RUHPOLDING, Germany – There were plenty of errors at the IBU World Championships mixed relay today, mistakes that were big enough to have a surprising and significant impact on the outcome of the race. France’s third-leg racer, Simon Fourcade, received the tag from Marie Dorin Habert in second place, just 11 seconds behind Norway. But he imploded in spectacular fashion, using all six of his spare rounds, hitting the penalty loop, and losing almost two...
After a frustrating individual race on Thursday, in which the top finish was 44th, the U.S. men’s biathlon team was left with two choices: wallow, or rebound for a great day Saturday. Luckily, the men in red, white and blue aren’t prone to feeling sorry for themselves. They picked up and moved on, notching top results in today’s 10 k World Cup sprint in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. They were led by a man who...
After a grueling early-winter schedule of three consecutive three-race weekends, biathletes around the world were ready to head home for the holidays. But they had one last little piece of business to check off their lists before they departed from Hochfilzen, Austria on Sunday: the first mixed relay of the season. Athletes had to survive a quick six kilometers for the women, seven and a half for the men, and two shooting stages each. A...
With three men who have placed in the top twenty so far this World Cup season and one more who was the hero of last year’s World Championships relay, the U.S. had high hopes for Sunday’s 4 x 7.5 k relay, the first of the season. The team chose Lowell Bailey, who has finished as high as fifth in these first two weeks of racing, as their leadoff leg. And in some ways, he lived...
After finishing the 10 k World Cup sprint in Ostersund, Sweden on Friday, Lowell Bailey didn’t have to be chatty. He only needed a few words to describe how his race had gone. “It was a great race for me,” Bailey wrote in the opening of an e-mail to FasterSkier. That might be an understatement. The American placed fifth, the best finish of his career; he was less than ten seconds off the podium. Every...
While U.S. and Canadian skiers have been competing at FIS and World Cup races for several weeks now, the American biathletes waited until Sunday to kick off their season in an IBU Cup sprint. The race in Ostersund, Sweden, was actually the second of the weekend, but the U.S. team sat out of Saturday’s race. While the men were lucky to have skipped the windy conditions that shook up the result sheet in the opener,...
Last week, the National Cross Country Ski Education Foundation (NCCSEF) announced on its website that it is now calling itself the National Nordic Foundation (NNF). But changes at the foundation are more than just in name only. Nordic Combined now falls under their auspices, and over the next few weeks NNF will be testing out a new marketing and fundraising strategy. The non-profit foundation was set up as NCCSEF in 1997 to help elite developing...
(Note: this interview is the third in a series of profiles of USBA coaches. The first two were with Jonne Kahkonen.) When Patrick Coffey was hired by the United States Biathlon Association (USBA) as an assistant coach in 2008, he had only three years of coaching experience, making him an unusual choice for a national team position. But what he lacked in formal training and experience, he made up for in passion. In those three...
In the lead-up to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Zach Caldwell led a much-discussed, multi-year effort to pin down the best stonegrinds and waxes for the challenging, variable conditions at Whistler Olympic Park. Caldwell’s months and months of hard work even drew the attention of National Public Radio, which Kris Freeman’s horrific skis in the opening 15 k freestyle in Vancouver. When the best skiers and wax techs in the world can be baffled by conditions,...
(Note: this is first in a series of interviews with the coaches and staff of the U.S. biathlon team.) When Per Nilsson took over head coaching duties for the U.S. biathlon team after the 2006 Olympic Games, the U.S. men had already begun a slow ascent in the nations cup standings, climbing from 20th place in 2003 to 15th after Torino. With Nilsson’s help, the rise has continued: the men have now finished either 10th...
Despite coming off of a successful World Championships in which they led the count with eight medals (including two relay golds), the Norwegian team was unable to keep their hot streak going when the World Cup landed on home turf in Oslo. At Holmenkollen Stadium on Thursday, the best the team could muster was a second-place finish by Tora Berger in the women’s 7.5 k sprint. She finished over 30 seconds behind Magdalena Neuner of...
Was U.S. biathlon head coach Per Nilsson enthusiastic about his team’s relay finish at World Championships on today? “BEST EVER!” he wrote in an e-mail on Friday evening. “[It’s] fun to show that we have a team that can fight on the highest level in the world.” While the entire team had a strong performance in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, on Friday – leadoff skier Lowell Bailey tagged off in fifth place – Leif Nordgren was again...
Cold snow, Spartan living, and one wicked long, wicked steep hill—welcome to Fort Kent. “Reminds me of Russia,” said Norwegian biathlete Tarjei Boe, the leader of the men’s overall World Cup standings. After a week in the relative metropolis of Presque Isle, the biathlon World Cup circuit has now moved to the small town of Fort Kent, in Maine’s northern-most reaches, for three more races. Both women and men will race a sprint, a pursuit,...
After a three-day series of trials races at Camp Ethan Allen in Jericho, Vermont, the U.S. Biathlon Association (USBA) has named thirteen athletes to the team for World Junior Championships. The event will be held in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, from January 29th to February 5th. The team is headlined by top qualifiers Ethan Dreissigacker (Morrisville, VT/Dartmouth College/Craftsbury Nordic Ski Club/Ethan Allen Biathlon Club), Sam Dougherty (Anchorage, AK/Alaska Biathlon/Alaska Winter Stars), Corrine Malcom (Hayward, WI/Maine...
On December 16th, the Swedish tabloid Expressen reported that doping materials had been found in a trashcan at the Scandic Hotel in Ostersund, where the Russian, Belorussian, and German biathlon teams had stayed during the opening week of World Cup competition. While a number of officials tried to dismiss the report as sensationalist, as the days went by it became clear that the Swedish police were investigating the matter. Other news sources, such as Germany’s...
Jonne Kahkonen was hired by the United States Biathlon Association this summer to be the new women’s head coach. Kahkonen, who hails from Finland, just finished a four-year stint as head coach of the biathlon program. Finland’s top performances last season came from Kaisa Makarainen, who finished the year ranked 22nd in the overall World Cup Standings. How did Kahkonen end up in the United States? U.S. Biathlon Association President Max Cobb said that he...
NEW GLOUCESTER, Maine – US Biathlon Team chairman, Larry Pugh announced today that Max Cobb has been named President and CEO of the Team. “We wanted to acknowledge the enormous contributions Max has made to biathlon in his over 20 years working for our sport,” said Pugh. “We believe Max is one of the most talented leaders within the US Olympic movement and this new title reflects that.” Cobb joined the US Biathlon Association in...
Lake Placid’s cross country, biathlon and ski jumping venues face the possibility of closure if the state does not appropriate money later this month. The Lake Placid Daily News reported in March that New York’s Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA), was at risk of losing all of its state funding for the coming fiscal year. The aid, approximately $6.6 million last year, comprises some 20 percent of ORDA’s budget. A member of ORDA’s board of...
AUGUSTA, Maine – Presque Isle, Maine, will get a World Cup weekend of its own next winter, officials announced Wednesday morning. In a press conference at Maine Governor John Baldacci’s office, Nordic Heritage Sport Club Chairman Tim Vernon said that his organization would be stepping up to the plate to host a second World Cup weekend in Northern Maine, to go along with a previously-scheduled race in Fort Kent. The competition now set for Presque...