Ryshrinkst

The sprint fields were teeny, but at least that fact helped me pick all six of the racers who made the podiums. Sure, I only picked one of the spots exactly right (Kriukov in third) and exaggerated Kowalczyk's prowess, but who's counting? (I did 33% better than our Canadian friend!)

I ended my sprint-prediction post with a hope that the pursuit fields would be "bigger and/or better," perhaps as some sprinters tried the longer race. As my co-blogger sometimes tweets, "Hahahahaha!"

Ladies and gentlemen, there are only 29 men on the start list for the 30k pursuit (at least half of whom we can consider C-list racers) and only 25 women on the start list for the 15k pursuit (ditto). These intimate affairs will use the usual brutal up-and-down 3.75k loops, which means that, as in the past few years, the finishes will be ridiculous sprints. In the odd-distance mass starts that replaced the scheduled pursuits last year, for instance, Longa won the 10k with next nine women inside four seconds and Angerer won the 15k with the next sixteen men inside five seconds.

My picks, then:

men's 30k pursuit

1. Shiriaev

2. Rotchev

3. Sommerfeldt

It would be great to see the Canadians Nishikawa and McMurtry in the top 10.

women's 15k pursuit

1. Medvedeva

2. Nystad

3. Tchekaleva