With the weekend closed out in Oberhof, Germany and the start of the second IBU World Cup trimester underway it’s time for, thank you Seth Meyer, … a closer look. Norway’s male biathlon ringer, Johannes Thingnes Bø, was on the sideline for the weekend. Prior to the Oberhof stop, he had worn the yellow bib as the IBU World Cup overall leader. Post-Oberhof, it was time for a change. A small change really in the big...
Oberhof, Germany the site where the IBU World Cup snaps into its second trimester of racing after the holiday break, began a series of races. Yesterday, the women began the Oberhof stop with a 7.5-kilometer sprint. Norway’s Marte Olsbu Roeiseland won in 22:04.9 minutes while shooting clean in both her shooting bouts. Denise Herrmann of Germany was second (+33.1; 0+1), and France’s Julia Simon third (+47.4;1+0). Two North Americans had standout performances. Emma Lunder of...
Pursuit Day in Annecy-Le Grand Bornand, France as the IBU World Cup presented back-to-back pursuit races. Bib 1 starter from Norway, Tiril Eckhoff, won the women’s 10-kilometer pursuit in 29:41.6 shooting 1+0+1+0 for the race. As the winner of yesterday’s sprint, she brings her individual race total to three this year on the IBU World Cup. Her teammate, wearing bib 6, Ingrid Landmark Tandervold, placed second (+38.1; 1+0+1+0). Lena Haecki of Switzerland finished in third...
Tiril Eckhoff of Norway continued her IBU World Cup winning ways on Friday. She won the Annecy-Le Grand Bornand 7.5-kilometer sprint in 20:27.0 with a single penalty during her two shooting rounds. Including two relays, this is Eckhoff’s fourth victory of the season. Justine Braisaz of France was second (+6.2; 0+0), and the Czech Republic’s Svetlana Mironova placed third (+22.5; 0+0). The top-60 skiers qualified for Saturday’s 10 k pursuit. For Canada, Emma Lunders placed...
Thursday’s on the IBU World Cup featured the men’s 10-kilometer sprint in Annecy-Le Grand Bornand, France. Germany’s Benedikt Doll won in 23:22.1. It was Doll’s second World Cup win – he won the sprint at the 2017 IBU World Championships. On his way to the win, Doll shot clean. Second place went to Tarjei Bø of Norway. He also shot clean to finish 9.4 seconds back. France’s Quentin Fillon Maillet was third (+11.3; 0+0). For...
On Saturday and Sunday, racing continued on the IBU World Cup in Hochfilzen, Austria. Some story lines remained familiar, some reflect the national diversity of the biathlon circuit and that on any given day, a historically non-dominant team can excel. Saturday featured a women’s 4 x 6-kilometer relay and the men’s 12.5 k pursuit. Norway’s team of Karoline Offigstad Knotten, Ingrid Landmark Tandervold, Tiril Eckhoff, and Marte Olsbu Roeiseland won the relay in 1:10:04.7 with...
Friday began the weekend series of IBU World Cup racing in Hochfilzen, Austria. The women and men raced the 7.5-kilometer and 10 k sprint, respectively. For the women, Italy’s Dorothea Wierer won in 21:26.5 while missing a single target. She began and ends the day wearing the yellow bib as the World Cup overall leader. Norway’s Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold placed second (+5.9; 0+0), and Russia’s Svetlana Mironova third (+18.3; 0+1). It was Mironova’s first World...
Over the weekend in Östersund, Sweden the IBU World Cup held its traditional 4 x 7 .5-kilometer for the men, and 4 x 5 k relays for the women. Saturday, Norway’s team of Johannes Dale, Erlend Øvereng Bjøntegaard, Tarjei Bø, and Johannes Thingnes Bø won the men’s race in 1:10:30.4 hours. In total, the team used nine spares with no penalty laps. France, with Emilien Jacquelin, Quentin Fillon Maillet, Simon Desthieux, and Martin Fourcade placed...
In Östersund, Sweden on Wednesday, the IBU World Cup picked up again with the men racing the 20-kilometer individual. The depth of the French team was evident as they swept the top-for spots. Martin Fourcade won in a time of 53:11.9 minutes — and shooting clean until his final bout, when he missed a single target. Simon Desthieux was second (+12.7; 0+1+0+0), and Quentin Fillon Maillet third (+1:50.8; 2+0+0+1). Scott Gow of Canada was the...
The IBU World Cup season opened Saturday, November 30th on a windy day in Ӧstersund, Sweden with a pair of mixed relays: a single mixed relay, and a 4 x 6-kilometer mixed relay. The following day, athletes competed in a sprint, 10 k for the men and 7.5 k for the women. In the single mixed relay, the U.S. team of Susan Dunklee and Sean Doherty tagged off twice each, Dunklee skiing a total of...
On Saturday, the second day of racing at the U.S. Biathlon Fall Team Trials saw biathletes race mass start distance races outside Midway, Utah at Soldier Hollow (SoHo). Clare Egan (USBA) won the women’s 10-kilometer event in 29:55.81 minutes. Egan, coming off a career best year on the IBU World Cup, shot clean while prone and missed two targets standing. Susan Dunklee (USBA), the winner of Thursday’s sprint race, placed second in 30:41.10 (1, 1,...
On Thursday, a three race series to help determine international race starts for U.S. biathletes began with a sprint at Soldier Hollow (SoHo) outside Midway, Utah. For the IBU World Cup, five U.S. athletes have pre-qualified with a top-25 result on the World Cup or World Championships last season. Pre-qualified athletes include Joanne Reid, Clare Egan, Susan Dunklee, Sean Doherty, and Leif Nordgren. According to the USBA selection criteria, the remaining World Cup Period 1 spots...
For many years the U.S. Biathlon Association (USBA) has invested in talent. Athletes who demonstrate ski-speed and a knack for shooting on the firing range receive what amounts to a cushioned sport-specific transition. In this case, Luke Brown (Crosscut Mountain Sports/USBA) and Zane Fields (USBA) are the latest cross-country athletes embraced by the USBA’s X-Team. Brown, who is in his second year removed from Dartmouth, and Fields who is fresh off a four year stint...
Last week, Biathlon Canada announced Justin Wadsworth as the Head Coach for the 2019-2020 season. In April, 2019, Wadsworth took on a temporary role as the team’s summer coach. That fill-in-the-gap stint will extend through this season’s racing. Wadsworth joins Canadian biathlon at a challenging time, with limited funding and after the retirement of many top athletes. “My job is really just for the national team — we have 12 athletes and I would say...
Career arcs have a beginning, an apogee, and an eventual end. So far, US Biathlon’s Sean Doherty has been on an ascendant path. He’s the most decorated career IBU Youth/Junior Worlds medalist with 10 total. With two Olympics to his name, and a 25th overall ranking on the World Cup last season, year by year Doherty’s training has yielded race improvements. Why shake it up? At 24-years-old, and two full winters before the 2022 Olympics,...
Press Release IBU makes important calendar and sports decisions amid Congress preparations The International Biathlon Union (IBU) has set the dates for the IBU World Championships Biathlon in Pokljuka 2021 and Oberhof 2023, and decided to establish a new Season Opening from the beginning of the BMW IBU World Cup season 2020/2021. At its meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, the IBU Executive Board also approved the extension of prize money distribution from the Top 15...
With the 2018/2019 season officially in the rearview, FasterSkier is running a series of articles highlighting some of the players and performances from the season. This honor goes to the North American coach who most deserves recognition for their impact on the trajectory of their athletes. In April of 2018, Armin Auchentaller was hired to lead the U.S. Women’s Biathlon team. The position was not totally new for Auchentaller as he had worked with the...
Biathlete of the Year With the 2018/2019 season officially in the rearview, FasterSkier is running a series of articles highlighting some of the players and performances from the season. This honor goes to the outstanding North American biathlete on the international circuit. About ten seconds into the IBU TV interview with U.S. biathlete Clare Egan that follows, her first statement regarding her then career-best World Cup Result – a sixth place in Pokljuka, Slovenia’s 10-kilometer pursuit –...
For years under the leadership of Bernd Eisenbichler and Per Nilsson, US Biathlon was a polyglot enterprise. It’s often claimed the high performance staff at USBA had a decidedly United Nations vibe. As a sport firmly entrenched in Europe, siphoning some of that expertise into the U.S. program paid dividends over the past two decades. IBU World Cup podiums and World Championship medals were the payback. Lowell Bailey, at thirty-seven years old, is a hybrid...
Press release