A strong team effort, where each racer skied among the fastest times of the day withstood the pressure of the notoriously loud and crazy Oberhof fans, gave the U.S. their best relay result in the era of modern biathlon.
Friday's World Cup relay turned into a barnburner in Oberhof, with Emil Hegle Svendsen desperately trying to make up nine seconds on Dmitri Malyshko in the final 2.5 kilometer on the newly-salted tracks. The Russian held strong, though, and gave his team the victory.
A willingness to be cold and wet were requirements for success in Oberhof today; ability to see targets through the fog and also to stay fuzzy-side-up on the course's steep and slushy downhills were encouraged, but not required, to be on the podium. Valj Semerenko noted that she'd prefer if it were minus five and sunny, but Ukraine won the women's relay anyway.
Sean Doherty (Vermont Collegiate Biathlon) and Anna Kubek (Mount Itasca) dominated their fields so thoroughly that it was tough for anyone else to come close enough tot qualify automatically, thanks to USBA's percent-back system. But with a little discretion, ten young biathletes are bound for Obertilliach, Austria, later this month.
Domestic racing was on hold because of holidays and the looming U.S. Nationals, but the Tour de Ski kicked off in Germany, which also hosted a strange and exciting team biathlon event in a soccer stadium. American junior biathletes also vied for spots at World Youth and Junior Championships.
50,000 fans in a soccer stadium. Bulletproof glass protecting them from a shooting range. 20 of the world's best biathletes. Magdalena Neuner suspended on a trapeze. This is what you'll find at the World Team Challenge, a which happened in Germany today. Susan Dunklee shared her experience after placing tenth with Tim Burke.
Lee-Steve Jackson's two top-60 performances highlighted the first period of World Cup racing for Great Britain. But for him and other team leaders like Amanda Lightfoot, much has changed; both now train in Lillehammer, and have less support on the World Cup. FasterSkier talked to them in Ostersund, Sweden, earlier this winter.
After rain and snow, and sprint, pursuit, and mass start competitions, four biathletes got the nod to join the IBU Cup roster for trips to Otepaa, Estonia, and Ostrov, Russia. Hannah Dreissigacker, Katrina Howe, Bill Bowler, and Wynn Roberts will make the trip, but Corrine Malcolm missed the cut despite winning the sprint.
Performances from the final World Cups of 2012 provided plenty of fodder for speculation over the holiday break. With a lot going on this weekend, here's our recap of racing from around the world.
The fog in Pokljuka, Slovenia, tripped up everyone in the 12.5 k mass start - but Tora Berger overcame her penalties and collected the 20th win of her career. Rosanna Crawford of Canmore, meanwhile, picked up her fifth top-30 result in a row and is heading home for the holidays happy.
Tim Burke (USA) has not only recovered from his compartment syndrome scare two winters ago, but he has also finally regained his confidence after having surgery. Andreas Birnbacher (GER) won the mass start, but Burke was on the podium for the first time since 2010.
Miriam Gossner had five penalties and Gabriela Soukalova shot a perfect 20 for 20, but the German still prevailed for a 0.7-second win in the 10 k pursuit in Pokljuka, Slovenia today.
After erratic shooting kept him from his usual spot on the podium all season, Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway used calm and focus to best Martin Fourcade in the final stage of today's 12.5 pursuit in Pokljuka, Slovenia.
The Canadian and American women broke through on Friday with Rosanna Crawford's twelfth place finish and Susan Dunklee's 14th in the 7.5 k sprint. In all, two Canadians and three Americans were in the points in Pokljuka, Slovenia.
Taking herself, her coaches and the biathlon world completely by surprise, 23-year-old Gabriella Soukalova (CZE) won the 7.5 k sprint in Pokljuka, Slovenia, on Friday. The win is her first ever on the World Cup; prior to this she had only one top-ten on her record. Second place went to Miriam Gössner (GER) and third to Nadezhda Skardino (BLR).
On Thursday in Pokljuka, Slovenia, Burke turned in a season best fourth-place finish in the 10 k sprint even though he never reached his top speed. Lowell Bailey finished 36th on a broken toe.
Jakov Fak (SLO) earned his first regular-season victory last weekend in Hochfilzen, Austria, and on Thursday in Pokljuka, Slovenia, he built off that success in front of a home crowd. His slim 0.8-second win in the 10 k sprint over Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen was the first World Cup victory Slovenia has ever seen on home soil.
After providing Canada's best women's result at the 2010 Olympics, biathlete Megan Heinicke moved to Germany, got married, and had a baby. Illness prevented her from skiing a full World Cup schedule in 2012, but this year she is back and has already notched a top-30 result.
In case you were living under a rock this weekend, here's what you missed in the world of skiing and biathlon.
Just like last year at this competition, Lowell Bailey had a good thing going. Today, though, he was able to clean his final stage and stay into the top ten; USBA President Max Cobb called the perfect late-race shooting a big accomplishment, and something that Bailey has been working on. Plus, more from the other North American biathletes.