North American men had their moments in the 12.5 k World Cup pursuit in Kontiolahti, Finland. But biathlon giveth and biathlon taketh away, especially when it’s as windy as it was in Kontiolahti today. And so at the end of the race, Nathan Smith of Canada landed in tenth and Lowell Bailey of the United States in 14th. Bailey started in third, 19 seconds behind leader Johannes Thingnes Bø of Norway, after Results
American Lowell Bailey broke through with the race of his career, tallying his first IBU World Cup podium in third in Saturday's final sprint of the season. "I’ve been working towards this for ten years, twenty years," Bailey says. Canadian Nathan Smith notched a career-best sprint, and all of the North American men made Sunday's pursuit.
It was warm, wet and calm in Finland on Thursdsay requiring perfect shooting and strong legs. Norwegian Johannes Thingnes Bø delivered, shooting clean and beating France's Martin Fourcade, who also cleaned, by 7.1 seconds. Canada's Nathan Smith led the North Americans in 21st.
Bjorn Ferry may have mis-timed his Olympic peak, but that meant he has been able to enjoy an incredible weekend of World Cup racing in Pokljuka, Slovenia. Ferry bested Martin Fourcade of France with an elegant and well-timed downhill pass as the pair neared the stadium, followed by a furious sprint. “I can beat Ferry 99 times out of a hundred," Fourcade said - but today he was wrong.
It would be easy to relax now that the Olympics are over - but the U.S. men's biathlon team is doing anything but. Lowell Bailey placed 10th and Tim Burke 13th in today's pursuit, while Leif Nordgren scored his first World Cup points of the season. "They still give the same amount of World Cup points for a win, and the prize money is still the same," Burke laughed.
Bjorn Ferry had a disappointing Olympics - he couldn't come even close to repeating his 2010 gold medal in the pursuit - but came back to win the first World Cup since Sochi. For the United States, Lowell Bailey placed 12th and Tim Burke 16th, while Brendan Green led Canada in 21st. "I'm psyched to start of the last trimester with a top 15," Bailey said.
Fog has already delayed the men's mass start biathlon competition several times, throwing athletes, coaches, and fans for a loop. It is currently scheduled for 3:30 p.m. local time, although conditions at the venue have not improved at all over the course of the morning. While athletes and journalists can joke about the delays and fog, the decision-making process is no laughing matter for race officials.
American Biathlete Lowell Bailey skied and shot his way to eighth place at the Olympics on Thursday, relying on the calm and poise that he had been missing earlier this week. The result was the best-ever Olympic finish in biathlon for the U.S.
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.
After frustrating results for Tim Burke and Lowell Bailey, “They get 12 hours to digest it,” their coach said. “Then, we go for the next one.”
After athlete complaints at last year's World Cup, Sochi organizers removed a particularly dangerous downhill from the biathlon course. But with warm conditions and deep, rutted snow, the rest of the course became treacherous today, with at least four major crashes between the 59 racers. Freezing nights are not predicted until next week, suggesting that the cross country ski courses, too, may be in for some ugly conditions.
FasterSkier’s coverage is made possible through the generous support of
The International Biathlon Union handed provisional sanctions to three athletes who tested positive for banned substances. Russian website Championat is alleging that two are Ekaterina Iourieva, a 2008 World Champion who has already served one doping ban for EPO; and Irina Starykh, currently the top-ranked Russian woman. Across the biathlon world, athletes expressed frustration and dismay.
Simon Schempp and Lukas Hofer looked pretty chummy after the finish men’s 10 k sprint at the World Cup in Antholz, Italy this Friday. Maybe their laughter was a product of their relief of finishing a challengingly slow course, or maybe it was that both of them were on the podium for the first time this season. More likely, however, it was the fact they both sat atop that podium in a rare tie for first place having skied the 10 k in 22:44.9.
Tim Burke knew exactly what he did wrong to earn five penalties in Saturday's individual race: he took his time. "Actually for me usually the slower I shoot the worse I shoot," he said. Fixing that on Sunday, he shot 19-for-20 and was rewarded with a much-improved result.
After being sick for a week, it's been a slow comeback for Lowell Bailey, who hasn't raced since mid-December and hasn't done any speed training in two weeks. But he came back admirably in the Ruhpolding 20 k, placing 25th with two penalties. "The happiest thing is that I’m, knock on wood, healthy again," said the Sochi-bound biathlete.
In no-snow Oberhof, there were a lot of "ski stopper" rocks on the trails - and U.S. biathlete Tim Burke hit one at the worst possible time, right as he was accelerating towards a top-5 finish on the last few climbs of the race. He regrouped for ninth place overall, behind race winner Martin Fourcade of France.
Tim Burke would rather just forget about placing 61st in Friday's sprint; Annelies Cook was embarrassed to get lapped in the pursuit (to be fair, she had her work cut out for her starting last). Leif Nordgren called his results in the 40's "nothing special" and Lowell Bailey didn't even race because he had a cold. For the U.S., Susan Dunklee's finishes of 32nd and 25th were the bright spots.
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.