Zina Kocher – Page 5

U.S., Canadian Women “Show Europe That North America Can Mix It Up” In Oslo Sprint

Chelsea LittleFebruary 3, 2012

After a gray winter that seemed to always be either snowless or stormy, the world’s best biathletes were thrilled to head to Antholz, Italy two weeks ago, where the sun finally shone in the Alps. The North Americans, it seems, are even happier to be in Oslo, Norway, where the World Cup kicked back into action with a pair of sprint races on Thursday. “There is a good vibe here in Oslo,” U.S. biathlete Annelies...

Biathlon World Cup

France’s Dorin Holds Off Charging Domracheva for Relay Win; Canada Finishes 9th, Tying for Best in Years

Chelsea LittleJanuary 21, 2012

It’s a testament to Darya Domracheva’s speed that even with a 30-second lead with two kilometers to go, French relay anchor Marie Dorin Habert – the 11th-ranked biathlete on the World Cup and no slouch herself – was terrified of being caught. “I was very worried!” Dorin exclaimed in a post-race press conference. “Darya is better than me at skiing.” Luckily for France, Dorin is a better shot than the Belorussian star. After three legs...

Biathlon World Cup

After Cross-Firing Debacle Removes Neuner, In Tears, From Contention, Berger Emerges From Confusion To Take Pursuit Victory

Chelsea LittleJanuary 16, 20121

Of all the nordic disciplines, biathlon is perhaps the one where small errors make the biggest difference. A centimeter here, a millimeter there – missing a target by that much, or little, can have drastic impacts on an athlete’s results. On Sunday, however, Magdalena Neuner didn’t make a small error. She made what is perhaps the worse mistake in biathlon: cross-firing. Coming into the third shooting stage of the 10 k pursuit with a sizeable...

Biathlon World Cup

Vertigo or No, Imrie Lands Career-Best 20th in Nove Mesto World Cup; Teammate Kocher 15th

Chelsea LittleJanuary 11, 2012

A couple of days ago, Canadian biathlete Megan Imrie couldn’t tell which way was up. Luckily, she’s feeling better – and up was where she landed on Wednesday, near the top of the results sheet in a World Cup individual race in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. Despite a case of vertigo, Imrie finished a career-best 20th place. Athletes have to deal with a lot of variables when they’re preparing for competitions, but vertigo – a...

Biathlon World Cup

UPDATED – Notes and Quotes from the Hochfilzen IBU World Cup Weekend

Chelsea LittleDecember 19, 2011

Biathletes on the IBU World Cup circuit hit up Hochfilzen, Austria for the second straight weekend after poor snow conditions in France forced the cancellation of a scheduled weekend there. While doubling up in Hochfilzen wasn’t too exciting, U.S. biathlete Lowell Bailey said that it wasn’t as bad as he’d expected, either. “The second week of racing here in Hochfilzen turned out to be quite a bit different than the first even though we were...

Biathlon World Cup

Canadian Women “Stoked” About Newfound Depth and Consistency on Biathlon World Cup

Chelsea LittleDecember 14, 2011

Lowell Bailey may be getting a lot of attention these days, but the American biathlete isn’t the only one to have found success in the early days of the 2012 World Cup season. Quietly, the Canadian women have upped their own profile – and their first two weeks of racing culminated in a ninth-place relay finish in Hochfilzen, Austria, tying the U.S. men’s performance. Team member Zina Kocher, who has been racing in senior-level international...

Biathlon World Cup

Kocher Improves to 23rd in Biathlon Pursuit; Dunklee, Studebaker 43rd and 44th for U.S.

Chelsea LittleDecember 10, 20111

Is it possible that Magdalena Neuner has checked out of biathlon? The German biathlete – who recently announced that she would retire at the end of the season at the young age of 24, and Full results

Biathlon World Cup

Berger Jets to Pursuit Victory, Leaving a Fading Neuner Fighting for the Podium

Chelsea LittleDecember 4, 2011

Sunday’s 10 k pursuit in Ostersund, Sweden was set up to be a barnburner from the moment the previous day’s sprint ended. With Olympic and World Champions Tora Berger and Magdalena Neuner separated by just 0.2 seconds and last year’s overall World Cup winner Kaisa Makarainen lurking 15 seconds behind, there was no doubt that things would get exciting. Germany’s Neuner and Norway’s Berger skied the first lap together, a study in contrasting styles. Berger’s...

Biathlon World Cup

Big Wins, and Winds, Are the Thing In Ostersund As Domracheva Takes Minute-Plus Victory

Chelsea LittleDecember 1, 2011

Perhaps never before have the world’s best biathletes’ dreams of perfection been dashed so quickly at the beginning of a season. Over the last two days in Ostersund, Sweden, each one of the world’s top shooters has missed at least one shot. Usually, there’s just a few races like this in a season. This year, both the men’s and women’s World Cup openers have featured incredibly gusty, unpredictable winds. Even without shooting clean, a few...

Biathlon Interviews World Cup

Kocher Regroups and Moves Forward as Part of New Biathlon Alberta Regional Training Center

Chelsea LittleSeptember 19, 2011

When two-time Olympian Zina Kocher was left off of Biathlon Canada’s “A” team this spring, she was surprised. “Criteria was never set before the season started,” Kocher told FasterSkier in an interview; it wasn’t until after the season was over that athletes learned whether their results were good enough for a nomination. Instead of simply adjusting and continuing on with the national team, Kocher turned down the “B” team nomination altogether and joined another squad,...

Biathlon General Results World Cup

Ekholm Tames the Wind to Win World Champs Individual By Over Two Minutes

Chelsea LittleMarch 9, 20111

Part of every biathlete’s job is to manage conditions on the range, which includes making adjustments for the wind. But there are days when the wind makes that all but impossible and the weather seems to be laughing in the face of the world’s best shooters. Wednesday in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, was just such a day, with only a single woman in the World Championships field shooting clean, and most shooting quite far from it. “Today...

Biathlon General News Racing World Cup

Henkel Doubles Up in Fort Kent; Studebaker Makes Mass Start

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 12, 2011

Germany’s Andrea Henkel skied to her second straight World Cup win on Saturday in Fort Kent, besting her teammate Magdalena Neuner by 25 seconds in the 10 k pursuit. Neuner and Henkel came into the final shooting stage together, and Neuner, a stronger skier, looked to have the race wrapped up when she hit her first four targets. But her last round went awry, and she couldn’t overcome the 25-second deficit she accumulated in the...

Biathlon General Results Uncategorized World Cup

In Return To Form, Ferry Wins World Cup Sprint; Neuner Tops for Women – Updated

Chelsea LittleDecember 18, 2010

In the World Cup sprints in Pokljuka, Slovenia on Saturday, two athletes took their first wins of the season. But while they hadn’t been atop the podium in Ostersund, Sweden, or in Hochfilzen, Austria, their strong performances weren’t entirely surprising: both Bjorn Ferry (SWE) and Magdalena Neuner (GER) were gold medalists at the Vancouver Olympics last year. Canadians led the North American contingent in both the men’s and women’s races. Men When FasterSkier

Interviews News Uncategorized

Kocher Back in the Saddle Post-Olympics

Linnaea KershawAugust 10, 2010

Despite a post-Olympic emotional rollercoaster, Canadian biathlete Zina Kocher has a bright outlook on the future. The Olympics for Kocher were both “awesome and terrible.” Her objective was to podium at the 2010 Games, but Kocher fell far short of her goal with a 65th position in the 7.5 k sprint, and 72nd in the 15 k individual. She praised the facilities, the support she received, and the volunteers at the Games, as well as family and...

Biathlon General News Nordic Combined Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Olympics Lead 2010 FasterSkier Performances of the Year

FasterSkierApril 26, 20102

Performance of the Year This year we expanded the Performance of the Year Award to include three different categories – cross-country, biathlon, and nordic combined. XC Performance of the Year (men): This season featured a number of outstanding performances, and for the first time we breaking out the award into three categories – cross-country, nordic combined, and biathlon. The challenge, like in many of the other awards, is how to weigh Olympic results. The Olympics...

Biathlon General News Racing

Burke and Kocher Repeat as FasterSkier Biathletes of the Year

FasterSkierApril 21, 2010

Biathlete of the Year In any normal year, this award would be as straightforward as they come. On the men’s side, Tim Burke (USA) is head and shoulders above the North American field. And despite inconsistent performances, Zina Kocher is the only woman who can threaten to crack the top-20. But this was an Olympic year, and Olympic results count more than World Cup or World Championship races – at least to the public. Neither...

Biathlon General News Racing World Cup

Hauswald Triples Up in Oslo; Tcherezov Takes Win in Mass Start

Nathaniel HerzMarch 21, 2010

There’s one way to guarantee yourself a good result in a biathlon race: hit all the targets. In the men’s 15 k mass start World Cup in Oslo, Russia’s Ivan Tcherezov was the only one of 30 starters to do so, and he won, by 26 seconds, over Austria’s Christoph Sumann and Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen. From the first loop and first shooting stage, Tcherezov was in the hunt, ensconced in a big group and...

Biathlon Racing

Tcherezov, Domracheva WIn Biathlon Sprint, Burke 22nd

Topher SabotMarch 13, 2010

Kontiolahti, Finland – Russian Ivan Tcherezov, who missed out an an individual medal at the Olympics, settling for a bronze in the relay, got a measure of revenge, winning the men’s 10km sprint in Finland. Darya Domracheva (BLR) the bronze medalist in the individual competition in Whistler won the omen’s 7.5km event, shooting clean on her way to an 8.4 second victory over Olga Zaitseva (RUS). Tcherezov had a perfect day on the range, one...

Biathlon Olympics Racing Results

Berger Captures 100th Norwegian Olympic Winter Gold in Women’s Biathlon

Topher SabotFebruary 18, 2010

Whistler, British Columbia – As the second starter in the women’s individual 15km, Tora Berger (NOR) had a long wait to see if her 1st place time would hold up, and when her last competitor crossed the line, the tears of joy started flowing. “It was very hard to wait, not a good time, but I had no time to think because there were so many interviews. But then I was very happy – they...

Biathlon General News Olympics Racing World Cup

Broken Bones Can’t Stop Slovakian Biathlete

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 13, 2010

Breaking two bones in your hand a month before the Olympic Games doesn’t sound like good preparation. But it sure didn’t hurt Anastasia Kuzmina. Shaking off an early miss, as well as the injury she suffered in early January, the Russian-turned-Slovakian won her country’s first Olympic medal in biathlon—and its first-ever gold in the Winter Games—on Saturday in the women’s 7.5k sprint. The announcers characterized Kuzmina’s win as a surprise, but her win comes after...

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