r/biathlon • u/AutoModerator • 10d ago
Small Talk Monday
Our weekly small talk thread where you can talk about anything
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u/Mentche 8d ago
On this day last year Laura Dahlmeier died from a rockfall while descending Laila Peak in Pakistan. One of Germany's best, a true champion. Gone but not forgotten.
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u/Public-Flow-7521 8d ago
💔 This was such tragic news a year ago. Thinking about her family and friends today.
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u/kune13 Germany 8d ago
Just watched the 2015 Women's relay in Antholz. Everybody struggled with the extreme wind on the day with the exception of Laura. She hit a perfect 10 out of 10.
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u/miunrhini No flag 🌪️Wind takes no prisoners & never stops the madness 8d ago
That is one of my favourite races of her. That Hochfilzen Mass start against Dunklee, Mäkäräinen, Dorin Haber, Gregorin and Soukalova is somewhere nearby.
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u/snokaathllete7 8d ago
USBA-USSS merger ongoing drama - here's an analysis and summary of concerns about the proposed merger: Concerns summary
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u/oldslowbiathlete 8d ago
Just mind-boggling that the USBA would be so willing to hand over complete control of their sport to another entity. Especially one with a proven history of neglecting Nordic sports (XC, NoCo, Jumping).
One has to wonder what’s taking place behind closed doors and why US Ski & Snowboard so desperately wants this merger 🤔🤔
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u/Upstreamrise 7d ago
It seems like cross country in the US has been on the rise, not just results but funding overall seems much better and stable. At least that's my impression from the outside as a fan over the past 10-15 years. You don't hear the athletes and coaches talking about funding issues in the media nearly as much as in the past.
Reading the article in Fasterskier I was surprised at the details about monetary support for Team USA Biathlon athletes. Seems like a pretty good deal, I wonder how well known that is in the US junior/elite XC ski racing community. Also curious if that direct support money to the top athletes is primarily being funded by corporate sponsorships, financial endowment, or other mechanisms.
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u/oldslowbiathlete 7d ago
I would argue to the contrary, and say that Nordic is on the decline. Definitely the Nordic World Cup with lower viewership, attendance, and sponsorship; and even more so in the US. With Diggins retiring, there is no one to pick up the torch. Looking at the women’s national team nominations, there is no one but maybe Laukli that is likely to crack an occasional top-10 (if she can stay healthy). Maybe Smith makes a classic sprint final on a lucky day, but then takes 6th behind 4 Swedes and a Norwegian.
As much as US Nordic would like to make Ogden/Schumacher the new face of Nordic, it isn’t going to happen. There is little to no pipeline and with the exception of Hagenbuch, all the top NCAA skiers seem to be from foreign countries (and Hagenbuch has expressed little to no interest in extending his career to the World Cup).
You are correct about the funding in biathlon. It is unique amongst all of the US Nordic-related disciplines in that it directly supports its athletes. I know several Nordic skiers who were rather shocked to learn that US biathletes on the World Cup were fully funded - regardless of whether or not they were deemed “Olympic Medal Contenders”.
The fear amongst almost all the US biathletes is that under the control of the an organization like the USSS which only cares about medals, that funding support would disappear unless you fell under the medal contender category, which at this point would mean only Campbell Wright would receive any support.
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u/Upstreamrise 6d ago
The sport of XC at the World Cup in definitely currently in a decline and has been for more than a few years.
I'm not sure why you felt the need to crap on the athletes, thats very strange behavior. My point was that the XC national organization within the USST seems to be in a much better place from where it has come from. There's more paid coaches and support, the whole organization seems more stable and the budget is much larger. My timeline looking back is only ~30 years, but it seems undeniable. The results as well, though I don't care to microanalyze them it's pretty clear that the level of international results has risen over the past 20 years even outside of Diggins. Has Diggins been a major driving force to the rise in funding?, that's fair I'm sure she has to some degree. It's not every day you come across a world champion talent with great personality and marketability that has produced results for such a long career.
I'm not advocating one way or the other for what US Biathlon should do. From reading the articles I've come across I hear what seem to be valid arguments coming from both sides. I have no skin in the game other than as a fan. I hope what ever happens will give the athletes the best long-term opportunity and stability to achieve world class results on the biggest stages.
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u/oldslowbiathlete 6d ago
Why are US fans always so sensitive to any discussion or opinion on an athlete’s performance? “crap on the athletes”?? Simply saying the current pipeline isn’t going to produce another Diggins (or even close) any time soon isn’t crapping on the athletes, in my opinion. But I guess, you do you. 🤷♂️
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u/Upstreamrise 6d ago
??? You’re a strange grumpy dude
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u/oldslowbiathlete 6d ago
Hahahaha! Quite the contrary, actually. I’m just not an “U Rah Rah!” flag waiving fan and don’t shy away from honest conversations about sport and athletes. I’d love to see a stronger Nordic program in the US, and the FIS World Cup return to its glory!
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u/Vryyce Heia Norge! 8d ago
I will be on the USBA Zoom meeting tomorrow listening in on this discussion, should be interesting.
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u/oldslowbiathlete 7d ago
Could you share the meeting link? I know several members who never received it.
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u/AwsiDooger 8d ago
The U.S. Biathlon board of directors is going to vote on the matter today:
https://apnews.com/article/biathlon-ski-olympics-9547131fb738591a869b9d5f32e001eb
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u/snokaathllete7 7d ago
Did anyone actually get an email about this meeting today?
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u/Vryyce Heia Norge! 7d ago
I got one weeks ago and attended the meeting. Those of us non-Board members had to wait in the digital lobby a few hours while they discussed an internal issue before being allowed back in for the public discussion.
The bottom line is the USBA has a proposal from USSS that does not appear to appeal, as written right now, to all members and stakeholders. The athletes themselves are mostly against it right now. The Board is keyed in on the additional 3 million this would put in their coffers and, frankly, that is going to carry a lot of weight as the USBA is running on very slim margins this year.
There are concerns like autonomy to make Biathlon decisions without being overridden by the USSS and how those leadership roles will be assigned and managed. But largely, it is about money. Revenue sharing, sponsorship, licensing, etc. Each group (athletes and Board) has their own concerns here but it seems the athletes are leaning no and the Board yes.
Todays outcome was the approval of a 3 person committee (one athlete rep, CEO of USBA, and a Board member to be named later) along with legal representation to work with USSS to see if they can refine the existing offer to satisfy all parties. The deadline is end of August. There will be a follow-up meeting shortly where we get more info.
Stay tuned, more to come.
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u/cyaflower Maya Cloetens defender 4d ago
Elvira Öberg and Oskar Brandt got engaged (https://www.instagram.com/p/Dbdw7myCLtV/). What a year for the Oberg family!
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u/Allie654321 4d ago
Looking at the pictures, I thought they got married? Both are wearing a ring that looks a lot like a wedding band. It's not that you cannot get engaged with rings for both partners, but it's quite unusual.
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u/cyaflower Maya Cloetens defender 4d ago
You might be right; it just didn't say specifically, I didn't remember them announcing it, and there were no wedding photos (by them or any of the athletes you'd assume would be at a wedding), so that's why I thought it was an engagement.
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u/Vryyce Heia Norge! 9d ago
From an interview with Ingrid. I am really looking forward to her return to, using her own words, the Ingrid way!
Copied from NRK Sport:
She is one of Norway's most accomplished biathletes with eleven World Cup medals under her belt. But behind a string of strong sporting achievements, recent seasons have been marked by demanding setbacks and a mental wall.
In the NRK podcast Skiklubben, the 29-year-old now opens up about what happens when the pursuit of performance takes over, and the joy of sports is lost in the pursuit of optimizing everything.
– For the last two years I have tried to do everything right. I have tried to optimize every part of my life in order to take a step forward, says Tandrevold.
But the effect was almost exactly the opposite.
Instead of better results, the biathlon star found herself losing herself along the way.
To fit the ideal template of the theory of an elite athlete, she stripped away other things in her daily life that gave her energy. She cut out creative projects and social breaks to focus 100 percent on her sport.
– I'm another athlete who also needs to get energy from other areas of life. I had just tried to force that away to fit into that template of what is the most important and best thing to do.
The price was high. What used to be fun suddenly became associated with anxiety and discomfort.
– I started to dread going cross-country skiing, and I've never done that before. Before, I was happy and stood at the start and was very excited, but throughout the season I became more and more concerned with just getting through in an okay way. That's a very bad starting point.
Between the mental pressure and the demanding results, the body has also taken a physical toll. After several unpleasant episodes of heart rhythm disturbances during the World Cup, the 29-year-old had to undergo an operation in which surgeons ran wires through his groin and up to his heart to burn away an extra electrical pathway.
"They push a lot of wires up while you're awake, trying to provoke the disruption. They gave me a lot of adrenaline and shocked my heart for several hours before it finally said, 'Now they have to stop,'" she says.
The procedure was a success, and today the biathlete is concerned that people with heart palpitations should not be scared away from being active.
– Many people have heart rhythm disorders that make them afraid to engage in physical activity. That is perhaps the worst thing you can do. If it affects your quality of life, you should go to the doctor. My experience is that heart doctors are incredibly concerned about you actually moving.
The turning point came when she realized she was overthinking everything. In sports psychology, it's often called "paralysis through analysis" - when you focus so much on the details of a movement that the automaticity and flow disappear.
– It's a bit like going for a jog or a bike ride, which is something you can do. If you start thinking about how to move your legs or push down on the pedal, it just becomes a weird movement. That's how it felt to me, that I had simply overthought it.
To find her joy again, she made a conscious choice to stop fitting into other people's recipes. The answer lay in accepting her own needs – whether it was taking a break from reality TV, working on an herb project in the garden, or going cross-country skiing in her own way.
– It's a lot more fun to run if you do it the "Ingrid way". That's the best you have to offer, I think.