A biathlon relay with athletes skiing around and through a huge soccer arena in a city with no snow seems like a crazy idea. But in the 1990s, the German cross-country skier and biathlete Herbert Fritzenwenger, who had retired from active sports after competing in the 1988 Calgary Olympic Games, believed there had to be some way to make biathlon even more attractive for viewers. He wanted to mix sports and entertainment bringing the sport...
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...
(Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Canada’s Julia Ransom.) Susan Dunklee laughed a little when she thought about her reputation as a World Cup biathlete. Often one of the fastest skiers in terms of course time, she said she’s also been known for some of the slowest shooting times. Until this weekend. The US Biathlon veteran broke through in Pokljuka, Slovenia, with her best results of the season so far: 11th...
For a good portion of Friday’s race, Susan Dunklee found herself in first place. Not fourth, not third, not even second. First. The ninth starter out of the gate in the women’s 7.5-kilometer International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup sprint in Pokljuka, Slovenia, Dunklee cleaned the first of two shooting stages — prone — to put herself in second behind Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff, who was leading at the time by a mere 0.9 seconds. Eckhoff started...
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...
Susan Dunklee was skiing in the top five of the biathlon World Championships pursuit until the third shooting stage, where she missed three targets and dropped to 20th. But with the second-fastest ski time of the day, she could salvage her second top ten of the weekend by the finish.
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.
Considering anything better than sixth would have been a first-ever for either the U.S. or Canada in Sunday's IBU World Cup mixed relay, that put Lowell Bailey in a bit of a position heading into the final loop. He ended up catching Canada's anchor, Brendan Green for fourth and came within 1.7 seconds of third.
One early miss didn't bog Dorothea Wierer down. Coming off a podium in Friday's sprint, the Italian raced to her third-career IBU World Cup victory in Saturday's mass start, by 20 seconds over France's Marie Dorin Habert. The lone North American in the women's mass start, Susan Dunklee missed 10 targets to place 30th.
Gabriela Soukalova picked up the tenth win of her career in a snowy mass start in Ruhpolding, Germany: "Just before the start of the season, I was talking with a friend about whether I would ever this tenth World Cup. I put ten as a goal before the finish [of the season]. So that now I'll have to increase that a little.”
Italy's Dorothea Wierer tried not to overthink Thursday's 15 k individual race at the IBU World Cup in Ruhpolding and ended up cleaning the four-stage race for her second-career win. Rosanna Crawford returned to the circuit and placed 18th, and Susan Dunklee missed five to finish 50th.
Germany's Laura Dahlmeier came from fourth place to take the top spot in Saturday's 10-kilometer pursuit at the biathlon World Cup in Ruhpolding, Germany. In the final push to the finish, Susan Dunklee drew inspiration from the recent U.S. team's Tour de Ski successes to outlunge Italy's Oberhofer for 15th.
Rambunctious German crowds used to make Franziska Hildebrand nervous, but she excelled under pressure in the first IBU World Cup of 2016, winning Friday's sprint. American Susan Dunklee shot 9-for-10 en route to 11th, while Julia Ransom led Canada in 49th.
Finland's Kaisa Mäkäräinen overcame an early penalty with three clean stages thereafter and the fastest skiing of the day to win Sunday's 12.5 k mass start the IBU World Cup in Pokljuka, Slovenia. She bested the new overall World Cup leader, Gabriela Soukalová, by 11.8 seconds.
For Susan Dunklee, it felt really good to smell the roses again at the IBU World Cup in Pokljuka, Slovenia. She placed sixth for her best sprint result in two seasons, and three Canadian women, led by Rosanna Crawford in 23rd, qualified for the pursuit as well.
Two-time World Championships gold medalist, France's Marin Dorin Habert notched the third World Cup win of her career on Friday at the IBU World Cup in Pokljuka, Slovenia. She won the sprint by 1.1 seconds, ahead of Germany's Laura Dahlmeier and Franziska Hildebrand.
The Italian women took their first-ever win in a World Cup relay Sunday in Hochfilzen, Austria, with Italy's Dorothea Wierer besting Germany’s Franziska Preuss by two tenths of a second in an all-out sprint to the finish.
Who was happiest: Franziska Hildebrand, who claimed her first win? Maren Hammerschmidt, who started second to last but crossed the line with the second-fastest time in just her 11th World Cup? Or Miriam Gössner, who is finally back from a devastating injury and placed third? Rosanna Crawford was the only North American to crack the top 40.
While Rosanna Crawford missed five targets in Sunday's IBU World Cup pursuit, she shot quickly -- fifth-fastest overall -- and ended up 23rd to lead Canada in Östersund, Sweden. Her teammate Megan Tandy rose from 46th to 25th with near-perfect shooting, and Julia Ransom placed 36th.
On the closing day of 2015 IBU World Championships, Ukraine's Valj Semerenko became an individual world champion in the women's mass start, beating Germany's Franziska Preuss by 6.2 seconds with perfect shooting. American Susan Dunklee finished 20th with five penalties and Canada's Megan Heinicke shot 19-for-20 to place 24th.