In the lead-up to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Zach Caldwell led a much-discussed, multi-year effort to pin down the best stonegrinds and waxes for the challenging, variable conditions at Whistler Olympic Park. Caldwell’s months and months of hard work even drew the attention of National Public Radio, which Kris Freeman’s horrific skis in the opening 15 k freestyle in Vancouver. When the best skiers and wax techs in the world can be baffled by conditions,...
After many years on the national and international stage, 2010 Olympian Haley Johnson is calling it quits. 29-year-old Johnson, who had several of the top U.S. women’s finishes in biathlon events in the last five years, was nominated for the national team again this year. So it came as a surprise to some that she turned down that nomination and is instead moving to Denver to finish her college degree and get married. “She called...
(Note: this is first in a series of interviews with the coaches and staff of the U.S. biathlon team.) When Per Nilsson took over head coaching duties for the U.S. biathlon team after the 2006 Olympic Games, the U.S. men had already begun a slow ascent in the nations cup standings, climbing from 20th place in 2003 to 15th after Torino. With Nilsson’s help, the rise has continued: the men have now finished either 10th...
When Emmanuel Jonnier, a thirteen-year veteran of the French national team, announced his retirement earlier this month, it was picked up by every major news source in his home country. But even then, it was nothing compared to the coverage his teammate, Vincent Vittoz, got two weeks prior when he announced his own retirement – which had happened at about the same time that Roberto Gal, the team’s Italian head coach, also declared that he...
The International Competition Committee of the U.S. Biathlon Association (USBA) has announced their nominations for the 2011-2012 national team. While the men’s team will keep its eight-athlete quota, the women’s team will grow from four to six, thanks to the success of the U.S. women at all levels of competition this year. Five athletes achieved the A1 criteria and are nominated to receive USBA’s highest level of support. The three women include Laura Spector,...
On March 11th, Olga Zaitseva’s future in biathlon appeared, to all outsiders, to be bright. After competing in four events at World Championships, only the mass start and relay remained, both events in which Zaitseva had won gold in the past. She had also been elected to the International Biathlon Union’s Athlete’s Committee by her peers. With only two men and two women on the committee, it was an honor. As the weekend progressed, things...
It may not have been the Olympics, but you couldn’t tell from the weather. Just like at Whistler Olympic Park last year, the weather for the US Biathlon Nationals at Mt. Itasca, MN had a little bit of everything, with some significant rain during the Sprint competitions on Thursday, gorgeous sunshine with firm snow during Saturday’s Pursuit, and light drizzle with heavy overcast for the Mass Start on Sunday. The athletes had good attitudes however,...
An incredibly beautiful March day greeted the athletes for Day 2 of the US Biathlon National Championship. Overnite temperature of 20F let the ski trail firm up nicely for todays competition, and the bright sun and low winds were a big improvements over the rain and wind of the Day 1- Sprint. The athletes were all relieved to see the rain of Thursday replaced by fast and firm track. The Women’s 10km Pursuit came down...
Despite coming off of a successful World Championships in which they led the count with eight medals (including two relay golds), the Norwegian team was unable to keep their hot streak going when the World Cup landed on home turf in Oslo. At Holmenkollen Stadium on Thursday, the best the team could muster was a second-place finish by Tora Berger in the women’s 7.5 k sprint. She finished over 30 seconds behind Magdalena Neuner of...
@font-face { font-family: “Times”; }@font-face { font-family: “Cambria”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 10pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Great Britain doesn’t have a strong history in biathlon, and even less so on the women’s side. In 2006, Emma Fowler became the first British woman to compete in biathlon at the Olympics; in Torino, her top finish was 67th in the sprint. But things might be changing,...
With over two feet of snow falling last week on an already superb spring base, the trails at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center are in perfect shape for the upcoming Spring Tour on March 18-20. The weekend kicks off with a classic prologue on Friday afternoon, followed by a continuous pursuit on Saturday and handicap start freestyle races on Sunday. Saturday night will feature short 100m out and back sprints and a BBQ with live music. ...
Going into Sunday’s women’s 4 x 6 k relay, there had been plenty of excitement already in this year’s biathlon World Championships. What could top Emil Hegle Svendsen’s furious attack in the last few hundred meters of the previous day’s mass start? Or how could there be a performance more dominating than Helena Ekholm’s two-minute victory in the individual race? Well. The fans in Khanty-Mansiysk didn’t realize it, but they were about to see something...
The Russians had five times as many chances as the U.S. to win World Championships gold in the men’s mass start in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, today, but even they couldn’t beat out a dominant Norwegian squad which put three racers in the top six. With five of the field’s thirty starters, the home team had as good a shot as anyone at winning the mass start – and for a moment it looked like Evgeny Ustyugov...
Was U.S. biathlon head coach Per Nilsson enthusiastic about his team’s relay finish at World Championships on today? “BEST EVER!” he wrote in an e-mail on Friday evening. “[It’s] fun to show that we have a team that can fight on the highest level in the world.” While the entire team had a strong performance in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, on Friday – leadoff skier Lowell Bailey tagged off in fifth place – Leif Nordgren was again...
Today’s World Championships relay in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, was somewhat unusual, with a large number of spare rounds, quite a few penalty loops, and a small spread between teams at the finish . What wasn’t unusual? Norway finished on top, defending their Olympic gold from last year. Things got off to an inauspicious start, with at least three crashes and one broken pole in the first kilometer of racing. Lowell Bailey of the U.S. was among...
Part of every biathlete’s job is to manage conditions on the range, which includes making adjustments for the wind. But there are days when the wind makes that all but impossible and the weather seems to be laughing in the face of the world’s best shooters. Wednesday in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, was just such a day, with only a single woman in the World Championships field shooting clean, and most shooting quite far from it. “Today...
In biathlon, the individual format is often described as a shooter’s race. With a minute of added time penalizing each missed shot, the consequences for a single mistake while shooting are even higher than in any other format. There are many great biathletes – World Cup winners and even World Champions – who have never won an individual race. In Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, on Tuesday, young Norwegian Tarjei Bø proved that while the individual is a...
The world’s best skiers are getting the experience of a lifetime in Oslo, competing in skiing’s ancestral homeland and getting cheered by a hundred thousand fans. The world’s best biathletes? They’re having a cultural experience too – in Siberia. World Championships are currently being held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, a town of 70,000 inhabitants situated almost 2,000 miles east of St. Petersburg. The International Biathlon Union charters flights from Oslo and Munich to transport athletes and...
Blue skies, some uncountable number of ski fans estimated in excess of 105,000, the most prestigious individual ski race in the world, and all of it in Oslo, the self-anointed ski capital of the world. Such a day could end only one way: with Petter Northug once again accelerating away from his competition in the last 400 meters of the World Championship 50 k freestyle on his home turf. A World Cup men’s 50 k...
In Thursday’s World Championship mixed relay in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, the Germans held a twenty-second lead going into the fourth leg. While the Norwegians weren’t going to go down without a fight – overall World Cup leader Tarjei Boe was anchoring the team – it seemed that veteran anchor Michael Greis had a good shot at giving his countrymen the first gold medal of the series. Then he missed three shots, and the victory slipped away...