After hosting IBU World Championships last season and thinking ahead to the 2018 Olympics, the Norwegian biathlon team is in sort of an "in-between season" as Norwegian Biathlon Association President Erlend Slokvik described. Still, its men's and women's teams are aiming for the top-two overall come next March.
Logging too many hours to ski fast? The debate is raging in Norway, where Olympian Frode Estil weighed in last week when he argued that many skiers are obsessed with logging hours at the expense of training quality. Longtime coach Mona Hjellsand strongly agrees.
Anastasiya Kuzmina couldn't have been more surprised to find herself in the lead at the end of the 12.5 k mass start, but she made the most of it and finished the season happy. Meanwhile, Kaisa Makarainen took home the World Cup trophy after both she and rival Tora Berger had subpar races - but a slightly less subpar one for Makarainen than for the retiring Norwegian superstar.
Anastasiya Kuzmina shot better than any of the other favorites and skated off to a win while they were stuck in the penalty loop. But the biggest drama might have been that when Tora Berger finished second and Kaisa Makarainen fourth, Makarainen's lead in the World Cup overall shrank to ten points. The title will be decided in a mass start tomorrow.
All the news that's fit to print from the last World Cup sprints of the season, where Darya Domracheva of Belarus and Jakov Fak of Slovenia took home wins.
In incredibly gusty conditions, Kaisa Mäkäräinen won the 10 k biathlon pursuit by a minute over Darya Domracheva of Belarus. Susan Dunklee of the U.S. moved from eighth up to seventh despite a whopping seven penalties, thanks in part to the second-fastest ski time of the day - and other racers' struggles on the shooting range.
Far from just a tourist relying on the strength of his team, 40-year-old Ole Einar Bjørndalen was integral in Norway's gold medal in the biathlon mixed relay, shooting perfectly and skiing the fastest time by a mile on his leg of the relay. He now has eight Olympic gold medals and 13 total medals, the most in history. "It's cool," the legend shrugged.
Germany's Andrea Henkel skied with both calm and grit, shooting a perfect 20-for-20 and delving deep into the pain cave to hold off a charging Nadezhda Skardino of Belarus in the final kilometer of today's World Cup 10 k pursuit in Antholz, Italy. Susan Dunklee of the U.S. was in a top-five position for over half the race before being felled by shooting errors.
It was a day of firsts in the women’s 7.5 k sprint on the trails of Antholz, Italy. New faces found their way onto the podium, and American Susan Dunklee was just 0.6 seconds out, finishing a career-best fourth -- the best result by a U.S. female biathlete since 1994.
Gabriela Soukalova is getting used to wearing the overall World Cup leader's bib, and she acted like a pro in the pursuit today: feeling tired, she took her time on the range, losing up to ten seconds in each stage but shooting clean and avoiding the penalty loop. That gave her a second win for the weekend.
The Canadians notched a national first of fourth place in the IBU World Cup women's relay on Thursday in Annency, France, and the Americans tied their collective career bests of eighth for the second-straight week.
Switzerland has never won a biathlon World Cup race - and it was especially surprising that the first victory would come from its small women's team. But Selina Gasparin has been close to the podium before and today she sealed the deal in the 7.5 k sprint, eking out a 1-second victory over Veronika Vitkova of the Czech Republic.
A win in today's 7.5km women's biathlon for Norwegian Ann Kristin Flatland, a solid 16th place finish for American Susan Dunklee, and exciting 22nd place finish for Megan Imrie, which completes her Olympic qualification for Sochi.
Norway, Russia, Germany, France: it's hard to see a biathlon race where these guys aren't on the podium. Here's what you need to know about the biggest teams going into the 2013-2014 season - injury updates, shooting problems, psychological battles, promising juniors, team-naming squabbles. Read on.
Andrea Henkel of Germany vanquished Norway's Tora Berger for a second straight win at the "season start" biathlon races in Norway. But the home team had its revenge in the men's race, where Ole Einar Bjørndalen led a 1-4 sweep and Norway placed nine men in the top 12.
Sjusjøen, Norway, is hosting "Sesongstartskiskyting": opening races for the international biathlon season. Most European national teams were in attendance, and Norway's Emil Hegle Svendsen and Germany's Andrea Henkel took home the wins in Saturday's sprints.
The classic races of World Championships took place in Val di Fiemme: interval start, relay, marathon. Biathletes competed in Oslo, Americans held their own in Slavic Cup action, and Swedes (and everyone else) gave it their all in the Vasaloppet. Summaries of the action, along with links to reporting and results.
In the gustiest race of the year, not even four penalties could keep Tora Berger from winning her tenth race of the season - the rest of the field had many more. Darya Domracheva of Belarus, arguably her biggest rival, racked up nine, but still managed to place fifth. Instead, it was Marie Dorin Habert of France who limited her damage to two penalties and claimed runner-up honors.
What does it feel like to have Tora Berger breathing down your neck? Ask Germany’s Andrea Henkel, Ukraine’s Olena Pidhrushna or Italy’s Karin Oberhofer, who started the final leg of the 4 x 6-kilometer women’s relay with a mere 40-second head start.
For Tora Berger, it just keeps getting better. Norway’s leading female biathlete took control at the IBU World Championships on Wednesday, cruising through the 15-kilometer individual race to not only defend her title by nearly a minute, but do so without error in Nové Město, Czech Republic.