As the first U.S. woman to ever earn a place in an Olympic mass start - which is limited to the top 30 competitors - Susan Dunklee made the most of her evening on Tuesday, skiing in the top 10 before ultimately running out of gas in the sprint finish and ending up 12th. It was still a new best mark for the American women's team.
Megan Imrie sensed there was a chance she could race Monday's Olympic biathlon mass start, but she didn't think it was a very good chance. Settled in at the athletes' village that evening, she received a call informing her that she could, 1 1/2 hours before the start. Imrie became the first Canadian woman to race an Olympic mass start, and raced the format for the first time in her career.
By winning the women's mass start in dominant fashion, Darya Domracheva became not only a three-time gold medalist and the most successful female biathlete in Olympic history, but also a Hero of Belarus - the president made her just the 11th person to achieve such honor. Gabriela Soukalova of Czech was second and Tiril Eckhoff of Norway third - after waking up feeling sick and then eating a burger for lunch.
Three biathletes were recently caught doping - but does that count as cleaning out the sport, or is it just the tip of the banned-substance iceberg? According to IBU medical director Dr. Jim Carrabre, the biathlon union has doubled their testing in the leadup to the Olympics and is using the blood passport program to aggressively target potential dopers. Some substances can't be detected, but the federation is pushing as hard as current science and WADA rules allow.
Fog has already delayed the men's mass start biathlon competition several times, throwing athletes, coaches, and fans for a loop. It is currently scheduled for 3:30 p.m. local time, although conditions at the venue have not improved at all over the course of the morning. While athletes and journalists can joke about the delays and fog, the decision-making process is no laughing matter for race officials.
The U.S. biathlon team grinds their skis in Sochi in a ramshackle orange shipping container cluttered with machinery and coiled extension cords—with a couple of full beer cans propping up their jury-rigged waxing bench.
Disappointed with her sprint result and frustrated to sit out the pursuit, Hannah Dreissigacker "made a plan" and executed to achieve the best finish of her career, by 30 places -- at the Olympics, no less. The first-time Olympian led all North Americans with a 23rd-place finish. Megan Imrie of Canada placed 30th.
Dasha Domracheva relied on super-fast skiing and the confidence of a gold medal already in the bag to earn her second of these Olympics -- a first for Belarus in any Winter Games. Selina Gasparin shot clean for the first time in her career to take home Switzerland's first biathlon medal with silver, and Belarus had an unprecedented two on the podium with Nadezhda Skardino in third.
American Biathlete Lowell Bailey skied and shot his way to eighth place at the Olympics on Thursday, relying on the calm and poise that he had been missing earlier this week. The result was the best-ever Olympic finish in biathlon for the U.S.
Brendan Green led the Canadians in 21st with his best Olympic result on Thursday, and if he hadn't had two penalties in the 20 k individual, he would've been even closer. His teammates, Nathan Smith and JP Le Guellec placed 25th and 35th, respectively, and Tim Burke placed 44th with four penalties.
Martin Fourcade used his blazing ski speed to win his second biathlon gold of the Games. But silver medalist Erik Lesser did something more personal: he repaid his grandfather Axel, a cross-country skier, who was in second place in the 1976 Olympics before colliding with a spectator and withdrawing from the race. Evgeniy Garanichev of Russia, meanwhile, became the first athlete to win a medal on their birthday when he took bronze.
Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk was crying at the finish line of Thursday's Olympic 10 k, though it was unclear if they were tears of joy, or of pain. The 31-year-old had won a clear victory over Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla and Norway’s Therese Johaug.
Susan Dunklee was in fifth place in the 10 k biathlon pursuit the final time she skied onto the shooting range. She missed three shots and lost her chance at a medal, but with the fourth-fastest ski time of the day, she still ended up 18th. "“The cool thing is that I know I can be there on a solid day,” she said. "There are lots of races left."
After blowing away the field in Tuesday’s pursuit race, biathlete Darya Domracheva got to carry Belarus’s red and green colors after all, as she cruised down the homestretch far ahead of her competition.
After frustrating results for Tim Burke and Lowell Bailey, “They get 12 hours to digest it,” their coach said. “Then, we go for the next one.”
After athlete complaints at last year's World Cup, Sochi organizers removed a particularly dangerous downhill from the biathlon course. But with warm conditions and deep, rutted snow, the rest of the course became treacherous today, with at least four major crashes between the 59 racers. Freezing nights are not predicted until next week, suggesting that the cross country ski courses, too, may be in for some ugly conditions.
After turning in clean shooting and the fastest shooting times on the first two stages of today's Olympic pursuit, Jean Philippe Le Guellec was in first place, ready to bring Canada a medal. But a crash on a slushy, skied-out downhill corner left him with a broken ski and cost him 15 places, as well as affecting his next shooting. In his stead, Nathan Smith moved from 13th up to 11th to lead Canada.
Martin Fourcade described the final loop of Monday’s 12.5-kilometer pursuit as “one of the worst” in his whole life. That's ironic because he won by 14 seconds to definitively capture his first Olympic gold, but it didn't come easy and there was plenty that could've gone wrong.
Canada's Rosanna Crawford and Megan Imrie notched their best performances at their second Olympics in 25th and 31st, respectively, on Sunday in the 7.5 k sprint. Things came together for Zina Kocher in 32nd, and Megan Heinicke squeaked in the top 60 to also qualify for Tuesday's pursuit.
After Susan Dunklee turned in the best-ever U.S. women's performance in an Olympic sprint, Sara Studebaker clocked in at 44th and Annelies Cook in 53rd, while Hannah Dreissigacker just missed the cutoff for Tuesday's pursuit in 65th. "So actually getting there, it’s a huge feeling for me," Cook said of her first Olympic finish.