuit by Cortina Toblach that stretched over 19 miles through the woods. Now *that* was the real Tour de France to me.

Gary Ward20 said:I honestly think Diggins can give Karlsson a run for her money. We only have one individual start on the distance legs, even if it is classic style.
I don't get why they didn't make the final climb a pursuit instead of giving us three mass starts. If Diggins nails the sprints and manages to hang with Karlsson during those mass starts, we might actually see an interesting Tour de Ski. Unfortunately, with this lineup and no real distance races, it's hard to see skiers like Kruger finding much success.

It’s a shame what they've turned the Tour de Ski into. We used to have that legendary pursuit through the woods at Cortina Toblach lasting over 19 miles. To me, that was the real Tour de Ski.

I completely agree. It’s a real pity how things have turned out, and it’s not even just because it's an Olympic year—it's been like this for a few seasons now. Honestly, the whole Cross-country skiing season has lost its charm since they flooded the schedule with so many sprints. I realize it's better for TV ratings, but personally, those are the races I enjoy the least.

Gary Ward20 said:I honestly think Diggins can definitely give Karlsson a run for her money, especially since we only have one individual start on distance races—and that’s even with classic technique.
I'm not sure why they didn't make the final climb a pursuit instead of having three mass starts. If Diggins finds her rhythm in the sprints and manages to hang with Karlsson during those mass starts, we are looking at a very exciting Tour de Ski. Unfortunately, with this current lineup of events lacking real distance races, it's going to be tough for skiers like Kruger to really shine.

It’s such a shame what they’ve done to the Tour de Ski. We used to have those legendary pursuits through the woods at Cortina d'Ampezzo that went over 19 miles km. For me, that was what the Tour de Ski was all about.

I completely agree, mostly because I totally overlooked one massive factor: the bonus seconds. It’s almost ridiculous how much they reward sprint wins, yet for the distance races, we only get bonus seconds in Stage 5.
It isn't just disappointing that we're missing the race at Cortina d'Ampezzo; it's the fact that throughout the entire Cross-country skiing season, we only have one skiathlon and one "royal" race. Since it's an Olympic year, we'll get two 31 miles, which is actually the perfect number for any Cross-country skiing season, but the number of skiathlons is embarrassingly low.
In my opinion, five skiathlons would be ideal for a single season, plus maybe another freestyle/classic race of 19 miles km, so that
distance specialists don't feel left behind. Those 10/9.3 miles km races are really just warm-ups.😁
Of course, they also need to overhaul the points system so that sprint victories don't earn nearly as many points as the distance races.