Winter Olympic Spotlight: Vonn('s gate) and risk / Cross Country Klaebo / Speed Skating Unfairness / Penis-gate

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The opening five days of the Milan Cortina Winter Games have produced some spectacular performances and notable talking points. The Spotlight reveals some insights on those performances. We ask whether Lindsay Vonn's decision to race only 9 days after a ruptured ACL was a justifiable, correct one? Gareth has a new favourite sport - Cross-country skiing, dominated in spectacular fashion by Johannes Hofslot Klaebo and Sweden's women. Gareth is less enamoured by figure skating, but we discuss subjective sports and how coverage has improved to offer insights on scoring, and where it can continue to advance. We commend the coverage and footage from the Games, with revolutionary, spectacular drone footage. Speed skating is also in the Spotlight, and we share some insights that have been missing from the coverage, related to pacing. We also discover that some researchers suggest that the lane allocation offers significant advantages in some events.

And finally, we end on 'penis-gate', the story (or is that a non-story) about the search for ski-jumping distance through the most literal application of 'marginal gains' you can imagine.

That, and more, in the first of our Winter Olympic Spotlight shows.

Links

• The story of ski jumpers injecting acid into their genitals for jumping gains
• The Guardian's coverage of Lindsay Vonn's dramatic downhill
• Our supporters weigh in on Vonn's decision to race, with some insightful comments and questions (supporters only - pledge above for access!)

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