The Canadian women missed out on advancing to the final by one place on Sunday, finishing seventh nearly 18 seconds behind sixth, while the top six teams made the World Cup 6 x 1.3 k classic team sprint final in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic.
In their first World Cup weekend back in Europe, Biathlon Canada had six of its seven athletes score World Cup points in Ruhpolding, highlighted by Nathan Smith's 16th-place finish in the men's pursuit today. He called it his best race of the season.
RUHPOLDING, Germany – Just like Gabriela Soukalova a few hours before, Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway went wire-to-wire in the 12.5 k pursuit, taking his lead from yesterday’s individual race and turning it into another victory. Svendsen shot clean in all four stages, and after hitting his last set of targets turned to the crowd and pumped his fists in celebration. It was a gesture more befitting his rival Martin Fourcade, who was not in...
After a 14th-place showing at FIS World Championships last year, Finnish biathlete Kaisa Makarainen is contemplating skiing in the Olympics. Her recent race splits suggest she's definitely fast enough. But biathlon remains the priority for the 2011 World Cup Champion, for now: "I hope that Sochi is my highest point," she said.
Gabriela Soukalova is getting used to wearing the overall World Cup leader's bib, and she acted like a pro in the pursuit today: feeling tired, she took her time on the range, losing up to ten seconds in each stage but shooting clean and avoiding the penalty loop. That gave her a second win for the weekend.
After being sick for a week, it's been a slow comeback for Lowell Bailey, who hasn't raced since mid-December and hasn't done any speed training in two weeks. But he came back admirably in the Ruhpolding 20 k, placing 25th with two penalties. "The happiest thing is that I’m, knock on wood, healthy again," said the Sochi-bound biathlete.
No longer able to beat Martin Fourcade on his skis alone, Emil Hegle Svendsen has worked hard in the off-season on improving two other skills: shooting and focus. It's paying big dividends as he shot a gutsy race to win his 34th World Cup today, setting up for a golden time at the Olympics. Your move, Fourcade.
Susan Dunklee had been here before: in Ruhpolding, in the 15 k, coming into the final shooting stage with a single penalty. Two years ago at World Championships, she cleaned the stage and placed fifth. Today she collected two more penalties, and wound up 41st. But that's okay - this practice for the Olympics, which she's already qualified for, was just as valuable as if she'd hit those shots.
Todd Lodwick crashed Friday during the provisional round at a World Cup event in Chaux Neuve, France, and injured his shoulder. Lodwick, who recently qualified to compete in his sixth Olympic Winter Games next month in Sochi, Russia, now heads back to Park City, Utah where he will get further evaluation and begin rehab on his shoulder with the goal of being ready to compete next month.
Canada’s Olympic Trials kicked off on Wednesday at the Canmore Nordic Centre with the first of two freestyle sprint races. With perhaps only two spots per gender on the Olympic team up for grabs, there is little room for errors for racers wanting to qualify for the Olympics.
Czech biathlete Gabriela Soukalova never guessed she'd be so good this year: after winning the 15 k individual today, this season she's worn the yellow overall leader's bib more often than not, and has won both races in this format. With no more left on the schedule except at the Olympics, that has given her a discipline title already in January.
Canada has pared its World Cup squad down to just the men who will represent their country at the Olympics - and with qualifying off their shoulders, they can now focus on just racing. That was a relief to everyone as Canada skied and shot to a successful relay performance on Thursday.
RUHPOLDING, Germany – With the ultimate result decided by just one tenth of a second, yesterday’s men’s 4 x 7.5 k relay here was an exciting one. Here are some photos of the action.
Sylvan Ellefson, 26, knew it was going to take some gutsy skiing to win the men's 30-kilometer freestyle mass start Wednesday at the 2014 U.S. Cross Country Championships, but he didn't want to go too crazy, too soon. Here's how he executed to win his first national title by 2.8 seconds.
Caitlin Gregg didn't waste any time getting out front and out of range on Wednesday, opening up an 11.5-second lead by the first of four laps in the women's 20-kilometer freestyle mass start. As the race went on, she only got faster, ultimately winning by an unheard of 3:36 minutes at U.S. nationals.
Russia skied a consistent and fairly unremarkable race to win the biathlon World Cup 4 x 6 k relay. But the biggest story was Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle, whose aggressive skiing and near-perfect shooting took Germany from 18th to 1st on the second leg. Was her mid-race comeback a metaphor for her career, now that the Olympic skier has switched to biathlon?
Competitors at the 2014 U.S. Cross Country Championships have had two days of rest to prepare for the upcoming 20/30 k freestyle mass start races taking place this Wednesday. Women will ski four laps while the men will ski six, on the same Olympic 5 k course they raced this past Saturday.
German skier and biathlete Miriam Gössner, who had a strong 2013 campaign with three World Cup biathlon wins and a near-podium at FIS Cross Country World Championships, has been unable to come back from four fractured vertebrae sustained in a bike crash in Norway in May. She announced in a press conference on Friday that she is ending her season.
Rounding Soldier Hollow’s 2.5-kilometer sit-ski course on Tuesday, Oksana Masters and Lt. Dan Cnossen muscled through methodically, powerfully. Even with two victories apiece behind them from earlier in the week at U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing Nationals, these two had business to tend to.
This weekend was so jam-packed with action, it’s almost hard to keep straight. We’ll give you the rundown of everything that happened, both domestic and abroad, including the finish of the Tour de Ski and the start of the U.S. Cross Country Championships.