After a long spring of indecision, Anna Carin Zidek of Sweden finally announced her retirement from biathlon last week. “I no longer have any desire, my motivation has disappeared, and so I will stop,” the 2006 Olympic gold medalist told an Ostersund newspaper. The announcement came after months of deliberation. “Oh yes, there are many who wonder if I should continue or not next season,” Zidek had written on her blog in late April. “And...
When FasterSkier in an interview last week. “Pichler, because he’s had big success in Sweden and many years… maybe it was time for him to move.” Past Animosity with Russia While the challenge of coaching a supremely talented yet frustratingly inconsistent group of women may be appealing to Pichler, the move to Russia is puzzling given his past relationship with the RBU. For several years, Pichler – who is outspoken on many issues – very...
In Saturday’s World Cup sprint race, Bjorn Ferry gave habitual powerhouse Sweden its third victory of the new season, and its first in a men’s race. On Sunday, Sweden took win number four. After Helena Ekholm and Anna Carin Zidek, the team’s first two World Cup victors this season, left the Swedes within striking distance of the podium, Carl Johann Bergman used some last-minute heroics to take a 0.3 second win over Ukraine France and...
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...
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...