Nathan Smith claimed his first IBU Cup podium in two years by placing second to Russia's Timofey Lapshin in Idre today; Marc-Andre Bedard was seventh and Brendan Green ninth, while Megan Imrie and Megan Heinicke placed sixth and seventh in the women's race. One race into the season, Canada leads the IBU Cup standings - ahead of Norway, Russia, and Germany.
At least 20 teams have a realistic chance of getting an athlete on the podium in the Olympics - or at any of the normal World Cup races this season. Watch out, big guys, you're in for some serious competition.
Norway, Russia, Germany, France: it's hard to see a biathlon race where these guys aren't on the podium. Here's what you need to know about the biggest teams going into the 2013-2014 season - injury updates, shooting problems, psychological battles, promising juniors, team-naming squabbles. Read on.
This might be Andrea Henkel’s swan-song season, but the 35-year-old German biathlete and multiple Olympic gold medalist showed she’s in the hunt for one of her best winters yet – sweeping the opening biathlon races last weekend in Sjusjøen, Norway. We spoke with Henkel last month when she was in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Andrea Henkel of Germany vanquished Norway's Tora Berger for a second straight win at the "season start" biathlon races in Norway. But the home team had its revenge in the men's race, where Ole Einar Bjørndalen led a 1-4 sweep and Norway placed nine men in the top 12.
Sjusjøen, Norway, is hosting "Sesongstartskiskyting": opening races for the international biathlon season. Most European national teams were in attendance, and Norway's Emil Hegle Svendsen and Germany's Andrea Henkel took home the wins in Saturday's sprints.
JP Le Guellec, Scott Perras, Zina Kocher, and Rosanna Crawford will start the biathlon season on the World Cup - but 11 other Canadians have the chance to fight it out for the remaining World Cup spots, where they can also qualify for the Olympics. The team was chosen after two trials races in Canmore this week.
USBA picked 11 athletes to send to Europe this fall, based on trials races this summer in Jericho and last week at Soldier Hollow. Some of them will be picked for Sochi - but who? We clarify the qualification process, as well as getting some comments from High Performance Director Bernd Eisenbichler about the performances he saw in Utah last week.
Lowell Bailey swept both Tuesday and Thursday's sprint races at Soldier Hollow, while Susan Dunklee and Hannah Dreissigacker picked up wins for the women. The races are a step in the Olympic qualification pipeline.
Former Olympic kayaker Julia Rivard decided to use the Kickstarter model and her own tech smarts to make a fundraising website only for athletes. A year later 20 Canadians, including three biathletes, have started campaigns on the site and more than half surpassed their goals. Rosanna Crawford has raised $18,000 with partner Brendan Green: "It feels like a weight has been lifted."
FasterSkier caught the US Biathlon team during one of their hardest workouts of the training season in Lake Placid, with the added bonus of watching German gold medalist Andrea Henkel rollerski around with them.
There's just one season separating Jean Philippe Le Guellec from retirement, but the recent World Cup winner is hardly complacent about his form as a biathlete. Instead, he's aggressively making changes to his technique, shooting, and strength as part of a resurgent Canadian men's squad - and finding extra motivation for Sochi in the process.
There's a bit of a mystique surrounding the Ethan Allen Firing Range in Jericho, Vt., and we wanted to find out more about the treasured training site and who exactly can use it.
A staple on the World Cup and the U.S. relay team, biathlete Leif Nordgren feels "more set" for the Olympics than last time around, when he was still a junior but trying the qualification process anyway. He told us about a good summer of training, changes in shooting, and navigating ski testing, boredom, and mashed-potato snow in the Oberhof ski tunnel.
U.S. Biathlon A-Teamer Annelies Cook catches us up on everything from a new strategy for shooting in races to time trialing against the German women and hiking with friends at home in upstate New York. Plus, women's coach Jonne Kahkonen weighs in on how his team fared in competition.
Before leaving for Germany for a three-week camp in Ruhpolding and Oberhof, US Biathlon's Hannah Dreissigacker talks about how she's made strides in her sport -- specifically in shooting -- and why combo workouts are some of the best ones biathletes can do.
Images from the men's 12.5-kilometer pursuit at the Ethan Allen Firing Range on Aug. 11, the last of the two-day North American Biathlon Rollerski Championships in Jericho, Vt. (Women's 10 k pursuit photos to come.)
Photos from Day 1 of the North American Biathlon Rollerski Championships at Ethan Allen Firing Range: women's 7.5 k and men's 10 k sprints.
Coming off breakout seasons, Hannah Dreissigacker, 26, and Rosanna Crawford, 25, each saw the top of the podium over the weekend at the North American Biathlon Rollerski Championships in Jericho, Vt. The sprint winner, Dreissigacker learned what it's like to be hunted, and Crawford chased her down for the pursuit win.
Lowell Bailey could go around telling people he won two national rollerski titles this weekend. But that’s not exactly the biggest deal for Bailey, a U.S. biathlon champion multiple times over who’s been competing at the sport’s highest level for more than a decade.