For three quarters of Sunday’s 12.5 k pursuit in Presque Isle, Arnd Peiffer had the biathlon race locked up. The German started the day in bib one, with a 16-second advantage over France’s Martin Fourcade, and grew his lead to more than a minute in the first half of the race—thanks to strong skiing and just one penalty over three shooting stages. To his competitors, Peiffer seemed untouchable—each time they entered the range, he was...
The Rybinsk World Cups may lack the usual robust field, but if nothing else, it is a great opportunity for the Russians to showcase the sport to a passionate fan base. The men’s team did just that, overcoming a tough third leg by Petr Sedov to eke out the win over a strong Italian team. Evgeniy Belov and Maxim Vylegzhanin skied from the front on the classic legs, setting the pace, and opening up a...
It’s not often that the U.S. biathlon team gets to race a relay in front of a home crowd—in fact, it hasn’t happened in more than seven years. So when the American squad of Sara Studebaker, Haley Johnson, Jay Hakkinen and Jeremy Teela took to the course in Presque Isle in Saturday’s World Cup mixed relay, the race was just as much for the hundreds of red-white-and-blue-clad spectators as it was for the athletes themselves....
Germany’s biathlon team is deep enough that most other countries have their hands full even when they field their best athletes. But in Saturday’s mixed relay, many only put forth their second string—and the result was predictable. With a crowd of up to five million watching a rare prime-time broadcast back home, the German squad of Kathrin Hitzer, Magdalena Neuner, Alexander Wolf and Daniel Boehm raced to a convincing 30-second win in Presque Isle, ME,...
It took four tries, but Russian sprint specialist Alexei Petukhov finally got a World Cup victory on home soil, breaking away from the pack to win the men’s freestyle sprint in Rybinsk, Russia. In the women’s event, a Petra Majdic-less Slovenia claimed the top two spots with Vesna Fabjan and Katja Visnar beating out Justyna Kowalczyk (POL). As in Friday’s pursuit, many of the top skiers were missing – including the entire Swedish team and...
Sara Studebaker could not have picked a better day for it all to come together. Thanks to clean shooting and a strong day on her skis, the 26-year-old American raced to a career-best 14th place in front of a home crowd in northern Maine, for what U.S. Biathlon staff called the top women’s World Cup result for an American in at least five years, if not a decade. In the 7.5 k sprint in Presque...
It’s not the Super Bowl yet, but there was no lack of enthusiasm from fans greeting World Cup biathlon’s return to northern Maine. Hundreds of spectators turned out to the Nordic Heritage Center on Friday morning to watch Germany’s Arnd Peiffer win the men’s 10 k sprint in Presque Isle, the first elite-level international race on American soil in seven years. Peiffer, a burly 23-year-old, shot clean to top France’s Martin Fourcade and Russia’s Ivan...
When Justyna Kowalczyk stood at the head of the chevron before the 10 k pursuit Friday morning in Rybinsk, Russia, she must have felt a little bit lonely. That’s because no less than 20 of the top 30 women in the current overall World Cup rankings were missing. Kowalczyk’s biggest rival, Marit Bjoergen (NOR) opted to take the weekend off, as did fourth ranked Petra Majdic (SLO), and 6th through 9th, Therese Johaug (NOR), Charlotte...
If you’re a woman, do yourself a favor and hop on the next flight to Russia, stat. On Friday morning, near the city of Rybinsk, the International Ski Federation (FIS) has scheduled the first of three World Cup races for this weekend. Just 30 female athletes are on the start list—beat one of them, and you’ll be in possession of a World Cup point. Field sizes in Rybinsk appear to be slightly larger than they...
The Swedes can bring up to 24 skiers to Oslo. Norway only has 18 spots for their own World Championships. Now, the Norwegians want to the change the rules and are preparing a proposition to the FIS.
First, retired star Thomas Alsgaard showed up at Norwegian national championships and placed third in the 15 k classic, leading commentators and fans alike to bemoan the state of the national team. Sure, Alsgaard is an amazing talent and is training fairly seriously for marathons, but should a man who has been retired for almost ten years be able to beat everyone except Martin Sundby Johnsrud and Eldar Roenning? Then the Norwegian team for World...
“The team selection is first and foremost based on results from the World Cup this season,” says Norway’s national team director Åge Skinstad.
A snowy day at the Haywood NorAm mini-tour in Orford, Quebec, made the tracks a little bit slippery for the 7.5/10 k classic individual start races, but Graham Nishikawa of the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) didn’t let the precipitation get in the way of his second NorAm victory in two days. After a big fifteen second win during Friday’s 4 k classic prologue, Nishikawa upped the ante on Saturday, winning the 10 k classic...
Only Eldar Rønning and Martin Johnsrud Sundby could beat Thomas Alsgaard in the 15K classic at the Norwegian national championships Thursday.
The Canadians will field an experienced 11-person roster for the World Championships in Oslo, Norway at the end of February, and all 11 will also ski the World Cup in Drammen, Norway, the week before. The roster is almost identical to the Olympic roster from last year – 9 of the 11 skiers competed in Vancouver, and all 11 have at least one World Cup start. According to Cross Country Canada (CCC)’s selection criteria, the...
Capping the World Cup weekend in Chaux Neuve (FRA) with all four team members in the top 30 is a good indication for being on track for the 2011 Worlds in Oslo. Now it’s all about polishing the details.
It’s not as if the U.S. men’s biathlon team hasn’t shown its potential this year: Lowell Bailey led the beginning of the last relay before missing too many shots to maintain his position, and Bailey has had a number of top-20 finishes in individual races, while Tim Burke has two top-20’s and Leif Nordgren shot clean to finish 35th in the very first World Cup race of the season. But still, the biathlon world was...
While the once-dominant Norwegian men are in a slump right now, their teammate Tora Berger is just getting started. With an exhilarating mass start win in Antholz, Italy on Sunday – which came down to the final hundred meters but at the same time was a foregone conclusion at least a kilometer earlier – Berger collected her fourth victory in as many individual races, after winning Friday’s sprint by almost 30 seconds as well as...
Estonia has been good to Canada’s Dasha Gaiazova. One year after notching a career-best 12th place in the Otepaa classic sprint, Gaiazova did herself four places better in the same event on Sunday, finishing fourth in her semifinal heat and eighth overall. The result netted Gaiazova $750, and a big confidence boost as she heads home to prepare for the 2011 World Championships in Oslo. The racing in Otepaa wrapped up an exceptional two-week stint...
Cue the crowd and the rock music: Petra Majdic (SLO) has won another World Cup sprint race. After leading wire-to-wire in Sunday’s classic sprint final in Otepaa, Estonia, Majdic repeated a raucous celebration that is quickly becoming her trademark—taking her third win of the year with gusto over Sweden’s Hanna Brodin and Norway’s Maiken Caspersen Falla. Canada’s Dasha Gaiazova skied to eighth, her career-best finish in an individual World Cup, after coming from last in...