As we would expect, a late in the Tour mass start race with a reduced field results in some unusual FIS points. Â I’ve adjusted them, as before, using Equivalent Percent Back but ultimately races like todays are simply a different animal so we should be cautious about making comparisons. Â Still, things shake out more as […]
Also tagged classic, race snapshot, tour de ski, World CupIf you’ve ever wondered why I haven’t attempted more statistical machinations to predict race results, today’s races are an example of why I haven’t. Â Actually, I’ve spent a fair bit of time trying to build some models that will predict performance, but what I’ve learned is that skiers are too variable for reasonably simple models […]
Also tagged eqpb, pursuit, race snapshot, tour de ski, World CupJust as I did yesterday, let’s take a closer look at the results form Saturday’s World Cup mass start race in La Clusaz, France, this time focusing on the North Americans. Â As I discussed yesterday, we’re going to use percent-back difference plots from mass start or pursuit races to evaluate each skier’s race, since the […]
Also tagged Distance, freestyle, la clusaz, recap, USA, women, World CupPicking up from my post yesterday, we’ll move on to Kris Freeman: Freeman told FasterSkier that blood sugar issues weren’t a problem, but that he simply didn’t have a great race on Saturday. Â Well, it’s quite clear from this percent-back difference plot what happens when he does have blood sugar problems, as he did last […]
Also tagged Distance, freestyle, la clusaz, men, recap, World CupSaturday was the first long mass start race of the World Cup season in La Clusaz, France, and along with mass start races come difficulties in measuring performance in a sensible manner. Â The women’s field didn’t help matters by having the top three ski away from the field. So you end up with some odd […]
Also tagged curdin perl, daniel rickardsson, Distance, freestyle, la clusaz, men, recap, riitta-liisa roponen, therese johaug, women, World CupI think there were high hopes for Kris Freeman in today’s 30km, particularly after yesterdays monster article in FasterSkier, but I still suspect he’s likely to do better in 15km events. Â Still, not a terrible race for him at all, and a good day all around for the North Americans. Â Once again, though, the women’s […]
Also tagged Distance, freestyle, la clusaz, race snapshot, World CupThe connection is pretty obvious, actually. Â Both are mass start races that involve switching activities at least once during the race. Â The change in activities is certainly more extreme in triathlon, but you get my drift. Some people (like, say, me) complain on occasion that pursuit races in cross-country skiing place too great an emphasis […]
Also tagged pursuits, R, triathlon