The Canadian men have a new relay team this year, but that isn't stopping them from achieving new heights: Christian Gow, Nathan Smith, Scott Gow, and Brendan Green finished fifth in Oslo today, a minute and a half behind the winning Russian team.
Germany's Arnd Peiffer started late and finished faster than anyone else to win the men's 10 k sprint on the second day of IBU World Cup racing at Holmenkollen, and Nathan Smith and Leif Nordgren hit 95 percent of their targets to finish in the top 30 on Saturday.
Nathan Smith shot 19-for-20 for the first time in a 20 k individual race to place 12th on Thursday, and Leif Nordgren did the same to finish 20th, which stood as career-best 20 k results for both. France's Martin Fourcade won the race with perfect shooting, and the top-three men all cleaned.
Canada's Nathan Smith made headlines for the second-straight day with his second-straight clean race, hitting all 20 targets to place fifth in Sunday's IBU World Cup pursuit. Leif Nordgren led the U.S. in 20th, and Slovenia's Jakov Fak remained untouchable in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic.
Canada's Nathan Smith improved 71 places since his last World Cup sprint for a career-best seventh with perfect shooting in the Saturday's IBU World Cup sprint in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. Three Canadian men qualified for Sunday's pursuit, with Brendan Green in 22nd and Macx Davies in 54th.
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 Canadian men showed some more depth despite heavily falling snow on Saturday, with competitive finishes from Brendan Green and Scott Gow in the IBU World Cup 10 k sprint. In 16th, Green qualified for Sunday's mass start.
Emil Hegle Svendsen and Lowell Bailey had a few things in common on Thursday. While Bailey started the four-leg race for the Americans and Svendsen anchored the Norwegians, both led to the finish and capitalized on one critical hill to do so.
France's Martin Fourcade used a cushion from fast skiing to allow for a relaxed-shooting pace. It was an investment that paid off, being the day's only perfect shooter, earning him first place with a comfortable margin.
“If they wanted a fair race, there’s no way it would start today,” was what Tim Burke said of the crazy conditions in Oberhof, Germany, for the World Cup sprint. While no North Americans made the top 30, Lowell Bailey (USA) led the way in 34th and Christian Gow of Canada placed a solid 48th in his individual World Cup debut.
With their eyes on the prize of a holiday break (for biathletes and non-Tour de Ski participants, two weekends off of the World Cup), a number of North American skiers notched competitive results, and for some -- even career bests -- in the last week.
Nathan Smith had never finished a mass start before Sunday, but he knew if all went according to plan, he could be in a competitive position. The Canadian found himself in sixth at one point, and with two penalties, secured his second-best World Cup result in ninth.
Emil Hegle Svendsen won his second race of the season on Saturday, again with perfect shooting, in the 12.5 k pursuit in Pokljuka, Slovenia. Cleaning was easier said than done, especially for the North American men, all of which had at least three misses.
Martin Fourcade was pretty pumped about his 12.5-kilometer pursuit win on Sunday on the last day of the Hochfilzen IBU World Cup in Austria. Like, eight exclamation points excited. “Yes!!!!!!!!” the two-time Olympic gold medalist and five-time world champion from France started seventh, 28 seconds behind seventh in the sprint with clean shooting. “I am happy that I gave 100 percent of myself today and shoot 20. I am very happy with that … My...
With a goal of a top eight on Saturday, the Canadians did two places better to tie a team-best sixth in the IBU World Cup men's relay in Hochfilzen, Austria. Russia won it by 20 seconds over France, and Norway was another 7.7 seconds back in third.
Tim Burke put it all on the line and missed a single target -- his last one -- for 13th in Friday's 10 k sprint on the first day of the Hochfilzen IBU World Cup. Also for the U.S., Lowell Bailey shot clean for 17th.
A transcript (find a link inside) of the German documentary which exposed systematic doping in Russia reveals an even worse situation than imagined: how easy it is to purchase cheap EPO without a prescription; how Russian officials threaten that any athlete who goes to the press might "have an accident". Plus, we talk to Lowell Bailey, Nathan Smith, and Max Cobb about the situation.
The first individual IBU World Cup race took place a week ago in Östersund and wrapped up this past Sunday. Here, we recap everything from biathlon in Sweden and at home in Canmore, to the Lillehammer mini tour and nordic-combined competitions, and second U.S. SuperTour stop in Bozeman, Mont.
Emil Hegle Svendsen talked about throwing out his skis; Ole Einar Bjørndalen didn't use his best. Nathan Smith hopes for stonegrinding before the next World Cup and Susan Dunklee's skis might go back to Fischer for care. One thing is certain: Östersund did a number on skis. How do you come back from that?
Martin Fourcade came out firing, missing several of his targets on Sunday, but pulling off a 10-second victory in the men's 12.5 k pursuit on the last day of the Östersund World Cup nonetheless. Canada's Nathan Smith cleaned three stages to reach the top three, but missed three on his last stage to finish 16th.