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*Official* Snow and Ice Sports Season 2006-07
- Thread starter Magrat Garlick
- Start date
Magrat Garlick
Rather Mad Witch
Still in coma, but it seems his life is not in danger. Apparently there's some kind of swelling on his brain
Don't think he'll ever return to the hill after that fall tho. He's 21 and a fall like that ought to scare the daylights out of him. (Then again, Thomas Morgenstern suffered this aged 17 and is now among the top 10 ski jumpers in the world)
luffy
International Captain
Thats good to hear. If he fell a bit more horizontoly he would proberley be a paraplegic or dead by now.Still in coma, but it seems his life is not in danger. Apparently there's some kind of swelling on his brain
Don't think he'll ever return to the hill after that fall tho. He's 21 and a fall like that ought to scare the daylights out of him. (Then again, Thomas Morgenstern suffered this aged 17 and is now among the top 10 ski jumpers in the world)
Magrat Garlick
Rather Mad Witch
Another weekend rolls by. Most skiers are preparing for the big World Championships in February, so the weekend's World Cup events were somewhat low-profile, and biathlon didn't have any events at all save the Junior World Championships, but there were still some interesting results nevertheless.
Cross-country skiing: In Estonian Otepää, crowds were packed into the stadium to watch local hero Kristina Smigun...fail miserably. Smigun barely scratched into the top 20 in the 10 km classical style, while Pole Justyna Kowalczyk held on against the season's best female skier, Virpi Kuitunen, to win by six seconds. In the men's 15 km, Axel Teichmann showed rare January form to pip Norway's veterans Frode Estil and Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset. Sprints on Sunday ended in a huge win for Kuitunen and chaos for Estonia as Johan Kjølstad fouls Tero Simonlatser at the top of a climb in the quarter-final, with both falling out. Jens Arne Svartedal wins a tense final.
Ski jumping: Anders Jacobsen and Gregor Schlierenzauer show signs of weakness on the Schattenbergschanze in Oberstdorf, which had to host World Cup events which were moved from the ski flying hill. Adam Malysz is the best jumper overall, with win in the first event, while Michael Uhrmann is carried on a wave of shouting Germans and slight wind lift at the bottom of the hill to win the second event. Jacobsen ekes out second after some luck with conditions. As for Mazoch, he appears to be showing signs of recovery, and reacts to touch and voice.
Alpine skiing: Jens Byggmark from Tärnaby, Sweden - home town of Ingemar Stenmark (of 86 World Cup wins) and Anja Pärson (of 32 World Cup wins) - wins both slalom races in Kitzbühel, with the traditional downhill cancelled due to (you guessed it) lack of snow. He thus takes the lead in the slalom World Cup, Aksel Lund Svindal remains in the lead overall with Bode Miller failing to finish any of the races. Renate Götschl takes over the World Cup lead for the women with two wins and a second place in San Sicario, Italy.
Speed skating: A World Cup event in Thialf IJsstadion, Heerenveen, Netherlands, which is naturally packed with people. Shani Davis returns to proper speed skating by winning two 1000 metres, confirming himself as a large favourite both for the allround World Championship in two weeks, where he'll get some fight from European Champion Sven Kramer, and the 1000 and 1500 metres at the World Single Distance Champs in six weeks. Cindy Klassen wins her first World Cup race and promises a hefty fight with Anni Friesinger for the allround title in two weeks' time. With the Asians gone, Pekka Koskela almost secures the 500 metre World Cup for men, finishing first and second.
Also, the Asian Winter Games began in Changchun, China today (Well, not quite. Ice hockey have started early. With results like China 26 - 0 Macau and Kazakhstan 38 - 0 UAE.). As they involve some Indian athletes (three alpine skiers and two cross-country skiers) and some Pakistanis (six alpine skiers and a figure skater), I'll keep an eye on it. Wang Fei from China won the first gold, skating the women's 3000 metres in a new Asian record of 4:13.08, but Japan top the medal rankings ahead of China after Hidenori Isa nicked gold in the men's biathlon sprint from favourite Zhang Chengye, who missed four times.
Cross-country skiing: In Estonian Otepää, crowds were packed into the stadium to watch local hero Kristina Smigun...fail miserably. Smigun barely scratched into the top 20 in the 10 km classical style, while Pole Justyna Kowalczyk held on against the season's best female skier, Virpi Kuitunen, to win by six seconds. In the men's 15 km, Axel Teichmann showed rare January form to pip Norway's veterans Frode Estil and Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset. Sprints on Sunday ended in a huge win for Kuitunen and chaos for Estonia as Johan Kjølstad fouls Tero Simonlatser at the top of a climb in the quarter-final, with both falling out. Jens Arne Svartedal wins a tense final.
Ski jumping: Anders Jacobsen and Gregor Schlierenzauer show signs of weakness on the Schattenbergschanze in Oberstdorf, which had to host World Cup events which were moved from the ski flying hill. Adam Malysz is the best jumper overall, with win in the first event, while Michael Uhrmann is carried on a wave of shouting Germans and slight wind lift at the bottom of the hill to win the second event. Jacobsen ekes out second after some luck with conditions. As for Mazoch, he appears to be showing signs of recovery, and reacts to touch and voice.
Alpine skiing: Jens Byggmark from Tärnaby, Sweden - home town of Ingemar Stenmark (of 86 World Cup wins) and Anja Pärson (of 32 World Cup wins) - wins both slalom races in Kitzbühel, with the traditional downhill cancelled due to (you guessed it) lack of snow. He thus takes the lead in the slalom World Cup, Aksel Lund Svindal remains in the lead overall with Bode Miller failing to finish any of the races. Renate Götschl takes over the World Cup lead for the women with two wins and a second place in San Sicario, Italy.
Speed skating: A World Cup event in Thialf IJsstadion, Heerenveen, Netherlands, which is naturally packed with people. Shani Davis returns to proper speed skating by winning two 1000 metres, confirming himself as a large favourite both for the allround World Championship in two weeks, where he'll get some fight from European Champion Sven Kramer, and the 1000 and 1500 metres at the World Single Distance Champs in six weeks. Cindy Klassen wins her first World Cup race and promises a hefty fight with Anni Friesinger for the allround title in two weeks' time. With the Asians gone, Pekka Koskela almost secures the 500 metre World Cup for men, finishing first and second.
Also, the Asian Winter Games began in Changchun, China today (Well, not quite. Ice hockey have started early. With results like China 26 - 0 Macau and Kazakhstan 38 - 0 UAE.). As they involve some Indian athletes (three alpine skiers and two cross-country skiers) and some Pakistanis (six alpine skiers and a figure skater), I'll keep an eye on it. Wang Fei from China won the first gold, skating the women's 3000 metres in a new Asian record of 4:13.08, but Japan top the medal rankings ahead of China after Hidenori Isa nicked gold in the men's biathlon sprint from favourite Zhang Chengye, who missed four times.
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Magrat Garlick
Rather Mad Witch
Quote from "Mohammed Al Khaja, board member of the UAE National Olympic Committee (NOC), addressing the media at the NOC’s offices on Monday night said: “We discovered we have a good hockey team. They have to go beyond what they are doing here.”The UAE has an ice hockey team? Did they import this one from Pakistan too??
(which did beat Thailand 4-0, in all fairness.)
Magrat Garlick
Rather Mad Witch
Magrat Garlick
Rather Mad Witch
Asian Winter Games update:
Both Thailand and UAE won their ice hockey games, with 6-0 over Macau and 6-2 over Kuwait respectively. What this makes Macau and Kuwait...relatively dire, probably.
India made their debut at the Games, with Gupta Bahadur Gurung placing 18th in the cross-country skiing sprint. 16 people qualified for the quarter-final. (It should be pointed out that he finished in 189 seconds, 32 seconds behind the winner of the qualification.) Japan's Yuichi Onda won, ahead of four Kazakhstanis.
Otherwise, medals have still not been awarded to any nation but South Korea, China, Japan and Kazakhstan. The highest chance of another nation winning anything seems to be some figure skaters from North Korea, after the North Korean women's hockey team went down 2-3 to Japan in what appears to have been the battle for bronze.
Both Thailand and UAE won their ice hockey games, with 6-0 over Macau and 6-2 over Kuwait respectively. What this makes Macau and Kuwait...relatively dire, probably.
India made their debut at the Games, with Gupta Bahadur Gurung placing 18th in the cross-country skiing sprint. 16 people qualified for the quarter-final. (It should be pointed out that he finished in 189 seconds, 32 seconds behind the winner of the qualification.) Japan's Yuichi Onda won, ahead of four Kazakhstanis.
Otherwise, medals have still not been awarded to any nation but South Korea, China, Japan and Kazakhstan. The highest chance of another nation winning anything seems to be some figure skaters from North Korea, after the North Korean women's hockey team went down 2-3 to Japan in what appears to have been the battle for bronze.
Jungle Jumbo
International Vice-Captain
Any biathlon at the Winter Asian Games? I know the Bangladeshis are good at shooting, if only there was snow...
Magrat Garlick
Rather Mad Witch
There was a sprint race yesterday. Hidenori Isa from Japan shot flawlessly and won ahead of Zhang Chengye and Zhang Qing. Little participation from the more obscure winter nations, though Taipei's Liu Yung-Chien came in last...21 minutes after the winner. (50 minutes in a 10k...I reckon I could do that, even with ten penalty loops), and Mongolia's Ankhbayar Otgonbayar finished 17th out of 19. Also, there was a women's pursuit race today (China won all three medals), but no men's pursuit is scheduled...
The individual on Thursday, with relays on Friday.
Magrat Garlick
Rather Mad Witch
OK, it's been two weeks since the latest update, so it might be time for another.
We start by wrapping up the Winter Asian Games, where China eventually dominated the medal tallies, taking 61 of a possible 150 medals with 19 golds. Biathlon and speed skating helped plenty, as the speed skaters won five golds (all in women's events). Of obscure nations, Mongolia won a bronze in mysterious circumstances (China won all three medals, but you can't do that in the Asian Games, so the Mongol skier Maral Unenbat somehow got a bronze from out of nowhere. Uzbekistan also won a bronze in the pairs' figure skating by this rule. From the cricketing nations, Pakistan's Muhammad Abbas achieved two respectable 24th-placings in alpine skiing, admittedly about half-a-minute adrift.
This did, however, significantly damage Asian athletes' chances of winning medals elsewhere. Due to jetlag, the Chinese biathletes didn't take part in the sprint and pursuit at the World Championships in Antholz, Italy, and with none of them shooting specialists they weren't particularly prominent at the individual. Thus, they didn't qualify for the mass start either, and now rely on a good women's relay to save their World Championships - which has been thoroughly dominated by the big three nations, Germany, Norway and Russia. They have won 17 of 27 medals; the others have been through Michal Slesingr of the Czech Republic, who has surprised many with strong skiing which resulted in a silver in the sprint and bronze in the individual, Raphaël Poirée, who announced his retirement after winning the individual through a faultless shoot, and Anna Carin Olofsson and her mixed relay team from Sweden. Oh, and Ukrainian veteran (as in: having done the sport for 10-15 years and been on the TV occasionally but never actually won owt) Andriy Deryzemlya, who won bronze in the sprint and promptly got accused of drug use by the number four, Sweden's Björn Ferry.
In alpine skiing, the World Championships began in Åre, Sweden...sort of. They never actually got going. The Super G was postponed by three days before Patrick Staudacher of Italy became a surprise winner; Anja Pärson from nearby Tärnaby then won the Super G, and yesterday the combined, making for an excellent championship for the hosts thus far - when events have taken place. The men's downhill (always a good watch if there's anyone here who have Eurosport) is postponed till tomorrow.
Ski jumping has seen a number of events, in a desperate attempt to make up for all the cancellations thus far. In Neustadt, Adam Malysz dominated and won two events to advance to third in the World Cup standings, while 17-year-old Gregor Schlierenzauer won the single event in Klingenthal. Today, Anders Jacobsen leapt 148 metres in the massive Mühlenkopfschanze in Willingen (the largest non-ski-flying hill), with Norwegians, Slovenians and Japanese showing signs of form before the World Championships in two weeks.
Some cross-country skiers have prepared for the World Championships in Sapporo by skiing the last event for a while, in Davos last week-end. It ended in Switzerland's first win for quite some time, as Toni Livers shocked the skiing world by registering the same time as Vincent Vittoz in the 15k time trial. The Asian leg begins with sprint and a free style time trial in Changchun, followed by the six World Championship races.
The last nordic combined competitions were held in Zakopane, Poland; Björn Kircheisen showed signs of form with third and first, while World Cup leader Christoph Bieler has a severe form slump, placing 38th and ninth.
In freestyle skiing, Australian Dale Begg-Smith placed second and third at a meet in La Plagne (Sami Mustonen and Geegoire Dufosse won), while the Czech site of Spinderluv Mlyn doesn't have enough snow to their meet.
And finally, the Royal Dutch Skating Federation celebrates its 125th-year anniversary with a three-day party in Thialf IJsstadion, Heerenveen, as they host the 101st World Championships. The city is clad in orange, spurring the national heroes to absolutely stunning performances. Particularly the TVM professional team have been fantastic; yesterday, their Sven Kramer and Carl Verheijen were well ahead of all competition on the 5,000 metres (with Wouter Olde Heuvel finishing fifth), and today Ireen Wüst, who lost the European Championship to Martina Sablikova, eradicated the track record on 1,500 and 3,000 on her way to the allround World Championship. Sablikova trails by more than 50 seconds; Wüst leads by 11 seconds on Anni Friesinger, five-time World Champion, and 18 seconds on Cindy Klassen, who won the 2006 Championships by a record margin. Kramer was disappointing today, finishing some way down after a very long last lap, but all he has to do to win the Championship is to skate level with Enrico Fabris in the final 10,000 metres.
Finally, one question for everyone (as I'm curious about how mad I am myself):
Take the decathlon competition in track and field. Would you be more, less (or equally) interested if the best, say, six athletes before the final 1500 metres were to run said 1500 metres one by one, against the clock, with the time differences before the competition added to the final time. Thus, before the final athlete were to run, you'd know he would have to beat a set time (naturally shown on TV screens and on the stadium) to beat to win the decathlon.
We start by wrapping up the Winter Asian Games, where China eventually dominated the medal tallies, taking 61 of a possible 150 medals with 19 golds. Biathlon and speed skating helped plenty, as the speed skaters won five golds (all in women's events). Of obscure nations, Mongolia won a bronze in mysterious circumstances (China won all three medals, but you can't do that in the Asian Games, so the Mongol skier Maral Unenbat somehow got a bronze from out of nowhere. Uzbekistan also won a bronze in the pairs' figure skating by this rule. From the cricketing nations, Pakistan's Muhammad Abbas achieved two respectable 24th-placings in alpine skiing, admittedly about half-a-minute adrift.
This did, however, significantly damage Asian athletes' chances of winning medals elsewhere. Due to jetlag, the Chinese biathletes didn't take part in the sprint and pursuit at the World Championships in Antholz, Italy, and with none of them shooting specialists they weren't particularly prominent at the individual. Thus, they didn't qualify for the mass start either, and now rely on a good women's relay to save their World Championships - which has been thoroughly dominated by the big three nations, Germany, Norway and Russia. They have won 17 of 27 medals; the others have been through Michal Slesingr of the Czech Republic, who has surprised many with strong skiing which resulted in a silver in the sprint and bronze in the individual, Raphaël Poirée, who announced his retirement after winning the individual through a faultless shoot, and Anna Carin Olofsson and her mixed relay team from Sweden. Oh, and Ukrainian veteran (as in: having done the sport for 10-15 years and been on the TV occasionally but never actually won owt) Andriy Deryzemlya, who won bronze in the sprint and promptly got accused of drug use by the number four, Sweden's Björn Ferry.
In alpine skiing, the World Championships began in Åre, Sweden...sort of. They never actually got going. The Super G was postponed by three days before Patrick Staudacher of Italy became a surprise winner; Anja Pärson from nearby Tärnaby then won the Super G, and yesterday the combined, making for an excellent championship for the hosts thus far - when events have taken place. The men's downhill (always a good watch if there's anyone here who have Eurosport) is postponed till tomorrow.
Ski jumping has seen a number of events, in a desperate attempt to make up for all the cancellations thus far. In Neustadt, Adam Malysz dominated and won two events to advance to third in the World Cup standings, while 17-year-old Gregor Schlierenzauer won the single event in Klingenthal. Today, Anders Jacobsen leapt 148 metres in the massive Mühlenkopfschanze in Willingen (the largest non-ski-flying hill), with Norwegians, Slovenians and Japanese showing signs of form before the World Championships in two weeks.
Some cross-country skiers have prepared for the World Championships in Sapporo by skiing the last event for a while, in Davos last week-end. It ended in Switzerland's first win for quite some time, as Toni Livers shocked the skiing world by registering the same time as Vincent Vittoz in the 15k time trial. The Asian leg begins with sprint and a free style time trial in Changchun, followed by the six World Championship races.
The last nordic combined competitions were held in Zakopane, Poland; Björn Kircheisen showed signs of form with third and first, while World Cup leader Christoph Bieler has a severe form slump, placing 38th and ninth.
In freestyle skiing, Australian Dale Begg-Smith placed second and third at a meet in La Plagne (Sami Mustonen and Geegoire Dufosse won), while the Czech site of Spinderluv Mlyn doesn't have enough snow to their meet.
And finally, the Royal Dutch Skating Federation celebrates its 125th-year anniversary with a three-day party in Thialf IJsstadion, Heerenveen, as they host the 101st World Championships. The city is clad in orange, spurring the national heroes to absolutely stunning performances. Particularly the TVM professional team have been fantastic; yesterday, their Sven Kramer and Carl Verheijen were well ahead of all competition on the 5,000 metres (with Wouter Olde Heuvel finishing fifth), and today Ireen Wüst, who lost the European Championship to Martina Sablikova, eradicated the track record on 1,500 and 3,000 on her way to the allround World Championship. Sablikova trails by more than 50 seconds; Wüst leads by 11 seconds on Anni Friesinger, five-time World Champion, and 18 seconds on Cindy Klassen, who won the 2006 Championships by a record margin. Kramer was disappointing today, finishing some way down after a very long last lap, but all he has to do to win the Championship is to skate level with Enrico Fabris in the final 10,000 metres.
Finally, one question for everyone (as I'm curious about how mad I am myself):
Take the decathlon competition in track and field. Would you be more, less (or equally) interested if the best, say, six athletes before the final 1500 metres were to run said 1500 metres one by one, against the clock, with the time differences before the competition added to the final time. Thus, before the final athlete were to run, you'd know he would have to beat a set time (naturally shown on TV screens and on the stadium) to beat to win the decathlon.
Jungle Jumbo
International Vice-Captain
No, I like the general confusion caused by the 1500m, as no-one has a clue what is going on. Otherwise it could turn into some sort of victory lap for the winner. TBH the decathlon scoring is pretty confusing anyway.
EDIT: Would it not take too long for most people to sustain interest though?
dontcloseyoureyes
BARNES OUT
*snore*
BoyBrumby
Englishman
Plucky Brit bests mighty Norwayanese
From the BBC.
Not sure if this is really a big deal over in Norway but the BBC is bigging it up. Our resident Norseman to comment.
Sounds as if Musgrave's Britishness may be slightly exaggerated too (raised in Alaska from 5-10, left school to study in Norway, fluent Norwegian speaker, etc), but hey, we love a ringer.
From the BBC.
Not sure if this is really a big deal over in Norway but the BBC is bigging it up. Our resident Norseman to comment.
Sounds as if Musgrave's Britishness may be slightly exaggerated too (raised in Alaska from 5-10, left school to study in Norway, fluent Norwegian speaker, etc), but hey, we love a ringer.
Magrat Garlick
Rather Mad Witch
Yeah, this was fairly huge (although I'm not in the country any more so only have to rely on my mates). XC skiing is probably our second biggest sport after football and the national championships are nationally televised important selection trials for the Olympics. Almost as embarrassing as Norway beating England at football.
Musgrave's attempts at Norwegian reveal he's Scottish at heart, too.