Canadian biathlete Megan Tandy was set to race her first home-turf World Cup, before a fall on a morning jog left her with a broken wrist. Now her season is over and, having not yet met Sport Canada carding criteria, she's unsure if she will be able to continue her career. "Iʼm not going to give up on another two years without a fight," she said.
An athlete is provisionally suspended after their "A" sample tested positive for either an insulin-mimicking drug or for mildronate, both of which were added to the Prohibited List on January 1. However the IBU hasn't named the athlete and made the strange move of saying that the finding is "not considered a positive doping case".
"It was a tough decision," TD John Aalberg told FasterSkier. "But we wanted to prove a point or put it on the agenda: if everybody starts to double pole, and if you loosen up the rules at the same time, that’s the end of classic skiing." The race jury released video of the infractions to the public.
A few things are clear: athletes, in particular winter endurance and pool athletes, have a high incidence of airway hyper-responsiveness, much of which may be undiagnosed. This can be treated with inhalers, which are not banned by WADA and have been repeatedly shown not to be performance-enhancing. And - those athletes can win.
Tim Burke couldn't quite excel on the shooting range enough to get that great race he was hoping for, but the American team has one more chance in Sunday's relay. Brendan Green led the Canadians in 31st.
22-year-old Canadian biathlete Julia Ransom just wanted to score some World Cup points this year - top 40's - to feel like she was on track. She blew that goal out of the water in the Antholz, Italy, on Saturday, shooting a perfect 20-for-20 and skiing to 19th place.
Two names on the Antholz pursuit podium were familiar, but also notable: a World Champ who had never won a World Cup, and a new mom who is returning from a year off. Susan Dunklee of the U.S. finished 17th, flying on the tracks with the fourth-fastest ski time of the field.
For Germany's Simon Schempp, it's three years in Antholz and three sprint wins. Can he also triple up on the pursuit on Saturday? Meanwhile, Tim Burke led North American starters with a 17th place finish. "This was one of my best performances in a sprint race, although the result does not reflect that."
New to the FIS Ladies Cross Country Committee, Dartmouth coach Cami Thompson-Graves is trying to understand why fewer women than men compete on the World Cup, and is this something the committee can help with? In many countries, girls and women participate in skiing at equal numbers to boys and men at younger ages, but then there is a drop-off. Is the small field size a funding problem or a participation problem?
Gabriela Soukalova picked up the tenth win of her career in a snowy mass start in Ruhpolding, Germany: "Just before the start of the season, I was talking with a friend about whether I would ever this tenth World Cup. I put ten as a goal before the finish [of the season]. So that now I'll have to increase that a little.”
The U.S. men had their best relay result in three years - despite, they say, not having their 100% best days ever. "I feel like this is absolutely where we belong, but we are capable of more than this," said Tim Burke. "I feel like there’s more to come for this group."
Martin Fourcade won big in Ruhpolding, in a snowstorm and despite one penalty. Lowell Bailey, meanwhile, got some redemption after missing two shots in the last stage of Sunday's mass start: in the 20 k individual, he nailed all five targets in his final stage and raced to 14th place.
Joanne Reid started shooting this summer after her family received a biathlon rifle that had been her grandfather's. After going to IBU Cup trials in December to "see what happened", Reid found herself in Europe, posting a top-20 and a clean sheet in Nove Mesto - then got called up to the World Cup in Ruhpolding, Germany, one of biathlon's craziest venues.
With the longest races of the Tour de Ski out of the way, sprinters Andy Newell, Simi Hamilton, Sophie Caldwell, and Ida Sargent are looking forward to the classic sprint on Tuesday. They may continue the Tour a stage or two, seeking to score World Cup points in a distance event.
Didrik Tønseth admits that a plan that seemed smart in the morning didn't seem so smart after the race was over - and after Norwegian teammate Petter Northug left him for dead on the trails. With just one more sprint to get out of the way, the distance specialist still hopes for a top Tour de Ski finish.
Americans Jessie Diggins and Sadie Bjornsen skied another pair of consistent races, keeping themselves in the top 10 overall in the Tour de Ski. Liz Stephen moved up to 22nd place, while Sophie Caldwell called her effort "maybe my best-ever distance race" in 27th.
Ingvild Flugstad Østberg of Norway picked up her first World Cup distance victory by doing the unthinkable: dropping seemingly unbeatable teammate Therese Johaug on an uphill. "It was a great victory for me, in many ways," said Østberg, who now leads the Tour de Ski by 14.3 seconds.
Recovering from his first sprint final in a year, Martin Johnsrud Sundby of Norway took a while to really get going - but then collected a win in the 30 k classic mass start, plus enough bonus seconds to give him a 1:18 lead in the Tour de Ski. Canada's Alex Harvey was in podium position until "blowing up" 3 k from the finish.
With both Noah Hoffman (in 23rd) and Erik Bjornsen (in 30th) notching their best World Cup results of the season, the American men's team was happy at the finish line -- and now only needs one more man to score a World Cup distance point to increase its start quota next season.
With Sadie Bjornsen and Jessie Diggins going 7-8, the U.S. Ski Team had lots to celebrate despite the disappointment of Simi Hamilton crashing out in the quarterfinals. "It’s ski racing, we all come out on the good end of things, we all come out on the bad end of things," Hamilton said.