moomin man 76

Now that makes things interesting! Finland's hopes of qualification have taken a boost with that news.

This qualifier looks rather tight to call. Aside from Italy, who will probably end up as also rans, you could conceivably argue a case for the United States, Slovenia and Finland all qualifying. For personal reasons, I hope it is Finland! Unfortunately, whoever qualifies will end up as make weights in the Poland v Denmark v Russia round. In contrast, the quality in the other qualifier appears poorer and whoever qualifies ends up in the easier GB v Australia v Czech Republic round. Luck of the draw? It is certainly unfortunate, as the United States and Finland in my opinion could if given the chance beat the Czech around Kings Lynn.

In an age where the phrase 'legend' is banded around with unnecessary frequency, Posa really deserves such an accolade. Happy birthday and congratulations on yet another Swedish Championship success.

What a pity for Finland! An excellent performance from Antti Aakko coupled with a below-par performance from Mats Jarf. With a stronger contribution from Mats Jarf a silver medal was arguably there for the taking.

Many thanks for the informative post. I was wondering if the gap in performance was due to talent aone, or a combination of talent, backing from sponsors and available ice team? The mild winter this year has certainly not helped. For instance, I was in Espoo/Helsinki at Christmas and the weather was little different to the UK. However, do any of the western riders have sufficient financial backing to be able to compete with the Russians? Am I correct in thinking that not so long ago, Franz Zorn had backing from Red Bull, while further into the past Jarno Hirvasoja enjoyed backing from Finntech? Do such sponsorship opportunities still present themselves? I guess the reason I am asking these questions is that in my opinion for ice racing to expose itself to a wider audience it needs a greater depth of talent outside of Russia. In years past, when I was younger, one of the greatest sources of enjoyment that I gained from ice racing was the possibility of the unexpected happening and a non-Russian winner emerging; such as Jarno Hirvasoja and Posa Serenius.

I was wondering if it was just my own perception, but by looking at the results over the weekend, it almost appears as if a round of the Russian Supreme League is of a higher standard than a World Championship meeting, which I find rather saddening and disappointing. Reaslistically, at present are there any other riders aside from Antti Aakko and Harold Simon who can actually compete with the Russians?

Does anyone actually have a definitive list of who has qualified? It hardly seems credible that those who have qualified for the GP Stage seem to be decided in smoke filled rooms. In addition, if the Russians are permitted eight riders in the qualifying rounds, there should hardly be an arbitrary quoto of only six being allowed to qualify for the GP Stage. The non-Russian riders who are good enough will still qualify - e.g. Aakko, Zorn. Those who did not obtain a place by merit through the qualifying system are rather unlikely to be contenders in their own right.

Good luck to Jan O in his new role. I'm sure that his experience will help benefit each and every rider in the Heathens line-up. Ommer Em!