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Brendan Green

Canadian biathlete Brendan Green has had back problems before, but things came to a head in Oslo in February when he herniated a disc warming up for a World Cup race. It was a bittersweet weekend: Green finished 10th in the sprint, 13th in the pursuit, and then 9th in the mass start – the last with the herniated disc – but then faced excruciating pain that necessitated a harrowing trip back to Canada and...

After Climbing Back from Mono, Le Guellec Ready for 2013, Sochi

BEND, Ore. – Jean-Philippe Le Guellec was riding high in 2010 when he finished sixth in the sprint, 11th in the pursuit, and 13th in the individual at the Vancouver Olympics. The Canadian biathlete – then 24 – was motivated and aiming for his first Word Cup podium. The 2011 season didn’t go quite as expected; he picked up just four top-20 results and late in the year received a diagnosis of mononucleosis, which explained...

After notching his first World Cup top-tens two weeks ago in Oslo, biathlete Brendan was having the best season of his life and hoping that he’d peak for World Championships in Ruhpolding, Germany, which start on Thursday. But when his Canadian team kicks things off with a mixed relay, it will be without their best male athlete, because Green will be watching from home in Canmore. While taking a corner in his warmup for the...

At the end of last week, both the U.S. and Canadian biathlon teams announced their rosters for the upcoming World Championships in Ruhpolding, Germany, March 1-11. The biggest surprise was the absence of Brendan Green, the top Canadian man who is currently ranked 32nd in the world. Green recently had a trio of career-best results and his first top-ten finishes on the World Cup in Oslo, Norway, but was hit by back problems before the...

Burke Season-Best Sixth in Oslo Pursuit as North Americans Again Place Five in Top Thirty

It’s hard to say which biathlete faced more pressure before the start of Saturday’s 12.5 k pursuit in Oslo, Norway: Evgeniy Garanichev of Russia, or the country’s own Emil Hegle Svendsen. 23-year-old Garanichev was coming off the first win of his career in Thursday’s sprint. After seeing just one weekend of World Cup action during the 2011 season, Garanichev started the first period of World Cups this year, but was then sent back to the...

American Men Unable to Capitalize on Sprint Success, Burke Leads with 16th in Nove Mesto Pursuit

With the U.S. men’s team notching their best day ever in Saturday’s sprint, hopes were high that the team could place athletes in the top ten or even the top five in today’s pursuit. But although the Americans were frequently close, they couldn’t pull it off. After starting with bib 6, Russell Currier missed a shot in the first prone stage which dropped him to 12th; and while Tim Burke, starting with bib 11, was...

Perfect Shooting Brings Russia’s Makoveev First World Cup Win

If there’s one race in biathlon where shooting really, really matters, it’s probably the individual format. The distances are the longest on the circuit – 15 k for women and 20 k for men – but the penalties for missed shots are so harsh that even the added length makes it difficult to compensate for errors. Instead of hitting the penalty loop, which usually takes 20 to 25 seconds, racers see a minute added to...

Boe Captures First Victory of the Season in Snowy Sprint, Bailey, Green Lead North Americans

Tarjei Boe (NOR) the overall Biathlon World Cup Champion last year finally made it to the top of the podium  this season, besting Martin Fourcade (FRA) by a mere four seconds in the 10km biathlon sprint. Boe missed one target in a race impacted by weather. Heavy snow fell as the first starters took to the course, making for slow skiing conditions. As the day progressed, the snow abated, and the track sped up significantly,...

After Climbing to Fifth in World Cup Pursuit, Bailey Slips to 17th On Back Of Late Shooting Errors

“Today was one of the best biathlon races of my career,” Lowell Bailey told FasterSkier after Saturday’s World Cup pursuit in Hochfilzen, Austria. “…Except for the fourth shooting.” The American biathlete started the day ranked 14th, 52 seconds behind leader Carl Johan Bergman of Sweden. Through three stages, Bailey shot clean and skied his way up into fifth place. “This is really only the second time in my career that I have been in this...

Men’s Biathlon The US men’s biathlon team had an auspicious start to the season. Lowell Bailey in particular skied some of the best races of his life. Let’s focus on the following three North Americans (click for larger version): Obviously, the shooting statistics for this season are based on only this past weekend’s racing, so [...] Related posts:

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Strength and Depth From a Rising U.S. Men’s Team in World Cup Biathlon Pursuit; France’s Fourcade Dominates Again – Updated With Photos

At the start of Sunday’s World Cup men’s pursuit, there was one man out in front: Carl Johan Bergman of Sweden. After picking up the win in Friday’s sprint in Ostersund, Swedene, Bergman had a seven-second advantage over the rest of the field. But as Friday’s victory was just the second of his career, the big question was how long the 33-year-old would be able to hang onto the lead. The answer, it turned out,...

U.S. Continues Strong Start as Lowell Bailey Notches Career-Best Fifth Place

After finishing the 10 k World Cup sprint in Ostersund, Sweden on Friday, Lowell Bailey didn’t have to be chatty. He only needed a few words to describe how his race had gone. “It was a great race for me,” Bailey wrote in the opening of an e-mail to FasterSkier. That might be an understatement. The American placed fifth, the best finish of his career; he was less than ten seconds off the podium. Every...

Canadian Biathletes Wrap Up World Cup Trials – Photo Gallery

Team Canada wrapped up its World Cup selection trials in Canmore on Tuesday with a pair of mass start races, which were won by Megan Imrie and Nathan Smith. With barely any snow in Scandinavia, the team was lucky to be at home in Canmore, where there has been skiing thanks to “Frozen Thunder,” a snow-saving operation. The team was racing to select two women and one man to join prequalified racers Imrie, LP Leguellec,...

Bailey, Studebaker Lead US Biathlon, Gain FS Biathlete of the Year Honors

FasterSkier Biathlete of the Year Biathlete of the Year (men): Lowell Bailey (USA/USBA) Bailey was one of several bright spots in a somewhat rocky year for the US men’s biathlon team. Coming off a run of several seasons where expectations continued to rise for the program, what with Tim Burke leading the overall World Cup for a time in 2010, Jeremy Teela reaching the World Cup podium in 2009, and a number of strong relay...

Even After Losing Photo Finish to Italy, U.S. Notches Best-Ever World Champs Relay Finish

Was U.S. biathlon head coach Per Nilsson enthusiastic about his team’s relay finish at World Championships on today? “BEST EVER!” he wrote in an e-mail on Friday evening. “[It’s] fun to show that we have a team that can fight on the highest level in the world.” While the entire team had a strong performance in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, on Friday – leadoff skier Lowell Bailey tagged off in fifth place – Leif Nordgren was again...

Aroostook County Preview: Athletes to Watch at the Biathlon World Cup in Maine

On Friday morning at 9:30 a.m., the United States will hold its first World Cup race since 2004. The IBU World Cup circuit will be making stops in Presque Isle, Maine, this weekend, and then in nearby Fort Kent next weekend. While it might take almost as long to get to “The County” from the U.S. as from anywhere else, the races should be spectacular. If you can’t make it to Maine, the event will...

Two Canadian Biathletes in Top-20 in World Cup Sprint – Updated

Oberhof, Germany, has been kind to the Canadian biathlon team so far this year. After the men finished 11th in the relay on Wednesday, they had a banner day on Friday with finishes of 14th, 16th, and 34th from Brendan Green, Jean-Phillipe Leguellec, and Scott Perras. With a mass start competition coming up on Sunday, the team is feeling good. “With Brendan’s 14th place, we both managed to squeeze in the mass start race this...

In the World Cup sprints in Pokljuka, Slovenia on Saturday, two athletes took their first wins of the season. But while they hadn’t been atop the podium in Ostersund, Sweden, or in Hochfilzen, Austria, their strong performances weren’t entirely surprising: both Bjorn Ferry (SWE) and Magdalena Neuner (GER) were gold medalists at the Vancouver Olympics last year. Canadians led the North American contingent in both the men’s and women’s races. Men When FasterSkier

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...