| # | Name | Comments |
|---|
| 1 | Oskar Karlin | Great! |
| 2 | Toni Ingberg | |
| 3 | Steve Scott | The FIS should adopt the old pursuit again (2 day, 10 and 15k) and award medals for both legs of the race. However, the order of the techniques in the pursuit should alternate from year to year, like the techniques of other events alternate. Sprints are great fort the sport of skiing. 2-5 skiers racing against each other is great. However there is a trend in sprinting to increase the number of races per heat. As the number of sprinters per heat increases, the same congestive problems accrue which are often problematic in longer mass start races. Skiing is not running or biking, passing is much more complicated for skiers. Ski racing has a unique way of separating those with energy to give and those who are not prepared, and this phenomenon can only take place when fit skiers are able to ski with out wasting energy on avoiding crashes, making difficult passes, or avoiding using extra energy in the lead of a pack. Skiers showcase what is great about our sport when they ski to their ability instead of ski against a problematically large group of skiers. Also, interval start TV coverage has decreased in quality in recent years, and this trend needs to be reversed. |
| 4 | Anonymous | |
| 5 | Bill Howell | I totally agree with your assessment... |
| 6 | Ian Case | As the petition states, I disagree that mass-starts make for better TV. I feel it's much more interesting when race formats allow a fairer test of ability such as individual start races and the old 2-day pursuit. In these races, the competitors results are more spread out and you can really see who the toughest and best skiers are. Moving towards more individual start 30/50km races and the original 2-day pursuit format would not only be fairer for the athletes, but would revive more interest in the sport, similar to the way that the time trials and mountain stages of the Tour de France tend to be the most interesting and exciting compared to the flat stages where no one really ever gets away and the whole pack finishes within a couple seconds of eachother. |
| 7 | seth downs | |
| 8 | Justin Young | yea two day pursuit is way cooler and more interesting because it shows strength and stamina over two days than in a consecutive race. |
| 9 | kenneth edlund | |
| 10 | Jan Gerrit Klok | If the FIS want tactics, and the public doesn't want sprints, then let racers be randomly given a bib number, and bibs start one at a time, 5s apart rather than 30 or 60. Shortest time skied wins.
If you draw a high bib number, you'll be chasing which is good, but also overtaking which costs time and energy.
Bib number 1, and the luck of not too many fast bib right behind you, you'll have the luxury of
opening up a gap, skiing your own pace. Downside : anyone finishing within 5s behind you has you beaten.
Every race will be totally different. After having drawn a first-half bib at WC level twice, you'll only be able to draw from the last-half next time, and the other way around, in case one style of racing suits you better than the other.
Racing would be quite exciting, positions changing with every intermediate timing. Tactics all over the place. Only when the last skier is over the line, the results are really known.
Lots can be done with the drawing precedure to make it all extra interesting. Like having the top 10 seeded only draw multiples of 3, to spread them evenly over the 30 bibs. seeding 11-20 get all multiples of 3, plus 1, etc. Again, everything is possible to ensure even spread of talents, and let fait decide which tactics will be working out for you, due to the skiers starting round you who may be willing to work together or not,
countryman or not.
10s intervals may end up working better, while keeping the field rather compact. |
| 11 | Christian Byar | I agree. |
| 12 | Mike Trecker | B-O-R-I-N-G, Mass starts have some potential but the individual start is the best. The 2-day pursuit is better than the rolling format. Leave the mass starts for the sprints. 50k individual start is king of Nordic events. |
| 13 | Jennifer Rolfes | |
| 14 | Casey Dyck | |
| 15 | Nathan Wolfe | |
| 16 | Jacob Ewing | Hated mass starts in high school, hate them now...individual starts show what a skier can do! |
| 17 | Sam Viavant | |
| 18 | Don Pollari | Bring back the 2 day pursuit format.
Drop the mass starts, they are truly boring. |
| 19 | Willy Graves | |
| 20 | Dave Hayes | Stagger start with slightly shorter intervals. |
| 21 | Dylan Watts | The number of mass starts is silly. Some are great but they should not be the only way to start the longer races. The FIS rules on trail width are also silly. |
| 22 | patrick kretschek | |
| 23 | Camilla Brinchmann | |
| 24 | Anonymous | Mass start have their niche, but too many make for bland racing. The same is true for individual starts. Balance is important.
The mass start continuous pursuit sorta negates the purpose of the classic technique since the strong skaters only have to draft for the first half of the race.
A continuous pursuit should be individual starts to make the comparison between skating and classic more objective. In addition, viewers are greeted with more factors to consider when figuring/hoping who will win. One skier may be a great classic skier but really suck at skating or vice versa. These factors give the viewer more to think about and thus make the event more interesting. |
| 25 | Anonymous | Individual start events are far more exciting to watch than mass start events. That's why I only watch four hours of the 60 plus hours of Tour de France Coverage! |
| 26 | Branden Fontana | mass start for a few races wouldn't be so bad but almost every race is kind of silly. FIS could also try wave starts, groups of say 10 to 15 skiers instead of 50 |
| 27 | Patrick Stinson | The 50K individual is much more of a joy to win than the mass-start. Hang back and wait for a spinrt? Hell no! |
| 28 | Nancy Case | |
| 29 | Anonymous | |
| 30 | Zoran Matic | |
| 31 | Radek Horalek | |
| 32 | Anonymous | |