Seefeld: striding on the flats to the finish?

[JeffOYB]

I think it was Seefeld where I saw both men and women striding on what looked like at least semi-flats to the finish. I know the camera is deceiving but there were side views and I was looking for distortion and at most it was a very slight upgrade. I thought that top racers used DP on even slight ups. Then KDP on slightly steeper ups. Odd to see them all mostly striding what seemed like a couple hundred yards in the finish stretch.

(And I still think it odd that we've now had two 15k events that finished under 30 mins without comment. I think someone here said it was a first. Also that there should be downhills on such courses where skiers are going about 50mph if they're going to average 20mph despite so many steep slow climbs. Yet no cameras show fast downhills. ...Yet overall the camerawork seems very good. Why not include the fastest section for coolest visuals?)

[zzzz]

You mean Planica? There was only freestyle at Seefeld.

The hill in the video below has a mix. Most skiers are striding, but the faster skiers like Klæbo double pole.

If there is not a mix of techniques, and everyone is striding, then maybe you saw a technique zone, where skiers must stride or herringbone. I think they only set those on steeper grades where striding is typically better anyway, though people might otherwise try to double pole in a sprint race.

https://youtu.be/gknekMWOzNM

[JeffOYB]

Yeah, I guess it was Planica. The finishing stretch saw quite a few striding and it looks darn flat. What's up?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gknekMWOzNM

[liège]

Most of that video is showing the 1.9/6.9/11.9km camera position, which is coming up the first uphill that was in the sprint, before they went under the bridge (except that in the 10/15km, you had ~700m of climbing before getting there) and the 3.9/8.9/13.9km camera position, which comes near the end of a pretty long striding section - maybe 90 seconds, but after about four minutes of climb. It does look quite flat, but it's definitely a hard hill. Klaebo throws a little double-pole, Poltoranen double-pole-kicks a few strides, but generally, that's a striding hill. No technique zone on that section, either.