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.
German biathlete Erik Lesser earned his first victory in Sunday's 12.5 k pursuit at the 2015 IBU World Championships in Kontiolahti, Finland. Canadian Nathan Smith was the top North American in 13th after placing second in Saturday's 10 k sprint.
France's Marie Dorin Habert was essentially speechless in a post-race press conference after winning her second gold in as many days at IBU World Championships, and her third medal of the week. American Susan Dunklee skied the third-fastest course time, shooting excluded, and Canada's Rosanna Crawford and Megan Heinicke finished in the top 30.
Nathan Smith had the confidence he needed for Saturday's sprint on the first day of individual racing at 2015 IBU World Championships, even if the soft-spoken Canadian didn't show it. "I knew if I had an average day ... that it could be really good," Smith said. What he didn't expect was silver, Canada's first-ever medal for a male at World Championships.
Two misses wasn't so bad for Tim Burke, who relied on what he considered solid shooting to finish 15th on Saturday for his best sprint result since December. Lowell Bailey was close behind in 17th, and all four U.S. men made the top 60 for Sunday's pursuit.
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.
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!
With another World Cup crystal globe in hand, Finnish biathlete Kaisa Mäkäräinen, 31, is gearing up for another season and World Championships at home in Kontiolahti. It hasn't been easy: she was sick for two months from May through June.
The U.S. Biathlon Women's A-team has been spending the last two weeks soaking up Finnish life and studying the 2015 IBU World Championships course in Kontiolahti with reigning World Cup champion (and local hero) Kaisa Mäkäräinen.
Johannes Thingnes Bø came into this season with a rifle painted solid gold. That might seem pretty cocky for a 20-year-old Norwegian in his first year on the senior national team, but this weekend Bø swept all the World Cup races, brought his win total to five for the season, and jumped into second place in the World Cup Total Score. Maybe gold is right after all.
In incredibly gusty conditions, Kaisa Mäkäräinen won the 10 k biathlon pursuit by a minute over Darya Domracheva of Belarus. Susan Dunklee of the U.S. moved from eighth up to seventh despite a whopping seven penalties, thanks in part to the second-fastest ski time of the day - and other racers' struggles on the shooting range.
American Lowell Bailey broke through with the race of his career, tallying his first IBU World Cup podium in third in Saturday's final sprint of the season. "I’ve been working towards this for ten years, twenty years," Bailey says. Canadian Nathan Smith notched a career-best sprint, and all of the North American men made Sunday's pursuit.
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.
As soon as biathlon World Youth and Junior Championships ended on Sunday in Kontiolahti, Finland, the Canadian team headed for home, making for a hectic afternoon. Because of the quick turnaround time FasterSkier was unable to touch base with the athletes directly after their races, but now that they’re back on home turf – along with the medals they earned – a few of the top competitors were willing to talk about the week. It...
Sunday was the last day of competition at biathlon’s World Youth and Junior Championships in Kontiolahti, Finland – and it was also the busiest. For the first time all week, four races were held on a single day, with participants in both the youth and junior divisions competing in pursuit races. In the youth men’s race, Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø put on a clinic, extending his already 50-second lead from the 7.5 k sprint into...
In Kontiolahti, Finland on Sunday, the youth women’s 7.5 k pursuit was the only one of four races to crown a totally new champion at biathlon’s World Youth and Junior Championships. Hilde Fenne of Norway, the leader after Friday’s sprint, choked on the range, missing a total of eight shots including three in the final stage, which dropped her out of medal contention.With Niya Dimitrova, the sprint runner-up, sitting out the pursuit, there was opportunity...
Despite the presence of several former champions in the field, a new gold medalist rose to the top at biathlon’s World Youth and Junior Championships in Kontiolahti, Finland on Saturday: Elena Ankudinova. The diminutive Russian was perfect on the range and collected an eight-second victory in the junior women’s 7.5 k sprint. She bested, among others, Tuesday’s individual champion, Chardine Sloof of the Netherlands; last year’s youth individual champion, Thekla Brun-Lie of Norway; and teammates...
On Friday, Julia Ransom came thisclose to picking up Canada’s second medal of the week at biathlon World Youth and Junior Championships in Kontiolahti, Finland. Thisclose, it turns out, means four and a half seconds over six kilometers and two shooting stages. That’s the margin that separated Ransom, who wound up fifth in the youth women’s sprint, from third-place Lisa Theresa Hauser of Austria. If she had any regrets about missing the podium, Ransom kept...
In the first four days of racing in Kontiolahti, Finland, American hopes for its biathletes just hadn’t panned out. In race after race at the World Youth and Junior Championships, the U.S. racers were held back by one thing after another. They notched a few finishes in the high 20’s and 30’s – and mostly placed far lower on the results sheet. On Friday, two Americans broke out of the slump and raced into the...