OSLO, Norway—With one of their best shooting days, the U.S. men’s biathlon team finished eighth in the World Championships relay, 1:27.3 behind host country Norway. The squad of Lowell Bailey, Leif Nordgren, Tim Burke, and Sean Doherty used just five spare rounds, tying them for the best shooting in the field with second-place Germany and third-place Canada. (
“I’m really sad to be saying goodbye to Annelies and Hannah as teammates,” Clare Egan said. “Really, really sad." Despite the high emotions, the American women's relay kept things professional and turned in a good day on the range to finish 13th as a team.
Feeling better than she had all week, Rosanna Crawford led Canada to the front of the World Championships women's relay during the second leg, and Sarah Beaudry got a whole lap leading the field. The team eventually finished 15th as the Norwegian women got a hard-earned and unexpected team gold.
Eduard Latypov, a Russian biathlete just one season out of the junior ranks, tested positive for meldonium last month. That leaves juniors who competed against him as recently as last year wondering. “I was such a baby when I was 15, competing internationally!” said Sean Doherty. “I had no idea that people would break the rules."
Americans Lowell Bailey, Tim Burke and Leif Nordgren all qualified for Sunday's World Championships mass start, while Canada's Scott Gow tallied a career-best while placing 18th in the 20 k individual on Thursday.
The top Canadians solved some shooting frustrations, while Susan Dunklee turned in a course time just 6.8 seconds off the fastest of the day to make up for three penalties. Marie Dorin Habert and Anais Bescond gave France both gold and silver in the 15 kilometer individual in Oslo.
Susan Dunklee was skiing in the top five of the biathlon World Championships pursuit until the third shooting stage, where she missed three targets and dropped to 20th. But with the second-fastest ski time of the day, she could salvage her second top ten of the weekend by the finish.
Martin Fourcade easily won the 12.5 k World Championships pursuit, despite three penalties. More surprised was Ole Einar Bjørndalen, who repeated his silver medal performance from the sprint. Nathan Smith of Canada placed 15th and Tim Burke of the United States 17th.
Tim Burke, Hannah Dreissigacker, and Leif Nordgren joined Susan Dunklee in the top 20 in the World Championships sprints, while the entire U.S. and Canadian men's teams made the cuts for Sunday's pursuits.
Susan Dunklee was eighth in the first individual race of World Championships, despite a missed shot in standing - and the American wants more. "That Presque Isle podium really got me excited again- motivated, and confident, and very hungry," she said.
Martin Fourcade surged to the biggest World Championships sprint victory margin in over a decade, besting a field including 42-year-old Ole Einar Bjørndalen of Norway. After taking silver, Bjørndalen - whose record 94 World Cup wins may never be matched - said he thought Fourcade was a better biathlete.
A "void-drink-wait" strategy, used by some dopers to avoid detection in analytical tests, also has impacts on Athlete Biological Passport blood markers, a Danish research team has found. There remains no accurate method to detect blood plasma volume manipulation.
The 22-year-old biathlete, a former World Junior Championships medalist, had teamed up with Anastasiya Merkushyna to win the single mixed relay at the IBU Cup in Arber, Germany, the day of his positive test for the metabolism-boosting hormone.
USSA CEO Tiger Shaw had never done a cross-country ski race before. But he went to Hayward, Wisconsin, for the American Birkebeiner, where he raced from Wave 9. "You can see that it’s really part of people’s lives,” he said of the event. Shaw highlighted how USSA is trying to work with regional divisions and provide more services to the nordic world.
Caitlin Gregg didn't feel like herself when she started out the season on the World Cup, so after pushing through the Tour de Ski she came home. Now she's shooting to win the American Birkebeiner for the fourth time and set a new record as the all-time winningest athlete in race history.
As Ukrainian biathlete Olga Abramova waived her "B" sample and proceeds to a doping hearing panel, the IBU has found another positive test for the same hormone, mildronate. Plus, IBU VP Jim Carrabre wants to re-analyze testing results from the Sochi Olympics. IBU President Anders Besseberg thinks it's unnecessary, while Russia asserts that the IBU has no jurisdiction.
Chloe Levins was sick before IBU Youth/Junior World Championships and performed below her own expectations. But she has found redemption at the Youth Olympic Games, turning in the best individual performance ever by a U.S. biathlete and cleaning her first four-stage race in the process.
Returning to Falun, Sweden, was exciting for some members of the U.S. Ski Team -- like World Championships silver medalist Jessie Diggins. For Sadie Bjornsen, the memories weren’t as happy, and she tried to forget them before Saturday’s 5 k classic individual start, the first World Cup back at the venue since the championships.
With her 13th win of the season and two more distance races before the Ski Tour Canada already begins, Therese Johaug of Norway might beat her predecessor Bente Skari's record of 17 wins in a single season. In Falun, she bested Heidi Weng by almost 20 seconds in the 5 k classic.
Olga Abramova, a 27-year-old Russian-turned-Ukrainian, was identified as the mystery athlete who tested positive for a drug recently added to the WADA Prohibited List. Abramova had two top-10s at last year's World Championships in Kontiolahti, and won double gold at Summer Biathlon World Championships in August.