These days at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup in Kontiolahti, Finland, biathlon star Martin Fourcade of France is not as worried about his opponents on the course as he is about the imminent birth of his second child. “That’s the first thing I did when I came to the finish, I checked my phone to see if my wife called,” he told German broadcaster ZDF after the race. There was no message yet,...
IBU World Cup (Kontiolahti, Finland): Men’s & women’s sprints [UPDATED] Fifth place is becoming a habit for US Biathlon’s Susan Dunklee, who shot 9/10 on Friday (1+0) and finished 34.9 seconds out of first for her third fifth-place result in the last three individual races. Twice at last week’s International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup in PyeongChang, South Korea, Dunklee placed fifth: first in the sprint and again in the pursuit. She ended her racing there...
The North Americans kept the momentum rolling two weeks after the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Championships, with US Biathlon’s Lowell Bailey busting out a second place and Susan Dunklee placing fifth in back-to-back races over the last four days in PyeongChang, South Korea. On Sunday, the Canadians showed they’re rounding back into top form in team events, with its men’s team placing seventh and women’s team taking eighth for season bests in the relays. Here are the...
Twelve individual wins so far this season? No problem. And on Sunday, France’s Martin Fourcade used the 4 x 7.5 k World Cup relay in PyeongChang, South Korea, as another opportunity to demonstrate that he’s the best in the world. Starting the final leg of the relay with a 16-second advantage over Austria thanks to hard work by teammates Jean Guillaume Beatrix, Simon Fourcade (his older brother), and Simon Desthieux, Fourcade missed a startling four...
To nobody’s surprise, Germany came out on top in the women’s World Cup relay in PyeongChang, South Korea, where biathletes are checking out next year’s Olympic venue. Nadine Horchler, Maren Hammerschmidt, Denise Herrman, and Franziska Hildebrand cruised to 22.8-second win over Norway in the 4 x 6 k event, completing a clean five-for-five sweep of all the relays this season despite resting top star Laura Dahlmeier and relay regular Vanessa Hinz. Sure, France made a...
In Saturday’s 10-kilometer pursuit in PyeongChang, South Korea, Laura Dahlmeier achieved a level of perfection that made biathlon almost seem unexciting. The German biathlon star started in bib number one after winning Thursday’s 10 k sprint on the 2018 Olympic course, then shot a perfect 20-for-20 and skied away from the field to a 1:12.6 victory. As she hit the last target with more than a minute of time in hand over her competitors, Dahlmeier raised...
For a few kilometers, it looked like Julian Eberhard – the winner of Friday’s sprint – had things in hand in the 12.5 k World Cup pursuit in PyeongChang, South Korea. The Austrian cleaned his first prone stage and didn’t bleed too much time on the trails to Martin Fourcade, the French superstar who was chasing him down. But then he missed two shots in the second stage – and Fourcade sailed past him, off...
FIS Nordic World Championships (Lahti, Finland): Women’s 30 k freestyle mass start Marit Bjørgen made it a four-peat on Saturday with her fourth gold and third individual win over the last week at 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland. (She previously won the 15-kilometer skiathlon, 10 k classic, and 4 x 5 k relay.) The 36-year-old Norwegian closed out the championships with a 1.9-second victory in the women’s 30-kilometer freestyle mass start, finishing in 1:08:36.8...
A screenwriter for a Hollywood thriller hardly could have written a more suspenseful albeit a little convoluted race dramaturgy: Whenever you thought, ‘All right, this has to be it,’ and ‘It’s over now,’ another corkscrew plot twist happened and a new hero emerged. And one of those heroes was US Biathlon’s Lowell Bailey. But at the end of the day he wasn’t the last man standing at the top. A year ahead of the 2018...
IBU World Cup (PyeongChang, South Korea): Men’s 10 k sprint US Biathlon’s Lowell Bailey kept his clean-shooting streak alive with another one of his personal best results on Friday, racing to second in the men’s 10-kilometer sprint at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup in PyeongChang, South Korea. Bailey started 81st and hit all 10 targets in the two-stage race to cross the finish line in first, 4.7 seconds ahead of France’s Martin Fourcade,...
For a while in Thursday’s 7.5-kilometer sprint, the first International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup race since IBU World Championships two weeks earlier, it looked like Susan Dunklee was on track for another podium. Dunklee, 31, of US Biathlon, had last raced to Results | World Cup standings
FIS Nordic World Championships (Lahti, Finland): Women’s 4 x 5 k relay The Norwegian women’s team got a much-needed lift from Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen, the third leg of its 4 x 5-kilometer relay, on Thursday, who tagged her teammate Marit Bjørgen nearly a minute ahead of anyone else. From there, Bjørgen anchored the Norwegians to a 1:01.6-minute victory for her third gold of 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland. Meanwhile, Sweden and Finland battled for...
In this 20-something-question, fill-in-the-blanks series, we checked in with the world-class U.S. and Canadian biathletes before they competed at 2017 International Biathlon Union (IBU) Youth & Junior World Championships Feb. 22-28 in Osrblie (also known as Brezno-Osrblie), Slovakia. Here’s 17-year-old Eli Nielsen, of Methow Valley Nordic (MVNT), who represented the U.S. at his first Youth Worlds. In two individual races, Nielsen finished 82nd in the youth men’s 7.5 k sprint and 91st in the 12.5 k individual. *** “My full name is Camren...
In this 20-something-question, fill-in-the-blanks series, we checked in with the world-class U.S. and Canadian biathletes before they competed at 2017 International Biathlon Union (IBU) Youth & Junior World Championships Feb. 22-28 in Osrblie (also known as Brezno-Osrblie), Slovakia. Here’s 16-year-old Élise Sauvé , of Foothills Nordic, who represented Canada at her first Youth Worlds. In two individual races, she finished 78th in the youth women’s 10 k individual and 86th in the 6 k sprint. *** “My full name is Élise Sauvé, but...
In another 20-something-question, fill-in-the-blanks series, we checked in with the world-class U.S. and Canadian biathletes before they competed at 2017 International Biathlon Union (IBU) Youth & Junior World Championships Feb. 22-28 in Osrblie (also known as Brezno-Osrblie), Slovakia. Here’s 20-year-old Jules Burnotte, of Biathlon Estrie, who represented Canada at his second Youth/Junior Worlds. Burnotte competed in all four junior men’s races over the past week, finishing 43rd in the pursuit, 55th in both the sprint and individual races, and 12th with his...
In another 20-something-question, fill-in-the-blanks series, we checked in with the world-class U.S. and Canadian biathletes before they competed at 2017 International Biathlon Union (IBU) Youth & Junior World Championships Feb. 22-28 in Osrblie (also known as Brezno-Osrblie), Slovakia. Here’s 20-year-old Charlotte Hamel, of Biathlon Estrie, who represented Canada at her third Youth/Junior Worlds. Hamel started the 12.5 k individual but did not finish due to illness. *** “My full name is Charlotte Hamel, and I don’t have a nickname so...
In another 20-something-question, fill-in-the-blanks series, we checked in with the world-class U.S. and Canadian biathletes that competed at 2017 International Biathlon Union (IBU) Youth & Junior World Championships Feb. 22-28 in Osrblie (also known as Brezno-Osrblie), Slovakia. Here’s 17-year-old Thomas Hulsman, of the Foothills Nordic Ski Club, who represented Canada at his first Youth Worlds. He finished 57th in the youth men’s 12.5 k individual, 87th in the 7.5 k sprint, and on Monday, 15th with his team in the
In another 20-something-question, fill-in-the-blanks series, we checked in with the world-class U.S. and Canadian biathletes that competed at 2017 International Biathlon Union (IBU) Youth & Junior World Championships Feb. 22-28 in Osrblie (also known as Brezno-Osrblie), Slovakia. Here’s 15-year-old Helen Wilson, of Alaska Nordic Racing and Anchorage Biathlon Club, who represented the U.S at her first Youth Worlds. In two individual races at the championships, she placed 62nd in the youth women’s 10 k individual and 67th in the 6 k sprint....
IBU Youth/Junior World Championships (Osrblie, Slovakia): Youth relays The Norwegian and Russian youth men’s and women’s youth relays teams took either first or second on Monday in their last race of International Biathlon Union (IBU) Youth World Championships in Osrblie, Slovakia, with Russia winning the women’s 3 x 6-kilometer relay and Norway topping the men’s 3 x 7.5 k. While Norway’s men’s team of Jørgen Krogsæter, Vebjørn Sørum, and Sivert Guttorm Bakken skied away from...
In another 20-something-question, fill-in-the-blanks series, we checked in with the world-class U.S. and Canadian biathletes that will be competing at 2017 International Biathlon Union (IBU) Youth & Junior World Championships Feb. 22-28 in Osrblie (also known as Brezno-Osrblie), Slovakia. Here’s 18-year-old Jake Pearson, of the Casper Mountain Biathlon Club, who is representing the U.S. at his first Youth Worlds. In two individual races at the championships, he finished 49th in the youth men’s 12.5 k individual and 76th in the 7.5 k...