Sean McCann is a sports psychologist who has worked for the USOC for over 20 years - and now he's embedded with the U.S. biathlon team, traveling to over half the World Cups so far this season. We chatted about what it's like to work with the team, and why his biggest push is to let the bad races go and get ready for good races to happen, every day.
It was a spectacular weekend for sprinting as the World Cup continued in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic with both a individual and team sprint. FasterSkier was also on site at the 2014 U.S. Cross Country Championships in Midway, Ut., which concluded with a classic sprint on Friday.
Tim Burke knew exactly what he did wrong to earn five penalties in Saturday's individual race: he took his time. "Actually for me usually the slower I shoot the worse I shoot," he said. Fixing that on Sunday, he shot 19-for-20 and was rewarded with a much-improved result.
Canada's JP Le Guellec had a very un-JP moment in Saturday's 20 k individual, missing three shots in the last stage for three painful minutes of penalty time. He battled back in the pursuit the next day, shooting a perfect 20-for-20 and climbing 20 places on the results sheet.
US Biathlon’s International Competition Committee (ICC) is pleased to announce the following roster of athletes for nomination to the 2014 United States Olympic Team:
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.
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.
Once a powerhouse of men’s biathlon, Austria fell on tough fortunes the last few years. But their team of wily veterans is back to their old tricks: Dominik Landertinger outsprinted Germany’s Simon Schempp at the finish of the World Cup relay.
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?
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.
In no-snow Oberhof, there were a lot of "ski stopper" rocks on the trails - and U.S. biathlete Tim Burke hit one at the worst possible time, right as he was accelerating towards a top-5 finish on the last few climbs of the race. He regrouped for ninth place overall, behind race winner Martin Fourcade of France.
21-year-old Macx Davies had his first World Cup start on Friday - and promptly placed 42nd, qualifying for Saturday's pursuit. It perfectly illustrated Biathlon Canada's strategy for the weekend, resting their current Olympic team while giving some experience to the athletes it is grooming for the next Olympics.