“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.
Despite heroic efforts by the organizing committee to truck in snow and repair a race course that melted overnight, nobody seemed happy to race in Oberhof, Germany, today. Skiing was treacherous, shooting unfair - even race winner Martin Fourcade suggested the IBU rethink its schedule.
Another windy day in Oberhof, Germany, for the IBU World Cup 7.5-kilometer women’s sprint race caused some of the big names to make huge errors on the range and created room for new faces on the podium.
It was a warm one in Oberhof, Germany, on Wednesday, but the Czech Republic women remained consistent, both with their skiing and shooting, in the 4 x 6 k relay to win by nearly 9 seconds over France. Belarus rebounded from 10th to third, and the Canadians were lapped on the final loop.
This week's workout comes from U.S. Paralympics coach Eileen Carey, who shares a fun head-to-head speed session that works on both technique and tactics. "This type of workout is important for our program because we often have training sessions with athletes with a wide range of experience levels and/or with different impairments competing against one another," she says.
In no-snow Oberhof, there were a lot of "ski stopper" rocks on the trails - and U.S. biathlete Tim Burke hit one at the worst possible time, right as he was accelerating towards a top-5 finish on the last few climbs of the race. He regrouped for ninth place overall, behind race winner Martin Fourcade of France.
21-year-old Macx Davies had his first World Cup start on Friday - and promptly placed 42nd, qualifying for Saturday's pursuit. It perfectly illustrated Biathlon Canada's strategy for the weekend, resting their current Olympic team while giving some experience to the athletes it is grooming for the next Olympics.
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.
Both Emil Hegle Svendsen (NOR) and Darya Domracheva (BLR) hung on to their sprint wins from Friday and turned them into pursuit victories on Saturday, but not without a little bit of trouble from Ole Einar Bjørndalen (NOR) and Kaisa Makarainen (FIN).
Both Darya Domracheva of Belarus and Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway - last year's runners-up in the World Cup overalls standings - finally picked up their first wins of the new biathlon season, suggesting that maybe the favorites will be in shape in time for the Olympics after all. Susan Dunklee (USA) placed 32nd and Macx Davies (CAN) 42nd to lead the North Americans.
Another American landed in the top 10 for the first time this season, this time with 30-year-old Andy Newell as the lone U.S. Ski Team member in the heats Sunday at the second stage of the Tour de Ski in Oberhof, Germany. "I know my fitness and speed is at a world cup top 10 level I jut need to make smart decisions out there," he says.
Hanna Erikson of Sweden won her first World Cup race today in an impressive victory that demonstrated both her strength and tactical acumen.
Headwinds and heavily falling snow couldn’t stop Sweden's Calle Halfvarsson from skiing away from the field to win his first World Cup and the second stage of the Tour de Ski on Sunday in Oberhof, Germany.
Jessie Diggins doesn't remember much from Saturday's 3 k prologue, but some familiar faces and loud cheers carried her to fifth. Both she and U.S. teammate Sophie Caldwell, whose family was among the supportive spectators, tied their respective World Cup career bests in the first stage of the Tour de Ski.
Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw topped the podium Saturday in the opening prologue of the Tour de Ski. The Canadian men, dogged by slower start to their season than they would have hoped, made history and announced that they are back on form in the difficult, drizzly conditions of Oberhof, Germany.
Justyna Kowalczyk's out and Marit Bjørgen's on top. That was the biggest news of the day coming out of the Tour de Ski's prologue opener in Oberhof, Germany, on a rainy afternoon that was slow for everybody. The Americans weren't complaining, with fast skis that helped Jessie Diggins and Sophie Caldwell tie career bests in fifth and ninth, respectively.
With the eighth-annual Tour de Ski starting 24 hours from 8 a.m. EST, we thought we’d give you a rundown of what’s happening when and who’s racing.
A staple on the World Cup and the U.S. relay team, biathlete Leif Nordgren feels "more set" for the Olympics than last time around, when he was still a junior but trying the qualification process anyway. He told us about a good summer of training, changes in shooting, and navigating ski testing, boredom, and mashed-potato snow in the Oberhof ski tunnel.
The Russian men continued their exceptional weekend in Oberhof, with Dmitry Malyshko shooting perfectly and winning the pursuit unchallenged. Evgeniy Garanichev made up for his singly penalty and placed second, repeating his own finish from the sprint.
Miriam Gossner was unable to repeat yesterday's victory, missing all five targets on her first of four shooting stages and ten of twenty in total. Instead Olga Zaitseva of Russia rose to the top, after starting in fifth position and accumulating three penalties in the middle of the race.