As coronavirus cases spike worldwide, biathletes are preparing for a modified start to the 2020-2021 World Cup season. The schedule emphasizes less travel than would be the norm on the IBU World Cup circuit. At the end of September, the International Biathlon Union (IBU) announced that the first four races of the winter would be held at two venues. Kontiolahti, Finland, will host the first two events on consecutive weekends, starting 27 November. Hochfilzen, Austria...
In this episode of Nordic Nation, we speak all things trail design with John Morton. Based in Vermont, and global in perspective, Morton provides insights into the literal ups and downs of trail design and how full-blown nordic centers and small scale trails can bring a modern vibe to an old-school sport. He runs Morton Trails locally but has a global reach with projects based in China. His most recent trail work at Paul Smith’s...
A compelling aspect of international biathlon is the diversity of nations represented at the highest level, the International Biathlon Union World Cup. Last week in Pokljuka, 25 five teams from 25 different nations were represented in the 4 x 7.5 k mixed relay. It speaks to the broadening global appeal for the sport. All those nations are tasked with developing athletes. Not to say there will be 25 different approaches, but each team espouses it’s own...
In this episode, we connect with Max Cobb, the CEO of U.S. Biathlon. He also sits on the International Biathlon Union’s (IBU) Executive Board. When we spoke, he had just returned from the IBU’s “historic” Extraordinary Congress which took place from October 18th-20th, in Munich. The IBU has been rocked in the recent past by internal mismanagement and doping scandals. Rather than succumb to the inertia associated with systemic change, the IBU has reset and...
A few disclaimers first. Metrics suggest people want quick reads and quick-view content. The above video is neither. Yet it is full of ideas for Olympic sport. On May 22, the Aspen Institute hosted a forum titled the Future of the U.S. Olympic Movement: Reimagining Goals Beyond Medals. It consisted of a two-part discussion captured in this long-form embedded video from the Aspen Institute’s Sports & Society Program. The first part of the video features...
For years under the leadership of Bernd Eisenbichler and Per Nilsson, US Biathlon was a polyglot enterprise. It’s often claimed the high performance staff at USBA had a decidedly United Nations vibe. As a sport firmly entrenched in Europe, siphoning some of that expertise into the U.S. program paid dividends over the past two decades. IBU World Cup podiums and World Championship medals were the payback. Lowell Bailey, at thirty-seven years old, is a hybrid...
“Twenty years and two months ago I began with US Biathlon,” Bernd Eisenbichler said to FasterSkier last week during a phone call to discuss his March 31, resignation as high performance director. For those of you unfamiliar with the name, Eisenbichler has worn many hats during his tenure with US Biathlon: Ski/wax tech, high performance director, and chief of sport. With a title like chief of sport, more fitting head-ware might have been a crown....
The past year certainly has not been an easy one for the International Biathlon Union (IBU), the governing body in the sport of biathlon for the past 25 years. The sports federation had to take the unusual measure of suspending the Russian Biathlon Union, historically one of the core countries for biathlon, to a provisional member status. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned several prominent athletes, including biathletes, from that nation from participating in the 2018...
police investigation related to accepting Russian bribes in exchange for concealing Russian biathlon doping cases. Secretary General Nicole Resch was suspended as a result of the scandal as well, but both have denied any wrongdoing, according to Inside The Games. The IBU’s board and committee elections will be conducted Sept. 5-9 at the 13th Regular IBU Congress in Porec, Croatia. Two current North American board members, Dr. Jim Carrabre of Biathlon Canada (who according to...
FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, cleared 28 Russian athletes of doping charges. Many people seemed shocked by this development. The athletes had been disqualified from the 2014 Games by an International Olympic Committee (IOC) Commission. This was after more than 18 months of buildup in which the world learnt of systematic manipulation of the anti-doping process by the Russian state security apparatus at those Olympics. I was both shocked, and not shocked. When all...
nearly three decades, Cobb has been part of US Biathlon — first as an organizer of the domestic racing series and eventually as the executive director in March of 2006. Just over a year ago, he was elected like 2017 IBU World Championships medalists Lowell Bailey and Susan Dunklee. Cobb’s budget is the mighty mouse of the biathlon world, and on many days, the high-performance team (both coaches and athletes) can slay the Goliaths of...
With the 2016/2017 season officially in the rearview, FasterSkier is excited to unveil its annual award winners for this past winter. Votes stem from the FS staff, scattered across the U.S., Canada, and Europe, and while not scientific, they are intended to reflect a broader sense of the season in review. This set of honors goes to a coach or team director who has particularly contributed to their team’s success. Previous categories: Collegiate Skiers of the...
In another 20-something-question, fill-in-the-blanks series, we checked in with the world-class U.S. and Canadian biathletes that will be competing at 2017 International Biathlon Union (IBU) Youth & Junior World Championships Feb. 22-28 in Osrblie (also known as Brezno-Osrblie), Slovakia. Here’s 18-year-old Chloe Levins, of the Ethan Allen Biathlon Club, who will be representing the U.S. at her third Youth Worlds. On Wednesday, Levins finished 14th in the
HOCHFILZEN, Austria—Four days ago, Lowell Bailey left the shooting range after cleaning his fourth stage in the pursuit, and was in second place. Things didn’t go his way and he saw first World Championships silver, then bronze, slip from his grasp as other men were stronger on the Hochfilzen race course’s big hills. He placing fourth in the sprint. Today, the American biathlete again left the range after cleaning his fourth stage. Two key differences:...
In response to evidence of widespread doping in Russia, the Czech Biathlon Union became the first to discuss a boycott. The Czechs will not attend a World Cup stage to be held in Tyumen, Russia, in March; they have been joined by the British Biathlon Union. Several other countries say they hope that the International Biathlon Union will move the event. But the Russian Biathlon Union put out a defiant press release denying any involvement in doping. A Boycott Grows At the...
U.S. Biathlon Association President and CEO Max Cobb will join the International Biathlon Union's Executive Board, after serving for four years as the head of the Technical Committee. "As biathlon develops even further, the marriage of the technical aspects of the sport with further development... will become more and more important."
Russian whistleblower Vitaliy Stepanov initially met with World Anti-Doping Agency representatives at the 2010 Winter Olympics, and said he had heard of a list of athletes who were "protected" in the leadup to those Games and which RUSADA was told not to test.
When news broke last week that 14 Russian cross-country skiers may have doped at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, stakeholders in the sport reacted around the globe. Some, like Canada's then head coach Justin Wadsworth, essentially predicted that two years ago at the Games. Others, like French skier Robin Duvillard, tried not to get too caught up in it, but he might by default.
On Sunday evening, 60 Minutes aired a 13-minute interview with Vitaly and Yuliya Stepanov, the whistleblowers who prompted a German documentary on Russia's systematic doping in track and field and WADA's resulting ban on the entire team. Vitaly suggests the corruption extends to Russian Winter Olympians as well, including at least four who achieved gold in Sochi with the help of federal agents.
It's been 15 years since the U.S. hosted a cross-country World Cup. In that time, Canada has hosted such international races on home snow multiple times, most recently with the eight-stage Ski Tour Canada. The cost of hosting World Cups is high and the benefits are sometimes hard to measure. FasterSkier explores how Canada has pulled it off and why the U.S. avoids the risk.