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{ Monthly Archives } June 2010

Podium Heartbreak

Watching Devon Kershaw’s (CAN) amazing race in the Olympic 50k this past season was both thrilling and a bit heartbreaking.  There’s something of a reality distortion field that takes hold when the Olympics roll around that elevate the top three positions in a cross-country race to near mythic levels. This is at least slightly bizarre, […]

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FIS Scheduling Follies

I see on FasterSkier the news that there is already some angst regarding the FIS World Cup race calendar for next season. I have two things say on this topic that takes the form of two graphs…

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Victims & Nemeses: Kris Freeman

This whole victims and nemeses thing is entertaining up to a point, but the most interesting about it is that it sometimes leads me to comparisons and graphs that I wouldn’t have thought of looking at otherwise.  That’s what happened when I sat down today intending to dash off something quick about Kris Freeman’s victims […]

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EqPB: Test Run

Last week I ranted a bit about the inadequacies of F-factors[1. The scaling factor FIS uses to adjust FIS points depending on whether the race was an interval or mass start.].  We looked at the results from interval vs. mass start races and determined that they do indeed produce different distributions of percent back’s (PB’s). […]

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Week In Review: June 25th

The Statistical Wife and I are getting pumped for the USA-Ghana game tomorrow.  Whatever World Cup team you’re partial to (after the USA, I confess to having a soft spot for Holland), here’s a recap of what’s been going on here at Statistical Skier this week.  A little light reading between soccer games, perhaps… I […]

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Dopers – Update

Last week I looked at the distance race results of some skiers who had been caught using performance enhancing drugs.  A commenter wondered if I could show some data for “suspected dopers” as well. Honestly, I was a bit reluctant to do that.  I mean, as much as I hate doping, the negative consequences of […]

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Career Retrospective: Sara Renner

Next up in our retiring skier series is Sara Renner.  Renner (CAN) retired this past season after competing internationally for around 16 years.  She earned a Gold Silver medal at the Turin games in the Team Sprint event with Beckie Scott, but wasn’t quite as fortunate in individual events. (Update: Sorry for the typo!) However, along […]

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