Germany's Vanessa Hinz relied on fast skiing and precise shooting to give her team a 30-second lead heading into the last leg of Friday's 4 x 6 k relay at IBU World Championships, and teammate Laura Dahlmeier ran away with it to win by more than a minute. Canada achieved its top-10 team goal, and the U.S. matched its season best in 12th.
Leave it to dads to predict medal potential. Ekaterina Yurlova's father did just that, one month before the Russian won gold at IBU World Championships in the women's 15 k on Wednesday. Susan Dunklee placed 12th with her best shooting in an individual race in the last week, and Megan Heinicke tallied her third-straight top 30 in Kontiolahti.
The Czech Republic handled the soft-and-slushy conditions on the first day of 2015 IBU World Championships in Kontiolahti, Finland, better than any other team in the mixed relay, winning gold by a comfortable margin ahead of France and defending Olympic champs Norway.
Gabriela Soukalova and Veronika Vitkova are stars on the biathlon circuit. But their younger teammates Eva Puskarcikova and Jitka Landova are proving just as essential in building a relay behemoth: with their third win this eason, the Czechs are favorites going into World Championships. Canada finished eighth with a brand-new relay lineup.
Since building his confidence back at Open European Championships last week, Leif Nordgren is still on the rise, using just one spare on Friday to bring his team up to fourth in the IBU World Cup mixed relay. The Americans finished seventh and just 0.2 seconds from sixth.
The Canadians got off to a strong start, skiing in second throughout the first leg of Wednesday's 4 x 6 k women's relay at the IBU World Cup in Ruhpolding, Germany. The Czech women held steady up front to tally their second-straight relay win in the last week.
It was a warm one in Oberhof, Germany, on Wednesday, but the Czech Republic women remained consistent, both with their skiing and shooting, in the 4 x 6 k relay to win by nearly 9 seconds over France. Belarus rebounded from 10th to third, and the Canadians were lapped on the final loop.
Kaisa Mäkäräinen came back from a 29-second deficit and two standing penalties to win Sunday’s 12.5-kilometer mass start by 7.6 seconds over a very happy Anais Bescond. Rosanna Crawford capped off a string of career-bests in 12th, and Susan Dunklee was 22nd.
For three out of the four legs in the IBU World Cup women’s 4 x 6-kilometer relay on Saturday in Hochfilzen, Austria, it could’ve been anyone’s game, especially Russia’s, Germany’s, Poland’s and the Czech Republic’s. All four were within 40 seconds of one another behind Russia in first at the final exchange — and while it might have seemed like Russia with a 19-second lead was untouchable — any biathlete will tell you nothing in...
Retirements were expected after an Olympic season - but the women's biathlon field will be shaken up even more, as several top competitors are taking the season off for babies or injuries. Plus, Darya Domracheva has switched her coach and Ukraine stars face a funding crisis. All the updates inside - the World Cup is on in less than two months!
By winning the women's mass start in dominant fashion, Darya Domracheva became not only a three-time gold medalist and the most successful female biathlete in Olympic history, but also a Hero of Belarus - the president made her just the 11th person to achieve such honor. Gabriela Soukalova of Czech was second and Tiril Eckhoff of Norway third - after waking up feeling sick and then eating a burger for lunch.
Gabriela Soukalova is getting used to wearing the overall World Cup leader's bib, and she acted like a pro in the pursuit today: feeling tired, she took her time on the range, losing up to ten seconds in each stage but shooting clean and avoiding the penalty loop. That gave her a second win for the weekend.
Czech biathlete Gabriela Soukalova never guessed she'd be so good this year: after winning the 15 k individual today, this season she's worn the yellow overall leader's bib more often than not, and has won both races in this format. With no more left on the schedule except at the Olympics, that has given her a discipline title already in January.
Coming off her first World Cup win a week ago, Switzerland's Selina Gasparin captured another sprint win in Annency, France, this time with clean shooting. Canada's four women also harnessed positive feelings from their historic relay on Thursday to qualify for Sunday's pursuit.
In windy conditions in Ostersund, Martin Fourcade of France skied to a 2-minute win in the men's 20 k individual while Gabriela Soukalova of Czech Republic eked out a victory over Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia. JP Le Guellec of Canada led the North Americans in fourth place.
The French biathlon team seemed to have mastered the blustery conditions in Ostersund - that is, until four-time World Champion Martin Fourcade took over. Instead, it was the Czech Republic who had the most to celebrate as they took the win, their first in the history of the discipline.
Even Gabriela Soukalova's mother, an Olympic silver medalist, was impressed with the dominant performances the 23-year-old from the Czech Republic has put on in Khanty Mansiysk this weekend. Marie Dorin Habert of France and Kaisa Makarainen of Finland rounded out the podium in the 12.5 k mass start.
As Gabriela Soukalova took her lead from the sprint and turned it into another victory in the 10 k pursuit, U.S. biathletes Annelies Cook and Susan Dunklee ended their World Cup seasons on a bitter note: after too many penalties, neither was able to qualify for the mass start. Dunklee added insult to injury by cross-firing on the wrong targets and receiving a time penalty. Still, though, she said it was a fun week.
Gabriela Soukalova didn't want to race Thursday morning. Who could blame her? It was freezing in Siberia and she was set to start a 7.5 k sprint that evening. The Czech overcame her dread and won the IBU World Cup race over Germany's Andrea Henkel and Miriam Gössner. Susan Dunklee led the Americans in 29th.
While Norway had seldom a worry en route to another mixed relay title, France and the Czech Republic capitalized on a late-stage meltdown by Russia's Dmitry Malyshko to earn their spots on the podium. The Czech medal was especially exciting to the home crowd, and the racers struggled to express how special the moment was.