Category: XCFeeds

They aren’t what stat-heads like myself would choose to do “serious” stuff, but World Cup points are what makes the XC world go round.  FIS provides a few tools for looking up athlete’s WC points here and here.  They’re pretty decent, by their standards, allowing you to switch between Overall, Distance and Sprint points, filter by nation, season, etc.

That’s pretty cool, but we can do better.  You know those PDF reports that FIS issues after each race, tracking the WC points for each athlete and each race?  Yeah, putting that data in a PDF is like locking it away in a hermetically sealed chamber guarded by feral dragons on crack.  Less cool.

As a modest public service, I’m aiming to make this data more available.  Later today there will be a link over on the right that will take you to a Google spreadsheet that mimics the PDF reports that FIS publishes.  I have it set so that anyone with the link can view it and download it in various formats to put it in your own spreadsheet application of choice (or any other application if you prefer).  Then you can mess around with it on your own!

Here’s a simple visualization of the total WC points so far this season, showing only those athletes with at least 30 total WC points:

Related posts:

1. <A New Sprint Points Method
2. <Distributed Sprint Points
3. <Week In Review: Friday Oct 22nd

Beautiful Bled!

Hello from Slovenia! We arrived in Bled Monday afternoon and have been enjoying some sun and great skiing up at the venue in Pokljuka. Things got underway for the final pre-Christmas World Cup yesterday with the Individual races. Watching the men’s race before we left the hotel left me a little nervous. Many of the best men in the field had terrible days on the range. Our men were no exception, with the best shooting coming from Lowell Bailey with 5 penalties-not what you normally see in an Individual style race were each miss adds one minute to your time. The wind had been switching around a lot, and though some athletes were lucky enough to best the conditions and walk away with only a few penalties, not one man hit all 20 targets-nearly unheard of for this caliber field in this type of race.

Luckily, when we arrived at the stadium (a windy 30 minute drive from our hotel- thank you Bogus Basin for preparing me well to deal with winding roads to races and training!) the wind had settled a bit and was more consistent. There was still some gusting, though, and some swirling wind you had to be aware of especially in prone. I went off early with the top group of starters, which meant I had some great people to try and stick with and was able to see the level of where I need to be to win medals. It was tough to be passed by these girls, but I looked at it as motivating to see how long I could stay with them and where they would gain time on me-letting me know what I needed to work on. But the Individual race is usually won and lost on the range, and I was confident about my ability. With only one penalty, coming in the third stage in prone position, I knew I could have a solid day. As is my usual style, I had a great last loop after cleaning my final standing stage, and ended up placing 21st.

In less than a week I’ve managed two personal bests with two top-30 results. It’s really motivating to be shooting so well and see my skiing improve each week. And the Pokljuka venue is beautiful, so no better place to have some solid results!

In the ski room post-race, and very happy with my 21st!

This weekend is the final two races before we break for the holidays. Sprint race on Saturday and a Mixed Relay on Sunday (featuring 2 women and 2 men it’s a really fun event). I’m looking forward to the races; knowing we have a nice break afterward allows you to really push through the weekend. Then I’ll be off to Italy for some relaxation, training and sun! I’m already heading in to Christmas with more World Cup points than my total from all previous years, which makes me very excited for the rest of the season…things have hardly begun!

Beautiful Bled!

Hello from Slovenia! We arrived in Bled Monday afternoon and have been enjoying some sun and great skiing up at the venue in Pokljuka. Things got underway for the final pre-Christmas World Cup yesterday with the Individual races. Watching the men’s race before we left the hotel left me a little nervous. Many of the best men in the field had terrible days on the range. Our men were no exception, with the best shooting coming from Lowell Bailey with 5 penalties-not what you normally see in an Individual style race were each miss adds one minute to your time. The wind had been switching around a lot, and though some athletes were lucky enough to best the conditions and walk away with only a few penalties, not one man hit all 20 targets-nearly unheard of for this caliber field in this type of race.

Luckily, when we arrived at the stadium (a windy 30 minute drive from our hotel- thank you Bogus Basin for preparing me well to deal with winding roads to races and training!) the wind had settled a bit and was more consistent. There was still some gusting, though, and some swirling wind you had to be aware of especially in prone. I went off early with the top group of starters, which meant I had some great people to try and stick with and was able to see the level of where I need to be to win medals. It was tough to be passed by these girls, but I looked at it as motivating to see how long I could stay with them and where they would gain time on me-letting me know what I needed to work on. But the Individual race is usually won and lost on the range, and I was confident about my ability. With only one penalty, coming in the third stage in prone position, I knew I could have a solid day. As is my usual style, I had a great last loop after cleaning my final standing stage, and ended up placing 21st.

In less than a week I’ve managed two personal bests with two top-30 results. It’s really motivating to be shooting so well and see my skiing improve each week. And the Pokljuka venue is beautiful, so no better place to have some solid results!

In the ski room post-race, and very happy with my 21st!

This weekend is the final two races before we break for the holidays. Sprint race on Saturday and a Mixed Relay on Sunday (featuring 2 women and 2 men it’s a really fun event). I’m looking forward to the races; knowing we have a nice break afterward allows you to really push through the weekend. Then I’ll be off to Italy for some relaxation, training and sun! I’m already heading in to Christmas with more World Cup points than my total from all previous years, which makes me very excited for the rest of the season…things have hardly begun!

Beautiful Bled!

Hello from Slovenia! We arrived in Bled Monday afternoon and have been enjoying some sun and great skiing up at the venue in Pokljuka. Things got underway for the final pre-Christmas World Cup yesterday with the Individual races. Watching the men’s race before we left the hotel left me a little nervous. Many of the best men in the field had terrible days on the range. Our men were no exception, with the best shooting coming from Lowell Bailey with 5 penalties-not what you normally see in an Individual style race were each miss adds one minute to your time. The wind had been switching around a lot, and though some athletes were lucky enough to best the conditions and walk away with only a few penalties, not one man hit all 20 targets-nearly unheard of for this caliber field in this type of race.

Luckily, when we arrived at the stadium (a windy 30 minute drive from our hotel- thank you Bogus Basin for preparing me well to deal with winding roads to races and training!) the wind had settled a bit and was more consistent. There was still some gusting, though, and some swirling wind you had to be aware of especially in prone. I went off early with the top group of starters, which meant I had some great people to try and stick with and was able to see the level of where I need to be to win medals. It was tough to be passed by these girls, but I looked at it as motivating to see how long I could stay with them and where they would gain time on me-letting me know what I needed to work on. But the Individual race is usually won and lost on the range, and I was confident about my ability. With only one penalty, coming in the third stage in prone position, I knew I could have a solid day. As is my usual style, I had a great last loop after cleaning my final standing stage, and ended up placing 21st.

In less than a week I’ve managed two personal bests with two top-30 results. It’s really motivating to be shooting so well and see my skiing improve each week. And the Pokljuka venue is beautiful, so no better place to have some solid results!

In the ski room post-race, and very happy with my 21st!

This weekend is the final two races before we break for the holidays. Sprint race on Saturday and a Mixed Relay on Sunday (featuring 2 women and 2 men it’s a really fun event). I’m looking forward to the races; knowing we have a nice break afterward allows you to really push through the weekend. Then I’ll be off to Italy for some relaxation, training and sun! I’m already heading in to Christmas with more World Cup points than my total from all previous years, which makes me very excited for the rest of the season…things have hardly begun!

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a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TQqQ1-DBLLI/AAAAAAAAFoA/hDyaBKmnESg/s1600/IMG_0207.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TQqQ1-DBLLI/AAAAAAAAFoA/hDyaBKmnESg/s400/IMG_0207.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551408747550682290″ //aThe other night we had a “yankee swap”. Everyone picked out a silly present ($5 limit), wrapped it and put it under the tree. We then picked numbers which gave us our picking order. There was a slight twist…if a later # person liked a present that had already been picked, they could swap their unopened present for it. It was good fun for all.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TQqQmfJbtDI/AAAAAAAAFn4/UJMfh-Cj5Xw/s1600/IMG_0208.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TQqQmfJbtDI/AAAAAAAAFn4/UJMfh-Cj5Xw/s400/IMG_0208.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551408481558049842″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TQqQZ6yNInI/AAAAAAAAFnw/I8lFDs8rbyk/s1600/IMG_0217.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TQqQZ6yNInI/AAAAAAAAFnw/I8lFDs8rbyk/s400/IMG_0217.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551408265638519410″ //aWho is that?br /Yesterday we had a classic sprint practice in a snowstorm. We had 2 prelim rounds followed by two heats. The practice reminded us of how tough sprint days are for the skiers who work their way through the heats.br /Today was cold, but spectacular. click on any of the pictures to enlarge them.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TQqQGVkL-7I/AAAAAAAAFno/tgb9vVGufYg/s1600/IMG_0229.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TQqQGVkL-7I/AAAAAAAAFno/tgb9vVGufYg/s400/IMG_0229.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551407929230097330″ //aThis is part of the main lodge at the cross country center. br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TQqPmNj2bHI/AAAAAAAAFng/raVZUTILSGQ/s1600/IMG_0230.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TQqPmNj2bHI/AAAAAAAAFng/raVZUTILSGQ/s400/IMG_0230.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551407377325386866″ //aClear, cool, bluebird sky and 6″ of perfectly groomed fresh powder. Not a bad day for our last ski here.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TQqPPnnHs-I/AAAAAAAAFnY/LE8Tr2VjgpU/s1600/IMG_0234.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TQqPPnnHs-I/AAAAAAAAFnY/LE8Tr2VjgpU/s400/IMG_0234.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551406989181432802″ //aWe spent this morning dialing in our kick zones and then taking a classic tour.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TQqPDl4YPhI/AAAAAAAAFnQ/R3CLamPEeHo/s1600/IMG_0236.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TQqPDl4YPhI/AAAAAAAAFnQ/R3CLamPEeHo/s400/IMG_0236.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551406782558518802″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TQqOzORbqfI/AAAAAAAAFnI/gs0izYO-46E/s1600/IMG_0239.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 246px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TQqOzORbqfI/AAAAAAAAFnI/gs0izYO-46E/s400/IMG_0239.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551406501343242738″ //aTeam picture day :)br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TQqOfX20ubI/AAAAAAAAFnA/n7sJxZv6KyQ/s1600/IMG_0249.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TQqOfX20ubI/AAAAAAAAFnA/n7sJxZv6KyQ/s400/IMG_0249.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551406160318609842″ //aLes filles.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TQqOQPUGuxI/AAAAAAAAFm4/G1MA2AbPOlc/s1600/IMG_0254.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TQqOQPUGuxI/AAAAAAAAFm4/G1MA2AbPOlc/s400/IMG_0254.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551405900327467794″ //aLes garcons.br /Tomorrow we head to Craftsbury and the race season begins in earnest.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-2529175918384881940?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

Great day for Sara Studebaker in 21st!  The results look a little shook up on the men’s side, as well as the women’s to some degree.  Lowell Bailey had a decent result despite some dodgy shooting.

Related posts:

1. <Race Snapshot: IBU World Cup 1 Women
2. <Race Snapshot: IBU WC 1 Women’s Sprint
3. <Race Snapshot: IBU WC 2 Sprint

So US coach Chris Grover mentioned to FasterSkier.com that he thought that when Kikkan Randall qualifies in the top ten that’s a really good sign that she has a good chance to make the finals.

I did this once before with an interesting quote of his, and I feel kind of bad.  I’m not trying to pick on him, but this is such an obvious thing to check with some actual data, I just can’t pass it up.

Here’s Randall’s qualification and final ranks for WC, WSC and OWG sprint races:

I’ve highlighted the top ten in qualification (vertical red rectangle) and the top six (horizontal red rectangle).

This is a classic conditional probability question.  Given that Randall qualifies in the top ten, what’s the probability that she makes the final?  As far as I can tell the answer is 7/11 or around 63%.  (If you try counting the dots yourself, you won’t get these numbers, as there is some over-plotting going here.)

This is a really small sample size, so I would be loath to conclude here that Grover is right, statistically speaking.  The good news (for Grover!) is that I can’t really conclude that he’s wrong either.  On the other hand, every time (all 11 of them) Randall qualified in the top ten, she eventually made the semis (versus the 6 times she made the semis w/out qualifying in the top 10), which is about the same at around 64%.  Now the sample size is a tad bigger, so maybe Grover’s on to something here, as long as we interpret “making the semis” as “having a good chance to make the finals”, which seems fairly reasonable to me.

Just for comparison, here’s the same plot for Andrew Newell, whose qualification/heats tendencies are a subject of much debate:

Related posts:

1. <USST Preview: Kikkan Randall
2. <Assessing The Weekend’s Races: Sprint
3. <Düsseldorf Sprint Recap

After five weeks of practicing my rough Norwegian, eating brown cheese daily, along with a journey north of the Arctic Circle to Rovaniemi Finland, along with a trip for a little city sprint action in Dusseldorf, it’s been nice to get back to the Northwest. Along with getting in a couple kilometers on the old familiar trails of Leavenworth, I dropped into Mr. Peck’s class and caught up with Mr. Peck’s class before heading a little farther North to the Methow Valley. Up here. I’m getting back in touch with the seventh and eighth graders in Mrs. Beavon’s AVID class that looks to close the achievement gap of these talented and inspired, though sometimes sidetracked students. It’s pretty cool to see how much progress the kids have made in class here. Also out the door here the snow is piled high, almost reaching the windowsills of my little cabin in the woods.