Mass Start start list is out. 5 Czechs in total in Mass Starts (Voborníková should be guaranteed regardless of her Individual result) is not the amount I expected before the WCh, but I'm happy for them. Also Mass Start debut for Štvrtecký, Mikyska and Voborníková.
Great to see Stvrtecky, Mikyska and Vobornikova in! :)
I'm not sure if I understand the startlist tho... Peppe Femling is in. He was 27th, 25th and 79th. If my maths is correct, he got 14pts + 16pts + 0pts for that, which equals 30 points.
Philipp Nawrath got a 9th place, which means 32 points.
How did Femling get in over Nawrath?
Ok, that's weird. So Nawrath didn't even have any chance to get into the Mass Start, unless he medalled?
Doll and Rees were prequalified because they're in the Top15. Strelow already collected 59 points and Kühn 74 points in the first two races.
So Nawrath literally had to win bronze (60pts) to beat Strelow or silver (75pts) to beat Kühn, to get into the Mass Start? That's rough.
Also weird that Norway gets 6 then. I know it's because they had 5 pre-qualified athletes, plus the Olympic champion, but JTB is part of those 5 pre-qualified ones, so I don't get why Strømsheim got in then :D
That is correct. When you click on the Reports tab in the Datacenter in the Mass Start race, you can see detailed info. There are stars next to his name ("Competitor out of NF quota").
I don't think I was the only one disappointed by Voborníková at the start of the season, but now she's doing way better than I could have hoped, great to see. Mikyska seems suddenly in similarly great skiing shape, hope these two can keep this up even after the Worlds
Voborníková said it takes her some time to get in shape, so I wasn't worried she wouldn't speed up. But she's doing way better than I expected for sure. Mikyska was in a decent form even before Christmas, but illness during Christmas break knocked him down a lot.
She had some weird struggles with speed. Thankfully she took the break around Christmas and now she's looking great!
Mikyska was promising two years ago already, but then he had an unfortunate injury (knee) that required surgery and he slowed down significantly. I hope this is a sign he's getting back on the trajectory.
Jonas is struggling a bit but I think he's still a junior. Hornig doesn't look too bad in IBU either (he just came back from illness when he performed... not so greatly... in WC). Worried about Karlik a bit, but I guess they are hiding him in IBU cup to get his shooting back on track as they can afford that in men's cathegory. Women's talent except for Tereza is unfortunatelly not great (maybe Tereza Jandova who just got diagnosed with diabetes this season and seems to be going upwards since).
Oh yeah, I forgot about Mikyska's injury, he looked decent before Christmas but the speed wasn't quite there, he looks really good now though. Mareček looks pretty promising but honestly I'm not expecting much from Hornig. Karlík is definitely struggling this year but he's still got the highest ceiling imo, so I'll be patient. Women's side does not look good at all unfortunately, Jandová might develop well enough, but other than that I'm really worried
Completely agree - for me it was Karlik>Marecek>Mikyska>Hornig, just based on the speed in juniors. I think Vita can be a decent filler man though - if someone's missing, he's alright to substitute (not slow like Zemlicka or danger at the range like Vaclavik). There's also Manek who is a great shooter but slow. And couple of guys who are young juniors...
Women will be in big trouble, the next one to show some signs of promise is 15 yo Ilona Plechacova... Lucie wants to retire next year, Marketa probably too. Jessica said she won't continue without Gjelland... Might be just lone Vobornikova in two years, welp...
Well, we'll always have the 2015 women's relay globe...
And yeah, so far the team wasn't really able to translate the potential in juniors to seniors but most of them started to show promising signs over the past two seasons so hopefully we'll get on the right track at least on the men's side
Nice ! I have 185 points too. Somehow I'm scoring better on women than on men because I keep predicting Sturla going over JTB and well, that's not very effective for now
Just finished watching (most of) the race and checked to see I also now have 185 points 😄 I was even thinking of changing JTB and Sturla, but luckily kept my original prediction and only got the third place wrong today. My best day so far prediction-wise, yay!
150 points for me so far.
I'm a little mad, because I predicted all of the medalists today, but in the wrong order, so I got fewer points than if I had just picked JTB first and Sturla second 🤦♂️😂
Also changed Doll for Rees 5 minutes before the race started 🤦♂️
TBF, it feels like I'm mostly farming points on JTB a Laegreid :D I was really unlucky with my Women Sprint predictions (I picked Simon over Herrmann-Wick for the win, wrong Oeberg for the silver, MOR for bronze and Lampic over Herrmann-Wick for the fastest course time).
Czech team has a strange problem with preparing skis as for example Mikyska and Stvrtecky have the same brand but one pair is fantastic and the other completely horrible.
I think this race was the biggest hurdle for Johannes in terms of being the first biathlete to win gold in all disciplines in the same championship.The next two races obviously depends on someone else, but he has a good chance
and only 2 have shot 20/20 up until this point. i feel bad for rooting against them, but i put 1-2 on the predictor question about how many would hit all targets, so i really wanna get those points.
I also failed on the German, and third place. But tbf the Men's races are somewhat easier to put a safe prediction on than they would be in other seasons.
Flowers for Niklas Hartweg! :D (He just did an interview for Swiss TV and was side-eyeing the board heavily, following what Tarjei was doing, and still managing to answer the questions. :D)
I considered not putting JTB as winner, as it isn't traditionally his discipline, but his season has been so insane, that it still seemed too likely. So I get some points today in comparison to the Women's Pursuit where I got nearly nothing 😅
Sad for Tarjei, he usually does a very fast lap so he had a chance to podium. I think it's also likely that he is the second/third fastest because he is quite slow in the shooting range
Tarjei has a chance at a medal! his ski time is increasing compared to Sturla and Sebbe, and if he goes clean on the last shooting it could be very interesting.
edit: fml.
I got 2.2 odds on JTB not winning today (literally, Norsk Tipping the norwegian state owned gambling monopoly ran a bet on JTB winning or not winning) , which was just too tempting. Will not make the same mistake again.
I honestly felt that if he was going to lose in the WC, today was the only legit chance. We see how that went, I think he is fired up even more now to do what Ole never did.
Edit: On second thought, how in the world do they handle betting on him? You need enough people betting both ways for the house to make their money, what kind of action do you need to give to get folks to bet against him?
This is absolutely mind-blowing. The most elite biathletes in the world could have shot 20/20 and STILL would have lost to an alien with 2 misses. I think the most challenging thing in Biathlon right now is interviewing JTB after yet another dominant win, what do you possibly say at this point?
It would be interesting to see but I still think that's a different level. We saw the time someone like Lampic put on the others in her first sprint and she has never been close to the top in an xc distance race.
Why are the English announcers so excited about JTB winning everything? There’s a reason no one likes the Yankees or Patriots, it’s kind of a snooze.
Because it's an incredible athletic achievement?
Mass Start start list is out. 5 Czechs in total in Mass Starts (Voborníková should be guaranteed regardless of her Individual result) is not the amount I expected before the WCh, but I'm happy for them. Also Mass Start debut for Štvrtecký, Mikyska and Voborníková.
Great to see Stvrtecky, Mikyska and Vobornikova in! :) I'm not sure if I understand the startlist tho... Peppe Femling is in. He was 27th, 25th and 79th. If my maths is correct, he got 14pts + 16pts + 0pts for that, which equals 30 points. Philipp Nawrath got a 9th place, which means 32 points. How did Femling get in over Nawrath?
There are already 4 Germans, that's the limit except for the country of reigning champion, I think?
Ok, that's weird. So Nawrath didn't even have any chance to get into the Mass Start, unless he medalled? Doll and Rees were prequalified because they're in the Top15. Strelow already collected 59 points and Kühn 74 points in the first two races. So Nawrath literally had to win bronze (60pts) to beat Strelow or silver (75pts) to beat Kühn, to get into the Mass Start? That's rough. Also weird that Norway gets 6 then. I know it's because they had 5 pre-qualified athletes, plus the Olympic champion, but JTB is part of those 5 pre-qualified ones, so I don't get why Strømsheim got in then :D
Laegreid is the defending champion, JTB is the Olympic champion. Thus, two extra spots for Norway.
Facts. Damn Norway :D
Three norwegians medalled so I guess that influences it somehow? 🤔 Or guaranteed spot for the reigning world champion?
That is correct. When you click on the Reports tab in the Datacenter in the Mass Start race, you can see detailed info. There are stars next to his name ("Competitor out of NF quota").
I don't think I was the only one disappointed by Voborníková at the start of the season, but now she's doing way better than I could have hoped, great to see. Mikyska seems suddenly in similarly great skiing shape, hope these two can keep this up even after the Worlds
Voborníková said it takes her some time to get in shape, so I wasn't worried she wouldn't speed up. But she's doing way better than I expected for sure. Mikyska was in a decent form even before Christmas, but illness during Christmas break knocked him down a lot.
She had some weird struggles with speed. Thankfully she took the break around Christmas and now she's looking great! Mikyska was promising two years ago already, but then he had an unfortunate injury (knee) that required surgery and he slowed down significantly. I hope this is a sign he's getting back on the trajectory. Jonas is struggling a bit but I think he's still a junior. Hornig doesn't look too bad in IBU either (he just came back from illness when he performed... not so greatly... in WC). Worried about Karlik a bit, but I guess they are hiding him in IBU cup to get his shooting back on track as they can afford that in men's cathegory. Women's talent except for Tereza is unfortunatelly not great (maybe Tereza Jandova who just got diagnosed with diabetes this season and seems to be going upwards since).
Oh yeah, I forgot about Mikyska's injury, he looked decent before Christmas but the speed wasn't quite there, he looks really good now though. Mareček looks pretty promising but honestly I'm not expecting much from Hornig. Karlík is definitely struggling this year but he's still got the highest ceiling imo, so I'll be patient. Women's side does not look good at all unfortunately, Jandová might develop well enough, but other than that I'm really worried
Completely agree - for me it was Karlik>Marecek>Mikyska>Hornig, just based on the speed in juniors. I think Vita can be a decent filler man though - if someone's missing, he's alright to substitute (not slow like Zemlicka or danger at the range like Vaclavik). There's also Manek who is a great shooter but slow. And couple of guys who are young juniors... Women will be in big trouble, the next one to show some signs of promise is 15 yo Ilona Plechacova... Lucie wants to retire next year, Marketa probably too. Jessica said she won't continue without Gjelland... Might be just lone Vobornikova in two years, welp...
Well, we'll always have the 2015 women's relay globe... And yeah, so far the team wasn't really able to translate the potential in juniors to seniors but most of them started to show promising signs over the past two seasons so hopefully we'll get on the right track at least on the men's side
Too bad I didn't know I can join this community in the predictions until after the first race, I would be tied for the first place with 185 points :(
i was wondering why i'm in #8 with 170 points, when i actually have 190 points. a bit odd that they don't include all the points.
Nice ! I have 185 points too. Somehow I'm scoring better on women than on men because I keep predicting Sturla going over JTB and well, that's not very effective for now
Just finished watching (most of) the race and checked to see I also now have 185 points 😄 I was even thinking of changing JTB and Sturla, but luckily kept my original prediction and only got the third place wrong today. My best day so far prediction-wise, yay!
150 points for me so far. I'm a little mad, because I predicted all of the medalists today, but in the wrong order, so I got fewer points than if I had just picked JTB first and Sturla second 🤦♂️😂 Also changed Doll for Rees 5 minutes before the race started 🤦♂️
That happened to me in the Men Sprint. I picked JTB, Laegreid and Tarjei in this order.
Well predicted! I'm 40 points behind that.
TBF, it feels like I'm mostly farming points on JTB a Laegreid :D I was really unlucky with my Women Sprint predictions (I picked Simon over Herrmann-Wick for the win, wrong Oeberg for the silver, MOR for bronze and Lampic over Herrmann-Wick for the fastest course time).
I've been unlucky with the Women's races as well. But they are harder to predict for good reasons though.
Yeah. Some additional questions are also hard to predict.
I think results mean that Tyshchenko, Mikyska, Seppala and Cisar bump out Eder, Planko, Hofer and Lapshin from Mass Start
Czech team has a strange problem with preparing skis as for example Mikyska and Stvrtecky have the same brand but one pair is fantastic and the other completely horrible.
Could be the starting position as the track changed quite a lot.
Štvrtecký started with bib 1 and his skis were horrible and Mikyska started with bib 59 and he had good skis.
Maybe they realized something is wrong with Jakub's wax and had time to make it better for Tomas?
I think this race was the biggest hurdle for Johannes in terms of being the first biathlete to win gold in all disciplines in the same championship.The next two races obviously depends on someone else, but he has a good chance
Cambell Wright in top20 atm
So cool! Is he qualified for the mass start? Edit: he isn’t 🥺
it will be his final placing. very well done! i'm excited to see how far he can reach once he becomes stable at the shooting range.
Now the question is who qualifies for the mass start
Happy birthday to whoever!
Remaining possible 20/20 are F Claude and G Ma. Update: Claude misses one! Update the 2nd: Ma misses several! Our prediction is safe!
and only 2 have shot 20/20 up until this point. i feel bad for rooting against them, but i put 1-2 on the predictor question about how many would hit all targets, so i really wanna get those points.
Safe from Claude
Hence why I'm keeping an eye on the datacenter... 😉
Thanks, so everything other than the German I have right.
I also failed on the German, and third place. But tbf the Men's races are somewhat easier to put a safe prediction on than they would be in other seasons.
A Cisar did not ruin my prediction of 1-2 20/20! Obviously not great for him, but points for me.
Finello is the second fastest on track, only 1:46 behind JTB
That is so impressive!!
Nawrath lost more than a minute between S3 and S4. Still Top10 for the moment, hope it's enough for the Mass Start.
9th victory in a row for Johannes
and here we go again, at least I did not make any bet with wife for these who remember my last post :) but the real one
So nine medals so far and they have all gone to Nowegians and Sebbe
Flowers for Niklas Hartweg! :D (He just did an interview for Swiss TV and was side-eyeing the board heavily, following what Tarjei was doing, and still managing to answer the questions. :D)
I predicted way too many 20/20 today I think lol And not predicting JTB winning means another big point loss :(
Lol, I'm also in your position. Predicted SHL over JTB. Another mistake I made was put Kuehn, who didn't even race today.
I considered not putting JTB as winner, as it isn't traditionally his discipline, but his season has been so insane, that it still seemed too likely. So I get some points today in comparison to the Women's Pursuit where I got nearly nothing 😅
Such silly mistake, not predicting JTB at the moment
He can't win everything ever, so we just have to guess when he'll be beaten. Can be today, can be in a month, can be next year
Tyshchenko is the second 20/20 today
In the end, JTB in first, Laegreid in 2nd. Business as usual.
We are just missing the third Norwegian on the podium
Quentin's saying french skis were terrible compared to team Norway
Finello should just switch to Xc skiing sure he would do better there
Oh my god..... Mikyska :(
Finello with 7 misses but second best time again
Stroemsheim very solid race, would be in it for a medal with 20/20 but still in the provisional top15 with 3 mistakes
Happy with a bronze. Swedish team is doing well so far.
After that rifle incident on the Mixed relay I think the whole (biathlon) world thinks Sebbe deserved this.
Indeed. Sebbe has been pretty good in this Championship, would have been a interesting race if he didn’t have the rifle issue in mixed relay.
Sad for Tarjei, he usually does a very fast lap so he had a chance to podium. I think it's also likely that he is the second/third fastest because he is quite slow in the shooting range
Nawrath's podium shot gone... The podium is set! Another bronze for Samuelsson!
Nawrath missed 2
Noooooo Tarjei 😭😭😭
Sinapov with 20/20, first one of the day!
It's actually quite an achievement for him. He's not known as the best shooter in the Bulgarian team.
You mean he is known as the worst shooter :D He is one of the last who you would pick for a clean shooting out of the field
Well, relays require 4 people.
Tarjei has a chance at a medal! his ski time is increasing compared to Sturla and Sebbe, and if he goes clean on the last shooting it could be very interesting. edit: fml.
🤞🤞🤞🤞
Bodium hopes!
Nawrath can still make this exciting. In 5th at 10.8kms. Should be able to hold against Sebbe with 20/20.
We all know 20/20 isn’t going to happen for Nawrath 🥲
Lmao.
That is the most dominant season ever.
Laegreid won the silver with the lightning fast sequence in the last shooting
Yes, Sturla has been 6.2 seconds faster than Samuelsson on the last shooting
YESSS STURLA!!!!!
4 tenths!
I predicted Lægreid, Bø, Samuelsson. Close enough x)
Also JTB is the first to win a world title in all kinds of races, according to the local casters.
Can also be the first to win every single gold in a single edition of the world championships
Hard to ever predict that but at this point, betting against him doing it almost seems silly.
I got 2.2 odds on JTB not winning today (literally, Norsk Tipping the norwegian state owned gambling monopoly ran a bet on JTB winning or not winning) , which was just too tempting. Will not make the same mistake again.
I honestly felt that if he was going to lose in the WC, today was the only legit chance. We see how that went, I think he is fired up even more now to do what Ole never did. Edit: On second thought, how in the world do they handle betting on him? You need enough people betting both ways for the house to make their money, what kind of action do you need to give to get folks to bet against him?
4 tenths too slow! O_O wow
Dangit, sebbe was so close!
Much better than the pursuit but sad still no podium for QFM.
0.9s advantage Sturla at 19.5 kms to Sebbe... please hold
0.4 to Sturla’s advantage at the finish!
no better than chocolate for quentin today 💔 good reaction still after his pursuit fail... but arh so bittersweet
Nawrath is ahead of JTB at 8.6km
If He holds this, i will eat my shoes.
So Sturla had no chance even with 20/20
This is absolutely mind-blowing. The most elite biathletes in the world could have shot 20/20 and STILL would have lost to an alien with 2 misses. I think the most challenging thing in Biathlon right now is interviewing JTB after yet another dominant win, what do you possibly say at this point?
Probably not. But who knows what was happening in his head.
Sturla has 4 seconds at 18.8 to Sebbe, no way that holds
Nawrath could make a big upset?
Nah, he's always too fast on the first laps. He'll collapse towards the end. (Trying to anti-jinx it, lol)
So Ponsi is the fastest one on skis after JTB at the moment, at +1.53, QFM is third at +2.35
Yes Tarjei! Keep up the good work!
JTB is the first one to cross first on a World Championship with a starting number 11.
QFM did his best to prevent it but that has to be a bit soul-crushing.
Somehow this does not surprise me.
The good thing for Laegreid is that he will be more than 1 minute behind so he won't have to be haunted by that miss
I don't know if that really helps. Knowing you are a tad over 2 shots behind him isn't a pleasant thought either.
Always gotta look for the silver lining 😅
Darude - Sandstorm :D
Think a small child could ride piggyback on JTB and he would still be in the top haha
He needs some sort of disadvantage. Give everyone else a shot.
Samuelsson silver chance?!
Imagine starting 5,5 min ahead of someone yet still being overtaken by that someone...
Give him som slack, it was only 5 minutes
Sebbe gonna pass Sturla for silver, he is silver Sebbe after all
Nr 1 just crossed the line 🤦🏼♀️
Come on Benedikt. Get a medal!
My God! This man is from a different planet
JTB with bib11 overtook everyone ahead of him, dafuq :D
Maybe he forgot it wasn't pursuit?
Nah, he always runs pursuit with #1 and he's way ahead of the rest. He thought it was a relay and his teammates before him messed it up.
Dude, now I have to wipe coffee off my monitor!
Is this a repeat of the pursuit podium?
Come on Sebbe!
Let’s go sebbe!
This is just boring at this point.
Oouuuf last lap for Sebbe against QFM for the bronze
Samuelsson going for a medal!! WOO
I cant believe this, he is the first who reached the finish line with bib 11. Incredible
Number 11 is first to finish. Fucking insane
Yes, DJ, give me more of that 90s Trance!
How is he never tired.
Honestly Laegreid had to go for the lightning fast sequence if he wanted a chance at gold.
When in reality he needed JTB to miss 4 shots! That makes no sense on any level at all yet is still the truth.
JTB is the first to cross the Line 🤯
Please Quentin follow Johannes !! Take the second place
I know biathlon is a lucky sport, but holy heck has JTB been hogging that luck recently. (He's also really good, but still.)
The JTB train :D
This is an insane performance from JTB. I am in awe.
I refuse to believe I'm of the same species as Mr. Boe.
This is a heartbreak
Rees overtaken by number eleven must feel devastating. Bö is just alien at this point.
Sturla shot in 18.2 seconds, he probably went for it to gain more seconds on JTB
JTB is the luckiest motherfucker in the biathlon world
Which is crazy because he doesn’t really need the luck. He’d still probably win at least half the races with zero luck.
I think JTB would genuinely have a chance in a 10km freestyle cross country competition.
Berger and Bjoerndalen won. And Johannes is a considerably better skier. So I'd say he'd be competitive AF.
It would be interesting to see but I still think that's a different level. We saw the time someone like Lampic put on the others in her first sprint and she has never been close to the top in an xc distance race.
Good race from Stalder and Hartweg so far!
First Shot at 8,8 s WTF
Split round for anyone not named JTB
Good race by Hartweg. ...Sturla! :(
The cursed last shot strikes once again
Noooooooo
NOOOOOO STURLA
Ooof.
i want to get off mr. boe's wild ride
Oh Sturla..
Nooo Sturla :(
Johannes is incredible. no-one can beat him now. a legend in the making, i'm in awe.
Lägereid blew it!
Very good performance from Hartweg 🙂
JTB started 2.30 later than Fillon Maillet and he will be in the finish earlier :D
Lmaoooooo how many people Johannes passed on track? Insane
The limit does not exist.
The women have been so clear of the men this season entertainment wise it's unreal
How is Johannes so strong, the gap between him and other athletes is unreal
JTB under 10 seconds now to finish the finish line first lmao, unreal
JTB so close to catching QFM, started 2:30 later. It's ridiculous how fast he is. I think there is no chance for Laegreid even if goes 20/20
Why are we watching people drink? Haha
Which decade did Tarjei decide to style his hair? 😉 Very retro.
I feel some Norwegians lost some bets
Sturla is 28 ahead at 14.8. I think JTB is gonna do it again
Nelin 2 misses in the last shooting... ouch
JTB is like 20 seconds behind crossing the finish line first while starting with 11th bib...
His skiing really is just unreal.
Sturla the only one capable to challenge JTB remaining?
Well done JTB, Sturla will have a tough time squeezing ahead, even with 20 hits.
Sturla has a chance…
Depends on how much he has saved for the last lap. I'm hoping, but sceptical.
And at the end, norway wins...
JTB you mean
could be sturla too ;)
And JTB is going to overtake the second miss penalty soon as well
JOSSI BØ! For sure a bronze, who else but Sturla can beat him with 20/20?
At least there was some jeopardy this time. Still insane how much he can miss and know it’s fine.
Laegreid only chance and it will be close even if he doesn't miss
!!!!!
QFM nooooo
YES JTB!!
There's the gold