Discussion: Tight results

Have a look at how close these results are from 2nd place to 25th place: Finnish NOC qualification results

Must be a drag to have to say "I was within 22 sec/km of the winner over 14 km... and I finished 36th out of 42". That's a strong field!

With times so close, it must have been a very open forest.

... mass start for TV. Take a look at RouteGadget (animations are not correct inside butteflies...)

And if you think that's tight, check out the 89 point range in the tangerino rankings. It's fierce down there!

Never mess around with a fresh squeezed lemonette!

Well, as I've opined before, a fat lot of good the butterflies did in terms of breaking things up. Seems to me they could have done better with a Billygoat-style skip. The mass start does go a long way toward explaining the tight results, especially if visibility was good.

The best part of the animation is watching Jani Lakanen leave the second butterfly, go tearing out ahead of everyone, then go back and swim across the lake twice just to let them catch up. :-)

Just shows how really close is top world elite. And how far are NA athletes behind with inadequate 6-8 hours per week training.

Butterfly loops would not work with mass start, good visibility, and athletes with similar level of fitness. They are perfect tool for 2s and 3s starts, or to dissuade following after interval start.