RUHPOLDING, Germany – With the ultimate result decided by just one tenth of a second, yesterday’s men’s 4 x 7.5 k relay here was an exciting one. Here are some photos of the action.
Russia skied a consistent and fairly unremarkable race to win the biathlon World Cup 4 x 6 k relay. But the biggest story was Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle, whose aggressive skiing and near-perfect shooting took Germany from 18th to 1st on the second leg. Was her mid-race comeback a metaphor for her career, now that the Olympic skier has switched to biathlon?
Fresh snow couldn't keep the US women's relay from matching their best ever 4.5 Classic/Free Relay time. Randall, Bjornsen Stephen and Diggins claimed a bronze medal despite near disaster and broken ski pole. A second US women's relay team clinched 12th to close the second weekend of World Cup racing
The Canadian men showed signs of recovery and an upswing in their second weekend of racing, with Alex Harvey leading the team in 16th in Saturday's 15 k classic individual start at the World Cup in Lillehammer, Norway.
Ole Einar Bjorndalen moved Norway from 16th to first on the second leg of the men's World Cup relay, and then Emil Hegle Svendsen sealed the deal with strong shooting on the anchor leg. It was a rematch of a previous race where he faltered and allowed Russia's Dmitry Malyshko to take over - but today Malyshko made the mistakes. Sweden placed second.
The U.S. team of Susan Dunklee, Sara Studebaker, Hannah Dreissigacker, and Lanny Barnes finished eighth in the World Cup relay in Hochfilzen - the best result of any of their careers. And they did it without Annelies Cook, the team's usual number two racer. "We're on our way up," Barnes said.
The Canadian men were as high as fourth place and the women as high as sixth in today's World Cup relays, but each team accumulated penalty loops at unfortunate times which bumped them down a few places.
The French biathlon team seemed to have mastered the blustery conditions in Ostersund - that is, until four-time World Champion Martin Fourcade took over. Instead, it was the Czech Republic who had the most to celebrate as they took the win, their first in the history of the discipline.
Birkie Trail Run, Relay, and Trek (Photo: Kelly Randolph) (Birkie press release) 11th Annual RUN, RELAY, and TREK RUN, RELAY, or TREK – THE BIRKIE TRAIL Sept. 21, 2013 – Hayward/Cable, WI What great weather for running in the Northwoods of Hayward and Cable, WI, right now! The Birkie ski trail is green and lush, and weather reports show temperatures settled in the mid 70s and 80s for the next couple of weeks. It’s a...
On the very last day of Junior World Championships in Liberec, Czech Republic, the U.S. women's and men's relays placed 10th and 12th, respectively. A fall in the men's relay tripped up a stellar early scramble by Logan Hanneman, while Ben Saxton and Heather Mooney each skied high-ranking splits for the Americans.
In a season filled with personal-bests and historic finishes for the American women, the 4 x 5 k relay in La Clusaz, France, was a reminder that not every race can be a wild success. They finished ninth out of nine teams on Sunday.
In the men's 4 x 7.5 k relay in Ruhpolding Martin Fourcade anchored France to a 9-second victory over Norway, redeeming themselves of their last memory of the venue. Lowell Bailey and Leif Nordgren put the U.S. in second at the halfway mark, but the Americans ended up 14th.
Norway already had a winning women's relay team, but the addition of Ann-Kristin Flatland, a former World Cup winner who took last season off to have a baby, only made them more dominant. The Norwegians collected a 54-second victory over Russia, even though their rivals used only a single spare round to clean their 40 targets. The U.S. was 13th and Canada 14th.
A strong team effort, where each racer skied among the fastest times of the day withstood the pressure of the notoriously loud and crazy Oberhof fans, gave the U.S. their best relay result in the era of modern biathlon.
Friday's World Cup relay turned into a barnburner in Oberhof, with Emil Hegle Svendsen desperately trying to make up nine seconds on Dmitri Malyshko in the final 2.5 kilometer on the newly-salted tracks. The Russian held strong, though, and gave his team the victory.
Who would win in a skate race, a top biathlete or nordic skier? When you follow the independent circuits of each sport, the question inevitably comes up. And if the biathlete turns out to be competitive, what would happen if he teamed up with nordic athletes for the same relay? Tim Burke dangled that idea in front of American ski fans two winters ago when he
RUHPOLDING, Germany – The U.S. men’s relay team had high hopes coming into Friday’s 4 x 7.5 kilometer relay. At last year’s World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, the team turned in one of the most surprising relay performances of the week, placing sixth after losing a photo finish with Italy just 38 seconds behind the victorious team from Norway. The Americans had been seeded 14th and not considered a threat in the race. This year,...
At the front of the race, Sunday’s World Cup men’s relay in Antholz-Anterselva was not especially exciting. Although the time gaps weren’t huge, there were few lead changes: after the first handoff, France took the lead and never looked back, remaining there for the rest of the race. After that point, Germany sat in second, Austria in third, and Russia in fourth: at each exchange, despite the intervening 7.5 kilometers, the scene was the same....
It’s a testament to Darya Domracheva’s speed that even with a 30-second lead with two kilometers to go, French relay anchor Marie Dorin Habert – the 11th-ranked biathlete on the World Cup and no slouch herself – was terrified of being caught. “I was very worried!” Dorin exclaimed in a post-race press conference. “Darya is better than me at skiing.” Luckily for France, Dorin is a better shot than the Belorussian star. After three legs...
When Thursday’s men’s relay in Oberhof, Germany kicked off, the television cameras could barely even show the start. After days of rain and warm conditions, the snow gods of Thuringia finally decided to let the World Cup biathletes see their worst. The snow was falling so thickly that zoomed shots from the cameras could barely pick out the skiers. “That was one of the hardest relays during my coaching career,” said U.S. Head Coach...