Olympics: 2022 Beijing Olympics: Cross Country thread

[Civetty]

Wow, what domination by Sundling

 

[AB13]

Great scenes. Gold and silver is cool.

 

[Hockeyfrilla]

Yahhoo

 

[Prntscrn]

Made it look as easy as her World Championship gold, total beast

 

[Havre]

The Swede was just too good. Klæbo I don't think had his best day, but he is just so intelligent when racing.

 

[Havre]

Crazy race for the 10k. At least 3-4 in the fight for gold. Definitely not like Johaug is winning this easily. She might very well not win.

 

[Havre]

Johaug might not even end up top 3. That I never thought I would see.

 

[karhukissa]

Lmao this doping Johaug, have some more lip balm

 

[Hockeyfrilla]

Silver and bronze to Finland, nice

 

[karhukissa]

Well tomorrow Iivo will have redemption for his sister and win gold, AINEC.

 

[Havre]

That has to be one of the best women's races ever. Four different countries fighting for gold for quite a while - and that wasn't even including Sweden who normally would.

Real shame Niskanen wasn't competing in 2001 she would have won easily.

 

[AB13]

Can’t see Karlsson or Andersson or Kalla or any swedish skiier picking up a medal in the 30 KMs either. And I believe even less in the men. Only the sprinters are likely to get us more cross country medals.

 

[Albatros]

Lmao this doping Johaug, have some more lip balm

Easily worth 0.4 seconds. #winning

 

[karhukissa]

Can’t see Karlsson or Andersson or Kalla or any swedish skiier picking up a medal in the 30 KMs either. And I believe even less in the men. Only the sprinters are likely to get us more cross country medals.

Women's team will get a medal for Sweden, in the best case scenario (and at this point likely)is that Norway will be 4th and SWE, RUS and FIN will fight for top-3.

 

[Havre]

The 30/50k at the end of Olympic games and World Championships are often a bit unpredictable. I don't know what it is - if it is because athletes struggle to stay in peak condition for two weeks, if they get mentally drained etc., but there are always someone fighting for at least medals that you didn't expect to fight for medals. On potential I would argue Frida and Ebba are 2nd and 3rd in the world on the 30k (Kalla used to be among the best, but she would be further down these days, but who knows if she can surprise). So of course they can win it - even if they look at bit lost right now. Johaug certainly isn't unbeatable these days - even if it is a possibility that she will get better - as she is clearly not at her best right now.

On the 50k you wouldn't normally expect Poromaa to fight for the gold, but stranger things have happened. He is definitely one of those outside the bigger favourites who could take a medal. The Norwegian team in general looks completely lost. Only a 95% Johaug and 90% Klæbo are currently in the games (Golberg might be OK - hard to say since the Chinese guy tackled him in the sprint). For the women it would take a miracle to even end up top 3 in the relay - and even the men could end up struggling to get a medal (right now the gold is Russian).

 

[AB13]

Women's team will get a medal for Sweden, in the best case scenario (and at this point likely)is that Norway will be 4th and SWE, RUS and FIN will fight for top-3.

Hope so. Tired of Norway medals.

 

[Hockeyfrilla]

Frida is a bit drama queen when things dont go her way

 

[Havre]

Yeah she is a moaner, but I like her. At least she has some personality. Not that I listen to many of these interviews, but someone like Johaug is the most boring sports personality ever (disregarding NHL hockey players). It is just cliché after cliché.

Funnily enough Swedish media all over a Norwegian skier calling Frida a "drama queen" under one of the Norwegian broadcasts (she isn't competing in the Olympics - so more a pundit). It was said with a smile - so nothing malicious or anything. Just banter.

 

[karhukissa]

Iivo Niskanen vs Bolshunov for gold. Looking good for team race regarding Finland also, every skier seems to be at their best right now.

E. Gold medal for Iivo, he's an absolute animal.

 

[karhukissa]

Huge surprise if Klaebo beats Bolshunov.

 

[Jussi]

IIIIVOOOOOO!!!!!!

 

[Havre]

Surprisingly solid by Norway. 1 and 2 were easy - just a question of order. Glad Niskanen took it. Considering how ridiculously good he has been in classic for years it is very fitting he gets another Olympic gold medal. If Bolsjunov stays healthy I don't doubt he will win quite a few more - so he can live with another silver. He could very well win 2 more in these games...

How Klæbo has developed for these kinds of races is quite sensational. Wins almost every sprint and can still compete against the absolute best in individual starts. No-one is close to him in that regard and really hasn't been since Northug (even if Bolsjunov is also very good in sprints).

 

[IceHockeyDude]

I'm surprised we have already 4 medals. All from cross-country.

 

[Havre]

Didn't expect Iivo to be top 3 in the 30k, but he always had an outside chance - and with Norway fairly lost.... for the women you have, like Johaug I believe, benefitted from Sweden struggling. Normally there would have been at least one Swede in the top 3 on the 10k.

Would be very surprising if Finland don't end up top 3 in the relay for women. And if the Swedes aren't improving, they might even fight with Russia and Sweden for the gold.

For the men Russia will take a medal and with a fair degree of certainty win, but not sure who will take the two other medals. Norway should be in the top 3 and I think they will. Could very well see Iivo and Bolsjunov just crush the rest on the second stage. If so silver should be within reach. Norway haven't got a Krüger now to catch up on the third stage.

Truly sensational how poor Norway are. We are probably the only country where cross country is truly popular among kids. And still we have absolutely rubbish depth - especially among the women (even if arguably three out of four on the relay team are now in Norway rather than China because of Covid and Østberg's problems). Even for the men it is only Klæbo that is among the best with some like Krüger, Holund etc. who can fight for medals in certain races when they got good skis etc.

 

[Havre]

It is actually even worse. Not only do we have the absolute best recruitment among kids - we also spend a ridiculous amount of money on equipment, research etc. into waxing, machining etc. of skis. One of the reasons why I'm not THAT into cross country skiing outside of the big games - the smaller nations just haven't got the resources to compete. I wish they would have changed the rules (they have tried a bit) so that those nations with money won't have such an advantage.