After the first race weekend of their European tour was canceled due to low snow, Canadian biathletes finally got started in Obertilliach, Austria, and started out hot: Emma Lunder and Julia Ransom placed 10th and 11th in the women's 15 k individual, and Christian Gow 18th in the men's race.
Rosanna Crawford had been thinking about this kind of performance for a long time, and even on Friday, after placing 34th in the Hochfilzen sprint, she predicted it was coming. She just didn't think it would come on Sunday in the 10 k pursuit.
Martin Fourcade was pretty pumped about his 12.5-kilometer pursuit win on Sunday on the last day of the Hochfilzen IBU World Cup in Austria. Like, eight exclamation points excited. “Yes!!!!!!!!” the two-time Olympic gold medalist and five-time world champion from France started seventh, 28 seconds behind seventh in the sprint with clean shooting. “I am happy that I gave 100 percent of myself today and shoot 20. I am very happy with that … My...
Tim Burke put it all on the line and missed a single target -- his last one -- for 13th in Friday's 10 k sprint on the first day of the Hochfilzen IBU World Cup. Also for the U.S., Lowell Bailey shot clean for 17th.
Rosanna Crawford worked out her pre-World Cup nerves by leading the World Cup mixed relay halfway through leg one. The team's early advantage was negated by Zina Kocher's two penalty loops, but Crawford, Nathan Smith, and Marc-Andre Bedard can still call themselves the best three shooters in the race.
For reasons as wide-ranging as fairness of competition, stress on athletes, health of coaches, and saving money, several North American ski and biathlon organizations have policies limiting the use of high-fluoro waxes at some competitions. And they have nothing but positive feedback from their experiences.
Canadian World Cup and IBU selection races wrapped up Friday at Frozen Thunder, with a second-straight sprint determining which eight men and eight women would start the season on the World Cup or IBU Cup. Four were prequalified.
Temperatures below -20 degrees Celsius didn't keep Canada's top biathletes from contending for spots on the World Cup and IBU Cup on Thursday, with Nathan Smith and Rosanna Crawford topping the competition in the opening sprints of trials at the Canmore Nordic Center.
Newly-minted Biathlon Canada national team member Macx Davies talks season prep and Frozen Thunder: "When you have a long ski, catching up with friends is one of the few things that can shorten the long hours on the track," he writes. "Finally I am skiing. Finally the season is here. Finally it is winter."
Emma Lunder placed 30th in her World Cup debut last season. The Canadian biathlete has since gained funding, training partners, and motivation: "Anytime I'm doing a really brutal workout, I just think to myself, if you can get through this, you're one step closer to racing in Pokljuka again!"
Three biathletes from Switzerland ventured to Canmore earlier this month for three weeks of training with the Canadian biathlon team. Before heading home, they headed to the Yukon for a little R & R.
Last month, Norwegian shooting coach Joar Himle, who previously coached biathlon greats like Ole Einar Bjørndalen and Halvard Hanevold, visited the Canadians for a weeklong camp in Canmore. While he mostly worked with individual athletes, he also had them do a few interesting drills, including a sort of 'shoot 'til you miss' exercise, which takes about an hour on the range.
Former Canadian biathlete Jim Carrabre, now a doctor practicing in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul area, is launching a bid for the presidency of the International Biathlon Union. He will run against Anders Besseberg, who has held the position since 1993. A longtime antidoping advocate, Carrabre is also running on a platform of good governance and global development of the sport.
Paquet, the personal coach for Jean Philippe Le Guellec and whose contract was not renewed by Biathlon Canada, will move to oversee the American development and "X" teams as well as regional development efforts. "The new job is exactly what I was looking for," Paquet told FasterSkier.
Own the Podium increased biathlon's budget from last season's $200,000 to a still-low $250,000 - less than its post-Vancouver award despite better performances. "I see great potential in the Nordic sports where a single athlete who is at that level can win multiple medals," Biathlon Canada's Chris Lindsay said. "We’re potentially going to be missing out on a bunch of those podiums."
Due to some communication miscues, we were initially unable to get in touch with Jean Paquet regarding the elimination of his coaching position with Biathlon Canada. Now we have: here's his side of the story about how the Valcartier National Team Center is being shut down, and what the centralization push may mean for the future of Canadian biathlon.
Chris Lindsay and Matthias Ahrens of Biathlon Canada have both confirmed that the national team's Valcartier training center will be closed down later this spring, and with it coach Jean Paquet's contract has not been renewed. Ahrens hoped that Paquet would still provide staffing on race tours; Paquet's athlete Jean Philippe Le Guellec lamented the centralization push that was a major part of the decision.
Rosanna Crawford was in 13th place in the World Cup pursuit when Russian head coach Vladimir Korolkevich, cheering for an athlete on another trail, stepped between her skis and sent her flying. Despite a time adjustment by the jury, she lost several places - as well as her hat and sunglasses.
Kaisa Mäkäräinen made winning at home a habit in the second-straight IBU World Cup sprint in Kontiolahti, Finland, edging Tora Berger and Gabriela Soukalova, who both cleaned. Susan Dunklee rose to eighth for her second-best sprint result of the season and her career. Two other Americans and three Canadian women made Sunday's pursuit.
Local girl Kaisa Makarainen took the top spot in today's World Cup sprints in Finland, while two Canadians, Rosanna Crawford and Megan Heinicke, got into the top 15.