Olympic 50k cross country ski changed to 28k due to weather

Russia strategy paying off... with the "ban" they get more athletes in race, 4 Russians in Top 5

Russian systemic doping FTW. Putin laughs.

Certainly Klaebo is better than Bolshunov in the sprints, but I don't think this course reduction was enough to tip the scales. However, it seems to me that Klaebo peaked for the WC circuit and the Tour de Ski, and was tired and a bit burned out for this Olympics. Perhaps true of the rest of the Norge team as well. For their part, the Russian XC skiers prepared well for the Olympics and delivered.

Kruger wasn't available earlier due to COVID (I don't recall whether is was an infection or an exposure requiring isolation.

Klaebo is no ulvang. Definitely no Daehle. Ghost1, you might like Jens Burman’s YouTube channel- entertaining and behind the scenes. Although, I don’t remember if it’s in Swedish or English.

You might want to review Ulvang’s career. Klaebo certainly stacks up to Dæhlie, even though I prefer to watch the old races. If you have a VPN or live in norway, i’d recommend ”Gutta På Tur.” It’s an adventure/cooking show w björn, vegard and two other guys. Burman subtitles his youtube in english. That’s one guy who would have prefered a 50km today (not that he would have performed any better in his shape).

I don’t think Klaebo et al are ”burned out” in a traditional sense. There is something funny w how Norway and Sweden have absolutely cratered in China. Russia, Finland (especially) have delivered above expectations. The conditions on and off the course at these olympics have really proved difficult for skiers who normally preform well. Very strange.. certainly could be drugs, but there are so many weird factors at play.

I saw him win the 50k at Holmenkollen in 1989 as well as ski the relay in Lillehammer. Maybe my own adulation swings the scale. Be honest however, do you really think Klaebo is of the same quality as ulvang snd dæhlie? Is this just my personal bias?

(I very much enjoy Hjeltnes contribution on GPT as well.)

Niskanen in the 15 classic was like watching monet paint a picture.

Ulvang was a favorite of mine for a long time, but his work at the FIS has kind of tarnished him in my eyes.. Klaebo wins a mass start; an individual start is too close to call. For me, norgwegian skiers are ranked thusly:

Northug, Alsgaard, Klaebo, Daelhie, Ulvang

I’d probably biased here too, and my knowledge really drops off before 1987 :) Like i said, i really love watching the old races on youtube..

Froode, I think we met at St Olavs Loppet with Team AK-Norway. Did Bolshunov change skis? That’s where Klaebo fell off. Yes postponing would have been better

I definitely feel that the Swedish males did not deliver in this Olympics and were many minutes behind where they should’ve been. A French commentator was saying the Swedes, paradoxically, don’t like cold weather. I don’t know if that was hogwash or whether it was real. You see guys like Spitsov and Musgrave (in past competitions),  racing without hats in -10 temperatures and they are really tough but you could tell that in this winter Olympics it was very cold because Spitsov, unusually, was wearing full headgear this time so it must’ve been really cold! Bolshunov is a beast on tough courses and so strong on the uphill sections. To be honest, I feel sorry for the Swedish team because they did not do as well as I would’ve thought. You Nordic experts, can you explain the difference to me between Norway, Sweden and Finland in terms of preparation and budget for Nordic skiing? Thank you. Personally, I get the feeling that Norway has the deepest pockets and the deepest concentration of technicians to take care of their Nordic ski teams. 

Fascinating stuff thank you. I love to hear Swedish people talk, and it sounds like a really up-and-down lilting language and reminds me in some ways of the Welsh language! 

I also found it very funny to see the way Burman made comments about the Chinese workmanship in the apartment with quickfix solutions which are not always ideal. I suffered from exactly the same thing during my three years in China teaching there. 

-18 C isnt even cold here in Upstate NY we see this all the time.

-18C isn’t too bad, but i think the wind made it tough. It was that cold for Ruka this fall. But there is nothing to block the wind there in China. When skiers get ”frost bite of the penis,” it’s pretty cold.

Probably done to give a team an advantage.

Let's be honest, if this was a road marathon, the race would have simply been cancelled. 

I'll see myself out.

Depends on if it's three hours of actually doing anything.

Track sprinters spend 3 hours at the track but only 10 minutes of it involves movement.

Klaebo had no chance of winning a distance race against Bolshunov. Noone did.

If it weren't for all the tricksy skating stuff (snowboard, ski aerials) the US would not be even close to competitive in the winter olympics. Even in hockey they are out.

surprising-I assumed that the wind was like 50 MPH or whiteout conditions....weather wasn't that bad considering that windchill was only -20-as you say the majority of the racers have trained for years in bad weather; I heard that a lot of them were prepared to do 50km and were disappointed with the decrease in distance--maybe since that is an average winter day in Alberta!

1992 Olympics were great with the vet Ulvang vs. the upstart Daehlie; Alsgaard was my favourite to watch-amazing one-skate technique!