Winter Olympics - Sochi

First topic message reminder :

It's getting close.   Time to start a dedicated thread, methinks.

Official site:

http://www.sochi2014.com/en


Auntie Beeb

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/winter-olympics/2014/



Eurosport

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/olympics/

The Fourth Lion wrote: Type Miriam Gossner Playboy into Google images and scroll down.    I wonder what her mother would say..?

Oh come on, do you really think I hadn't already done that?!

I see Martin Fourcade has mentioned this on his Twitter account, something along the lines of "glad to see your spine is better!"

4L re downhill: hard to argue with too much of that. Part of my concern is I wouldn't like to see a sort of "race to the top" start to occur where each successive Olympics feels they have to outdo the previous one; neither do I want to see a situation evolve like in F1 in the 60s and 70s where real and avoidable risks are taken, indeed expected, in the name of "entertainment". I realise we are a long way off that, and perhaps my concerns are premature or misguided.

As for the action today... I think unfortunately the DQ decision was correct, and no doubt had the tables been turned we would have expected it. A shame, but these things happen particularly in the speed-skating.

Martin Fourcade looks to have won the individual in the biathlon as well. His ski strength made up for one error on the first standing shot. Tremendous stuff, I quite like seeing someone who's dominated his event come up trumps on the big stage. Congratulations to Lesser who is also having a good time of it, and Garanichev for a surprising bronze. Svendsen still strangely off the pace, and OEB had a rare off day.

With Svendsen slightly off form, and the Germans and French collectively on form (Beatrix looked for a while like he could medal as well) could we possibly, just possibly see an upset in the relay? Certainly will be an interesting race.

Biathlon - Men's 20 Km Individual: This is the race with no penalty laps, just one full minute added to the race time for each miss - so accuracy is at a real premium! Some interesting stuff in this race; poor Kaukenas (Lithuania) was really going well at the end of S3, but then had a mini melt down at S4, missing 3 - pity but it shows he has real potential. Martin Fourcade had a scare on his second lap, very nearly falling at "that" corner - I wonder if that might have affected him a little at his next shoot when he missed one? Not that it mattered as he cleared all the rest (0.1.0.0), the same as Svendsen, Garanichev and Eder, among others. Meanwhile Landertinger and Erik Lesser were in the very small group who had shot 20/20. Martin Fourcade certainly speeded up on his last lap, as had birthday boy Garanichev, who was at that stage finished and in the lead. Fourcade was on really imperious form though and came home 34.5 seconds faster than the Russian. No celebrations at that stage though because Lesser left S4 9.6 seconds faster than Fourcade's time. Sadly he couldn't live with the Frenchman's pace and ended up 12.2 seconds slower in silver, with Garanichev taking bronze (happy birthday, Evgeniy!).

Some puzzles remain - Svendsen had the same number of misses as Fourcade, but was almost a minute slower; similarly he lost 10 seconds to Garanichev on he last lap, ending 24.1 behind him - rather unexpected and must be worrying for the Norwegians, who didn't have too good a day. OEB missed one every shoot and finished in 34th, and the Bö brothers were also further back than might be expected. Good runs from Eder in 4th, Landertinger (5) and Beatrix (6). Nice to see GB's Lee Jackson in 42nd, ahead of such names as Tim Burke and Ben Weger!

A bit more coverage on BBC2 today for the individual today.  

Another great performance by Fourcade, his ski speed on the last loop was impressive.  BBC were saying he hasn't lost an indivdual race since March 2012 (is that true?). Second and third were a surprise, great perfomance by Lesser, shooting clean but lacking ski speed. Garanichev skied well, I don't think he is great under pressure (some very poor relay performances) but I think starting first worked for him and he finished very strong.

I was expecting Rastorgujevs to be in the mix but he wasn't at his best today. Kaukenas had a great performance up till shoot number 4.  Not so sure what is happening with the Norwegians, I really expected EHS to have a great Olympics but he seems to have lost speed, I was shocked at how he fell back on the last loop.

The relay is going to be a tough one to call.  Based on today I would have the French as favourites and I wouldn't write of Austrians. The Russians have been a bit dissapointing, again ski speed seems to be an issue, a relay medal could be a bit of an ask.

Can not believe Justyna K won the 10k today, how do you that with a fractured foot, what an amazing competitor.  She was very emotional afterwards. Kalla has brought her best form here, another deserved medal. Glad Johaug medalled but I'm not sure she is in top form.  Bjoergen looked exhausted in the home stretch.

The Norwegians are claiming that they are overdressed for the events with it being so warm (I think it was 12 degrees today) they should be wearing less. Heidi Weng has said she will wear shorts in her next race! (I read that through google translate from a Russian website so it comes with a health warning) I would imagine that is a problem for all competitors.

Fingers crossed for Zaitseva tomorrow, I would love to see her medal, but it is hard to look past Tora or Darya.

Oops, my schedule for the BBC coverage suggested the downhill section of the men's combined started at 0700, but the kick off was brought forward, so I missed a lot of it! Jansrud is leading, with Svindal back in 6th - can't see him pulling time back in the slalom with his build. Interesting that the crucial slalom section has been set by someone called Kostelic, whose son is currently quite well placed in the downhill, just 0.93 seconds back. Guess that's the luck of the draw??

I think the quote about Martin F winning all the Individuals since Mar 2012 is part true - there aren't that many and I think that's now 5 in a row, that he has contested. I think Svendsen did win one, but Martin wasn't there - perhaps more correct to say that Fourcade hasn't lost an Individual for 23 months (although one very good source says "since November 2012" ie the start of one season not the end of the previous one - whatever, this discipline is Martin Fourcade's domain). On a similar note, the world champion in the mass start, one Tarjei Bø, hasn't qualified for the Olympic event after a poor season and a mediocre set of results in Sochi. One suggestion is that the warm conditions mean the Norwegians just can't get the waxing right, but surely there has to be more to it?

I hadn't appreciated until I read an FIS report last night that Justyna K had a fractured foot - as Irishrunner noted, it was a truly amazing performance to win that 10Km classic!

Sad person that I am, I've checked the Individual biathlon results! The Mar 2012 event was at Ruhpolding, part of the World Championships, and was won by Jakov Fak; Martin missed Ruhpolding in January this year which was the one Svensen won. So, Martin Fourcade has not lost an Individual since Mar/Nov 12, depending on interpretation! Details are:

6 Mar 12 - Ruhpolding - Jakov Fak (MF 25th)
28 Nov 12 - Östersund - Martin Fourcade
14 Feb 13 - Nove Mesto - Martin Fourcade
7 Mar 13 - Sochi - Martin Fourcade
28 Nov 13 - Östersund - Martin Fourcade
11 Jan 14 - Ruhpolding - Emil Hegle Svendsen (MF absent)
13 Feb 14 - Sochi - Martin Fourcade

Thank you IBU Data Center (sic)

Not sure about Heidi Weng in shorts, but Dario Cologna is certainly in a short sleeved top in the men's 15 Km classic cross country, and it seems to be working for him - Lukas Bauer is in a similar rig and he's also going quite well! Bit sorry for Niskanen, off the podium by only 0.2 seconds after 15 Km and about 40 minutes of racing. Looks like a brilliant win for Cologna, from Olsson (who must have rather unwittingly helped Dario up that final hill) and Richardsson, so a good day for Switzerland and Sweden. Interesting to see Martin Johnsrud Sundby back down the lists - I can't help wondering if winning the Tour de Ski has taken its toll (and same for Therese Johaug) - maybe it shouldn't run in Olympic years??

Bit of a surprise in the super combined. Another tough slalom course proved too much for a lot of the competitors and it was the Swiss Villetta who eventually came out on top.

Kostellic, who I fancied for the title after the downhill, wasn't quite fluid enough (the course seems to favour the fluid skiers rather than the really aggressive ones) and came in in 2nd. Innerhofer continued his great form and just clung onto 3rd.

A favourite of mine, Pinturault (love his style) had a relatively poor downhill run, then made a couple of mistakes at the top of the slalom. Looked to be skiing back into contention but then crashed out (I think he'd have finished near Kostellic's time had he finished) - shame, but that's how it goes sometimes.

Out for Valentine's day lunch so missed the slalom part of the combined - surprises there! Well done Viletta, especially beating Kostelic (I'm a Hirscher fan, enough said!) into silver with Innerhofer having a good games and taking a bronze - he says he has only practised slalom for 4 days in two years, and almost didn't do the slalom as the downhill had gone so well (according to the FIS report)! Good effort by Bode in 6th and Aksel Lind Svindal in 8th - I wish it was as warm here!

Over to the women's 15 Km biathlon individual:  Hope to catch the highlights later as I missed a good bit of this too, but looked like a real masterclass (can you have a mistressclass?) by Dasha,  taking the gold by well over a minute despite 1 miss, from Selina Gasparin in silver and Nadezhda Skardino in bronze, both of them with a 20/20 shooting record. So, a great day for Belarus getting gold and bronze, and what a day for the Swiss with Cologna, Viletta and now Gasparin! Soukalova did well to get 4th despite 2 misses, ahead of Bescond (also 2). Bad day for Germany as Evi missed 3 on her first shoot, although she did clear the rest to finish 20th. Best German was Laura Dahlmeier in 13 after 1 miss - good result for her level of experience? (I know she was a great junior, but I'm thinking of World Cup and Olympic level). Poor Franziska Preuß missed 5 of the first ten and was a DNF - most reaction was fairly positive (she is only 19 and has done really well in her first World. Cup, but the pressure and fatigue have got to her; plus side is that the Germans are growing the next generation) but there was some nasty stuff too. Another disappointing day for Norway with Berger (1.2.0.0) in 16th only just ahead of Eckhoff, probably the Norwegian press aren't very happy? Good run from Palka though for Poland.

I can't watch the skeleton!

GOLD!

Superb, superb from Lizzy Yarnold! You could see the nerves on her final run, she made a few mistakes but still bashed out a rapid time and the brilliance of her first three runs meant the result was never in serious doubt! Brilliant stuff.

JDizzle wrote:Superb, superb from Lizzy Yarnold! You could see the nerves on her final run, she made a few mistakes but still bashed out a rapid time and the brilliance of her first three runs meant the result was never in serious doubt! Brilliant stuff.

Brilliant - now I can watch again; well done Lizzy! Let's not forget Shelley Rudman, who has been such a great competitor, third in the world this year but perhaps not at her best here?

Women' Super G: Looks a bit of a beast; so far one shaky run and 4 DNF; quite a few of the racers carrying injuries too - now 5 DNFs! Thought Laurenne Ross was going to do it, but the tricky lower section got her too - nice 360 though - that's 6. Ditto for Kling, who looked as though she was going to put in a really good time- 7! Well done Fabienne Suter!! Now Gisin is out too, no double for her - I suspect the Austrian coach, who set this course, is now the most unpopular man in the alpine ski area! Good runs from Mancuso and Rebensburg, but still Suter in the lead; big guns to come! Lovely lower section from Nicole Hosp to take over the lead; after her training crash possibly not too surprising that Tina Weirather seems to be a DNS, so next down is Fenninger who takes over the lead - two Austrians leading!

Nice run from Maria Höfl-Riesch - lucky she missed the course worker, wonder if that put her off a bit? Even so she splits the two Austrians, and with some of the other contenders having disappointing runs we are now into the lesser known names! No real surprises from the later starters; Anna Fenninger takes gold, Maria H-R gets silver (her second medal) and Nicole Hosp takes bronze. Poor Lara Gut had the dubious pleasure of being the "best skier not to win a medal" and Chemmy Alcott, after a quite good top section, ended up 23rd. In all 18 DNFs but whatever they say about the course I don't think it hurt anyone seriously, and it certainly sorted out the competition - a good Olympic standard!

Another great performance for Darya to give her a second gold.  She is really on form, she looks so comfortable and totally in control.  Delighted to see Gasparin on the podium, she really has stepped it up this season, the Swiss are having a great games. I always liked Skardino, fantastic shooting but slow on the skis, great to see it come together for her.

Dissapointing for Zaitseva but even if she shot clean she would have missed the podium. I am impressed with Dahlmeier as a competitor but she just needs to work on the ski speed.  I was surprised by the number of ladies that had a poor final standing shoot which knocked them out of contention.

I don't understand what is happening to the Norwegian, Russians and Germans. All of them are performing way below what I expected. I was expecting EHS and Berger to be the star biathletes but they have been well down on their high standards.  Is it a question of the ski waxing or have they just mistimed their peak. Whatever it is, it's disappointing.  They still have time to turn things around.

It's kinda funny in the womens events that all the golds are have been won by former Russains.

Irishrunner wrote: I don't understand what is happening to the Norwegian, Russians and Germans. All of them are performing way below what I expected. I was expecting EHS and Berger to be the star biathletes but they have been well down on their high standards.  Is it a question of the ski waxing or have they just mistimed their peak. Whatever it is, it's disappointing.  They still have time to turn things around.

I've heard various theories including waxing problems, training at the wrong altitude etc. There was a report that the Germans brought brand new, unprepared skis and then found that the grinder wouldn't work - no one was keen to lend them one until the Russians stepped in to loan them one for 24 hours only. Not sure if that is true, or caused any of the problems. I suspect the soft snow, warm conditions aren't helping. Certainly some sections of the press are giving athletes, coaches and selectors a hard time; the weight of expectation plus fatigue have already affected some including poor Franziska Preuß - pity! For Berger, one of her problems is that her rapid, accurate shooting seems to have gone off the boil - 3 misses in the individual is a bit odd, especially with so little wind. Svendsen looked gutted at the end of the individual.

I don't believe it; Elise Christie has been penalised AGAIN in the skating and after winning her heat has been relegated to 6th - no final? Seems she went inside the finish marker and has now been recorded as DNF rather than penalty; probably no grounds to challenge that.

Meanwhile the women's 4 x 5 Km x-country relay is on (online - the BBC have skating on both BBC2 and one red button; explain the logic of that!?). Sadly I didn't see whether Heidi Weng was wearing shorts! Justyna K has just halved the deficit for Poland in just half of her leg!! I wonder how her foot is, and how tired Johaug (among others) might be? Second changeover - Sweden, Finland & Germany, then a small gap - Justyna has got Poland up to 4th, cutting the gap from 30 seconds to 13; Therese Johaug faded on her leg and has walked off looking very unhappy.
Coming in to the final exchange and Niskanen (Fin) has pulled away nicely for Finland; almost 6 seconds away from Nystad (Ger); Sweden in 3rd, Norway are 33 seconds back in a chasing group - might be too much for even Bjørgen to pull back?
Lahtenmaaki and Herrmann are fighting for gold, with Kalla trying to close the gap - how much has she got left; real surprise - Bjørgen isn't closing! Kalla is right on the heels of the two leaders - what a finish this will be! Kalla manages to win the sprint for gold; thought Denise H had silver but Lahtenmaaki got back past - Sweden get gold from  Finland and Germany. France in 4 and Norway 5th - according to the BBC they haven't lost a women's relay since Nov 2009!!

Heads Up! The Men's Super G will apparently be starting an hour earlier than scheduled, so 0600 local time (UK) rather than 0700. Bit early for a Sunday?

And, we've just hit 1,000 views on this thread - good one 4L!

News that Maria Komissarova, the Russian ski cross athlete, has been injured in training; more on the BBC website. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/winter-olympics/26206254

Men's Super G: Off to a better start than the women yesterday, as first out of the start Kostelic gets down in one piece! Mermillod-Blondin somehow stays on his feet (amazing angles) to set the early pace! Who put those blue lines in place - very odd? Morgan Pridy wasn't a name I was familiar with but he put in a good run, soon eclipsed by Peter Fill, but now it's Ted Ligety; into the green at inter 2 but then there's a big error and the speed is gone - most unusual! The curse of the commentator is working well, having jinxed Ted they get Defago too, and Innerhofer hardly gets going before he's out; beating the snow with your stick seems to be in fashion these days! Oh, vintage Bode - great run, although there were a couple errors; will it be enough for a medal? The track may well slow down later despite the earlier start. Franz and Striedinger both show that Miller's time on the lower section is vulnerable, but "close, but no big cigar" for both of them. Svindal makes a slower start than Bode but again he can't quite recover the time and he's out of the medals already. Mayer looked good but then skied out on "an easy bit" - crossed tails.

What a run from Jansrud, out performing Aksel for the second time here and surviving the commentary curse to take the lead by over half a second. Hudec sort of nicks the silver position, sharing it with Bode, but there are still good racers to come. A few racers seem to be in touch early on, but then lose time in the middle section, ending up over a second adrift by the final split. Very impressive start from Weibrecht; loses a bit lower down, but still good enough to go into the silver position, knocking Hudec & Miller into joint bronze. Matt and Graham manage a final jinx on Janka, and with only less well known names to come the coverage stops, not even on the red button. Will the Russians need to provide another "extra" medal for a second alpine event?

Looks like the answer is yes - a second bronze will be needed; everyone is down (or not) and the results (unofficial) are Jansrud gold, Weibrecht silver and a tie for bronze between Miller and Hudec. Good games for Kjetil Jansrud, and I'm pleased that Bode will get a medal here!

Quick update: Alexandra Coletti of Monaco who crashed a couple days ago has suffered a broken foot, and has flown back to Monaco for surgery.

Men's 4 x 10 Km x-country relay: Maybe not quite so exciting as the women's event, but still a good one! Quite a few falls on leg 1, including an early one from the Swede - great work to not only recover but regain the lead. At the first handover it was Sweden from Finland and France, with Norway back in the doldrums in 6th, some 26 seconds back. At the end of leg 2 it was still between Sweden and Finland, with Lukas Hofer getting the Czechs up to third - Norway back to 9th and over a minute adrift as we start the freestyle legs. Fantastic effort by Sundby to close the gap but after 2/3 of the leg he began to fade, as did the Finn. Ski of the race for me was Legkov - if you saw him go up that final hill, you'd know why they call him the Beast! At the final handover the Swedes were still in control, as Hellner set off on the final leg, some 14 seconds ahead of Vylegzhanin with the French third - after closing to about 30 seconds Sundby had dropped back to 59.2 adrift. Hellner was very composed on the last leg, and far enough in front to collect a flag quite a way out - another gold for the Swedes! Despite the best efforts of the French, Vylegzhanin held on for silver (technically Russia's first in the event, as their last was back in the days of the USSR), with France taking their first ever medal in the event. The Norwegian autopsy continues as not even Northug could get them on the podium. The commentators highlighted the relatively light racing load of both the Swedes and the Russians - if that is one of the keys to their success, is there any point in running the Tour de Ski in a WO year?

Interesting snippet - the Belarus wax man, who is looking after Dasha among others, is apparently a Norwegian, who couldn't get a job with his national team! I wonder if they'd like him back?

Note: Biathlon (Men's mass start) on Sunday delayed by one hour due to mist/cloud - on at 1600 UK time

A very comfortable victory for the Swedes, they are racking up the medals at this stage. The Russians have finally got a medal but I was expecting them to pushing for gold, Legkovs performance was brilliant, his attack up the final hill was amazing but I thought their classic skiers should have done better. A great performance by the French to grab bronze.

Dissapointing again for the Norwegians but surely they would have learned from the mistakes in the ladies race yesterday? How can a team that are probably the best resourced make the same mistake two days running? I couldn't believe how much time Sunby lost on the last lap, he had dragged them back into contention but completely fell away in the last 3k.

The biathlon has been postponed till tomorrow morning at 6.30am GMT.

Updated: Looks like the biathlon (mass start) is delayed due to fog persisting overnight - BBC are saying until 1130 (presume UK time), but IBU haven't confirmed. There is a note on the Sochi site saying 1530 local (which agrees with BBC) but according to biathlonworld (IBU) the Sochi organisers haven't confirmed that!  

Confirmed as 1130 UK time. Apparently the fog has also delayed the snowboard cross, where the fans on the snowblowers were used to try and clear the fog; don't think it worked!

Another update: the BBC are reporting (about 1015 GMT) that both the men's 15 Km biathlon mass start and the men's snowboard cross are postponed until tomorrow - decision later on the women's mass start. IBU agree the biathlon schedule; start time for the men tbc.

With men's biathlon postponed, and no alpine skiing today anyway, I have been browsing (work for idle hands?) - the Netherlands are second in the medal table, and have a total of 16 from speed skating (plus one from short track); while I admire such dedication, might it be that there are too many variations here (bit like swimming in the summer Olympics)? I suppose we do have 60/100/200 metres in athletics??

Little bit I did about the hockey.

Sochi 2014 - The tournament so far......

Bleausardv2 wrote:the Netherlands are second in the medal table, and have a total of 16 from speed skating (plus one from short track); while I admire such dedication, might it be that there are too many variations here (bit like swimming in the summer Olympics)? I suppose we do have 60/100/200 metres in athletics??

Cross country skiing has awarded just as many medals so far, it's just that there isn't one country dominating. The Dutch usually win most (if not all) their medals with speed skating, but their previous record was 11 medals. There's a good chance they'll end up with over 20 here, considering the longer events are traditionally their strongest.

I see Aksel Lund Svindal has decided to leave the games early, citing "allergies & fatigue" - sad end to his involvement, but his aim seems to be to recover and improve his chances in the remaining world cup events/series.

Latest schedule news is that the women's mass start will go ahead, subject to them being able to successfully zero (1815 or so, Sochi time). Men's mass start now looks like being 1030 UK time on Tuesday. Women's GS, first run, now brought forward to 0530 UK time tomorrow morning. Not sure that even the chance if seeing Vanessa Mae skiing for Thailand is worth getting up that early?

Lowlandbrit wrote: Cross country skiing has awarded just as many medals so far, it's just that there isn't one country dominating.

Yes, I take your point - although in a "normal" games we might have expected Norway to do just that - I imagine their press are not happy, although by many standards they do have a reasonable tally of medals! Overall, I have to say I am enjoying these games, and I've watched some sports I wouldn't normally see - 4L, I've even enjoyed some ski jumping!!

Biathlon- women's 12.5 Km mass start: Tempting fate, but the visibility looks quite good! Looks as though Kuzmina had a nasty fall in warm up - hope she's OK. May be a real rush to get ahead of the bunch before the nasty corner? We seem to have no commentary on the BBC feed? Ah, now we have Rob & Patrick as the competitors approach the range for S1 - presumably getting their coffee?

Torah Berger very slow at S1, she left the range in 23rd (apparently she fell early on in the lap - no commentary at that stage, so we missed it); nasty fall for Zaitseva.

I don't really mind all the speed-skating medals TBH. But then I've never minded all the swimming ones either. Actually, I'm not too fussed by medal tables full stop. Just watch the events you find interesting and support the guys you want to see do well.

Shame about the men's biathlon. Can't be easy for the athletes - Fourcade gave a good interview where he explained about the mental energy wasted.

Norway's poor performance on the cross-country will surely be one of the stories of the games. Commentators were saying they'd spent a lot of time and money visiting Sochi regularly to make sure they got their skis right so clearly something has gone badly wrong.

Watching the woman's event now.

Biathlon- women's 12.5 Km mass start:  - part 2. Well, whatever is wrong with Norway's waxing, it isn't a too much of a snag for Tiril Eckhoff! Massive disappointment for Berger today, an early fall, slow on the tracks and not shooting at her normal pace and accuracy.

Another great display by Darya Domracheva - a third gold after almost perfect shooting. Delighted that Soukalova has got a medal, coming in to claim silver, with Eckhoff beating Evi (who shot 20/20 today) to bronze  I suspect the Russians will take some consolation since Dasha was Russian born; otherwise their best were Vilukhina (2 misses; 22nd) and Zaitseva (1 miss but that bad crash, 24th). Evi best of the Germans with Henkel in 18 after 1 miss; also good runs from Teja Gregorin (5), Hojnisz (6), Kaisa M in 7th despite 2 misses. Kuzmina (5 misses) obviously unhappy - I wonder if she is well, and the fall in warm up may not have helped either. Berger back in 15th with 2 misses; Bescond was going well until S3 when she missed 3 - shame.

Update: I gather that Berger also fell, on lap 1 before we got commentary and when I was having problems getting the feed to work, so that might explain some of her problems today. One report says there were several falls.

Also congratulations to the Russians for winning the 2 man bobsleigh - amazing that they can work so well together, in such a small space, when they apparently loathe each other! I love that the Swiss silver medalist is called Hefti!

Ski jumping - men's team final: OK, I admit it, this was enthralling stuff! Fantastic result for Germany, especially given the pressure on Freund; silver to Austria and bronze for Japan.

Watching the repeat of the mass start on red button - no commentary at the beginning of that coverage at a point when the already delayed live commentary had started running - what are they doing?

Women's GS 2nd run: Here we go - sadly light, wet, snow at the top with rain at the bottom and mist, with fog in the middle - the snow gets a lot heavier and the start is delayed! So far Tina Maze leading from Jess L-V; Vanessa Mae seems to have got down the first run some 26 seconds off the leaders time, glad I didn't get up at 0530! No Maria H-R today, as she has a bad cold and wants to recover to defend her slalom title. There are reports that several of the Norwegians (& some Swedes?) are suffering from serious allergy problems. Wonder what conditions are like for the biathlon?
It's cleared enough and they are away; great run from Marsaglia, taking full advantage of an early start and good vis - massive lead! The fog rolls back in, which doesn't favour those unlucky enough to have to feel their way through it. Now it clears again and Barthet takes over the lead; not for long though as Lara Gut puts in a brilliant second run to lead by 1.24. That run stays the one to beat for longer than I expected given the advantages that some good skiers had, but eventually Marmottan takes over the lead; the fog is threatening again, but despite that MPH puts down a superb run, and now she's in the lead. Now it's really getting even more exciting; some great skiing and Vikki Rebensburg takes top spot. Shiffrin can't quite match, but goes into second; Fenninger though is on great form and now she leads - amazing angles! Not such a good start from Jess L-V, bit stiff and she's out of the medals, disappointing for the Swedes. Tina Maze has a huge advantage, but it's foggy too - she started 0.85 up, but it's down to 0.07 at the finish; however, who cares because she is still the fastest and that's a second gold to Tina Maze. Anna Fenninger gets silver and Viktoria Rebensburg bronze - what a race, surely one of the best?  Time to shift chairs for the biathlon, I hope. IJDBI (copyright V Meldrew) - the fog is back and the mass start is delayed yet again; this must be really difficult for the athletes constantly gearing up to compete and then having to wind down again for an unspecified time.

Biathlon - Men's 15Km mass start: Well, they are taking their start positions - not a good day with a mix of rain and snow plus some residual clag; this could produce some upsets? This time it does get underway. A couple falls already - almost certainly including Ustyugov and looks like Nathan Smith has lost a ski; not sure the commentators realise Berger fell yesterday. A slow start, with Norway currently leading. And the upsets start, Martin F drops his first shot, OEB misses 2 at S1, Svendsen is clear but Shipulin leads away from the range, Garanichev also well up, so the crowd will be happy! Into S2 and of the leading 4, only Svendsen goes clear - Garanichev, Shipulin, and Fak all dropping one. Fourcade clear, his brother is out of the race by the way, Moravec doing well, as are Beatrix, Lesser and LeGuellec. Visibility is dropping again as they come into S3 - Svendsen clear and leads out from Moravec, Fourcade and Björndalen an exciting race!
Into a really crucial final shoot - OEB is right back into the leading group. Martin Fourcade clears at speed, Svensen also clear and close to the Frenchman, with Moravec in the lead group; OEB has a disaster, missing 4 - who has the speed on the final lap? Nasty fall for JoBo. Here we go, Svensen makes a break passing both Fourcade and Moravec, no snags with the Norwegian skis today! Fourcade gets the lead back, goes a bit wide on the hairpin and Svendsen gets away again - sprint for the line. It goes to a photo - Svendsen seems to have it but he and Fourcade have the same time! Moravec gets bronze - fantastic race!
So, Svendsen (20/20) gets gold which should get the press off his back (2 golds in biathlon and they are disappointed!), Martin Forcade (19/20) doesn't quite match Dasha but gets silver and Moravec (20/20) gets bronze. Fak 4th despite 2 misses, Garanichev 5th and best Russian. Brendan Green gets best Canadian in 9th just ahead of LeGuellec despite having one more penalty. Another disappointment for the Germans, Schempp best in 13th with 3 misses; had hoped Erik Lesser would have featured but 2 misses in each standing shoot was way too much. Now for the relays, will OEB feature?

An exciting end to the individual Gundersen large hill Nordic combined - Germans perhaps a little unlucky but well done Norway; Graabak gets gold, with Moan in silver and Riessle getting bronze for Germany. The final tight corners look really technical and tricky!!

2 fantastic races!

Gutted for Fourcade but delighted for Svendsen.

Possibly the snowy conditions helped the Norwegians more? Or maybe their struggles have been played out of proportion?

Really looking forward to the men's relay in the biathlon. OEB has had a couple of dreadful shoots, but it would take a brave man to leave him out. France vs Norway vs Germany vs the rest? Can't wait...

Meanwhile has anybody been following the ice dancing? Can't say it's my cup of tea personally, but reports in French papers of massive issues with the judging; anyone else hear anything, or is it just the French being bad losers?

Mike Selig wrote:  Really looking forward to the men's relay in the biathlon. OEB has had a couple of dreadful shoots, but it would take a brave man to leave him out. France vs Norway vs Germany vs the rest? Can't wait...

I can see OEB in the men's but not in the mixed relay - Svendsen seems to be back to his best (although he didn't have any penalties in the mass start and only just pipped Martin F ... ) and Johannes Bø put in a very creditable run despite a nasty fall. Who would you put in for the women - fairly obviously Tiril Eckhoff, but is Tora Berger going to get the second slot - arguably she's the best of the rest and her last lap performance is legendary; maybe yesterday's fall was the main problem for her then. On the other hand, did that fall do any damage? Solemdal and Flatland have been disappointing, so ...??? And, of course, we don't know which of the biathletes, if any, is suffering from this mysterious allergy. Plot thickens for the relay teams as Martin Fourcade apparently has sinus problems and may not compete; not sure what happened to Simon Fourcade today - he withdrew (after S2?).

I really don't like "judged events" some great performances but you have to rely on the ability and integrity of the judges - sometimes they are only human (although instant replay helps there) and sometimes they are biased or worse! The judges at the ski half pipe seem very harsh; fine to be really picky about the landing but to a novice watcher like me, there doesn't seem to be a balance between extreme technical ability and the quality of the touch down?

Massive snowflakes at the half pipe!

Yeah I thought Bø looked in much better form as well.

French media reporting that M. Fourcade will definitely race the relays (although there were some rumours mainly from the coach that he might sit the mixed relay out, but apparently not so now).

Haven't heard anything about brother Simon.

Another speedskating sweep for the Dutch in the 10km, but a real surprise as Bergsma beats Kramer for gold.

For a sport where contact is discouraged, there seems to be a lot of it in the snowboard cross!! All we need are a few lions and some christians! Not a sport for the faint hearted.

Biathlon Mixed Relay: start lists are out - Norway go with Berger, Eckhoff, OEB and Svendsen (heart call, not head, hoping he gets a record medal?? Still think JoBø would be better if they really want gold). France have Marie Dorin Habert, Anais Bescond, then J G Beatrix & Martin Fourcade. Surprised to see Martin as his interview said he had bad sinusitis (he also apparently had a problem with the rifle in the mass start on shoot one which wouldn't load properly?). Russia - Zaitseva, Vilukhina, Garanichev, Shipulin; Germany - Evi, Laura Dahlmeier, Böhm and Schempp (who would have bet on that mix a month or so ago?). Czech Republic - Vitkova, Soukalova, Soukup, Moravec. No Dasha in the Belarus team, so I suspect they aren't that optimistic! Neither Semerenko and no Pidhrushna in the Ukraine team, which suggests they are being rested for the women's relay?

Now some reports in the Russian press that Zaitseva hurt her leg in yesterday's fall and might be replaced by Romanova, and that Vilukhina is ill and may also not race - we might be back to seeing who actually turns up at the start. "Stick your neck out" time - I'm going with the Czechs to be at least on the podium.

Incidentally there is a report saying that Martin Fourcade will be switching to cross country, and aiming to compete in that arena in 2018 - no links yet!

Great shot by Dave Murdoch this morning to send them to the Men's Curling semis. Big day for curling tomorrow, both Dave and Glaceon in the semis, be nice to to get two golds - even if it will be HARDDDDDDDDDDD!

Men's GS: Run 1 almost over, with Ted Ligety in a commanding position nearly a full second clear ahead of Bank who is nicely clear of Simoncelli. To my surprise Hirscher is 7th, but apart from Ted and Ondrej it looks quite tight. Might be an interesting second run?

Great first GS run this morning. All the competitors were within a few hundredths, then Ligety stepped up and simply blew everyone out of the water - a mesmerising performance. Just as it looked like the podium contenders would be the usual suspects first Simoncelli, then Ondrej Bank (who is skiing really well) snuck in there.

Gotta feel for Stefan Luitz who put together a great run but straddled the last gate.

Short of a big error, Ligety should be Olympic champion by this afternoon. Beyond that though the podium places are open for everyone. Bank has a decent lead (0'93 behind Ligety with Simoncelli a further '34 back) but going 2nd last may not favour him (mind you, going 28th didn't seem to do him too much harm either) and I would question how he'll do under pressure. We'll have to see. Then from 3rd onwards it's a question of a few hundredths with no fewer than 19 racers within .8 of a second!

The names are all the ones you would expect: Pinturault, Hirscher, Fanara, Neureuther, etc. Reigning Olympic champion Carolo Janka produced one of his better runs since 4 years ago to slot in in 9th, very much in the mix; downhill champion Mayer also produced a terrific run and is joint 4th.

Basically it's anybody's guess for a podium place... who can hold it together? can someone produce a brainstorming run to make a move up, or will the skiers who make the fewer mistakes come up trumps?

Terrific course for the GS I thought BTW.

Also, the French and US are claiming Mayer shouldn't have been allowed to race, as he has only 4 GS starts to his name this season (a minimum of 5 is apparently required?). Hmmmm....

Mike Selig wrote:Also, the French and US are claiming Mayer shouldn't have been allowed to race, as he has only 4 GS starts to his name this season (a minimum of 5 is apparently required?). Hmmmm....

Sour grapes, methinks! If Vanessa Mae can race, I'm sure Mayer should be included! With the lead Ted has I don't see why the US should be worried? On to cross country and then biathlon. I haven't heard any more about whether Zaitseva and/or Vilukhina will start - they are both still on the start list. Once again the BBC have the same feed on BBC2 and a red button, numpties! Luckily the cross country is on the web coverage but why do they keep wasting the red button facility?

Women's team sprint - classic: Good grief, look at Justyna K go! This is supposed to be the easier semi, and Finland are looking nicely in control at the moment. Germans going backwards - only the first two go through by right; Finns are through but the Russian Ivanova can't match Justyna, maybe they will go through as a fastest loser? On to the second semi, with Marit Björgen one of the Norway team, against Kikkan Randall. On the alternate legs it's Östberg v Caldwell, but Sweden (Ingemarsdotter and Nilsson) are also up in the lead group - six laps in all, three laps each.

From the Sochi website I gather that Norway, Sweden, Poland and Finland are through to the final by right, joined by USA, Switzerland, Russia, Germany, Austria and Slovenia as fastest losers.

Bleausardv2 wrote:
Sour grapes, methinks! If Vanessa Mae can race, I'm sure Mayer should be included! With the lead Ted has I don't see why the US should be worried?

Indeed. It seems the issue was raised at the pre-race committee on Tuesday but there were no objections. Now that he's put in a terrific run all of a sudden it seems to be more of an issue. I'd be really disappointed if he was refused his 2nd run based on this sort of technicality and subterfuge...

Bleausardv2 wrote:Once again the BBC have the same feed on BBC2 and a red button, numpties! Luckily the cross country is on the web coverage but why do they keep wasting the red button facility?

It is annoying! However I am willing to cut the Beeb a bit of slack, as I can't think of too many networks who are covering or indeed have covered the winter games in quite so much detail. Also, the commentary has generally been pretty good (certainly compares favourably to my experience of other national networks...).

Mike Selig wrote: I am willing to cut the Beeb a bit of slack, as I can't think of too many networks who are covering or indeed have covered the winter games in quite so much detail. Also, the commentary has generally been pretty good (certainly compares favourably to my experience of other national networks...).

I was going to grudgingly agree, but the morons have just fouled up the cross country coverage - just as the second semi was ending, with Marit about to cross the line, the video vanished to be replaced by a graphic about curling, which eventually changed to a graphic announcing that cross country would start soon - the audio is still there but of course I can't see the results that are apparently on the screen - no idea who the fastest losers are, or who is in the final! Now it's back - too late! Agree about the commentators though, or certainly most of them, I do love some of Ed Leigh's comments now that I've got used to his style!

Men's team sprint - classic: First semi running, with the Cologna brothers well up; sadly our team of Andrews, Young and Musgrave, have withdrawn, not sure why. So, Germany (Dotzler & Tscharnke) through with the Czech Republic; Swiss and Norwegians have to wait, Northug still not looking his best? Frantic work at the waxing stations - good job it's a nice day! Now to see if I can keep up with semi 2 while watching the second run of the GS, doesn't seem to be Bode's day! The second semi is looking fast - good effort from the Americans. It's so fast that the Japanese almost beat the Norwegians in the lucky loser stakes. So - into the final Germany, Czech Republic, Finland and Russia plus Sweden, Kazakhstan, USA, Switzerland, France and Norway (only just making it!). Women's Finals at 1145.

An exciting second run for the GS, felt sorry for Felix Neureuther who I don't think has recovered from the crash en route to Munich airport for his flight to Sochi (with Miri Gössner). To add insult to injury I think the police are a bit miffed that he left the scene and want to talk to him when he gets back! Scrappy run from Bank, and he's out of the medals (as is Mayer, so does the moaning matter?). Well done Ted Ligety - gold after a nicely judged run! Silver to Missillier, bronze to Pinturault, so a good day for the French, Marcel Hirscher in the awful 4th place! Sorry for Jansrud too, that looked good for most of his run!

Great run from Missillier who had said after the 1st run that he would need to "win" the 2nd run to have a chance of a podium, and did exactly that - from then on it was a matter of whether anybody above him could match it, so small were the time differences (apart from Bank and Ligety of course), and the answer was no.

I wasn't surprised to see Simoncelli and Bank crack slightly.

Pinturault (my favourite skier) also skied a good run, with a couple of minor errors, one at the end probably costing him silver, but he'll be delighted with bronze; think his 2nd run time was 2nd overall, so nothing to sniff at either.

Earlier on it had looked like Jansrud would be making the early move, but after 3/4s of a terrific run he crashed out at the end. What a shame!

Ligety was just class. First run monstered it, then really mature 2nd run, played it safe, but with enough margin that he could still make a couple of errors and win; in the end he made one, but recovered well, and a truly deserved gold medal.

I was impressed, again, by Mayer, who looks like he could become a great GS skier with his pace. He has that ability to make minor mistakes but carry on without them being too costly.

You've got to feel a bit for Hirscher, not least because 4th place is always awful.

Slalom looking tasty already.

Cross country classic team finals: The women's race is fast - much tougher than the semis! Looks like Norway are away, Marit B looking really hungry, Finland second with Herrmann holding third for Germany, but she looked very tired after her semi; can she be caught for bronze? So, normal service is resumed and Norway win. I understand that Björgen now has 5 golds and a total of 9 medals overall from the Winter Olympics. Finland take silver and, sadly, Sweden outsprint  Germany for bronze despite Herrmann's best efforts. Now to see who has something left in the tank in the men's final; the profile of this course is quite impressive.

Brutal pace at the start of the men's race, with some rather aggressive lane swapping too! Again this is faster than the semi finals, but the Russians seem to have eased down on the second lap and the field has bunched back up. Northug looking better in this race on his first lap. Looks like the Czechs are out of this after a fall? The stadium erupts as Vylegzhanin comes in at the end of his effort to hand over for the final time, in the lead. Germany and Finland very close, looks like it's between those 3. The Finn cuts across the German, who falls - surely a protest? Finn crosses the line first, ahead of Russia and Sweden, Germany were robbed there! Let's see how that plays out, I think that was unpleasant tactics but the commentators reckon shared blame - maybe the German should have gone for the outside lanes? OK, I've seen it a few times more - probably a "racing incident"?

Biathlon - mixed relay: Well, the reports were incorrect, both Zaitseva and Vilukhina are there it seems, wonder if they are fully fit? Berger off like a rocket! Poland are the first to miss, Evi has also missed one - Vitkova is first away, from Italy, France, Norway and Ukraine. Long way to go, but no penalty loops so far, only spare rounds. More misses at S2, Wierer is first away - good leg from her! Berger is catching up despite her 2 misses in the stand, and she's into the lead; Dorin-Habert fading a bit, still not at full power. On to leg two with Norway in the lead from Italy, Czech Republic and USA - good run from Dunklee. Panfilova falls foul of "the corner", but not a bad fall? Onto the next prone, and Soukalova needs all her spares; much better from Eckhoff who shoots cleanly and leads out of the range from Oberhofer, Gwizdon and then Soukalova. After Susan Dunklee's great leg, it's a pity to see the USA on the penalty loop. Great standing shoot from Eckhoff, who leads from S4 from Soukalova, Oberhofer and Gwizdon. Panfilova has recovered well and is still in the mix.

Next change, Soukalova to Soukup and Eckhoff to OEB, only a second between them; Italy in 3rd but 19.5 back. France and Austria seem to have done a penalty loop, which I missed? OEB is solid on his first shoot while Soukup needs a spare giving Norway a gap; Italy 3rd, Slovakia 4th as they start the next lap - pretty sure we aren't going to see a Svendsen/Fourcade fight today! Another faultless performance for OEB, while Soukup needs another spare - gap widening! Windisch needs more spares, but the chasing pack also miss and he holds on to 3rd. Hmmmm - getting a bit dull now, Svendsen has a lead of 43.1 seconds over Moravec, with Hofer about 30 seconds back on the Czechs, Schempp is 4th but 1.46 back on Norway. I wonder if Martin Fourcade will bother trying given there is still racing to come? Svendsen steady but clear at S7, Moravec also clear although his shots tend to be low; both Hofer and Schempp are clean and very fast but no changes of position. Again good shooting from the leading four, and as Svendsen clears all his targets he "does a Martin" saluting the crowd! Svendsen crosses the line - great win for Norway who only needed 2 spares today. The Czechs cruise in to take silver with Italy in bronze. Germany 4th, with Russia just beating Slovakia, for 5 & 6. That gives Björndalen his record breaking medal, which is a superb record, but I have to say that was a rather dull race from the spectators point of view! Let's hope the remaining relays are more competitive.