Saturday, December 6, 2008

La Clusaz Relay Predictions

In the mass-start skate races, I had Saarinen the podium, albeit on place lower than her actual finishing spot (second), but missed all of the men's podium finishers (Dario Cologna? Really?). I did put the oldest man in the field, Giorgio di Centa, in third, while he actually finished fourth, in the same time as the third-place finisher. That should count for something!

Relay predictions:
men's 4x10km
Norway I (Northug on anchor)
Sweden
Germany (whose team cannot suck as much as suggested by the individual race - no German in the top 10!)

women's 4x5km
Italy (three in the top 10 in the 15km)
Norway
Finland

3 comments:

Luke S said...

Germany could indeed suck that much...7th place, 1:44 back. Interestingly, neither Toby Angerer or Rene Sommerfelt were on the team today, as they opted for Franz Goering (young classic sprint specialist?) and Filbrich, then Reichelt and Teichmann.

Looks like it was another duel between Northug and Hellner, in which Northug came out on top again. Its good to see Soedergren back up and running so soon after his surgery, he carried my fantasy team last year and without the surgery I would have bid to the moon for him again this year.

Luke S said...

After a second look at the mens, the Russians sucked even more than the Germans, getting beat by former SSR Kazakhstan and a Czech team that was Bauer-less. I'll be doing this in a bit for the women, but for now its time to go SKIING.

Luke S said...

See, the Italian women just can't close out these relays. They always fade on the last leg. I remember watching the Gallivare relay and thinking that the Italian women distinctly lacked the "pop" of the Norwegians, Swedes, and Finns. To that end, Norway, Sweden and Russia closed hard in the last 5k, making up like 45 seconds on Italy.