FIS Nordic World Championships (Lahti, Finland): Women’s 30 k freestyle mass start Marit Bjørgen made it a four-peat on Saturday with her fourth gold and third individual win over the last week at 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland. (She previously won the 15-kilometer skiathlon, 10 k classic, and 4 x 5 k relay.) The 36-year-old Norwegian closed out the championships with a 1.9-second victory in the women’s 30-kilometer freestyle mass start, finishing in 1:08:36.8...
Before this year’s International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Championships, American Lowell Bailey had never cleaned a 20-kilometer individual or 15-kilometer mass start race. In layman’s terms, he had never hit all 20 targets in those types of races — the longest formats on the circuit. Not in a World Championships, not in a World Cup. That’s not to say shooting isn’t his strength; that’s just extremely difficult to do. Fast forward to Sunday, the last...
HOCHFILZEN, Austria—Redemption, validation, national pride: just a few of the things that were on the line in today’s 4 x 7.5 k relay at IBU World Championships. For Austria, it was clear: a good performance on home soil was critical. The team hadn’t won a medal yet despite eight chances to do so. For Germany, the question was whether their accomplished men’s team could live up to the expectations set by its younger women’s team,...
HOCHFILZEN, Austria—On a day when the wind seemed like only a flutter, it could still throw the World Championships biathlon field into disarray. Take Martin Fourcade, the best biathlete in the world this year. He missed two shots out of ten: one in prone, and one in standing. “When I crossed the finish line, I expected to be top ten,” the Frenchman said in a press conference. “Then when I saw the race I expected...
HOCHFILZEN, Austria – The U.S. men’s biathlon team got off to a slow start this year. Sean Doherty had mononucleosis. Leif Nordgren injured his toe in a freak accident and had to miss weeks of competition. And Tim Burke said he has felt “flat” all season. Many have been frustrated… “Except for Lowell!” Burke exclaimed, referring to teammate Lowell Bailey. “One of the benefits of having a strong team is that when some of us...
For Germany and Norway, it was a two-way battle for first following the final exchange of the men’s 4 x 7.5-kilometer relay on Saturday at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup in Antholz, Italy. There, thanks to third-leg Johannes Thingnes Bø, Norway had taken the lead by 17.7 seconds over Germany and built a 38-second gap to Russia in third. Ukraine was another nine seconds back in fourth, skiing just ahead of France and...
U.S. SuperTour (Truckee, Calif.): Classic sprints [UPDATED] Less than a week after being men’s 30 k classic mass start champion at this year’s U.S. nationals — won Saturday’s SuperTour classic sprint as well. Lustgarten, of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project, raced to a 1.58-second victory in the men’s A-final at the Auburn Ski Club in Soda Springs, Calif., finishing in 3:03.4. Ben Saxton, of the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) Elite Team, placed second, and Reese...
(Note: This article has been updated to include comments from U.S. biathlete Paul Schommer.) What’s the old saying? It doesn’t really matter what happens in December, as long as it all comes together three weeks before World Championships? The tale of the US Biathlon men’s team goes something like that, with what started out as a skeleton crew of ninth in the 12.5 k pursuit in December in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. On the phone on...
IBU World Cup (Ruhpolding, Germany): Men’s sprint Results
Welcome to The Rundown, your quick primer of need-to-know information about the day’s racing. We’ll be updating this digest as the day goes on with additional results, photos and quotes. The Rundown is NOT a race report; stay tuned for complete race reports later today with interviews from the day’s top racers. *** Note: This recap has been updated to reflect the correct positions each of the four Canadian women exchanged in during Sunday’s 4 x...
Just like in the 50 wins in the individual race on Wednesday. Despite starting early in bib 11, Fourcade knew no other athlete was likely to beat him in his current race shape when he manages to shoot no penalties, celebrating with both arms raised high as he crossed the line. And he immediately set his sight on another goal: winning three races in a row, four if you count his win in the single...
It’s a new season on the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup, but the Norwegian biathlon team made it clear that they didn’t want anything to change: just as they won the World Cup mixed relay trophy in 2016, they picked up a 33.7-second win in the event in Östersund, Sweden, on Sunday to kick off the new year. And just as he had so many times before, it was Ole Einar Bjørndalen — the “King...
Welcome to The Rundown, your quick primer of need-to-know information about the day’s racing. We’ll be updating this digest as the day goes on with additional results, photos and quotes. The Rundown is NOT a race report; stay tuned for complete race reports later today with interviews from the day’s top racers. *** IBU Cup in Beitostølen: 7.5/10 k sprints [UPDATE] With the second set of men’s and women’s sprints IBU Cup sprint on Friday.) In the women’s...
Despite four penalties, Italy’s Dominik Windisch overcame difficult conditions on the course and shooting range for his first IBU World Cup victory and podium on Saturday. Meanwhile, Tim Burke skied around a sick competitor on the last loop and rose above three penalties for a season-best seventh.
A day after besting Germany's Simon Schempp on the last loop, Anton Shipulin of Russia did so again -- this time beating the German by a second for the men's relay victory. Schempp partially blamed a lapped skier. The U.S. men ended up sixth, tying their season best from a week earlier, while Canada placed 11th with strong shooting.
Nathan Smith took the lead after the third shooting stage, and never gave it back - despite the best efforts of superstars like Martin Fourcade and Anton Shipulin. "It was kind of surreal," Smith said of entering the final loop with a 37-second lead and savoring the moments leading up to his first World Cup win. Meanwhile, Martin Fourcade clinched his fourth consecutive World Cup title, a feat that has never before been accomplished in biathlon.
Nathan Smith shot 9-for-10 and ended up fifth, 34 seconds behind winner Martin Fourcade, in Thursday's 10 k sprint in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, the final stop on the IBU World Cup tour. Leif Nordgren led the U.S. in 21st with 90-percent shooting as well, finishing 1:14 back despite feeling under the weather.
Dmitry Malyshko stunned the field on the third leg of the men's biathlon relay when he shot perfectly and skied his way from tenth place to first. With a strong anchor leg by Evgeniy Ustyugov, Russia took a big win in the competition - but journalists complained that the men weren't doing enough for their fans.