Last year’s defending overall World Cup champion Gabriela Koukalová of the Czech Republic also had started out fairly well into the new season during the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup opening week in Östersund, Sweden. But a victory was still missing. She corrected that on Sunday, moving up from the third starting position, told Swiss broadcaster SRF. “All the top stars congratulated me … I can only remember half of it. It’s like a movie...
Just like in the 50 wins in the individual race on Wednesday. Despite starting early in bib 11, Fourcade knew no other athlete was likely to beat him in his current race shape when he manages to shoot no penalties, celebrating with both arms raised high as he crossed the line. And he immediately set his sight on another goal: winning three races in a row, four if you count his win in the single...
When eliminating all external variables, often the most consistent athletes come out on top in biathlon. After a wind lottery strongly influenced the individual race of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup opening week in Östersund, Sweden on she scored her first World Cup points in the individual race to start out her second season (and first full one) on the World Cup team. Biathlon Canada’s Rosanna Crawford finished 64th with one miss in each...
Welcome to The Rundown, your quick primer of need-to-know information about the day’s racing. We’ll be updating this digest as the day goes on with additional results, photos and quotes. The Rundown is NOT a race report; stay tuned for complete race reports later today with interviews from the day’s top racers. *** U.S. SuperTour opener in West Yellowstone: Freestyle sprints [UPDATE] The U.S. domestic season opened in West Yellowstone, Mont., with 1.3-kilometer freestyles on...
Lowell Bailey is the two-year anniversary earlier this fall. Both are US Biathlon team veterans, and at 35 and 34 years old, respectively, they’re still lighting up the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup. The teammates and training partners, based out of Lake Placid, N.Y., finished one place and 2.1 seconds apart on Thursday, with Bailey ending up 15th and Burke 16th in the first men’s individual World Cup race of the season: the 20-kilometer individual in Östersund,...
Wind and picked up the sport a little over a year ago, it’s even more impressive that she recorded her first World Cup top 30 in the longest-format (four-stage) biathlon race on one of the windiest race days in recent memory. “This was definitely my best result, probably more due to luck than anything else,” Reid wrote in an email on Wednesday night. Of 99 finishers, only one woman hit all 20 targets: third-place finisher Darya Yurkevich of Belarus....
By mid-afternoon in Östersund, Sweden, on Sunday, Norway had already claimed a win in the mixed relay. But there was another event still on the schedule: the single mixed relay, a relatively new format with just one man and one woman per team, skiing short loops of a kilometer and a half. Each athlete skis and shoots twice, then tags off, then repeats: two relay legs each for a total of eight shooting bouts. While Norway...
Welcome to The Rundown, your quick primer of need-to-know information about the day’s racing. We’ll be updating this digest as the day goes on with additional results, photos and quotes. The Rundown is NOT a race report; stay tuned for complete race reports later today with interviews from the day’s top racers. *** IBU Cup in Beitostølen: 7.5/10 k sprints [UPDATE] With the second set of men’s and women’s sprints IBU Cup sprint on Friday.) In the women’s...
Canadian biathlete Macx Davies is shooting for the flower ceremony on this season's World Cup circuit, but fame came a little early. "I never really thought that I would be the best known Canadian because of my dance moves or my interviews," he said.
Seven weeks, four countries, one van. For US Biathlon A-team members Leif Nordgren and Sean Doherty, this might sum up their summer, or at least how they spent the last month and a half training. "We wanted to expand our boundaries a little bit," Nordgren said. "Mostly just get out and experience new stimuli and train in other cool places with new people.”
Two-time World Championships gold medalist, France's Marin Dorin Habert notched the third World Cup win of her career on Friday at the IBU World Cup in Pokljuka, Slovenia. She won the sprint by 1.1 seconds, ahead of Germany's Laura Dahlmeier and Franziska Hildebrand.
While Rosanna Crawford missed five targets in Sunday's IBU World Cup pursuit, she shot quickly -- fifth-fastest overall -- and ended up 23rd to lead Canada in Östersund, Sweden. Her teammate Megan Tandy rose from 46th to 25th with near-perfect shooting, and Julia Ransom placed 36th.
Ninth on Saturday, Nathan Smith placed 10th in Sunday's pursuit, the final race of the IBU World Cup in Östersund, Sweden, and another Canadian, Macx Davies finished in the top 30 in his first World Cup pursuit.
Clare Egan had been hoping for a top 60 in the IBU World Cup sprint on Saturday. Imagine how she felt after placing 16th. "It gives me confidence that the work I am doing is good and that I am on the right track,” she explained. Annelies Cook placed 25th for the U.S., Rosanna Crawford led Canada in 22nd, and Zina Kocher, Julia Ransom and Megan Tandy also qualified for the pursuit.
Nathan Smith did the expected and placed ninth in Saturday's IBU World Cup sprint, despite two misses. Meanwhile, another Canadian, Macx Davies, turned heads as the only man in the 100-plus field to shoot clean. He finished 10th for his career-best result by 30 places.
If you were wondering whether a podium in the first race of the season took the pressure off Rosanna Crawford for the first individual women’s race on Thursday, the answer is no. The Canadian biathlete explains her mindset and physical form during the 15 k individual, in which she placed 13th.
Ole Einar Bjørndalen swore that this would be his last season - and after missing six weeks of training due to illness, he had doubts whether he would make Norway's World Championships team. But the 41-year-old is back and won big on the World Cup, and now teammates and competitors are wondering if he has another Olympics in him.
Regardless of when winter officially starts, it's here as far as the ski world is concerned, and there's a lot to be excited about in North American racing. Canadian biathletes Rosanna Crawford and Nathan Smith jumped out to a relay podium in the first IBU World Cup race, and Canadian cross-country skier Alex Harvey took second in the men's 10 k skate in Kuusamo, Finland, for his first early season podium.
Rosanna Crawford has been shooting for the World Cup podium for a long time now. And on the first day of the season, she got there, along with teammate Nathan Smith. "It feels amazing," she said. "I feel so lucky to share the podium with my teammate who I’ve trained with for so long."
As Norway raced to another relay win thanks to near-perfection by Johannes and Tarjei Bø, Canada and the United States finished ninth and tenth in the four-person mixed relay in Östersund, Sweden.