Scott Perras didn't know that this would be his last season as a professional biathlete, but he's not stepping away from skiing as the new high-performance coach at the Alberta World Cup Academy. "The last seven years, I kind of got to live like I won the lottery," he reflected.
The third and fourth legs in the IBU World Cup men's relay on Saturday, the Bø brothers led Norway to a 30-second win over France, while Germany picked off three places on the last leg to notch third. The U.S. came close to an unprecedented fourth, finishing fifth behind Russia in a photo finish.
The third starter, Martin Fourcade overcame a 29-second deficit and two penalties on a tricky shooting day to win the IBU World Cup pursuit in Presque Isle for his 44th World Cup win. Tim Burke tied his season best in seventh, and Germany's Arnd Peiffer crashed into a tree on his final loop and suffered a severe concussion.
Three American men finished within 16.5 seconds of one another in the top 20 of Thursday's sprint at the IBU World Cup in Presque Isle, Maine, setting themselves up well for Friday's pursuit. The youngest man in the field, Sean Doherty, 20 led them with a career-best 13th.
Who got married and when? (Most) everything you need to know about several U.S. and Canadian skiers that tied the knot this month.
Zina Kocher did not make Biathlon Canada's national team criteria this season, but successfully appealed under an injury/illness provision to regain her Athlete Assistance Program funding through Sport Canada. She believes a national team nomination should follow. Her federation does not.
Nathan Smith, Rosanna Crawford, Brendan Green, and Megan Heinicke headline the "A" team, while eight athletes were picked for the "B" team.
Leif Nordgren missed two weeks of training and the first weekend of World Cup racing after coming down sick over his holiday break. After a less-than-satisfying return to elite competition, he hatched a plan to use Open European Championships to get revved back up. In today's pursuit, he did just that.
With a goal of a top eight on Saturday, the Canadians did two places better to tie a team-best sixth in the IBU World Cup men's relay in Hochfilzen, Austria. Russia won it by 20 seconds over France, and Norway was another 7.7 seconds back in third.
Tim Burke put it all on the line and missed a single target -- his last one -- for 13th in Friday's 10 k sprint on the first day of the Hochfilzen IBU World Cup. Also for the U.S., Lowell Bailey shot clean for 17th.
It wasn't easy, but two Canadian biathletes overcame bumpy conditions to have strong races in the World Cup men's 10-kilometer and women's 7.5 k sprints, with Nathan Smith in ninth and Rosanna Crawford in 12th.
While two Americans won Friday's Frozen Thunder sprints, Canada had its revenge on Monday, taking four of six podium spots. In the men's 10.8 k skate race, Devon Kershaw bested Kris Freeman by five seconds to take the win. In the Women's 7.2 k race, biathlete Rosanna Crawford edged Liz Stephen for the win.
It's not every day that you find yourself sprinting for all you're worth down the finishing stretch of the Olympics against Martin Fourcade. But that's just what happened to Canada's Nathan Smith, who not only dueled with Fourcade to the end, but beat him. "I thought I had good chances,” Smith said. “I’m usually pretty good at sprint finishes.”
Brendan Green led the Canadians in 21st with his best Olympic result on Thursday, and if he hadn't had two penalties in the 20 k individual, he would've been even closer. His teammates, Nathan Smith and JP Le Guellec placed 25th and 35th, respectively, and Tim Burke placed 44th with four penalties.
Norwegian Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, 40, won the 10 k sprint at the 2014 Olympics on Saturday — earning his seventh career gold and 12th Olympic medal, besting competitors half his age over 10 kilometers of skiing and two rounds of shooting.
Sitting in fourth place at each of the first three handoffs, the Canadian men were in the game for the entirety of today's World Cup biathlon relay in Antholz, Italy. They eventually finished sixth - the first time any of them could remember going to the flower ceremony as a team. France won the race, anchored by Martin Fourcade.
In their first World Cup weekend back in Europe, Biathlon Canada had six of its seven athletes score World Cup points in Ruhpolding, highlighted by Nathan Smith's 16th-place finish in the men's pursuit today. He called it his best race of the season.
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.
From the cross-country World Cup in Davos, Switzerland, to U.S. Nordic Combined's best finish in a team sprint in Ramsau, Austria, to five straight days of biathlon races in Annecy, France: here's everything you didn’t get to read about over the weekend.
A 20-year-old Norwegian, Johannes Thingnes Bø, racked up his second career victory in Annecy, France, in Sunday's 12.5 k pursuit, winning by nearly 40 seconds. Canada's Nathan Smith cut his personal best in half, rising from 16th to eighth.