For most of Thursday’s 15 k individual race in Poklujuka, Slovenia, it looked like Kaisa Makarainen of Finland was firmly in control and would ski – rather easily – to her third World Cup win of the season. In the last shooting stage, Makarainen missed one target, but thanks to her superior skiing, she still had a jump on the field. When she crossed the finish line, she led the race by an astonishing margin...
For the first time this season, someone who wasn’t Norwegian stood atop the men’s World Cup biathlon podium. After six straight races of Norwegian dominance, the spell was broken in Pokljuka, Slovenia on Thursday. The top Norwegian finisher, Tarjei Boe, didn’t even make the top ten. But Norway’s loss was Austria’s gain, as Daniel Mesotitsch picked up his third career World Cup victory, by almost a minute over Benjamin Weger of Switzerland. Sergui Sednev of...
The U.S. Biathlon Association (USBA) decided to try something new this year: instead of sending all of its best athletes to the World Cup, they would send a smaller group of developing athletes to the IBU Cup – biathlon’s equivalent of the Continental Cup, but more competitive – as well. “It’s better for athlete development to go to the IBU Cup and have success, than it is to go straight to the World Cup,” USBA...
At the first handoff of the men’s World Cup biathlon relay in Hochfilzen, Austria on Sunday, it looked like Norway might not be able to turn in the performance that everyone expected of them. Then Ole Einar Bjorndalen took over, and things went back to normal. Alexander Os, Norway’s first-leg skier, can be forgiven for turning in a less-than-perfect performance. Conditions were stacked against him, with huge wind gusts that held the range’s indicator flags...
In the loaded field that is men’s World Cup sprint racing, advancing to the finals with any consistency is no mean feat, making Emil Joensson’s (SWE) back-to-back sprint victories that much more impressive. Joensson used a slick move on the second lap of the two loop Davos sprint course to move into the lead, and his breathtaking finishing speed to seal the deal in the final. Alexei Petukhov (RUS) held off Dario Cologna (SUI), rounding...
Drew Goldsack of the Canadian National B-Team continued his winning ways in the first NorAm competition of the 2011 season, besting National Team teammate Frederic Touchette in the final of the classic sprint in Vernon, British Columbia on Saturday. Goldsack won both SuperTour sprints over Thanksgiving in West Yellowstone. Those races were qualifier-only, but Goldsack had no problem with the heats today, leading a Canadian sweep of the podium. Graham Nishikawa finished third, just ahead...
Last weekend, if you had asked which country had the best female biathletes, the answer probably would have been Sweden. Anna Carin Zidek and Helena Ekholm both graced the podium multiple times at the World Cup openers in Ostersund, Sweden. But last weekend, Magdalena Neuner wasn’t racing. In Hochfilzen, Austria, things are different. In Saturday’s 4 x 6 k relay, Neuner was Germany’s second skier. She took the tag in third place, twenty seconds behind...
Two weeks ago, young Alexei Poltaranin (KAZ) stood on the start line in Kuusamo wearing bib two. The race was the final event of the Ruka Triple, a World Cup mini-tour in Kuusamo, Finland. Powered by strong results in the preceding classic races, Poltaranin was in position to battle for the overall podium. And battle he did, but despite holding position through the early part of the race, he was dropped by the leaders, swallowed...
As Alexis Boeuf of France told IBU News on Friday, “You know, in biathlon one day you can be on the podium and the next day be last.” That wasn’t quite true on Saturday, although Sergui Sednev of the Ukraine, who finished second in Friday’s sprint, dropped to 29th in the next day’s pursuit. No, what is more noticeable is that the stars of last weekend’s World Cup openers in Ostersund, Sweden, haven’t shone as...
Sara Studebaker was the only woman the United States Biathlon Association had enough confidence in to pre-select for the first period of World Cups this year. And after last weekend’s racing in Ostersund, Sweden, some people were wondering why: she finished 72nd in the individual race and 88th in the sprint. But in Ostersund, Studebaker had water-borne parasites to contend with. When the World Cup moved to Hochfilzen, Austria this week, she was ready, and...
For the fourth straight race, a Norwegian biathlete stood atop the World Cup podium. Was it 36-year-old veteran Ole Einar Bjorndalen? Or perhaps the overall World Cup leader, Emil Hegle Svendsen? Those would be smart guesses, but they’d also be wrong. Instead, it was their teammate, 22-year-old Tarjei Boe, who was the second-fastest skier on Friday and shot clean. Boe has never graced a World Cup podium before, much less won a race. But in...
Before this weekend, Finland’s Kaisa Makarainen had never won a World Cup biathlon race. How things change. After winning Friday’s sprint race by eighteen seconds, then extending that lead to almost a minute and a half in Sunday’s pursuit race, Makarainen will have a target on her back when the World Cup heads to Hochfilzen, Austria, next weekend. Makarainen was the first woman out of the starting gate and never looked back, shooting clean through...
Much to Ole Einar Bjorndalen’s chagrin, his Norwegian teammate Emil Hegle Svendsen beat him for a second straight race. As Bjorndalen crossed the finish line in second place, 3.9 seconds behind Svendsen at the end of Saturday’s 10 k World Cup sprint, he threw his poles onto the ground in frustration and rolled his eyes at the cameraman. Bjorndalen held the lead at the 8.4 k checkpoint, but fell on the final downhill coming into...
Emil Joensson (SWE) reminded the ski world that despite recent strong distance results, he is still a sprinter first and foremost, outlunging Italian Fulvio Scola at the line to capture the victory in a frantic battle on the streets of Dusseldorf. The 25-year-old defending Sprint Cup Champion added his seventh career World Cup victory, staging an impressive stretch run in the men’s final. Joensson navigated the narrow twisty course with aplomb, not panicking as he...
The Americans faced a tough day both on the hill and on the course during Saturday’s Nordic combined WC in Lillehammer. Mikko Kokslien (NOR) won, ahead of Jason Lamy-Chappuis (FRA) and Felix Gottwald (AUT) in third place. Brett Camerota in 40th place was the top US skier. Taylor Fletcher was 41st, Bryan Fletcher 44th and Bill Demong 45th.
The story of the day at the men’s World Cup biathlon opener in Ostersund, Sweden, was how Norway’s Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, already a legend despite the fact that he hasn’t retired, blew an early lead in the 20 k individual race by missing two targets in the last shooting stage. Coming into that stage, Bjoerndalen had an edge of just over a minute on his teammate Emil Hegle Svendsen. But with a pair of missed...
The biathlon World Cup opened in parasite-infested Ostersund, Sweden on Wednesday, with the country’s own Anna Carin Zidek riding clean shooting through four stages to a nine-second win over France’s Marie Laure Brunet in the 15 k individual competition. Hometown favorite Helena Ekholm finished third. Further down the results sheet, but not too much further, Laura Spector led the U.S. with a 25th-place finish. It was the best race of her career, and the best...
Kris Freeman wasn’t quite able to match his teammate Andy Newell’s result from yesterday – but he came pretty close. Freeman, of the U.S. Ski Team (USST), finished seventh in the 10 k classic in Kuusamo, Finland on Saturday, just 0.3 seconds out of sixth. Newell, who had finished sixth in the sprint yesterday, finished 89th, slipping to 42nd place overall in the mini-tour standings. Meanwhile, Canada’s Alex Harvey finished 17th, moving up to fourth...
In Petter Northug’s absence, Marcus Hellner (SWE) took over the mantle as the dominant World Cup male, following up an impressive victory in Saturday’s 15km freestyle by leading the Swedish relay team to the top of the podium. Hellner outsprinted Russia’s Alexander Legkov after the two teams broke away on the third leg. Daniel Rickardsson (SWE) and young Petr Sedov (RUS) broke away from Norway’s Chris Andre Jespersen and Switzerland’s Remo Fischer during the first...
Canada’s Dasha Gaiazova continued her strong skiing in Rovaniemi, Finland today, winning the women’s 5 k classic by 8 seconds over Victoria Melina of Russia. Gaiazova finished second in the classic sprint yesterday, and appears to be in good form heading into the World Cup mini-tour in Kuusamo next weekend. In the men’s 10 k, Frederic Touchette led Canada and the rest of North America with a twelfth-place finish. He was 45 seconds behind Vasili...