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Rudi Riet

AKA songfta AKA randomduck - a USSS coach, as well
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Noel didn't hike but he slid out on his inside ski on the third gate and dumped every bit of speed early on.

The earliest runners had to contend with a bit of fog on the upper half of the course. It didn't seem to affect Schwarz, who used his premium start position to perfect effect.

Of note: no USST athletes made the flip. Winters was the closest but even he couldn't best Noel who lost over 2 seconds due to his error but skied relatively fast for the remainder. And one USST athlete was beaten by a member of the never-say-die Simari-Birkner family from Argentina. Oh well....
 

James

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Wow, Noel smoked that second run, beating HK by over 1.5 secs.
Nordbotten, former Ncaa skier, was #2 second run.
IMG_6861.jpg

 

hbear

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Yes but a huge error for HK which contributed to some of that time difference.
 

James

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Yes but a huge error for HK which contributed to some of that time difference.
Well if not for Noel's enormous error in run 1, he would've won. Perhaps. He was 2.45 sec behind HK after the first run and just made the flip. If Schwarz didn't ski out... who knows.
 

Moose32

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Henrik knows this well. His first WC win ever (Tuesday, January 28, 2014) was same situation. An Austrian in start house after leading run 1. HK at bottom with lead in Schladming.

 
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4ster

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After his near miss at the top I figured a naked lady had streaked through the finish line when I saw HK’s leading time ;) .

HK crushed the pitch & bottom of that course.
A lotta woulda, shoulda, could’ves but some great skiing from the top 8.
Very different conditions from Kitz.
 
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Johnny Style

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Wow, HK almost kisses the snow, is later skiing powder in the rough, and still wins! That was an amazing race. Too bad Schwartz cracked under the pressure.

I watched the British Eurosport feed (thanks Olympic channel) and they commented on how hated HK is in Austria. They remarked that he is often teased by the crowds and is the target of snowball attacks.

During his post race interview HK remarked how he lives ten minutes from the venue and considers this his home race. He then repeated the interview in German. He was trying hard to endear himself to the crowd.

Linus Strasser later congratulated HK but joked that he may have made fifty new fans. I had no clue HK was such a villain in Austria.
 

Johnny Style

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I forgot about the streaker. I’m glad the backup timing system worked because that dude got first place because of the streaker.
 

James

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I forgot about the streaker. I’m glad the backup timing system worked because that dude got first place because of the streaker.
Interesting problem of someone going through the finish before the racer.
I guess they would have to use the hand timing or estimate by video. The backup timing is mounted on the same pole.
 

Johnny Style

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Nick Fellows of Eurosport mentioned the backup timing system, but I think you are correct, I have no clue how they figured it out. It’s always enjoyable listening to Eurosport broadcasts, it’s a shame the Olympic channel didn’t show The Schladming race. It’s my favorite of the year.
 

Rudi Riet

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Interesting problem of someone going through the finish before the racer.
I guess they would have to use the hand timing or estimate by video. The backup timing is mounted on the same pole.

It's all on the timing crew. They keep their eyes on the finish line and can null out a false crossing.

But they aren't foolproof, and backing up the timing beams is the hand timing crew.

That said, with this incident the timing crew at the finish likely was able to cope with the KB fan and still allow the regular timing to work as normal. It's what these folks train to do, especially at the World Cup level.
 

BrianB

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Crazy 2nd run, not only because of the streaker which was somewhat, very, surreal (announcer in the video posted by 4ster "das ist doof") to see at a ski race, although probably there is a lot of drinking, but also Noel almost getting the podium from position 30, Kristofferson with a huge mistake early in the second run and then pulling back seven tenths or so on Pinturault, plus Schwarz (serious bummer) going out. For a split second in Noel's first run right after his mistake it looked to me like he was not going to continue. Bet he didn't think he would make the flip.
 

Primoz

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Just got info men WC races in China (Yanqing) are canceled due 2019-CoV. I still think whole mass hysteria because of this virus is complete BS, but I actually understand that races are canceled. With all this panic, one guy on tour gets fewer, maybe even because of normal flue, and whole WC tour is put in quarantine, and I don't think anyone wants to try something like that.
 

Primoz

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Well if not for Noel's enormous error in run 1, he would've won. Perhaps. He was 2.45 sec behind HK after the first run and just made the flip. If Schwarz didn't ski out... who knows.
It's impossible to say. If Noel would have clean first run, he wouldn't be skiing first in second run, so course would be different. Also mental state is different when you need to defend good position after first run, then when you can throw yourself down without any consequences, as placing 25th or going out is same thing. Placing 5th or going out is not same thing. So it's actually impossible to tell, that Noel would win without that mistake in 1st run. Sure if you count his 2nd run time just like that, and remove that mistake, then sure, he would win, but I would dare to bet, his second run would be (at least) 1sec slower if he would start 28th in second run.
So Kristoffersen won and there's no ifs in this. He actually had pretty amazing second run for me, except for that thing on top, and as time says, he had best 2 runs together from all of them.
For Schwarz.... I would actually dare to bet he wouldn't finish top3 even if he would make it down without mistake. Schladming is a bit special race, especially for Austrians, and leading after first run... you need to be Hirscher to go easy into that ;) I have been there I have no idea how many times (managed to avoid it yesterday :D), yet I still get goose bumps every single time I stand on track there... and I don't even need to race :D When you have 80.000 screaming and shouting (and drunk) people there next to track, just meter or two away from you, and they are from finish line all the way to top of the hill, it's just insane. For me that's really the most amazing race on tour, way better then Kitz. Now imagine it's your home crowd, you actually race, not just stand on course, you are leading after first run, and every single one of those 80.000 people expects you to win. I guess it's at least sort of clear, how much pressure it was on Schwarz yesterday. And in my mind, it's no way he would stand it... well we saw he didn't.
 
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4ster

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It's impossible to say. If Noel would have clean first run, he wouldn't be skiing first in second run, so course would be different. Also mental state is different when you need to defend good position after first run, then when you can throw yourself down without any consequences, as placing 25th or going out is same thing
^This
like I said lots of woulda, shoulda, coulda. :huh:
 

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