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Ski speed – First vs. second trimester

Posted on 2021-01-28 | by real biathlon

The season is already more than halfway over. Who managed to improve their ski form during the winter? In this post, I looked at changes in ski speed for World Cup trimester 1 compared to World Cup trimester 2 (November/December 2020 vs. January 2021). For patrons, I recently updated the comparisons bonus section – there you can compare all shooting and skiing stats on your own, not only season-to-season, but also by trimester now.


Note: Only athletes with at least 5 non-team races in trimester 1 and trimester 2 of the current season are included in the tables. “Back from Top30 median” is the percentage back from each race’s top 30 median Course Time (arithmetic mean per trimester).


Men

Surprise podium finisher Felix Leitner managed to improve his ski speed by roughly 1.3% compared to pre-Christmas races. Lukas Hofer improved by virtually the same amount, although he did so on a much higher level (he was the fourth-fastest skier overall for trimester 2). A lot has been made about Johannes Thingnes Bø not dominating as he did in previous seasons, however, his ski speed certainly isn’t to blame; he set the top course time in 5 out of 6 races in January!

Jakov Fak had a great start to his season (four top 10s in a row), but his ski speed is now trending in the wrong direction before the upcoming world championships in Pokljuka. Sebastian Samuelsson‘s speed has declined 1.4% post-Christmas, his average ski rank is 10.9 positions lower. Fabien Claude isn’t doing much better, he also has a ski rank now roughly ten places lower compared to World Cup trimester 1.

Changes in Ski Speed World Cup Trimester 1 vs. World Cup Trimester 2 | 2020–21 season

NoFamily NameGiven NameNationRacesSki Rank
(avg)
Changeback from
Top30 median
(in %)
Change
NoFamily NameGiven NameNationRacesSki Rank
(avg)
Changeback from
Top30 median
(in %)
Change
1LeitnerFelixAUT
619.8-16.6+0.71-1.29
2HoferLukasITA
66.2-7.2-1.51-1.26
3GuigonnatAntoninFRA
620.0-11.0+0.44-1.16
4EliseevMatveyRUS
518.8-17.0+1.07-1.07
5DollBenediktGER
612.5-3.5-0.92-0.92
6FinelloJeremySUI
518.4-9.2+0.26-0.90
7PeifferArndGER
611.5-6.5-0.73-0.90
8BoeJohannes ThingnesNOR
61.3-1.1-3.36-0.70
9DesthieuxSimonFRA
614.7-4.9-0.15-0.60
10EderSimonAUT
634.0-5.2+2.04-0.54
11Fillon MailletQuentinFRA
58.6-2.4-1.11-0.47
12LaegreidSturla HolmNOR
69.7-3.9-0.95-0.41
13KomatzDavidAUT
640.8-5.6+3.18-0.37
14LatypovEduardRUS
616.2-2.7+0.18-0.23
15DaleJohannesNOR
63.0-3.1-1.99-0.02
16JacquelinEmilienFRA
610.5+0.3-0.71+0.10
17BoeTarjeiNOR
66.0+1.4-1.55+0.23
18FakJakovSLO
623.2+3.2+0.71+0.25
19PonsiluomaMartinSWE
67.8+2.2-1.40+0.27
20RastorgujevsAndrejsLAT
522.8+2.2+0.82+0.32
21LesserErikGER
621.5+2.8+0.70+0.34
22WegerBenjaminSUI
624.8+4.6+0.98+0.39
23FemlingPeppeSWE
542.2-9.7+4.06+0.41
24BionazDidierITA
544.6+0.2+3.65+0.45
25ChristiansenVetle SjaastadNOR
518.2+4.9+0.11+0.74
26LoginovAlexanderRUS
521.2+7.5+0.52+0.77
27BocharnikovSergeyBLR
532.6+5.1+1.98+0.92
28ClaudeFabienFRA
619.8+9.6+0.39+1.07
29SamuelssonSebastianSWE
619.2+10.9+0.26+1.39


Women

Elena Kruchinkina, who set the fastest course time in the first Oberhof sprint (before that she never had a top 3 course time), is the most improved skier among regular female starters: 2.4% faster compared to December and her average ski rank is now 16.5 positions lower. Yuliia Dzhima and Svetlana Mironova come second and third, skiing 2.0% and 1.6% faster respectively. Two-time winner Julia Simon improved almost as much percentage-wise, but more importantly, she was the fourth-fastest skier in January.

Monika Hojnisz-Staręga is missing here, because she only appeared in three races in January, however, she would have topped the ranking, 3.4% faster than in trimester 1. Dorothea Wierer‘s skiing has improved slightly, but her average ski rank in January (16.8) is still way behind her average from last season (10.0). Elvira Öberg and Mona Brorsson have been struggling in recent races, both roughly 3% slower in January.

Changes in Ski Speed World Cup Trimester 1 vs. World Cup Trimester 2 | 2020–21 season

NoFamily NameGiven NameNationRacesSki Rank
(avg)
Changeback from
Top30 median
(in %)
Change
NoFamily NameGiven NameNationRacesSki Rank
(avg)
Changeback from
Top30 median
(in %)
Change
1KruchinkinaElenaBLR
510.2-16.5-0.84-2.39
2DzhimaYuliiaUKR
523.0-18.6+0.81-1.96
3MironovaSvetlanaRUS
612.2-13.3-0.57-1.59
4SimonJuliaFRA
66.5-12.8-1.57-1.42
5HettichJaninaGER
627.5-15.3+1.62-1.32
6HinzVanessaGER
530.8-14.2+1.88-1.15
7KaishevaUlianaRUS
625.8-13.3+1.55-1.02
8VittozziLisaITA
521.2-10.2+0.95-0.88
9HerrmannDeniseGER
64.2-4.2-1.90-0.65
10ZdoucDunjaAUT
636.2-15.4+3.16-0.55
11WiererDorotheaITA
616.8-4.3+0.11-0.49
12EckhoffTirilNOR
62.3-3.2-2.38-0.44
13HauserLisa TheresaAUT
610.5-2.2-0.76-0.39
14PavlovaEvgeniyaRUS
524.4-5.1+1.09-0.35
15RoeiselandMarte OlsbuNOR
62.8-1.7-2.24-0.28
16DavidovaMarketaCZE
66.5-0.4-1.29+0.14
17PreussFranziskaGER
612.7+0.6-0.39+0.17
18LunderEmmaCAN
535.8-1.3+2.59+0.18
19BescondAnaisFRA
619.0+3.0+0.34+0.18
20PerssonLinnSWE
623.3+4.0+0.68+0.35
21AlimbekavaDzinaraBLR
615.7+1.4+0.12+0.46
22Braisaz-BouchetJustineFRA
67.8+2.1-1.03+0.59
23OebergHannaSWE
616.7+4.7-0.09+0.62
24Chevalier-BouchetAnaisFRA
613.2+5.7+0.08+1.23
25TandrevoldIngrid LandmarkNOR
520.0+12.9+0.58+1.86
26EganClareUSA
634.7+6.6+3.12+1.88
27KnottenKaroline OffigstadNOR
647.3+14.4+4.56+2.67
28OebergElviraSWE
624.5+17.8+1.25+2.89
29BrorssonMonaSWE
546.6+17.7+4.72+3.17

Overall, the Swedes arguably stand out the most, doing particularly poorly after Christmas – all of their regular starters declined in the new year (often by a lot). Alternatively, you could look at it the other way around: they simply outperformed, especially in Kontiolahti, and now regressed to a more normal level.

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  • New biathlon point system
  • Historic biathlon results create expectations. But what about points?
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  • Introducing W. E. I. S. E: the Win Expectancy Index based on Statistical Exploration, version 1

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