Bjorn Ferry had a disappointing Olympics - he couldn't come even close to repeating his 2010 gold medal in the pursuit - but came back to win the first World Cup since Sochi. For the United States, Lowell Bailey placed 12th and Tim Burke 16th, while Brendan Green led Canada in 21st. "I'm psyched to start of the last trimester with a top 15," Bailey said.
Fog has already delayed the men's mass start biathlon competition several times, throwing athletes, coaches, and fans for a loop. It is currently scheduled for 3:30 p.m. local time, although conditions at the venue have not improved at all over the course of the morning. While athletes and journalists can joke about the delays and fog, the decision-making process is no laughing matter for race officials.
American Biathlete Lowell Bailey skied and shot his way to eighth place at the Olympics on Thursday, relying on the calm and poise that he had been missing earlier this week. The result was the best-ever Olympic finish in biathlon for the U.S.
After frustrating results for Tim Burke and Lowell Bailey, “They get 12 hours to digest it,” their coach said. “Then, we go for the next one.”
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Simon Schempp and Lukas Hofer looked pretty chummy after the finish men’s 10 k sprint at the World Cup in Antholz, Italy this Friday. Maybe their laughter was a product of their relief of finishing a challengingly slow course, or maybe it was that both of them were on the podium for the first time this season. More likely, however, it was the fact they both sat atop that podium in a rare tie for first place having skied the 10 k in 22:44.9.
Tim Burke knew exactly what he did wrong to earn five penalties in Saturday's individual race: he took his time. "Actually for me usually the slower I shoot the worse I shoot," he said. Fixing that on Sunday, he shot 19-for-20 and was rewarded with a much-improved result.
After being sick for a week, it's been a slow comeback for Lowell Bailey, who hasn't raced since mid-December and hasn't done any speed training in two weeks. But he came back admirably in the Ruhpolding 20 k, placing 25th with two penalties. "The happiest thing is that I’m, knock on wood, healthy again," said the Sochi-bound biathlete.
Tim Burke would rather just forget about placing 61st in Friday's sprint; Annelies Cook was embarrassed to get lapped in the pursuit (to be fair, she had her work cut out for her starting last). Leif Nordgren called his results in the 40's "nothing special" and Lowell Bailey didn't even race because he had a cold. For the U.S., Susan Dunklee's finishes of 32nd and 25th were the bright spots.
A 20-year-old Norwegian, Johannes Thingnes Bø, racked up his second career victory in Annecy, France, in Sunday's 12.5 k pursuit, winning by nearly 40 seconds. Canada's Nathan Smith cut his personal best in half, rising from 16th to eighth.
Nathan Smith notched another top-30, inching him closer to completing Olympic qualification, but other than that it was a tough day for the North American men. "I would have thought that with two penalties I would have been in the top 15 for sure," said Tim Burke, who finished 21st.
The U.S. men went for it today, and the team was in podium position for much of the first half of Saturday's 4 x 7.5 k relay competition. They ended up 11th with Lowell Bailey, Tim Burke, Jeremy Teela, and Leif Nordgren, just 25 seconds out of sixth.
Despite a mid-race snowstorm that put later starters at a serious disadvantage, Lowell Bailey finished 16th and Tim Burke 24th in the 10 k sprint in Hochfilzen. They were the only two Americans, men or women, to qualify for the pursuit races on Sunday. "We can't control the weather," shooting coach Armin Auchentaller said.
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.
Four years ago, Tim Burke faced a lot of pressure to become the first American to win an Olympic medal in biathlon. He's in the same situation now, but he says he much better prepared to handle it going into the 2014 World Cup season. We talked to Burke and Susan Dunklee, the top-ranked woman on the U.S. team, about expectations.
USBA picked 11 athletes to send to Europe this fall, based on trials races this summer in Jericho and last week at Soldier Hollow. Some of them will be picked for Sochi - but who? We clarify the qualification process, as well as getting some comments from High Performance Director Bernd Eisenbichler about the performances he saw in Utah last week.
Lowell Bailey swept both Tuesday and Thursday's sprint races at Soldier Hollow, while Susan Dunklee and Hannah Dreissigacker picked up wins for the women. The races are a step in the Olympic qualification pipeline.
FasterSkier caught the US Biathlon team during one of their hardest workouts of the training season in Lake Placid, with the added bonus of watching German gold medalist Andrea Henkel rollerski around with them.
Images from the men's 12.5-kilometer pursuit at the Ethan Allen Firing Range on Aug. 11, the last of the two-day North American Biathlon Rollerski Championships in Jericho, Vt. (Women's 10 k pursuit photos to come.)