At the first handoff of the men’s World Cup biathlon relay in Hochfilzen, Austria on Sunday, it looked like Norway might not be able to turn in the performance that everyone expected of them. Then Ole Einar Bjorndalen took over, and things went back to normal. Alexander Os, Norway’s first-leg skier, can be forgiven for turning in a less-than-perfect performance. Conditions were stacked against him, with huge wind gusts that held the range’s indicator flags...
Much to Ole Einar Bjorndalen’s chagrin, his Norwegian teammate Emil Hegle Svendsen beat him for a second straight race. As Bjorndalen crossed the finish line in second place, 3.9 seconds behind Svendsen at the end of Saturday’s 10 k World Cup sprint, he threw his poles onto the ground in frustration and rolled his eyes at the cameraman. Bjorndalen held the lead at the 8.4 k checkpoint, but fell on the final downhill coming into...
The story of the day at the men’s World Cup biathlon opener in Ostersund, Sweden, was how Norway’s Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, already a legend despite the fact that he hasn’t retired, blew an early lead in the 20 k individual race by missing two targets in the last shooting stage. Coming into that stage, Bjoerndalen had an edge of just over a minute on his teammate Emil Hegle Svendsen. But with a pair of missed...
Whistler, British Columbia – Evgeny Ustyugov (RUS) won the first biathlon Olympic men’s gold for Russia in 16 years, skiing away from bronze medalist Paval Hurajt (SVK) in the final lap. Martin Fourcade (FRA) overcame three misses, including two in the first prone stage to take the silver. Emil Svendsen (NOR) and Simon Eder (AUT) set the pace early, leading the pack that still numbered 16 strong after the first shooting stage. Fourcade was not...
After several athletes in the men’s 12.5k biathlon pursuit started early, Swedish coaches were seen yelling at event officials, trying to get them to stop the race. You can bet they’re glad nobody listened, as one of their athletes, Bjorn Ferry, caught and passed France’s Vincent Jay on the final loop to take gold. Ferry become the first Swede in 60 years to win Olympic gold in biathlon, coming out on top in a race...