Clare Egan of the U.S. Biathlon team has wowed this season. Through December and most of January, Egan popped steady and consistent reults on the IBU World Cup. Currently, she is ranked 19th on the IBU World Cup, ceding two spots to the top-ranked North American, Canada’s Emma Lunder in 17th. Highlights of her season thus far are a 10th in a Hochfilzen, Austria sprint, 13th in a Hochfilzen pursuit followed by a ninth place...
The International Biathlon Union announced on Wednesday that as part of their Covid-19 testing protocols, several teams had athletes test positive for the virus. Those positive tests were from Russian, Latvian, and Moldovan biathletes. The IBU stated it was the first of a series of PCR tests to be administered in Kontiolahti, Finland, the first stop of the IBU World Cup. In an email received Thursday morning, the IBU relayed news that athletes from France...
As coronavirus cases spike worldwide, biathletes are preparing for a modified start to the 2020-2021 World Cup season. The schedule emphasizes less travel than would be the norm on the IBU World Cup circuit. At the end of September, the International Biathlon Union (IBU) announced that the first four races of the winter would be held at two venues. Kontiolahti, Finland, will host the first two events on consecutive weekends, starting 27 November. Hochfilzen, Austria...
Craig Wiggers is a biathlete based in Ithaca, New York. Below we have a brief intro from Wiggers and an excerpt from his book, Nordic Warrior? A Midlife Crisis in Biathlon. As the title suggests, Wiggers came to skiing and biathlon midlife. His experience and anecdotes reveal a universal truth: it’s never too late to be fearless and try something new. **** My journey into Nordic biathlon as a southern raised, middle-aged, New York transplant...
The Biathlon Integrity Unit (BIU) announced on Thursday that Russian biathletes Ekaterina Glazyrina and Timofey Lapshin were provisionally suspended. According to the BIU, Lapshin has been competing for Korea since 2017. Both Lapshin and Glazyrina are accused of violating anti-doping rules (ADRV). The evidence used to hand down the provisional suspensions came from information included in the McLaren Report and data from the Moscow Lab’s data (LIMS) handed over to WADA in 2019. The BIU states...
The Court for Arbitration in Sport (CAS) announced Thursday that three Russian biathletes implicated for doping at the 2014 Sochi Olympics had their lifetime bans overturned. The biathletes in question, Olga Vilukhina, Yana Romanova, and Olga Zaitseva were first handed lifetime bans in 2017 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The McLaren Report included information tying the three athletes to doping. The IOC subsequently ruled the three Russians had committed an ADRV, or...
The International Biathlon Union posted a press release Friday with the following key take aways. We will post the full press release below. “The IBU is planning to hold a full BMW IBU World Cup.” “The IBU Executive Board will meet on 26-27 September to take a decision on whether adjustments need to be made to the planned World Cup programme in the first trimester (November-December 2020).” “The World Championships Biathlon in Pokljuka (09-21 February...
On April 9th, the Crosscut Mountain Sports Center in Bozeman, MT released information and qualification criteria for their newly founded elite team. As you skim what it takes to earn a spot at each tier of the program, it may catch your attention that the cross country, biathlon, and para nordic are housed within the same program. This single team approach reflects the growth and development at Crosscut in connection with its partnership with the...
A year ago Martin Fourcade was coming off the worst showing of his career, a cataclysm of a season leaving everyone who follows the sport scratching their heads. While he had two victories and another podium by Christmas, something was apparently wrong; his results declined after New Year’s and he wasn’t on the podium again for the rest of the season. He skipped the North American leg of the World Cup, raced World Champs, where...
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Thanks to a clean shooting performance on the range and a tactical masterclass on the final lap, France’s Emilien Jacquelin, 24, was able to celebrate across the line in first place in a time of 31:15.2 minutes, after an exciting finish sprint against Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø just 0.4 seconds behind (with 2 penalties). In a bit of an upset, the title in the men’s 12.5-kilometer pursuit at the 2020 IBU Biathlon World Championships...
On Friday in Antholz, Italy Susan Dunklee of the US Biathlon team captured second place in the 7.5-kilometer sprint at the 2020 IBU World Championships. The event was won by Norway’s Marta Olsbu Roeiseland in 21:13.1 while shooting 0+1 on the range. Dunklee shot clean and was 6.8 seconds back. The Czech Republic’s Lucie Charvatova was third (+21.3; 1+0). At thirty-four-years-old, this was Dunklee’s best result of the season. Prior to her second place on...
Success in biathlon can be fickle. With so many added variables, many outside an athlete’s control, the results page does not always align with the quality of the effort or performance. In an interview after a career best result in the 15k individual event in Pokljuka, Slovenia, Clare Egan explained that it is essential for a biathlete to differentiate between the two. “We learn early on in biathlon to distinguish between [results and performance] because...
A compelling aspect of international biathlon is the diversity of nations represented at the highest level, the International Biathlon Union World Cup. Last week in Pokljuka, 25 five teams from 25 different nations were represented in the 4 x 7.5 k mixed relay. It speaks to the broadening global appeal for the sport. All those nations are tasked with developing athletes. Not to say there will be 25 different approaches, but each team espouses it’s own...
Let’s catch up with the IBU World Cup and the action from Saturday and Sunday in Pokljuka, Slovenia. First up, the single mixed relay, in which teams of two are paired with each skier racing two legs and shooting two stages per leg. France took the win in 38:33.4 minutes shooting 0+5. The big news from the relay for North America, was Canada’s fourth place result. Christian Gow and Emma Lunder were 16 seconds back...
The traveling IBU World Cup roadshow stops in Pokljuka, Slovenia this week and began the individual races. The women’s 15 k individual ran on Friday. The individual race format places a heightened premium on clean shooting; each missed shot amounts to an automatic minute penalty. Tiril Eckhoff of Norway had been dominating the circuit recently. Yet, Friday, she fell in the standings to place an uncharacteristic 18th. In first place was former German cross-country skier...
Let’s catch up on some overdue biathlon action from Ruhpolding, Germany. Day 2: Men’s 10 k sprint Starting off, the men’s 10 k sprint that ran last Thursday. Allez! Allez! It was a squeaker of a win for IBU World Cup overall leader Martin Fourcade of France. He won in a time of 22:41.5 minutes while shooting clean. His teammate, Quentin Fillon Maillet clocked in 3.1 seconds back for second while missing no targets. Germany’s...
Mid-week, the IBU World Cup circus moved to Ruhpolding, Germany. The women raced a 7.5-kilometer sprint and saw Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff take the win and snag the yellow overall World Cup leader’s bib from Italy’s Dorothea Wierer. Eckhoff now leads Wierer by a scant three points in the overall standings. This was Eckhoff’s fifth individual win of the 2019-2020 season. Eckhoff won Wednesday’s sprint in 18:55.5, while shooting clean. Sweden’s Hanna Öberg was second (+29.7; 0+0),...
With the weekend closed out in Oberhof, Germany and the start of the second IBU World Cup trimester underway it’s time for, thank you Seth Meyer, … a closer look. Norway’s male biathlon ringer, Johannes Thingnes Bø, was on the sideline for the weekend. Prior to the Oberhof stop, he had worn the yellow bib as the IBU World Cup overall leader. Post-Oberhof, it was time for a change. A small change really in the big...
Oberhof, Germany the site where the IBU World Cup snaps into its second trimester of racing after the holiday break, began a series of races. Yesterday, the women began the Oberhof stop with a 7.5-kilometer sprint. Norway’s Marte Olsbu Roeiseland won in 22:04.9 minutes while shooting clean in both her shooting bouts. Denise Herrmann of Germany was second (+33.1; 0+1), and France’s Julia Simon third (+47.4;1+0). Two North Americans had standout performances. Emma Lunder of...