They have a sprint event in cross country skiing but it’s still over 1 km and it is contested by cross country skiers who are all basically distance cross country skiers. There are no pure sprint events in cross country skiing but they call it a “sprint event” which is part of an event schedule for long distance skiers. This means that unlike speed skating, there are no pure sprint cross country skiers - they are all long distance skiers but some of them prefer the shorter events.
They have a sprint event in cross country skiing but it’s still over 1 km and it is contested by cross country skiers who are all basically distance cross country skiers. There are no pure sprint events in cross country skiing but they call it a “sprint event” which is part of an event schedule for long distance skiers. This means that unlike speed skating, there are no pure sprint cross country skiers - they are all long distance skiers but some of them prefer the shorter events.
Of course an event taking three minutes is not a pure sprint, but when the very same athletes are competing in a range of events up to almost three hours, it is mostly a semantic difference.
U.S. women were incredible: Diggins 2nd (passed out at finish), Brennan 6th (5sec out of 3rd), Laukli 15th, McCabe 18th (only age 20, her mom was 2x Olympian). The best U.S. team finish in a mass start in history!
UPDATE: I'm pretty sure that if you score all four, USA DEFEATS Norway for the team title 41-48!!! That is like the U.S. defeating Kenya in World Cross!!
They have a sprint event in cross country skiing but it’s still over 1 km and it is contested by cross country skiers who are all basically distance cross country skiers. There are no pure sprint events in cross country skiing but they call it a “sprint event” which is part of an event schedule for long distance skiers. This means that unlike speed skating, there are no pure sprint cross country skiers - they are all long distance skiers but some of them prefer the shorter events.
Of course an event taking three minutes is not a pure sprint, but when the very same athletes are competing in a range of events up to almost three hours, it is mostly a semantic difference.
30k XC-ski does not take 3 hours. Not even close.
The sprint consists of several races on the same day. First prologue, then quarter final, semi final and the final. This makes it an endurance event, I guess
Jessie Diggins of the US just got a silver in the 30k, to go along with her bronze in the sprint (3 minute event).
I was about to say this couldn't happen in track but Sifan Hassan could do it.
Sprint is 3minutes * 4 times in one day( with hills) so I would say it's more like 3k for running
30 k is less than 1.5 hours, and it's easier than 1.5 hours, because you can relax on downhills, and on flat it's easier than running so I would say it's like half marathon in running.
And many runners can run well both this events. Especially because in ski it's not such big specialisation on one distance, but everyone tries to run all distances to be high in world cup.
5 of the 8 US gold medals are in snowboard and freestyle skiing. Skateboarding on the snow. Make sure an grab your board or you lose boocoo points dude!
Why isn't THIS in the winter olympics? This is a sport. Climb up some ice:
It's fairly common in nordic skiing. Look at the men's events this year. Bolshunov won silver in the 15km, gold in the 30lm, gold in the 50km, gold in the 4x10 relay, and bronze in the team sprint. At the previous Olympics Bjorgen won Bronze in the sprint freestyle relay and gold in the 4 x 5km relay, plus gold in the 30km, silver in the 15km, and bronze in the 10km. If you can ski well, you can ski well.
Jessie Diggins of the US just got a silver in the 30k, to go along with her bronze in the sprint (3 minute event).
I was about to say this couldn't happen in track but Sifan Hassan could do it.
Sprint is 3minutes * 4 times in one day( with hills) so I would say it's more like 3k for running
30 k is less than 1.5 hours, and it's easier than 1.5 hours, because you can relax on downhills, and on flat it's easier than running so I would say it's like half marathon in running.
And many runners can run well both this events. Especially because in ski it's not such big specialisation on one distance, but everyone tries to run all distances to be high in world cup.
Thanks for the primer. I just realized that the women ALWAYS do 30K, and today was not an exception as it was for the men yesterday.
Having said that, what do you think of the USA winning a team scoring for this event as I posted above? Seems unprecendented
Sprint is 3minutes * 4 times in one day( with hills) so I would say it's more like 3k for running
30 k is less than 1.5 hours, and it's easier than 1.5 hours, because you can relax on downhills, and on flat it's easier than running so I would say it's like half marathon in running.
And many runners can run well both this events. Especially because in ski it's not such big specialisation on one distance, but everyone tries to run all distances to be high in world cup.
I agree with your first and last paragraph, but disagree with the middle. It's not easier because of the downhills - that just means you have to go harder/anaerobic on the uphills.
Amazing race for Diggins. Conditions were brutal with temps in single digits (Farenheit) and howling winds which must have made for below zero wind chill. Diggins finished with frozen snot and slobber all over her face. She collapsed at the finish line and required assistance from race officials to get to the recovery rooms. Truly epic! Congrats also have to go to Norwegian Therese Johaug who dominated with almost a two minute victory over Diggins and three minutes over the rest of the field. Note that Johaug is a 15 min 5K/ 32 min 10K runner.
Jessie Diggins of the US just got a silver in the 30k, to go along with her bronze in the sprint (3 minute event).
I was about to say this couldn't happen in track but Sifan Hassan could do it.
Stillwater Area High School. Someone on here must have gone to high school with her. About 1/3 of MN high schools have Nordic skiing as a competitive sport.
Skiing at this level might be more comparable to cycling than running. To win you have to be able to stay in the pack until the finish and then you have to be able to finish faster than the rest of the pack.
The pack tends to separate on the climbs, so there are periods of intense (VO2max) levels of effort to stay in the lead group with the opportunity to recover on the downhills and with a significant drafting benefit/cost if one stays or does not stay in the group.
So mostly it's the sprinters who have the advantage on the flat finish. An athlete who is not a particularly strong finisher would want to try to get separation before the finish and hope to hold on.
Sprint is 3minutes * 4 times in one day( with hills) so I would say it's more like 3k for running
30 k is less than 1.5 hours, and it's easier than 1.5 hours, because you can relax on downhills, and on flat it's easier than running so I would say it's like half marathon in running.
And many runners can run well both this events. Especially because in ski it's not such big specialisation on one distance, but everyone tries to run all distances to be high in world cup.
Thanks for the primer. I just realized that the women ALWAYS do 30K, and today was not an exception as it was for the men yesterday.
Having said that, what do you think of the USA winning a team scoring for this event as I posted above? Seems unprecendented
They have a sprint event in cross country skiing but it’s still over 1 km and it is contested by cross country skiers who are all basically distance cross country skiers. There are no pure sprint events in cross country skiing but they call it a “sprint event” which is part of an event schedule for long distance skiers. This means that unlike speed skating, there are no pure sprint cross country skiers - they are all long distance skiers but some of them prefer the shorter events.
Of course an event taking three minutes is not a pure sprint, but when the very same athletes are competing in a range of events up to almost three hours, it is mostly a semantic difference.
Setting aside that you're wrong about the details of both events, his point wasn't that there are no "pure sprint" skiers in the sense of people who specialize in a nonexistent 10-40 second event. The point is that there are no skiers who truly specialize in the nordic sprint event. To be a professional nordic skier, you have to be an all-arounder. There could theoretically be athletes who have an ideal muscle fiber distribution for the nordic sprint event, but they aren't competing at an elite level because there's no career for them if they can't do distance.
It's a little bit like how the top cycling sprinters in a grand tour don't hold a candle to top track sprinters. The green jersey isn't an award for the best sprinter; it's an award for the best sprinter who can also survive the tour.
Stillwater Area High School. Someone on here must have gone to high school with her. About 1/3 of MN high schools have Nordic skiing as a competitive sport.
Ben Blankenship was a few year older at the same high school.
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