Martin Fourcade proved unstoppable despite a penalty in the 20 k individual, picking up his fourth gold medal in as many races at World Championships. Behind him, a pair of Austrians shone: Dominik Landertinger and Simon Eder, who both shot a perfect 20-for-20.
Martin Fourcade versus Simon Schempp: Two perennial rivals duking it out on the final loop of Thursday's mixed relay. It was a fitting end to the first race of the 2016 IBU World Championships in Oslo, Norway. While Fourcade anchored France to gold and Germany took second, the U.S. placed 10th and Canada 11th.
With darkness quickly setting in on Presque Isle's World Cup trails early Saturday evening, the Czech Republic won the women's relay by 25 seconds over Ukraine and Germany, respectively, while the U.S. women combined for their best result of the season in 10th.
The third starter, Martin Fourcade overcame a 29-second deficit and two penalties on a tricky shooting day to win the IBU World Cup pursuit in Presque Isle for his 44th World Cup win. Tim Burke tied his season best in seventh, and Germany's Arnd Peiffer crashed into a tree on his final loop and suffered a severe concussion.
Three American men finished within 16.5 seconds of one another in the top 20 of Thursday's sprint at the IBU World Cup in Presque Isle, Maine, setting themselves up well for Friday's pursuit. The youngest man in the field, Sean Doherty, 20 led them with a career-best 13th.
France stacked its single mixed relay on Sunday in Canmore, putting Marie Dorin Habert and Martin Fourcade in the team-sprint-like event, and the two got what they set out for: first by 45 seconds over Austria and 55 seconds over Norway in third.
Despite four penalties, Italy’s Dominik Windisch overcame difficult conditions on the course and shooting range for his first IBU World Cup victory and podium on Saturday. Meanwhile, Tim Burke skied around a sick competitor on the last loop and rose above three penalties for a season-best seventh.
A day after besting Germany's Simon Schempp on the last loop, Anton Shipulin of Russia did so again -- this time beating the German by a second for the men's relay victory. Schempp partially blamed a lapped skier. The U.S. men ended up sixth, tying their season best from a week earlier, while Canada placed 11th with strong shooting.
The IBU World Cup women's relay podium saw three new teams on Sunday after France won the team event by 17.2 seconds over the Czech Republic, and Russia finished 21.1 seconds back in third. The Canadians ended up 13th and the U.S. settled for 17th after being lapped.
After leading into the final loop of the women’s 4 x 6 k relay on Sunday, Ukraine successfully held off Germany at the finish, to the audible dismay of the packed stadium in Ruhpolding, Germany. The Ukrainian women took the win by 1.2 seconds, Germany finished second and Italy edged Russia in a sprint for third.
In "danger" of not qualifying for 2016 World Championships, Germany’s Erik Lesser stuck it to those who questioned his chances, winning Saturday's mass start at the IBU World Cup in Ruhpolding in front of a local crowd. "I don’t want to hear about that again after giving you what you wanted," he told reporters.
Italy's Dorothea Wierer tried not to overthink Thursday's 15 k individual race at the IBU World Cup in Ruhpolding and ended up cleaning the four-stage race for her second-career win. Rosanna Crawford returned to the circuit and placed 18th, and Susan Dunklee missed five to finish 50th.
Canada's Nathan Smith overcame what he considered the worst conditions he's seen so far this season and posted the 13th-fastest course time and 19-of-20 shooting to place sixth in Saturday's IBU World Cup pursuit in Ruhpolding, Germany.
Rambunctious German crowds used to make Franziska Hildebrand nervous, but she excelled under pressure in the first IBU World Cup of 2016, winning Friday's sprint. American Susan Dunklee shot 9-for-10 en route to 11th, while Julia Ransom led Canada in 49th.
Johannes Thingnes Bø led a Norwegian sweep of the top three in Friday's sprint in Ruhpolding, Germany, the first IBU World Cup race of the new year. He bested his brother, Tarjei, who also shot clean and Emil Hegle Svendsen for the win. Nathan Smith placed 15th, Tim Burke was 18th and Christian Gow 34th.
The fifth stage of the Tour de Ski, the men’s 15-kilometer classic mass start on Wednesday, was decided by mere inches. Kazakhstan’s Alexey Poltoranin took the lead in a group of five athletes from the final descent, with several more shortly behind, and outlunged Switzerland’s Dario Cologna.
Emil Iversen lived up to his breakfast-table proclamation on Tuesday and won his first World Cup race, ahead of Russia's Sergey Ustiugov and Kazakhstan's Alexey Poltoranin in the men's classic sprint, Stage 4 of the Tour de Ski.
Imagine the most outrageous, over-the-top spectacle for a biathlon race -- complete with a world championships snowball fight -- and you'll have Biathlon auf Schalke, a.k.a. the annual World Team Challenge, which took place in a soccer stadium earlier this week in front of nearly 41,000 fans.
On Sunday, French biathlete Jean-Guillaume Béatrix knew he was the luckiest man in Pokljuka, achieving the first World Cup victory of his career in a men’s 15-kilometer mass start he hadn’t planned on racing.
Finland's Kaisa Mäkäräinen overcame an early penalty with three clean stages thereafter and the fastest skiing of the day to win Sunday's 12.5 k mass start the IBU World Cup in Pokljuka, Slovenia. She bested the new overall World Cup leader, Gabriela Soukalová, by 11.8 seconds.