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.
Tad Elliott has been through a lot the last couple years. Every day, he said he questioned whether he'd make it back to the top. One of his supporters, Fast Big Dog interviewed Elliott about his recovery from illness and path back to a national title.
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.
Can't get enough of the Midwest-skiing sensation? Here's an all-Jessie photo gallery from the sixth stage of the Tour de Ski, where the 24-year-old Diggins won the 5 k freestyle to become the second U.S. women to win a stage at this year's Tour.
U.S. nationals in Houghton, Mich. concluded last weekend with the 1.5 k classic sprints on the Michigan Tech Trails. Here are a collection of photos recapping the final day of the 2016 championships. Special thanks to Christopher Schmidt.
The women’s overall podium at the 2016 Tour de Ski on Sunday was all red. Norway swept the top three, with Therese Johaug taking the overall title from Ingvild Flustad Østberg on the final climb, and Heidi Weng retained third. For the U.S., Jessie Diggins locked up 10th, Sadie Bjornsen was 14th and Liz Stephen posted the third-fastest time of day.
American Susan Dunklee reached the flower ceremony again on Sunday. She cleaned the first two shooting stages of the IBU World Cup mass start to ski up into second around the halfway point, then missed one shot in the third stage and ended up sixth to tie her season best.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby won his third-consecutive Tour de Ski by a record-breaking 3 minutes and 15 seconds and another Norwegian, Finn Hågen Krogh, bested a tight chase pack for second overall. Russian Sergey Ustiugov captured third, and Alex Harvey led the North Americans in 14th at the end of the eight-stage Tour.
After a week of hard racing, Eric Packer achieved a longtime dream of winning his first national title in Saturday's classic sprint, the last race of U.S. nationals in Houghton, Mich. He outlunged APU teammate Reese Hanneman, the national skate-sprint champion, by 0.67 seconds.
Martin Fourcade didn't feel very good this weekend -- he made that well known -- yet the Frenchman pushed on for his 41st World Cup victory in Sunday's 15 k mass start at the IBU World Cup in Ruhpolding, Germany. American Lowell Bailey finished 16th and Canadian Nathan Smith took 25th in the selective race.
Kaitlynn Miller proved she's more than just a podium contender -- she can also be a race favorite -- after winning her first-ever World Cup title in the classic sprint at U.S. nationals in Houghton, Mich.
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.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby showed he's still got it, winning Saturday's 15 k classic mass start ahead of Norwegian teammate Niklas Dyrhaug and Kazakhstan's Alexey Poltoranin, for nearly a 1 1/2-minute head start in Sunday's final climb. Alex Harvey notched seventh on the day for 12th overall heading into the final stage.
Despite starting 26th in Sunday's final stage of the Tour de Ski, nearly 10 minutes back from the leader, Noah Hoffman is excited for the opportunity ahead of him. "You couldn’t design something that could be more to my strengths," he said of the infamous 9 k freestyle hill climb up Alpe Cermis.
Always the bridesmaid no more; Heidi Weng ended a streak of 37 World Cup podiums without a win on Saturday at Stage 7 of the Tour de Ski, beating out her teammates Ingvild Flugstad Østberg and Therese Johaug in the 10 k classic mass start. American Sadie Bjornsen placed ninth and Jessie Diggins 17th to head into the final stage in 12th and 10th, respectively.
Jessie Diggins fended off all challengers for her first individual World Cup victory -- that's right -- another one for the U.S. in the last three stages of the Tour de Ski. Diggins did so in the 5 k freestyle in Toblach, Italy, besting four Norwegians in the top five.
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.
Finn Hågen Krogh knows a lot about ups and downs, and has formed somewhat of a pattern at this year's Tour de Ski. However, the Norwegian had one of his career-best races on Friday, winning the 10 k freestyle by 3.6 seconds ahead of teammate and overall Tour leader Martin Johnsrud Sundby. Noah Hoffman placed 19th to lead the U.S., and Canadian Alex Harvey finished 37th and is now 15th in the Tour.