Susan Dunklee had been here before: in Ruhpolding, in the 15 k, coming into the final shooting stage with a single penalty. Two years ago at World Championships, she cleaned the stage and placed fifth. Today she collected two more penalties, and wound up 41st. But that's okay - this practice for the Olympics, which she's already qualified for, was just as valuable as if she'd hit those shots.
Czech biathlete Gabriela Soukalova never guessed she'd be so good this year: after winning the 15 k individual today, this season she's worn the yellow overall leader's bib more often than not, and has won both races in this format. With no more left on the schedule except at the Olympics, that has given her a discipline title already in January.
Canada has pared its World Cup squad down to just the men who will represent their country at the Olympics - and with qualifying off their shoulders, they can now focus on just racing. That was a relief to everyone as Canada skied and shot to a successful relay performance on Thursday.
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.
Once a powerhouse of men’s biathlon, Austria fell on tough fortunes the last few years. But their team of wily veterans is back to their old tricks: Dominik Landertinger outsprinted Germany’s Simon Schempp at the finish of the World Cup relay.
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?
U.S. Biathlon A-Teamer Annelies Cook catches us up on everything from a new strategy for shooting in races to time trialing against the German women and hiking with friends at home in upstate New York. Plus, women's coach Jonne Kahkonen weighs in on how his team fared in competition.
After romping to a win in the sprint on Saturday, Martin Fourcade of France had to work far harder on Sunday, draining his reserves to outsprint Dmitry Malyshko at the end of the 15 k mass start. Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway staged an impressive comeback from two penalties to take third; Tim Burke was 17th in his first race back from illness.
Both Scott Perras and Scott Gow notched personal-best performances on the biathlon World Cup; teammate Jean Philippe Le Guellec joked that the reason he collected two penalties and finished 41st was that his first name isn't Scott. The results highlight a Canadian team growing in both strength and depth.
Martin Fourcade celebrated vocifericously at the finish of today's World Cup sprint in Ruhpolding, Germany, but he clearly didn't expect Andriy Makoveev of Russia to make a late charge from bib 95. While Makoveev didn't get the win, he did make it onto the podium, placing third behind teammate Evgeniy Ustyugov.
Germany's Miriam Gossner used her trademark light and quick skiing to combat some dry, sticky, and slow new snow that fell on the Ruhpolding course today and pick up her third win of the season. Annelies Cook (USA) overcame "herky-jerky skiing" to notch a career best and her first top 30.
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.
For the past couple weeks, I have been training in Germany with the USBA national A team. We have spent time at some of the winter World Cup venues and shared the ranges with European national teams and club teams. The first couple weeks were in Bavaria, training at Ruhpolding. This week we are training [...]
RUHPOLDING, Germany – At the Chiemgau Arena on Monday, the U.S. biathlon team was surrounded by something it doesn’t always experience in training: a cacophony of shots that didn’t belong to them. With the German women’s team, the Ukrainian national team, and juniors from France and Germany on the range, as well as a group of German men doing a non-shooting sprint workout, training was quite a bit busier than your typical biathlon practice in...
RUHPOLDING, Germany – When Jake Dalberg made the decision to join the National Guard at age 17, this was exactly what he had in mind. “It was tough, but at the same time I felt like it was what I wanted to do and that was the way to do it,” Dalberg, now 19, said of the decision that the National Guard was his best route forward in biathlon. In just his third year in...
RUHPOLDING, Germany – After winning a World Junior title in 1997, Jay Hakkinen has gone on to compete in four different Olympic Games and notch nine individual World Cup top-tens, including one this year. But despite Hakkinen’s long contribution to the U.S. team, in past years he has been more visible in Europe than in the sport in his home country. In 2008 he moved to Oberhof, Germany, when he and his girlfriend Kristin Orlameunder...
Jaque Mourão may be a 36-year-old Brazilian mom, but the Quebec-based endurance queen has already made history in mountain biking and cross-country skiing. With help from Sweden's Matthias Nilsson, she now has her sights set on biathlon, and further inspiring her countrymen to pursue their dreams.
A longtime race official at biathlon's highest levels, Max Cobb took us behind the scenes of a World Championships that featured target malfunctions, course closures, and seeding changes. Plus, he talked about a TD's worst nightmare, and how to handle it.
I like to describe biathlon as an emotional rollercoaster. For athletes, the highs are very intense and the lows can feel devastating as we seek to have the “perfect race.” I rarely come close. Many different pieces must come together on the same day. I lucked out on a special day in [...]