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From the FasterSkier archive — posts syndicated from athletes’ and coaches’ own blogs between 2004 and 2012, kept online as published. Current coverage is at fasterskier.com.

Tag: Rene Sommerfeldt

  • Can Bjørgen Repeat Her Dominant Performance?

    Marit Bjørgen pretty much wiped the floor with folks last year in distance events:

    As a stats guy, when I see extreme events I tend not to expect them to repeat themselves. The general principle here is called regression to the mean. Extreme events are just unlikely, so it doesn’t make sense to expect them to happen repeatedly. From a numbers perspective, Bjørgen’s season was pretty much unrivaled, so if I were a betting man I’d wager that she won’t be as dominant next year.

    At the very least, I wouldn’t expect her to win by a consistently large margins over the field, even if she actually wins nearly as many races. But you never know!

    When people have had extremely good seasons in the past, sometimes they can sustain is for a few years in a row, other times not. For example, here are some examples of some men who had a strong season but weren’t really able to sustain that level:

    Fredriksson’s 2003 campaign is the most obvious example here. Sommerfeldt had great seasons in 2003 (second place in the WC overall) and 2004 (first place) but couldn’t sustain his 2004 performance. Similarly, Bauer had an amazing season in 2008.

    Two examples of people who managed to sustain some level of dominance for more than a year or two were Björn Dæhlie and Vladimir Smirnov:

    These guys were already pretty much top of the heap, but each seemed to step things up for three consecutive seasons. Dæhlie for 1995-1997 and Smirnov for 1994-1996. Which pattern Bjørgen follows remains to be seen…

    Related posts:

    1. <Marit Bjoergen’s Best Freestyle Race
    2. <How Many WC Victories Does Björgen Really Have?
    3. <Björgen vs Skari vs Välbe


  • Team 6: Germany

    Team 6: Germany

    Germany

    Nations Cup Ranking: 6th (4308 pts)

    Men: 4th (2453 pts)

    Women: 8th (1855 pts)

    2010/2011 A Team

    Men

    Tobias Angerer

    Jens Filbrich

    Axel Teichmann

    Tim Tscharnke

    Women

    Stefanie Boehler

    Nicole Fessel

    Evi-Sachenbacher Stehle

    Miriam Goessner

    Katrin Zeller

    What you may have missed last season:

    Tim Tscharnke rising to German sprinting domination. The 21 year-old kid with no previous World Cup points cruised onto the circuit and took home over 100 World Cup points, looking incredibly comfortable doing so. The kid was a consistent sprinter, and turned more than a few heads when he tagged off to Axel Teichmann with a 20 meter lead on the Norwegians in the last leg of the Team Sprint. And if Teichmann had a little bit more hustle, the two could have taken home a gold medal.

    As for the women, one pleasant surprise was biathlete Miriam Goessner, who came fifth in the prologue on the Tour de Ski, and managed to ski both biathlon and cross country races. She was part of the German silver medal relay team. However, she has one small flaw. She can only skate ski. Literally. She started zero classic races on the World Cup.

    What You Should Know For This Season

    After 15 straight seasons of scoring points for the Germans on the World Cup, Rene Sommerfeldt has packed it in. His female teammate Claudia Nystad has opted to end her career as well, and the loss of such legends will be felt.

    Germany is a legitimate heavyweight on the World Cup season after season, and the loss of two world class skiers will hurt. Look to others to pick up the slack, and not just previous standouts Axel Teichmann and Tobias Angerer, both of whom are still stellar skiers, especially Angerer. While he seems to have slipped a little since winning back to back Crystal Globes in ’06 and ’07, the 33 year-old can still punch out top results, coming home from the Olympics with a silver medal from the Pursuit, and finishing fourth in the 50 k. You can never count out Angerer – in addition to his ability to ski strong distance either classic or skate, last year he collected a silver medal in a sprint on the World Cup as well.

    While the rivalry between Axel Teichmann and Petter Northug has pretty much ended on the course due to Northug consistently knocking the stuffing out of Teichmann, the German is still stoking the fires. However, he still won’t be beating Petter Northug in a sprint finish, and he will still be rocking a killer goatee. The FasterSkier staff is also considering starting an Alex Teichmann look-alike contest – it’s just that epic.

    As Teichmann is just awful on the anchor leg of the relay, there was talk of Tscharnke being his replacement in order to combat the Northug-effect, and with the retirement of the Sommerfeldt, that seems likely.

    Stefanie Boehler is back for another kick at the can after a tough 2010 season, which saw her record her worst point total in five years. On the plus side, according to her FIS profile she lists her occupation as ‘Sports Soldier’, which is pretty cool.

    Boehler's FIS profile picture

    Katrin Zeller, who is now second on the German female depth chart, is probably the quietest, most consistent skier on the World Cup. In virtually all of her World Cup starts (some 20-odd) she finished in the 15th to 30th range, which is incredible. If she can manage to ratchet up her speed a few notches, Germany will have a legitimate overall threat.

    Who You Should Watch

    Miriam Goessner is the best bet. The Germans desperately need another young woman to step up, and while the 20 year-old may lack experience, her success at the World Cup level cannot be discounted. The retirement of Nystad and the aging of Sachenbacher-Stehle is a sign that the guard is changing in Germany. While Goessner can only step up in skate, if she does it well enough, it won’t matter. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen and Lars Berger, anyone?

    Also, Josef Wenzl is worth a look, but only at the Dusseldorf, Germany, city sprints. The guy has made a career out of racing well in one place. In four trips to the city on the Rhine, he has finished 1st, 2nd, 5th and 40th.  While the 40th placing was last season, this year he kicked off his season with a 6th place in Munio, Finland sprint. So as long as he avoids the yearly shenanigans, he could do well.

  • World Cup Skiers Say Farewell

    The World Cup season has come to an end, and with it, so have a number of prominent careers.  Retirements always spike at the end of an Olympic year, and 2010 is no exception.  The list includes Virpi Kuitunen (FIN), Sabina Valbusa (ITA), Laurence Rochat (SUI), Reto Burgermeister (SUI), Rene Sommerfeldt (GER), Sarah Renner (CAN), Milan Sperl (CZE) and Anna Olsson (SWE).

    Kuitunen is the biggest name among the group.  She won consecutive overall World Cup titles in 2007 and 2008, and finished in the top-6 for six straight seasons.  She started 147 individual World Cup races, winning 20.  She has two Olympic bronze medals, both in team events – the 4×5 in 2010 and the Team Sprint in 2006.

    Her World Championship record is even more impressive – 6 gold medals (2 relay, 2 team sprint, and 2 individual) – as well as a silver and a bronze.

    Sommerfeldt had a long and successful World Cup career, racing for 14 years at the highest level.  He won the overall World Cup in 2004 and finished 2nd twice, in 2003 and 2008.   He started 190 individual World Cup races and has three championship medals to his name – an Olympic bronze from the 4x10km in 2002 and two World Championship silvers – relay in 2003 and 50km in 2001.

    He has expressed an interest in coaching at some point in the future.

    The 34-year-old Olsson (formerly Dahlberg), ends her career on a strong note, winning the city sprint in Stockholm, and finishing 8th in the World Cup Final overall.  Olsson, married to fellow Swedish skier Johan Olsson, won Olympic gold in 2006 in the team sprint.  A good all around skier, she made her mark in the sprints.  Olsson twice finished 3rd in the Sprint Cup.

    Olsson told FIS that she plans on enjoying family life with her husband.

    Valbusa, at age 36, also called it quits, after 219 individual World CUp starts.  She made her debut in December of 1992 in the 5km classic in Ramsau, Austria, finishing 44th.  A month later she cracked the top-30 for the first time, taking 24th in Cogne, Italy.

    She won bronze at the 2006 Olympics and the 2005 World Championships in the 4x5km relay.  Overall she finished on the World Cup podium nine times and won once.

    Rochat never made it onto the World Cup podium, but she was part of a surprising Swiss relay team at the 2002 Olympics that took the bronze.  She cracked the top-10 on the World Cup just once – in 2005 in Canmore, but she was a mainstay on the Swiss relay team, and started 121 World Cup races.

    “I’ve thought about this decision and am now ready to retire after 15 years of being on the Swiss ski team and in the World Cup squad.”

    She has worked part time for watch manufacturer Audemars Piguet, one of her sponsors.  Starting in May, she will work full time for the company.

    Burgermeister has also been a fixture on the Swiss National Team, racing in three Olympics (1998, 2002, 2006).  In his 99 World Cup starts, he stood on the podium twice.

    According to FIS, his farewell race was at the Swiss National Championships in Sörenberg ,where he took part in 50 km. After the finish Burgermeister was greeted by teammates with a bottle of champagne.

    Sperl at just 30 years old is the youngest of the retirees.  He started the 15km at the 2010 Olympics, his 3rd Games.  He also won a World Championship bronze in Sapporo in 2007.  The FIS site lists his personal comment as “Be lavish with happiness for others.”

    “It is time to move on and do something else” commented Sperl at the Czech National Championships, where he raced for the last time as a professional.  “I will now work for three years as a law assistant.  I am looking forward to that. It will be completely different from what I have been doing until now.  My performance has not been as I wished, but of course I do not leave cross-country skiing for good, I only quit from professional skiing.”

    Sperl was carried across the finish line by his Czech teammates at the conclusion of his final race.

    Renner goes out as one of the top Canadian skiers of all time, trailing only Beckie Scott.  She won silver with Scott in the team sprint at the 2006 Olympics, and took World Championship bronze in the classic sprint in 2005.

    She started 124 World Cup individual races and finished on the podium four times.  In 2006 she was 10th in the overall World Cup, and completed her career with a strong showing in front of a home crowd at the Vancouver Olympics, completing a two-year comeback after having a child.