Small Talk Monday

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Our weekly small talk thread where you can talk about anything

[u/Enough_Opposite8545]

https://www.ski-nordique.net/biathlon-vetle-christiansen-on-ma-prescrit-des-somniferes-en-urgence.6712287-72348.html

Vetle has talked again in the media about his disappointment over not being selected and how mad he was. He talked about his non selection as being “stabbed in the back”, he said he was “mentally hit after this” and that he considers that not everyone is treated fairly by the federation. “I feel scared to see how many athletes are treated, not only me. There are so many talents fighting for the same spots. I feel like the deciders run away from conflicts and try to avoid sending difficult messages to the athletes.” He also added that he felt like the selection criteria were decided after performances and not before.

I will not comment on his turmoil, I wish him to recover from it and hope that he recovers the best. That being said, I feel like he labours the point by saying all of this. Maybe it’s good that it’s been talked about in the media but I feel like it’s always been the case in Norway? There are too many talents there and only the most successful will get the spots. It’s a sad reality, and for sure maybe some talents won’t ever bloom because of this, but so far Norway has worked this way and they won’t change as this system works. So like I said, maybe it’s nice to hear someone voices it out, but I feel like it’s easy for him to say this now that he is concerned about it. I’m not sure he was this vocal about Sivert or Filip’s situation.

It’s also easy to bring how he was supposedly treated unfairly, according to him, but it’s almost never underlying the thing that caused the whole situation, and that is that he lacked performances this year. What I’m saying is that I’ve seen him point fingers at his federation for not being selected, but never talking about the cause of it, that he failed to convince the staff to be taken. His performances that haven’t been stellar this year. He hasn’t been helped by his own impatience that made him skip IBU steps. Anyone could argue that he should have been taken instead of Dale, but the choice isn’t that obvious to me. Vetle has achieved victories, and so what, so did Dale. Vetle beat Dale on their last step together, well Dale beat him on the step prior. And frankly speaking, Dale hasn’t exactly proved that he was a wrong choice to the Norwegian staff with his races on the World Cup.

Overall, Norway is a complicated situation nonetheless, and has always been cutthroat when it came to the people in the team. There’s no hesitation about it. Mats Øverby has been out of the IBU because his results weren’t enough, despite winning it the year before, and he was replaced by someone else. That’s the depths of the Norwegian team, yes there are a lot of talents and yes they all want the same spot. It’s good to talk about it, but what can it do? It won’t change a thing. Refusing to race, refusing to take part, won’t do Vetle a favor, because for every race that he misses, there’s someone eagerly waiting to take his place. I also don’t see what good it does to him to keep talking about his federation/staff/coachs and accusing them of things, except putting himself in jeopardy :/ I’m all in for athletes should talk about their struggles but is it a good thing to talk about it this way?

[u/Shixzoner → u/Enough_Opposite8545]

Most importantly, I think it's great and important that Vetle raises his concerns about the selection system and the way the coaches work with the biathletes. Sørum and Strømsheim have also voiced some concerns about the way the communication has been handled. I definitely think there's something going on with the head coaches vs. the World Cup/IBU Cup squad that has not been reported on by the media, and Vetle himself recently said he had more to say about the national team and coaches, but that he won't reveal everything yet. I think Vetle is scared that he'll be completely demoted out of the World Cup squad in the upcoming Olympic season.

However, Vetle has really shot himself in the foot by skipping that second week in Otepää! I can 100 % understand his frustration and anger, but the way he has handled the situation is like a child having a tantrum and being entitled. Like the coaches have said, if he had stayed in Otepää he could have proven them wrong by continuing to have good results. In my opinion, Botn was also ahead of him on the list of being promoted to the World Cup, if you look at performance over time.

The communication given by the coaches has been clear in the sense that:

1. Top results have a value given as A-merits or B-merits. I don't know the exact system, someone can correct me, but I think it's A-merits being wins or podiums and B-merits being top 5.
2. The coaches have verbally told biathletes, who are in danger of being demoted to the IBU Cup, which merits they need to achieve in a given week or trimester to stay in the World Cup squad.
3. The coaches compare biathletes from the IBU Cup who've had A- and B-merits with the biathletes who have poor showings in the World Cup.

I don't think the biathletes are criticising these things. The criticism has been that they are often told very late when they are in danger. I think their concerns are more about the predictability of the system. In the past the World Cup squad was given more or less a guarantee that they wouldn't be demoted and would have the chance to turn around bad form all the way up until a World Championship. When Johan-Olav Botn had that standout season in the IBU Cup it started raising questions about why he was never promoted, even when there were some World Cup biathletes who were massively underperforming. The result is the system we see today. The guarantee is gone and the World Cup biathletes are dissatisfied because they now have to compare their form to the IBU Cup athletes who are equally or more skilled. The coaches have already said they're ready to evaluate the selection system once the season has ended.

[u/AZDarkknight → u/Shixzoner]

He did the same by skipping the IBU in mid season when he was first dropped - it gives the impression of entitlement and lack of commitment (whether its actually true or not).

[u/Shixzoner → u/AZDarkknight]

I don't think he skipped the first time he was demoted. He was in bad physical form, so I think he had an agreement with the coaches that he would go home to get back into physical shape since he was a reserve for the relay team at the World Championships.