Marit Bjørgen pretty much wiped the floor with folks last year in distance events: As a stats guy, when I see extreme events I tend not to expect them to repeat themselves. The general principle here is called regression to the mean. Extreme events are just unlikely, so it doesn’t make sense to expect them […]
Also tagged lukas bauer, marit bjoergen, mathias fredricksson, rene sommerfeldt, vladimir smirnovErling Jevne wasn’t the best skier during his era, having to compete with folks like Dæhlie and Smirnov among others. And he wasn’t even the best classic skier, most likely. At least, he was still mostly losing to those two guys even in classic races: Jevne fared better post-1997, but Dæhlie always had at least […]
Also tagged erling jevne, vladimir smirnovHow embarrassing is it for our sport that no one seems to be able to reliably count the number of World Cup victories of our best athletes? Here’s the deal.  Marit Björgen has attracted some attention lately for the number of total WC victories to her name, which is generally thought to be at least […]
Also tagged bente skari martinsen, counting, fis, marit bjoergen, rant, records, victories, World CupThe poll on the right is now closed.  Marit vs Justyna was in the running for a while, but Daehlie vs Alsgaard eventually pulled away for a clear win. Don’t worry if the matchup you voted for didn’t win this time around, we’ll have another round of voting most likely in a few days. The head-to-head […]
Also tagged head to head, thomas alsgaardBjoern Daehlie (NOR) is generally considered one of the greatest male skiers in history (or even the greatest). Â He raced during much of the 90’s until his career was cut short by a rollerskiing accident in which he injured his back. Â One of his biggest competitors during this time was Vladimir Smirnov (SOV, KAZ). Â Which […]
Also tagged head to head, vladimir smirnov