The world’s top biathletes recently competed in six races in eleven days at World Championships in Ruhpolding, Germany, but as exhausting as that may have been, their season isn’t over yet. The racers hopped on a chartered plane and headed for Siberia – home of the Russian venue Khanty-Mansiysk – to contest three more races over the extended weekend. For American Tim Burke, the last World Cup series wasn’t simply something to check off a...
On Sunday, IBU Championships wrapped up in Ruhpolding, Germany, after eleven days of exciting racing that saw both dominating performances from overall World Cup leaders and refreshing victories and medals from lesser-known athletes. The big winners at the championships were Martin Fourcade of France and Tora Berger of Norway; Fourcade picked up three individual gold medals in the sprint, pursuit, and mass start, along with silver in the men’s relay. That was almost matched by...
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,...
RUHPOLDING, Germany – After Jay Hakkinen’s sprint race on Saturday, where he missed five of ten shots including four in the standing stage, the American veteran was so upset that he didn’t have any interest talking to the press. On Tuesday after the 20 k individual race, the willingness to chat served as a barometer for Hakkinen’s feelings about his performance. “We can talk today,” he joked at the finish line. “It was good enough.”...
RUHPOLDING, Germany – On Sunday, for the first time during these World Championships, the sun went behind the clouds over the Chiemgau Arena here in Ruhpolding. The same could be said for U.S. medal aspirations, as both Lowell Bailey and Tim Burke fell victim to shooting errors after it seemed like they could be en route to the best World Championships results of their careers. “Today we’re definitely disappointed,” Burke said in an interview after...
RUHPOLDING, Germany – Not a single one of the North American men was pleased with their race in the World Championships 10 k sprint today – at least that’s what they said at the finish. One after another, the biathletes reported that they felt slow. Tim Burke. Jean Phillipe Le Guellec. Lowell Bailey. Russell Currier. Nathan Smith. Marc-Andre Bedard. Here’s a typical soundbite, this time from Le Guellec. “Skiing wasn’t really awesome, actually,” the Canadian...
With racing taking a break for the day in Ruhpolding, Germany, here’s a gallery from the kickoff race, yesterday’s mixed relay. Norway took the win followed by Slovenia and Germany. Click any photo to enlarge.
RUHPOLDING, Germany – It’s never a good start to a relay when the leadoff skier tags off in tears. Unfortunately for the U.S., that’s exactly what happened today at World Championships. Scramble leg Sara Studebaker suffered a minor implosion (although it was nothing compared Race report
I am now in Ruhpolding, Germany for the start of World Championships. My racing will begin tomorrow with the mixed relay and I am hoping to race five more times over the next 10 days. This will definitely be a … Continue reading →
I arrived back to Antholz, Italy last night after spending the previous two weeks racing in Norway and Finland. It feels great to get back down South, see some sunshine and eat something besides fish and potatoes! The past … Continue rea...
In case there was any doubt: the King still reigns. Ole Einar Bjørndalen of Norway had stood on the podium just once this season, and hadn’t won a World Cup race since December 2010. But on Sunday in Kontiolahti, Finland, the legend upped his tally of victories to 93 – a number that seems impossible for another athlete to ever match. At 38 years old, Bjørndalen also became the oldest athlete to ever win a...
The cold weather is the most talked-about feature of this weekend’s World Cup biathlon races in Kontiolahti, Finland, but the U.S. team is lobbying hard for that to change. After putting two racers in the top six in Saturday’s men’s sprint – they were the only team to do so – the storyline might become the red-hot Americans, not the frozen thermometers. “Today was obviously a great day for the team,” World Cup veteran Tim...
When the temperatures outside drop down to -26 Celsius like they did in Kontiolahti, Finland on Thursday morning, ski racing becomes a game of survival. Breathing in cold air while asking lungs to work their hardest isn’t anybody’s idea of a healthy decision. And the extreme cold is even more tricky in biathlon, where nimble fingers are required to pull triggers and bulky mittens just get in the way. In Fort Kent, Maine last winter,...
It’s hard to say which biathlete faced more pressure before the start of Saturday’s 12.5 k pursuit in Oslo, Norway: Evgeniy Garanichev of Russia, or the country’s own Emil Hegle Svendsen. 23-year-old Garanichev was coming off the first win of his career in Thursday’s sprint. After seeing just one weekend of World Cup action during the 2011 season, Garanichev started the first period of World Cups this year, but was then sent back to the...
I am now enjoying a week off from racing after competing 8 times in the last 18 days. I decided to stay right in Antholz, Italy after the last races for my off week. Antholz is the perfect place for … Continue reading →
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....
Both Tim Burke and Lowell Bailey had their moments in Saturday’s mass start race in Antholz-Anterselva, Italy. After two shooting stages, Burke was in the top ten. After three, Bailey was 11th. But in the end, after four stages and 15 k of skiing, the Americans ended up in a race with each other – for 20th place. “It was an up and down race for me today,” Bailey wrote in an e-mail to FasterSkier....
The Swedish biathlon team has had to adjust to several surprise announcements in the last year. In the spring star coach Wolfgang Pichler decided to retire. In the fall, Mattias Nilsson Full results
With the U.S. men’s team notching their best day ever in Saturday’s sprint, hopes were high that the team could place athletes in the top ten or even the top five in today’s pursuit. But although the Americans were frequently close, they couldn’t pull it off. After starting with bib 6, Russell Currier missed a shot in the first prone stage which dropped him to 12th; and while Tim Burke, starting with bib 11, was...
Another World Cup week is in the books here in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. After starting off with a disappointing Individual race, I rebounded with two solid races in the sprint and pursuit. I finished 11th in the sprint but … Continue readi...