Darya Domracheva was the big winner on Saturday in the IBU World Cup 10 k pursuit, but there were some personal victories Canadians Rosanna Crawford and Megan Heinicke achieved throughout the race as well. For one, Crawford clawed her way back into seventh after two early misses, and Heinicke went from 41st to 14th as one of two women to clean.
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.
Not only was Russia's Anton Shipulin 100-percent on-target in the men's IBU World Cup sprint on Friday, he was also the fastest, leading him to a nearly 12 second win over Austria's Dominik Landertinger. All but one man (Martin Fourcade) in the top nine cleaned, and Lowell Bailey shot flawlessly as well for 16th.
Confidence builds on itself. Despite having a cold earlier this week, Rosanna Crawford took Sunday's fifth-place finish on the biathlon World Cup and turned it into a fourth-place follow up, finishing the 7.5 k sprint 36 seconds behind winner Gabriela Soukalova of the Czech Republic.
After a career-best finish on Sunday, Canada's Rosanna Crawford takes us through a typical week on the IBU World Cup and explains how and when she fits in intensity sessions, a.k.a. race prep.
Emma Lunder placed 30th in her World Cup debut last season. The Canadian biathlete has since gained funding, training partners, and motivation: "Anytime I'm doing a really brutal workout, I just think to myself, if you can get through this, you're one step closer to racing in Pokljuka again!"
Bjorn Ferry may have mis-timed his Olympic peak, but that meant he has been able to enjoy an incredible weekend of World Cup racing in Pokljuka, Slovenia. Ferry bested Martin Fourcade of France with an elegant and well-timed downhill pass as the pair neared the stadium, followed by a furious sprint. “I can beat Ferry 99 times out of a hundred," Fourcade said - but today he was wrong.
It would be easy to relax now that the Olympics are over - but the U.S. men's biathlon team is doing anything but. Lowell Bailey placed 10th and Tim Burke 13th in today's pursuit, while Leif Nordgren scored his first World Cup points of the season. "They still give the same amount of World Cup points for a win, and the prize money is still the same," Burke laughed.
When Zina Kocher passed teammate Rosanna Crawford late in the game in today's World Cup pursuit, it spurred both Canadians to rev up their engines and go for season-best results. Meanwhile, Susan Dunklee of the U.S. put Thursday's rifle disaster behind her and rode the fourth-fastest ski time of the day to 20th place, and Sara Studebaker scored World Cup points again.
Sara Studebaker and Susan Dunklee qualified for Saturday's World Cup pursuit in Pokljuka, Slovenia - Studebaker because of her good shooting, and Dunklee despite losing a part of her rifle sight on trail. "I had very little chance of lining it up correctly to hit anything," Dunklee lamented after an incident that drew attention from international commentators.
Emma Lunder wanted to make the top 60 in her first biathlon World Cup - instead, she made the top 30. With Rosanna Crawford leading the way in 17th and all four women making the pursuit, the 7.5 k sprint in Pokljuka, Slovenia, simply went Canada's way.
Bjorn Ferry had a disappointing Olympics - he couldn't come even close to repeating his 2010 gold medal in the pursuit - but came back to win the first World Cup since Sochi. For the United States, Lowell Bailey placed 12th and Tim Burke 16th, while Brendan Green led Canada in 21st. "I'm psyched to start of the last trimester with a top 15," Bailey said.
The fog in Pokljuka, Slovenia, tripped up everyone in the 12.5 k mass start - but Tora Berger overcame her penalties and collected the 20th win of her career. Rosanna Crawford of Canmore, meanwhile, picked up her fifth top-30 result in a row and is heading home for the holidays happy.
Tim Burke (USA) has not only recovered from his compartment syndrome scare two winters ago, but he has also finally regained his confidence after having surgery. Andreas Birnbacher (GER) won the mass start, but Burke was on the podium for the first time since 2010.
Miriam Gossner had five penalties and Gabriela Soukalova shot a perfect 20 for 20, but the German still prevailed for a 0.7-second win in the 10 k pursuit in Pokljuka, Slovenia today.
After erratic shooting kept him from his usual spot on the podium all season, Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway used calm and focus to best Martin Fourcade in the final stage of today's 12.5 pursuit in Pokljuka, Slovenia.
Taking herself, her coaches and the biathlon world completely by surprise, 23-year-old Gabriella Soukalova (CZE) won the 7.5 k sprint in Pokljuka, Slovenia, on Friday. The win is her first ever on the World Cup; prior to this she had only one top-ten on her record. Second place went to Miriam Gössner (GER) and third to Nadezhda Skardino (BLR).
In Saturday’s World Cup sprint race, Bjorn Ferry gave habitual powerhouse Sweden its third victory of the new season, and its first in a men’s race. On Sunday, Sweden took win number four. After Helena Ekholm and Anna Carin Zidek, the team’s first two World Cup victors this season, left the Swedes within striking distance of the podium, Carl Johann Bergman used some last-minute heroics to take a 0.3 second win over Ukraine France and...
In the World Cup sprints in Pokljuka, Slovenia on Saturday, two athletes took their first wins of the season. But while they hadn’t been atop the podium in Ostersund, Sweden, or in Hochfilzen, Austria, their strong performances weren’t entirely surprising: both Bjorn Ferry (SWE) and Magdalena Neuner (GER) were gold medalists at the Vancouver Olympics last year. Canadians led the North American contingent in both the men’s and women’s races. Men When FasterSkier
For most of Thursday’s 15 k individual race in Poklujuka, Slovenia, it looked like Kaisa Makarainen of Finland was firmly in control and would ski – rather easily – to her third World Cup win of the season. In the last shooting stage, Makarainen missed one target, but thanks to her superior skiing, she still had a jump on the field. When she crossed the finish line, she led the race by an astonishing margin...