"Imagine sprinting up twenty flights of stairs and then trying to thread a needle.” That's how Biathlon Canada veteran Rosanna Crawford describes the art of skiing, then shooting, repeatedly. Here, we learn about biathlon: how athletes prep on race day, and how Crawford approached her shooting on a personal-best day at 2016 World Championships.
Looking back on 2015/2016, there were a long list of biathlon results for the U.S. and Canada to be excited about. Here are a few of the best, three of which included medals.
Landing 14th and 15th in biathlon's World Cup Total Score, Americans Susan Dunklee and Tim Burke are FasterSkier's 2016 Biathletes of the Year. Dunklee placed second in the Presque Isle World Cup sprint on home soil, while each also collected two sixth-place finishes this season.
Doherty became the winningest youth and junior biathlete of all time, from any country, after picking up one last gold at Junior World Champs -- and also tallied three World Cup top 20s. Ogden secured her place on the U.S. cross-country scene by winning a SuperTour and notching third- and fourth-place finishes in the senior division at U.S. nationals.
At home in Oslo, two Norwegians reached the podium in the final race of 2016 Biathlon World Championships, as Johannes Thingnes Bø won the men's mass start and Ole Einar Bjørndalen placed third, fewer than 7 seconds back. Americans Lowell Bailey and Tim Burke placed 10th and 12th, respectively.
Photos from the final women's race at IBU World Championships in Oslo, Norway, the 12.5 k mass start, where Susan Dunklee placed 11th, Rosanna Crawford took 15th and Hannah Dreissigacker capped off her career in 27th.
Martin Fourcade versus Simon Schempp: Two perennial rivals duking it out on the final loop of Thursday's mixed relay. It was a fitting end to the first race of the 2016 IBU World Championships in Oslo, Norway. While Fourcade anchored France to gold and Germany took second, the U.S. placed 10th and Canada 11th.
In "danger" of not qualifying for 2016 World Championships, Germany’s Erik Lesser stuck it to those who questioned his chances, winning Saturday's mass start at the IBU World Cup in Ruhpolding in front of a local crowd. "I don’t want to hear about that again after giving you what you wanted," he told reporters.