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Rosanna Crawford

Crawford’s Nasty Crash Derails Canada in Single Mixed Relay, Austria Shines

Two years ago, Nathan Smith and Rosanna Crawford in an Austrian Ski Federation press release. “It already paid off to toil for another year. I knew this would be one of the toughest single mixed competitions, because you always carry the exhaustion from the last climb to the shooting range. But I could pace myself well. I think tactically it was a strong performance, and that’s the most important thing in the single mixed. It’s...

Biathlon Canada Finalize World Cup Team Following Trials (Updated)

Note: This article has been updated to include comments and verification from Biathlon Canada High Performance Director Roddy Ward, and explain the modified shooting format used for Friday’s sprint. *** Almost exactly two weeks before Biathlon Canada sends the rest of its World Cup team to Europe for the first trimeter of International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup racing, the national team held trials this past Tuesday through Friday on snow in Canmore, Alberta. Three...

Longer, Stronger Frozen Thunder Open in Canmore

Frozen Thunder is back, but it’s not the same Frozen Thunder you knew before. Every year, snow is stored all summer at the Canmore Nordic Centre in Canmore, Alberta, and rolled out in October to provide local ski and biathlon teams with on-snow training opportunities. This year, the loop has changed. “It feels good to be back on the snow after such a long time away,” Biathlon Canada’s Nathan Smith wrote in an email. “The...

OTP Cuts Biathlon Canada’s Base Funding to Zero

If you made it past the article’s title, then get ready to immerse yourself in the intricacies of Canadian high-performance sports funding. OK, here it goes…money, money, money. Add this for effect, $. Imagine for a moment you’re the CEO of a national sporting body and you’ve got high aspirations — things like championship and Olympic medals. There’s an infinite amount of puzzle pieces to organize and assemble. There are two critical pieces to even...

Biathlon Canada Names One National Team, ‘On Equal Footing’, for 2017-2018

Biathlon Canada has named 11 athletes to its senior national team for 2017-2018. The group is headlined by three athletes who scored World Cup top-20’s last season: Scott Gow, Julia Ransom, and Rosanna Crawford. Also returning is 2015 World Championships silver medalist Nathan Smith, who sat out most of last season recovering from a virus. The senior team does not distinguish between ‘A’ and ‘B’ squads this year, instead functioning as one group. “We are...

Notes & Quotes: PyeongChang Biathlon World Cups

The North Americans kept the momentum rolling two weeks after the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Championships, with US Biathlon’s Lowell Bailey busting out a second place and Susan Dunklee placing fifth in back-to-back races over the last four days in PyeongChang, South Korea. On Sunday, the Canadians showed they’re rounding back into top form in team events, with its men’s team placing seventh and women’s team taking eighth for season bests in the relays. Here are the...

Canada, In It Through Three Legs, Eighth in PyeongChang Women’s Relay

To nobody’s surprise, Germany came out on top in the women’s World Cup relay in PyeongChang, South Korea, where biathletes are checking out next year’s Olympic venue. Nadine Horchler, Maren Hammerschmidt, Denise Herrman, and Franziska Hildebrand cruised to 22.8-second win over Norway in the 4 x 6 k event, completing a clean five-for-five sweep of all the relays this season despite resting top star Laura Dahlmeier and relay regular Vanessa Hinz. Sure, France made a...

Sunday Rundown: Harvey Wins World Champs Gold in Lahti; PyeongChang + Vasaloppet (Updated)

FIS Nordic World Championships (Lahti, Finland): Men’s 50 k freestyle mass start After a week of missing out on the medals at 2017 Nordic World Championships, Canada’s Alex Harvey, a four-time World Championships medalist from 2011, 2013 and 2015, achieved his first individual gold medal in the final race of this year’s World Championships in Lahti, Finland. Harvey, 28, won the men’s 50-kilometer freestyle mass start in a drag race to the finish. Entering the...

Dahlmeier Perfect in PyeongChang; Dunklee 5th for Second Flower Ceremony in 3 Days

In Saturday’s 10-kilometer pursuit in PyeongChang, South Korea, Laura Dahlmeier achieved a level of perfection that made biathlon almost seem unexciting. The German biathlon star started in bib number one after winning Thursday’s 10 k sprint on the 2018 Olympic course, then shot a perfect 20-for-20 and skied away from the field to a 1:12.6 victory. As she hit the last target with more than a minute of time in hand over her competitors, Dahlmeier raised...

Saturday Rundown: Lahti & PyeongChang (Updated x2)

FIS Nordic World Championships (Lahti, Finland): Women’s 30 k freestyle mass start Marit Bjørgen made it a four-peat on Saturday with her fourth gold and third individual win over the last week at 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland. (She previously won the 15-kilometer skiathlon, 10 k classic, and 4 x 5 k relay.) The 36-year-old Norwegian closed out the championships with a 1.9-second victory in the women’s 30-kilometer freestyle mass start, finishing in 1:08:36.8...

Thursday Rundown: Lahti Women’s Relay & PyeongChang IBU World Cup (Updated)

FIS Nordic World Championships (Lahti, Finland): Women’s 4 x 5 k relay The Norwegian women’s team got a much-needed lift from Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen, the third leg of its 4 x 5-kilometer relay, on Thursday, who tagged her teammate Marit Bjørgen nearly a minute ahead of anyone else. From there, Bjørgen anchored the Norwegians to a 1:01.6-minute victory for her third gold of 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland. Meanwhile, Sweden and Finland battled for...

Gold for German Women’s Biathlon Relay; U.S. 14th, Canada 16th

HOCHFILZEN, Austria — Coming into the women’s 4 x 6-kilometer relay at World Championships, there was certainly one overwhelming favorite: Germany. Not only had the German women won every relay in the World Cup season so far, but the German mixed relay team won gold to kick off the Championships. Plus, anchor leg Laura Dahlmeier had two individual gold medals to her name and one silver so far. “As a team we tried to put...

‘Stronger, Faster, Better’ Dahlmeier Wins 15 k Gold; Ransom 18th, Egan 22nd

HOCHFILZEN, Austria—Every women’s race of the World Championships so far, the question has been: where’s Laura Dahlmeier? And in every race, the German has has turned in fantastic performances. Close to perfect on the range, fast on her skis, winning a medal each time. The 15 k individual was no exception. A late starter, Dahlmeier had just one miss, in her first prone stage, and then all was clear as she raced to another gold...

Domracheva, the ‘Comeback Girl’, Silver Behind Dahlmeier; Dunklee 22nd in Pursuit

HOCHFILZEN, Austria—For Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier in the 10 k pursuit today, it was another gold medal. One to match the mixed relay from this World Championships, a follow-up to her silver in the sprint, and a repeat of the pursuit gold from last year’s edition. “I’m very happy about the three medals — it’s really like a dream, two gold medals and one silver,” Dahlmeier said in a press conference. “The next races I will...

Koukalová Nabs First World Title; Egan 20th in World Champs Sprint

It was a day of redemption. Both for a biathlon superstar and for the best North American in the women’s 7.5-kilometer sprint at the 2017 International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Championships in Hochfilzen, Austria. A year ago, Czech Republic’s Gabriela Koukalová (back then starting under her maiden name Soukalová) was disappointed when she failed to win any medal at the Oslo World Championships, twice placing fourth, once fifth, and twice sixth with her team. She...

Friday Rundown: Egan 20th in IBU World Champs Sprint

IBU World Championships (Hochfilzen, Austria): Women’s 7.5 k sprint Gabriela Koukalová, formerly Soukalova, had been so close to a World Championships individual gold medal, yet through five World Championships and two Olympic Games, a world title still eluded her — until Friday. In the second race of 2017 IBU World Championships (and first individual competition), the 27-year-old Koukalova, of the Czech Republic, raced to first in the women’s 7.5-kilometer sprint, edging Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier, the...

Second at Relay Midpoint, U.S. Women Slip to 13th; Germany Wins Third-Straight; Canada 18th in Antholz

As they had done in the first two relays this season, Germany and France occupied the top two positions on the podium in the women’s 4 x 6-kilometer relay on Sunday at the IBU World Cup in Antholz, Italy. And to the joy of over 20,000 raucous fans in the sunny arena, home team Italy claimed the third place. So far, so not very unusual. But at the halfway point of the race, Susan Dunklee had moved...

Mäkäräinen in ‘Different League’ in Ruhpolding Sprint; Dunklee 33rd

Kaisa Mäkäräinen skied in a league of her own on Saturday. The five biathletes currently leading the International Biathlon Union (IBU) women’s overall standings also occupied the top five of Saturday’s 7.5-kilometer sprint in Ruhpolding, Germany. But when Mäkäräinen shoots clean in a race, even those fast skiers cannot keep up with “the Finnish flash,” as an announcer for German TV broadcaster ARD dubbed her, as she finished in 20:51.8 minutes for her first World Cup win of the season and...

Saturday Rundown: Hamilton Second in Toblach Skate Sprint (Updated)

FIS Cross-Country World Cup (Toblach, Italy): Freestyle sprints Men | Race report Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen posts a 22-second win for her first victory of the season and first time shooting without a miss in an individual race since the Ruhpolding sprint almost exactly a year ago. Dunklee leads North Americans in 33rd and qualifies for the pursuit, along with Canada’s Rosanna Crawford (55th), Megan Tandy (56th) and Julia Ransom (60th). Ski Classics press release. “It...