The Czech Republic handled the soft-and-slushy conditions on the first day of 2015 IBU World Championships in Kontiolahti, Finland, better than any other team in the mixed relay, winning gold by a comfortable margin ahead of France and defending Olympic champs Norway.
Gabriela Soukalova and Veronika Vitkova are stars on the biathlon circuit. But their younger teammates Eva Puskarcikova and Jitka Landova are proving just as essential in building a relay behemoth: with their third win this eason, the Czechs are favorites going into World Championships. Canada finished eighth with a brand-new relay lineup.
Darya Domracheva literally weathered the storm better than anybody in Nove Mesto, including Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen, to win Sunday's 10 k pursuit by 6.8 seconds. Susan Dunklee started ninth and led the U.S. in 18th with five penalties on an especially challenging Sunday.
Since building his confidence back at Open European Championships last week, Leif Nordgren is still on the rise, using just one spare on Friday to bring his team up to fourth in the IBU World Cup mixed relay. The Americans finished seventh and just 0.2 seconds from sixth.
Missing the wax meant that Susan Dunklee's good feelings about Friday's sprint didn't show up on the results sheet. But the U.S. biathlete turned it around in the mass start, taking her now-fast skis all the way up to third before falling to 16th place, still a season best. Megan Heinicke, in the first mass start of her career, finished 23rd for Canada.
The Canadians got off to a strong start, skiing in second throughout the first leg of Wednesday's 4 x 6 k women's relay at the IBU World Cup in Ruhpolding, Germany. The Czech women held steady up front to tally their second-straight relay win in the last week.
Darya Domracheva faced an 18-second deficit when she left the range for the last time in Saturday's mass start, but she made that up and more, winning her third competition of the season. Veronika Vitkova capped the "best week of my career" with a second-place finish; Canada's Rosanna Crawford was 20th and the United States' Susan Dunklee 27th.
Another windy day in Oberhof, Germany, for the IBU World Cup 7.5-kilometer women’s sprint race caused some of the big names to make huge errors on the range and created room for new faces on the podium.
It was a warm one in Oberhof, Germany, on Wednesday, but the Czech Republic women remained consistent, both with their skiing and shooting, in the 4 x 6 k relay to win by nearly 9 seconds over France. Belarus rebounded from 10th to third, and the Canadians were lapped on the final loop.
For three out of the four legs in the IBU World Cup women’s 4 x 6-kilometer relay on Saturday in Hochfilzen, Austria, it could’ve been anyone’s game, especially Russia’s, Germany’s, Poland’s and the Czech Republic’s. All four were within 40 seconds of one another behind Russia in first at the final exchange — and while it might have seemed like Russia with a 19-second lead was untouchable — any biathlete will tell you nothing in...
When Tiril Eckhoff missed a shot in standing, she assumed she'd have maybe a top ten in today's World Cup sprint. Instead, she charged to the top of the results sheet, and stayed there despite several clean-shooting challengers. She joined her brother (and coach) Stian on the list of Norwegians who have won in Ostersund, and called out Norwegian journalists for doubting her.
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.
When the leaders from Friday's sprint faltered, Norway's Synnøve Solemdal was there to step in. Clean shooting over the last three bouts gave her an 11-second victory, her first since she picked up her very first win here in Hochfilzen last season.
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.
The French biathlon team seemed to have mastered the blustery conditions in Ostersund - that is, until four-time World Champion Martin Fourcade took over. Instead, it was the Czech Republic who had the most to celebrate as they took the win, their first in the history of the discipline.
While Norway had seldom a worry en route to another mixed relay title, France and the Czech Republic capitalized on a late-stage meltdown by Russia's Dmitry Malyshko to earn their spots on the podium. The Czech medal was especially exciting to the home crowd, and the racers struggled to express how special the moment was.
Miriam Gossner was unable to repeat yesterday's victory, missing all five targets on her first of four shooting stages and ten of twenty in total. Instead Olga Zaitseva of Russia rose to the top, after starting in fifth position and accumulating three penalties in the middle of the race.