Sprint Recap Thanks again to Jan over at WorldOfXC.com (and FIS’s ability to not wreck them, although they tried!) we have the sprint heat times from Saturday. Starting with the women’s semifinals: Semifinal 1 was markedly faster, no? It doesn’t appear that Kikkan suffered for it, but then the Düsseldorf course is unusually short for […]
Also tagged dusseldorf, men, race recap, Sprint, women, World CupA decidedly mixed weekend for the North Americans, something we’re used to by now I suppose. I suppose that Kikkan Randall and Alex Harvey were the main bright spots, as well as Len Valjas’s excellent sprint race. Let’s start with some of the American women: Kikkan really has started quite strong in distance races. Many […]
Also tagged kuusamo, race recap, stage race, World CupFinally, the World Cup season is under way. The individual 10/15km freestyle races this past weekend had some predictable performances (the Norwegian women) and some not so predictable performances (Swedish men). Men Let’s focus on just three of the men with notable performances on Saturday: Definitely strong races for each of these guys, but there […]
Also tagged alex harvey, calle halfvarsson, johan olsson, liz stephen, margin of victory, race recap, sjusjoen, World CupAnother season is just around the corner! While the USST saw some changes over the off season, the folks we are most likely to see top results from are still the Big Three: Kikkan Randall, Andy Newell and Kris Freeman. My expectations and questions for Freeman are summed up in this graph: This shows his […]
Also tagged andrew newell, kris freeman, season preview, usstVisualizing split times is trickier than it seems. You have data from an array of different situations that arguably aren’t terribly comparable. We all know that mass start and pursuit races play out very differently than interval start races. It may also be difficult to compare split times from a Tour de Ski prologue to […]
Also tagged kris freeman, noah hoffman, splits, tad elliott, USAAs a quick follow up from my earlier post this week on Kikkan Randall’s chances of winning sprint World Cup overall title next season, a more detailed graph (click for full version): This shows the difference in finishing place between Randall and several top sprinters when they’ve raced head-to-head in sprint races over time. Values […]
Also tagged Sprint, World CupWith the slew of high profile retirements among female sprinters this year, American skiing fans have been quick to note that the two women ahead of Randall on the overall sprint WC podium this season won’t be returning next year. Clearly, this is an opportunity, but how significant an opportunity is it? Overall WC point […]
Also tagged overall, Sprint, World Cup, world cup points