From the FasterSkier archive — posts syndicated from athletes’ and coaches’ own blogs between 2004 and 2012, kept online as published. Current coverage is at fasterskier.com.
FasterSkier’s Coverage of the Biathlon World Championships is made possible through the generous support of the Craftsbury Outdoor Center: New England’s finest snowmaking, world class race venues and touring trails, healthy food in abundance, comfortable accommodations at Craftsbury: Sports, Sustainability, Stewardship.
Johannes Thingnes Boe (NOR) defended his 2023 World Championships title in the 20 k Individual at 2024 World Championships. (Photo: NordicFocus)
The 20 k Individual is the longest race in biathlon, and with a one-minute time penalty per miss, so much can happen over the course of one competition. When defending champion Johannes Thinges Boe (NOR) missed one shot on the first stage, it looked like someone else might have a chance at the gold. But he swiftly dispelled any doubt, hitting the 15/15 remaining targets and out-skiing the field by a ridiculous 50-second margin to claim his 9th individual World Championships medal—just two medals shy of the record shared by greats Ole Einar Bjorndalen (NOR) and Martin Fourcade (FRA). Boe’s older brother, 35-year-old Tarjei, who won this event at the 2011 World Championships, skied the second-fastest time of the day and hit 19/20 to claim silver and give biathlon fans another “Boedium” to celebrate. In third, the German men’s team finally made an appearance on the podium thanks to Benedikt Doll’s 19/20 performance.
Quentin Fillon Maillet (FRA) overcame three prone misses to finish sixth.
The Individual stretches out over a couple of hours and each loop can seem like its own race. On Wednesday afternoon in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic, bib number 1 of 100 starters, France’s Quentin Fillon-Maillet, missed two targets right away on the first stage, incurring two minutes of time penalty and leaving the range in 73rd place with 16 kilometers still left to be skied. But he kept fighting for every second on course, hit 14/15 of the remaining targets, an moved all the way up to sixth place, earning himself a bouquet in the flower ceremony (and 7,000 Euros). Fillon-Maillet’s teammate Emilien Jacquelin finished fifth with one miss, and Andrejs Rastorgujevs of Latvia was fourth, also with two misses.
Campbell Wright (USA) skied the 14th fastest course time to take 20th despite three misses. (Photo: NordicFocus)
From the US, 21-year-old Campbell Wright matched his career-best 14th-ranked ski time from the Sprint to finish 20th despite three misses. The 2023 Junior World Champion was was pleasantly surprised by his own ski speed. “When you’re fit and have 40th ski time or fit and have 14th ski time, it feels the same,” said Wright, referring to past seasons when he also felt fit, but couldn’t yet keep up with the top senior-level athletes. Now, even though Wright is still one of the youngest athletes in the field, he is skiing with the best. With his finishes of 11th, 12th, and 20th so far at the World Championships, he has qualified for Sunday’s Mass Start featuring the top 30 athletes. Wright has done one other Mass Start, back in 2022 when he was just 19 years old. “I feel like I won’t just get blown out the back on the first loop,” said Wright. “I’m a lot more in the fight.” Wright is humble and just starting to come to terms with his own capabilities, but for everyone watching it is clear that he is very solidly “in the fight.”
Sean Doherty (USA) skiing his way to 23rd in the 20 k Individual. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Sean Doherty (USA) finished just behind Wright in 23rd, with two misses. “I’m happy with it,” he said. “I was in the right state of mind for an Individual, to really be in it and give myself a chance.” Since starting the Championships with a 44th in the Sprint, Doherty has been exceptional, moving up 18 places in the Pursuit to 26th, and then posting his season-best result in the Individual. Thanks to these two top-25 results, Doherty will join Wright in the Mass Start.
Also for the US, Jake Brown was 50th and Vincent Bonacci was 75th, both with four misses.
Tarjei Boe (NOR) and younger brother Johannes Boe (l-r) giving biathlon fans what they want: a Boedium! Benedikt Doll came through for Team Germany to take the bronze. (Photo: NordicFocus)
FasterSkier’s Coverage of the Biathlon World Championships is made possible through the generous support of the Craftsbury Outdoor Center: New England’s finest snowmaking, world class race venues and touring trails, healthy food in abundance, comfortable accommodations at Craftsbury: Sports, Sustainability, Stewardship.
Sturla Holm Laegreid (NOR) celebrates after crossing the line in first in the Sprint at the 2024 World Championships in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Shut out at last year’s World Championships, Norway’s Sturla Holm Laegreid claimed his place in the spotlight on Saturday, edging out defending champion Johannes Thingnes Boe (NOR) in dramatic fashion for gold in the 10 k Sprint. Vetle Christiansen completed the podium sweep for Norway, taking his first individual World Championship medal.
Defending champion and World Cup Overall leader Johannes Thingnes Boe (NOR) races in front of a packed stadium on his way to a silver medal, 3.5 seconds behind Laegreid. (Photo: NordicFocus).
Laegried’s results in the four non-team competitions at last year’s World Championships were two silvers, a bronze, and a fourth place. Thingnes Boe won all but one of those races; he took the bronze in the Mass Start, pushing Laegreid off the podium. Laegreid has ranked second in the World Cup overall score the last three years in a row—twice behind Thingnes Boe—and is currently the sixth of six Norwegians who fill the top of the rankings. It’s hard to think of Laegreid as an underdog, and yet somehow he is. But second fiddler no more, Laegreid boldly claimed first chair in the Sprint at the 2024 World Championships in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic.
Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen (NOR) completed the podium sweep for Norway. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Laegreid’s super power has always been his shooting, and on Saturday it earned him the gold. Wearing bib 50, he was latest of the medal favorites to start, and one by one the others in front of him missed targets. Only Sebastian Samuelsson of Sweden managed to hit 10/10, but he couldn’t quite match the speed of the Norwegians and had to settle for fifth.
When Laegreid left the range after hitting 10/10, he had an eight second lead over J. Boe. But he couldn’t match Boe’s speed on the uphills of the final lap and with just one kilometer to go, Laegreid trailed Boe by two tenths of a second. In the final meters, with the advantage of knowing Boe’s splits, Laegreid put in a decisive finishing sprint to win by a margin of 3.5 seconds. It’s been a long time since an athlete looked so thrilled to cross the finish line in first.
Eric Perrot (FRA) finished fourth, the closest any French man has come to the podium this winter. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Only Samuelsson and fourth-place Eric Perrot (FRA) infiltrated the otherwise Norwegian top seven. Perrot’s fourth place ties his second-best finish and is the closest any French man has come to the podium this winter. His teammates Quentin Fillon Maillet and Emilien Jacquelin finished eighth and ninth, and Samuelsson’s teammate Martin Ponsiluoma was tenth.
Campbell Wright (USA) waves to the crowd after shooting clean and finishing with a new personal-best of 11th in the Sprint. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Just outside the top ten, American Campbell Wright set a new personal-best of 11th with clean shooting. This is Wright’s first season competing for the US, after training with the team last season while still competing for his other nation of citizenship, New Zealand. Wright will start Sunday’s Pursuit in bib 11 just 1:08 behind Laegreid. Teammates Jake Brown and and Sean Doherty also qualified for the Pursuit in 38th and 44th, both with three misses. Maxime Germain just missed qualification, finishing 63rd with four misses.
Doherty expressed mixed emotions about qualifying but not with a standout result: “It was tough and although I am very much looking forward to the Pursuit,” he said. “I feel like I left a bit on the table with three misses.” He also pointed to the exciting atmosphere and success of his teammate: “The crowds were awesome and I am really proud of Campbell.”
Sean Doherty (USA) (background) and Campbell Wright (USA) preparing to zero their rifles before the Sprint. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Jake Brown also expressed mixed emotions, describing how good execution doesn’t always align with a good result in biathlon. “I think I pushed pretty deep today and I’m satisfied with that. As for shooting, I was satisfied with my shooting speed; I really committed to sticking to my process, and I did that, and it was just frustrating to miss two in standing.” He went on, “I really came in with confidence. I’ll probably take the same approach in tomorrow’s race.”
Benedikt Doll (GER) speaking with one of his staff members after a disappointing team performance in the Sprint (Photo: NordicFocus)
The gap in ski times in the men’s Sprint was enormous, resulting in an unusually large 3:37-spread separating the top-60 Pursuit qualifiers. A typical spread is 2-2:30. When asked why he thought the spread was so large, Brown pointed to a combination of skis, conditions, and the ban of fluorinated wax products enacted this season. “There are pine needles everywhere, it’s very dirty, and there is a lot of loose, wet snow. It seems like the ski times on the first lap are somewhat normal but then they open up on the second and third laps.” In these conditions, technicians face an extra challenge of preparing skis in such a way that they repel dirt. Brown said that the US team had good skis, while many other nations struggled. The Germans, for example, who have been highly competitive all winter with three different gold medalists, did not place a single athlete in the top ten of the ski time rankings, and their best finisher in the race, Benedikt Doll, was 13th. Technicians from every team will have their work cut out for them again Sunday for both the men’s and women’s Pursuits.
Up Next:
Sunday 11 Feb Women’s 10 k Pursuit 08:30 (Eastern Time)
Sunday 11 Feb Men’s 12.5 k Pursuit 11:05 (Eastern Time)
Johannes Thingnes Boe, Sturla Holm Laegreid, and Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen, (l-r), celebrate their podium sweep for Norway in the Sprint at 2024 World Championships. (Photo: NordicFocus)
The winner of the women’s 10 k pursuit, Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff, amidst a sea of Ruhpolding, Germany fandom. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Let’s catch up on some overdue biathlon action from Ruhpolding, Germany.
Day 2: Men’s 10 k sprint
Starting off, the men’s 10 k sprint that ran last Thursday. Allez! Allez! It was a squeaker of a win for IBU World Cup overall leader Martin Fourcade of France. He won in a time of 22:41.5 minutes while shooting clean. His teammate, Quentin Fillon Maillet clocked in 3.1 seconds back for second while missing no targets. Germany’s Benedikt Doll placed third (+12.0; 0+0).
Calm, and cool: France’s Martin Fourcade in Ruhpolding. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Martin Fourcade has returned to his winning ways: here is on the way to winning the pursuit in Ruhpolding, Germany. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Sean Doherty of the U.S. continued his rise in this second trimester of the World Cup notching 21st in the sprint, 1:02.8 back and shooting 1+0. For Doherty, this matched his season best result, a 21st in Oberhof’s sprint.
U.S. biathlete Sean Doherty during the men’s relay in Ruhpolding, Germany. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Also for the U.S., Jake Brown skied to 58th (+2:02.2; 2+0), and Leif Nordgren was a spot back in 59th (+2:03.8;2+1). Paul Schommer was 65th (+2:09.2; 0+2).
Jules Burnotte was the top-placed Canadian in 47th (+1:43.6; 0+2). Christian Gow was 51st (1:48.7; 1+0), Scott Gow 60th (+2:04.9), and Aidan Millar 100th (+3:16.4; 1+2).
The top-60 skiers advanced to the weekend’s pursuit.
Here’s one thing we love about IBU World Cup relays: so many nations participating. Twenty-three different countries were represented in the women’s event. Korea was lapped, and was listed as 23rd, but at least they are in the game.
In first place, a more consistent powerhouse, was Norway in 1:08:46.4, followed by France (+10.7), and Switzerland (+20.7) in second and third, respectively. This was Norway’s fourth relay win in a row.
For the U.S., Susan Dunklee, Clare Egan, Joanne Reid, and Deedra Irwin raced to 10th overall, 2:32.9 behind Norway’s winning time. The U.S. had a single penalty while using nine spares in the competition.
Susan Dunklee (bib 9) of the U.S. during the women’s relay in Ruhpolding, Germany. (Photo: NordicFocus).
Joanne Reid coming in to tag Deedra Irwin for the U.S. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Joanne Reid during the women’s relay in Ruhpolding. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Canada’s Nadia Moser, Emma Lunder, Megan Bankes, and Sarah Beaudry were 20th (+5:30.8; 1+11).
Canada’s Meghan Bankes during the women’s relay in Ruhpolding, Germany. (Photo: NordicFocus)
When it’s going your way, just go with it. It has been going France’s way. The French won the men’s relay in 1:18.11.2 followed by Norway in second (1:12.2), and Austria in third (+1:24.3).
Quentin Fillon Maillet of France carries the French flag across the line for the relay win in Ruhpolding, Germany. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Leif Nordgren, Sean Doherty, Paul Schommer, and Jake Brown scored tenth overall for the U.S., finishing 4:09.8 back using nine spares.
Leif Nordgren (USA) tagging Sean Doherty during the men’s relay in Ruhpolding, Germany. (Photo: NordicFocus).
Jake Brown (USA) on the range during the men’s relay in Ruhpolding, Germany. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Canada’s Jules Burnotte, Scott Gow, Aidan Millar, and Christian Gow placed 19th (+6:27.6; 1+14). Twenty-six teams were represented.
In this 60 athlete field, Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff ran away with the win in 34:08.7 while missing a single target in her four shooting bouts. Slovakia’s Pauline Fialkova was second (+46.3;1+0+0+1), and Hannah Öberg of Sweden third (+55.1; 0+1+0+1).
Susan Dunklee during the women’s relay in Ruhpolding. She placed 10th in the weekend’s pursuit event for a season best result. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Dunklee notched a season best result with her 10th place. The U.S. biathlete finished 1:39.7 behind while shooting 0+1+2+0. Her teammate Egan was six spots behind in 16th overall (+2:01.8; 0+0+1+1). This was Egan’s best individual result thus far in the 2019-2020 season.
Off to the tracks: Clare Egan (bib 28) during the women’s pursuit in Ruhpolding. She placed 16th overall. Susan Dunklee, her teammate, is pictured in bib 25. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Susan Dunklee (bib 25) and Clare Egan (bib 28) after the women’s pursuit in Ruhpolding. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Again, there was no stopping the French. Fourcade took the win in 31:26.8 while shooting clean, with Fillon Maillet in second (+17.6; 0+0+1+0). Norway’s Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen placed third (+46.0; 0+0+0+1).
Martin Fourcade (FRA) leads Quentin Fillon Maillet (FRA) during the men’s pursuit in Ruhpolding. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Doherty was the top American in 32nd (+2:58.7; 3+0+1+0). Nordgren placed 55th (+5:30.1; 2+2+0+0), and Brown 56th (+5:49.9; 2+2+1+2).
For Canada, Burnotte skied to 47th (+4:07.4; 1+1+2+1), Christian Gow 49th (+4:22.1; 1+1+1+1), and Scott Gow 50th (+4:37.8; 0+1+1+1).
The winner of Thursday’s IBU World Cup 10 k sprint in Annecy-Le Grand Bornand, France was Germany’s Benedikt Doll. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Thursday’s on the IBU World Cup featured the men’s 10-kilometer sprint in Annecy-Le Grand Bornand, France. Germany’s Benedikt Doll won in 23:22.1. It was Doll’s second World Cup win – he won the sprint at the 2017 IBU World Championships. On his way to the win, Doll shot clean.
Second place went to Tarjei Bø of Norway. He also shot clean to finish 9.4 seconds back. France’s Quentin Fillon Maillet was third (+11.3; 0+0).
Grzegorz Guzik (POL), Leif Nordgren (USA), (l-r) during the men’s 10 k sprint in Annecy-Le Grand Bornand, France. (Photo: NordicFocus)
For the U.S., Leif Nordgren was 38th (+1:36.4; 0+1), while teammate Sean Doherty placed 40th (+1:37.6; 1+0). Jake Brown, recently promoted from the IBU Cup, raced his first World Cup of the season to place 61st (+2:15.0; 1+1). Alex Howe raced to 79th (+2:46.0; 2+0).
Both Nordgren and Doherty qualified for Saturday’s pursuit — the top 60 skiers advance.
U.S. Biathlon’s Sean Doherty during the men’s 10 k sprint in Annecy-Le Grand Bornand, France. (Photo: NordicFocus)
For Canada, Jules Burnotte was 66th (+2:27.2; 1+3), and Scott Gow 88th (+3:14.7; 1+3). Christian Gow and Aidan Millar did not start.
Johannes Thingnes Bø of Norway (bib 4) during the mixed relay at the 2019 IBU World Championships. (Photo: ARD screenshot)
Marte Olsbu Røiseland, Tiril Eckhoff, Johannes Thingnes Bø, and Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen of Norway won the opening race, a mixed relay, of the IBU World Championships in Östersund, Sweden. The foursome won the race in 1:17:41.3 hours.
The race format requires women to contest the first two legs, or 2 x 6-kilometers, whereas as the men ski the final two legs, or 2 x 7.5 k. On the way to the win, Norway used seven spares.
Germany’s Vanessa Hinz, Denise, Herrmann, Arnd Peiffer, and Benedikt Doll placed second, 13.1 seconds behind after using nine spares total. Herrmann’s skiing prowess, she is a former World Cup cross-country skier for Germany, brought her team into the lead as she tagged Peiffer.
The Norwegians ultimately took control of the race as they gapped Germany in second place, and put 1:09.6 minutes into Italy’s Lisa Vittozzi, Dorothea Wierer, Lukas Hofer, and Dominik Windisch for third overall.
Canada’a Rosanna Crawford, Sarah Beaudry, Christian Gow, and Scott Gow placed 16th overall (+4:35.5). The team had one penalty while using eight spares.
Susan Dunklee, Clare Egan, Sean Doherty, and Leif Nordgren of the U.S. placed 19th (+7:21.2). The U.S. team accrued three penalties while using 13 spares.
Racing continues tomorrow for the women with a 7.5 k sprint.
The brothers Bø. Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø (right) of Norway with the sprint in Ruhpolding, Germany. His brother Tarjei (left) placed second. (Photo: biathlonworld.com screen capture)
IBU World Cup Biathlon Ruhpolding, Germany 10 k / 7.5 k sprint
Cutting to the chase: it has been dumping in certain regions of the alps. Ruhpolding, Germany, site of this week’s International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup’s has been no exception.
The men’s 10-kilometer sprint that went off today under clear skies had been postponed, it was scheduled to run Wednesday. Race officials postponed the race due to a weather related (read heavy snowfall) state of emergency in the district of Traunstein, where Ruhpolding is located.
With a bit more rest in their legs, Norway’s Bø went one and two in the results.
The younger of the brothers, twenty-five-year-old Johannes Thingnes Bø won in a time of 22:56.3 minutes after skiing a single penalty lap. Johannes Bø cleaned his prone stage, while missing one target while standing.
The elder Bø, thirty-year-old Tarjei Bø placed second (+7.9) after cleaning both shooting stages. It was Tarjei’s second individual podium of the season. Benedikt Doll of Germany was third (+10.5), with one penalty while standing. France’s perennial biathlon star Martin Fourcade was fourth (+15.9) with no penalties.
Sean Doherty of the U.S. was the best placed North American in 23rd (+1:10.2, 1+0). As of late, Doherty has been racing consistently in the top-30.
Also for the U.S., Jake Brown shot clean to finish 47th, 1:40.8 minutes back. Leif Nordgren placed 50th (+1:45.3, 0+0), and Max Durtschi 103rd (+3:29.0, 2+2).
Canada’s Scott Gow skied to 42nd (+1:36.0, 0+1). His brother Christian Gow placed 56th (+1:52.7, 0+1), Jules Burnotte skied and shot to 67th (+2:01.5, 1+0), and Aidan Millar 102nd (+3:26.4).
Friday’s racing in Ruhpolding will feature a 4 x 7.5 k and 4 x 6 k relays for the men and women respectively.
Anatasiya Kuzmina won the women’s 7.5 k sprint on Thursday in a time of 19:15.1 minutes. It was Kuzmina’s second win of the 2018/2019 IBU World Cup season. Kuzmina’s day was made a bit easier as she cleaned both her prone and standing shooting stages.
Italy’s Lisa Vittozzi placed second 11.5 seconds behind Kuzmina. Vittozzi also shot clean. In third place was Sweden’s clean shooting HannahÖberg. She finished 29.1 seconds back.
Susan Dunklee for the U.S. placed 20th overall, 1:11.3 minutes behind with a single penalty. Teammate Clare Egan, placed 35th (+1.44.6, 2+0). Also for the U.S., Joanne Reid finished two places back in 37th (+1:45.2, 1+0).
Rosanna Crawford was the top Canadian in 27th. She skied a single penalty loop to cross the finish line 1:32.3 minutes behind. Megan Bankes placed 68th (+2:32.7, 1+1), Emma Lunder 88th (+3:17.9, 3+2), and Sarah Beaudry 96th (+3:40.3, 1+3).
The Holmenkollen women’s 30 k freestyle mass start podium on Sunday in Oslo, Norway, with Jessie Diggins (l) in second, and Norway’s Marit Bjørgen (c) in first and Ragnhild Haga (r) in third. (Photo: FIS Cross Country/Twitter)
FIS Cross Country World Cup (Oslo, Norway): Women’s 30 k freestyle mass start
Marit Bjørgen, the Norwegian queen of distance cross-country events, racked up another victory at Holmenkollen in the women’s 30-kilometer freestyle mass start on Sunday for her seventh win in the World Cup’s ultimate distance event at the famed Norwegian venue. (She had previously won in 2005, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2017).
But she did so in not-so-typical fashion. Instead of breaking the field mid-race and skiing to a comfortable win, like she did in the last race of the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea (a 30 k classic mass start), Bjørgen came from behind to win Sunday’s Holmenkollen 30 k and wasn’t able to let off too much before finish. She didn’t take the lead until less than a kilometer to go and put just enough time into her competition to take the win in 1:18:12.4 hours, while American Jessie Diggins outlasted the chase group of three to place second (becoming the first American woman to reach the Holmenkollen podium), 3.6 seconds behind Bjørgen. Norway’s Ragnhild Haga edged Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla by 0.1 seconds for third place (+4.3), while Kalla settled for fourth (+4.4).
The rest of the field was strung out, with Norway’s Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen finishing fourth (+11.5) and Ingvild Flugstad Østberg nearly another 1 1/2 minutes back in fifth (+1:39.5). Finland’s Krista Pärmäkoski placed seventh (+1:51.7), Germany’s Stefani Böhler notched eighth (+2:10.2), Austria’s Teresa Stadlober ninth (+2:10.2), and Sweden’s Ebba Andersson 10th (+2:11.9). Less than a second behind Sweden’s Ida Ingemarsdotter in 11th (+2:22.8) was American Sadie Bjornsen in 12th (+2:23.4).
In the Distance World Cup standings, Diggins gained some valuable points to keep herself in third, now 63 points ahead of Pärmäkoski in fourth. Heidi Weng, who finished 18th on Sunday, still leads the distance standings by 104 points and Østberg is second, 51 points ahead of Diggins.
In the Overall World Cup, Weng leads by 153 points over Østberg. Diggins is another 104 points back in third, 100 points ahead of Pärmäkoski in fourth. At World Cup Finals next week in Falun, Sweden, a total of 300 points is up for grabs for the winners (50 for freestyle sprint, 50 for classic individual start, and 200 for freestyle pursuit).
The U.S. had three in the top 20 and four in the points (top 30) in Sunday’s 30 k, with Kikkan Randall in 19th (+3:21.9) and Caitlin Patterson in 28th (+4:13.1). Rosie Frankowski (Alaska Pacific University) missed the top 30 by about 28 seconds in 31st (+4:45.4), Liz Stephen placed 51st (+10:01.7) and Kaitlynn Miller (Craftsbury Green Racing Project) finished 53rd (+16:05.0).
Cendrine Browne led four Canadian women in 36th (+6:16.1), Emily Nishikawa was 44th (+7:36.1), Zina Kocher (Foothills Nordic) finished 47th (+8:52.0), and Dahria Beatty placed 49th (+9:45.1).
Germany’s Vanessa Hinz celebrates her first IBU World Cup win and podium in the women’s 12.5 k mass start on Sunday in Kontiolahti, Finland. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)
IBU World Cup (Kontiolahti, Finland): Men’s and women’s mass starts
(Note: This rundown has been updated to include comments from Lowell Bailey and Rosanna Crawford.)
Germany’s Vanessa Hinz won her first International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup race (and achieved her first World Cup podium) and Austria’s Julian Eberhard won his first race of the season (and first mass start of his career) in the women’s 12.5 k and men’s 15 k mass starts on Sunday in Kontiolahti.
Germany’s Vanessa Hinz celebrates her first IBU World Cup win and podium in the women’s 12.5 k mass start on Sunday in Kontiolahti, Finland. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)
Hinz shot an impressive 20-for-20 with the third-fastest range time and fifth-fastest shooting time to take the win in 35:47.9 minutes. Third after the first prone stage, she moved into second, then third after cleaning the next two stages. After knocking down her final five targets in the last standing, Hinz left the range almost 24 seconds ahead of France’s Anaïs Chevalier in second and 26 seconds ahead of Italy’s Lisa Vittozzi in third. Hinz stayed ahead of her challengers on the final loop, finishing 13.5 seconds clear of Vittozzi, who claimed second. Chevalier finished third, 16.8 seconds back, while Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen was next across the line in fourth (+43.4) with a gap to Sweden’s Hanna Öberg in fifth (+1:02.1).
Vittozzi and Chevalier both cleaned the first three stages then had to ski a penalty lap after the last standing bout (0+0+0+1). Mäkäräinen missed three (1+0+1+1) yet skied the second-fastest course time on her home course, and Öberg missed two (0+0+2+0). The fastest course time of the day was clocked by Darya Domracheva of Belarus, who had to ski five penalty laps (0+1+1+3) and ended up 10th (+1:18.2).
“I always dreamed of shooting four times clean and today I did it,” Hinz, 25, said, according to an IBU press release. “I was so often close to the podium. I knew I could do it. Today, I said, ‘OK, let’s try it and if it works, it is OK … and if not there is another season waiting and other races.’ Now I am on top of the podium and it is crazy.”
Vittozzi, who placed fourth in the mass start at the 2018 Olympics, was glad to improve on a third-place finish in Friday’s sprint by placing second on Sunday.
“I have been third so many times and that was not satisfying for me,” Vittozzi said, one day after she won the mixed relay with her team in Kontiolahti. “Today I am very happy about my second place.”
For Chevalier, it was her first individual podium of the season and it came a day after she and Antonin Guigonnat won the single mixed relay. Chevalier, 25, was severely injured when she was hit by a car last spring, according to an IBU press release.
“I am very happy to be here today, because it was a very hard season,” she told the IBU. “I forgot how nice it is to be on the podium … I forgot that it was not easy, so I am very happy … I did my best on the last lap; [Vittozzi] was faster, but I am third and happy with that!”
Canada’s Rosanna Crawford shot 19-for-20 to place 13th (+1:25.9) with her only miss coming in the second prone stage (0+1+0+0). Her overall shooting and range times were 10th fastest of the 30-woman field, compared to her 26th-ranked ski time. Crawford had been in 11th after cleaning the final standing stage, then slipped two spots to finish 13th in her second mass start of the season.
“Since the skiing wasn’t feeling great today I made sure I was super focused in the range,” Crawford wrote in an email to FasterSkier. “I knew that was my only chance to get a good result today. My one prone miss was a bad trigger pull, but the rest were nice solid hits. I made sure to have a solid set up and then just trusted my rhythm and shooting.
“I knew that I wanted that top 15, so I just kept fighting and trying to stick with the women when they caught me,” she wrote of her last loop. “The last time up the wall I managed to stay close to [France’s] Anais Bescond, and hold off the two people behind me. Really happy to be in the top 15 again.”
Clare Egan was the lone American woman to qualify for Sunday’s mass start, and it was the second mass start of her career. She was on track for a top-15 result after missing just one target in the first three stages, but she had to ski three penalty laps on the last standing (0+1+0+3), which put her in 23rd by the finish (+2:05.6). Notably, she skied the 14th-fastest overall course time.
“I didn’t have quite the same energy level tonight as the last two days, but I still had the 14th rank course time and that means anything is possible in the race,” Egan wrote in an email to FasterSkier. “To put it in perspective, the winner of the race, Hinz, had the 13th rank, just 2 seconds faster than me. This is the first time I’ve felt totally comfortable skiing with the fastest women, and I certainly hope I can maintain this speed for one more week of World Cup racing.”
Egan was pleased with her 9-for-10 prone shooting and her clean standing stage (“which is the first time I’ve cleaned a standing stage in an individual race this entire year, believe it our not,” Egan wrote).
“But when I missed my second shot on the final stage, I let that throw me off my game, and really blew the rest of the stage,” she explained. “It’s so hard to keep 100% focus in every scenario, and I find it gets harder and harder towards the end of the race when I’m not necessarily the most lucid. I know that I have to work on so I have a goal to manage the final stage better next week and in the future.”
Her 23rd-place finish was one better than her previous World Cup mass start finish, which was 24th last season in Hochfilzen, Austria.
“In my only other mass start, which was last year at World Championships, I felt like an imposter,” Egan reflected. “Maybe because I was the first ‘reserve’ to get called up when one of the top women [did not start]. But this was totally different. I knew I deserved to be there today and was confident about competing with the other top women.”
“In my only other mass start, which was last year at World Championships, I felt like an imposter … This was totally different. I knew I deserved to be there today and was confident about competing with the other top women.” — Clare Egan (US Biathlon) on Sunday’s mass start
While the women raced Sunday night, the men’s 15 k mass start took place in the afternoon, when Eberhard passed the likes of France’s Martin Fourcade and Russia’s Anton Shipulin after a tangle late in the race to take the win.
The Austrian team celebrating Julian Eberhard’s fourth career victory, his first this season and his first in a mass start on Sunday after the IBU World Cup men’s 15 k mass start in Kontiolahti, Finland. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)
The Austrian had cleaned the first two prone stages to move into third by the race’s halfway point, behind Germany’s Benedikt Doll and Arnd Peiffer in first and second, respectively. Eberhard missed one in the next standing stage, yet left the range in second, 15 seconds behind Peiffer (who cleaned) in first, while Doll missed one as well to slip into third, 19 seconds back.
With two loops to go, Fourcade was coming back from two early prone penalties and found himself in fifth after a clean standing stage, less than a second behind Shipulin in fourth. On the next standing stage, Fourcade cleaned to take the lead and left the range about five seconds ahead of Shipulin (who also cleaned) in second.
Eberhard missed one yet remained in contention in third, 17 seconds behind Fourcade. On the last loop, Shipulin caught Fourcade before the course’s notorious climb known as “The Wall”, and Eberhard closed on the two frontrunners as they ascended it. Still several seconds behind over the top, he caught Shipulin on the bridge before the stadium, but the two tangled skis and Shipulin fell. Eberhard stayed upright and pulled even with Fourcade, passing him to take the win in 38:04.8. Fourcade finished second (+6.9) and Shipulin third (+19.3).
Austria’s Julian Eberhard (l) and Russia’s Anton Shipulin after the finish of the men’s 15 k mass start the IBU World Cup in Kontiolahti, Finland. Shipulin fell when his skis tangled with Eberhard’s. While Eberhard raced to the win, Shipulin placed third. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)
“I wanted to be in a sprint with all three, but the bridge is too small for this,” Eberhard said, according to an IBU press release. “I came up the bridge with too much speed. Anton and I were in the same track and there was an accident. I apologized to Anton at the finish but he said these things can happen and it was OK with him.”
“I hold no grudge against Julian,” Shipulin told the IBU. “This can happen in sports and is all fair … I am in good shape and want to preserve this and perform my best in the last World Cups.”
Fourcade explained that illness caused him to sit out Thursday’s sprint, and he was only able to train three hours this week.
“It is really difficult to race in this situation without any feeling or training,” Fourcade told the IBU. “I did not know what to expect today but I am quite satisfied. I would have liked to win, but I used too much energy trying to come back in the early laps and had no energy when it was time to attack.”
Behind them, Doll picked off one place on the final loop to finish fourth (+21.9), passing his German teammate Erik Lesser, who finished fifth (+23.9). Peiffer followed in sixth (+27.1) as Germany had three in the top six.
American Lowell Bailey raced to 14th (+1:06.3) with two penalties, both of which came in the standing stages (0+0+1+1). Bailey had been fourth after cleaning the second prone, 16 seconds behind Doll in first, but slipped to 10th after missing one on the next bout. He had to ski another penalty lap on the last stage, and left the range in 14th.
Overall, Bailey posted the 10th-fastest shooting time, 15th-fastest range time and 18th-fastest course time.
“I finally felt like I was back in the spot that I ended last season,” Bailey wrote in an email when asked about his consistency. “I felt controlled and able to keep the pace with the top of the field throughout the race. It was nice to be back in the mix.
“Although I would have liked to see this ski speed a few weeks ago, better late than never!” he continued.
Next week’s World Cup in Oslo, Norway, will be his last of the season and his career.
“After nearly two decades of international racing, Oslo will be my final World Cup as a U.S. Biathlete,” Bailey wrote. “I’m sure it will be emotional but I hope to end my World Cup career on a high note!”
Fredrik Lindström crosses the line first to secure a gold medal for his Swedish teammates in the men’s 4 x 7.5 k relay on Friday to close out biathlon competitions at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
Remember when it was a big deal when Sweden won a Biathlon World Cup? The team in bright yellow has made it a habit at the 2018 Winter Olympics, winning their first Olympic relay gold and fourth medal over the last two weeks on Friday — the last biathlon race of the PyeongChang Games.
“It’s dreams coming true at that moment,” Fredrick Lindström, the Swedish men’s 4 x 7.5-kilometer relay anchor said in a post-race press conference on Friday. “It’s my third Olympics and to be on top with these guys feels great. I don’t know what to say.”
Lindström had taken gold in perhaps the most ideal way for an athlete in his position, by heading out on the last 2.5 k loop in first place, almost 41 seconds ahead of anyone else. While he had missed his first shot in the final standing stage of the race, Lindström cleared it with the use of one spare bullet. Meanwhile, his closest challenger for the win — Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen, who had followed him into the range and lined up alongside him to shoot — missed his first two targets and went on to miss more, ending up with a penalty lap after using all three spares.
That was the end of gold for Norway and for Svendsen, who was all too familiar with the penalty lane in the closing moments of an Olympic relay. Four years ago in the men’s relay in Sochi, Russia, Svendsen as Norway’s anchor had been in the medal hunt until the final shooting. There, he used all of his spares and still left a target standing, which sent him to the penalty lap. After leading by as much as 20 seconds in the middle of that race, Norway finished fourth.
But as they say, that’s biathlon. And on Friday, it was Sweden’s day and Lindström skiing on his own for a 2.5 k victory loop around the course. But he didn’t slow down. As the 28 year old skated up the final climb, he was greeted by several members of his team bowing up and down in a unison to celebrate the history that was about to be made. Lindström descended down into the stadium, not looking back and still pushing toward the line, before skiing to the sidelines a few meters before the finish to grab a small Swedish flag.
Fredrik Lindström crosses the line first to secure a gold medal for his Swedish teammates in the men’s 4 x 7.5 k relay on Friday to close out biathlon competitions at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
It wasn’t like the oversized French flag Martin Fourcade had been seen waving earlier in the Games, in the pursuit and again in the mixed relay. It was understated, like Sweden’s biathlon team before these Olympics, but he waved it proudly as he crossed the line to a sea of swarming teammates.
Sweden (with Peppe Femling, Jesper Nelin, Sebastian Samuelsson, and Lindström) finished first with a cumulative time of 1:15.16.5 hours and a total of seven spares and zero penalties. Skiing alone and finishing 55.5 seconds behind them, Svendsen crossed the line in second for Norway (with teammates Lars Helge Birkeland, Tarjei Bø, and Johannes Thingnes Bø), after tallying 12 spares and one penalty.
In stark contrast to Lindström’s wide-eyed smile as he finished, Svendsen, 32, who had previously earned bronze in the mass start and silver with Norway’s mixed relay in PyeongChang, hung his head. His teammates met him at the finish and tried to improve his mood, but he was down.
“It was a good battle. We wished each other luck before the start and it was a good fight,” Lindström said of contending with Svendsen for two out of three loops.
Norway’s third-leg skier Johannes Thingnes Bø (1) racing his team into fourth to first in the men’s 4 x 10 k relay at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
Johannes Bø had tagged Svendsen in first at the last exchange, 0.4 seconds ahead of Sweden, with Samuelsson handing off to Lindström. In the prone stage that followed, both Lindström and Svendsen cleaned without a miss. They left the range together, more than a minute clear of Germany’s Simon Schempp in third (who had missed three but avoided a penalty three spares). Germany had been 13.7 seconds back at the last exchange.
“Emil had to go first the first loop, I went first the second loop, and on the shooting we were equal until that standing,” Lindström reflected. “I don’t know, I was the lucky man today. I feel proud that I managed that situation and to bring the gold to Sweden.”
Even without gold, Svendsen is the third-most medaled biathlete in Olympic history, according to the International Biathlon Union (IBU). A four-time Olympian, he has eight medals, four of which are gold.
“I think that’s awesome,” Svendsen said when asked about his medal tally at the press conference. “It feels very good and yeah, what can I say? Thank you.”
Finishing more than a minute after Norway and exactly 2:07.1 minutes behind Sweden, Germany (with Erik Lesser, Benedikt Doll, Arnd Peiffer, and Schempp) placed third after Schempp incurred a penalty in the final standing stage. While he was still far enough ahead of Austria’s Dominik Landertinger to hang onto bronze, that penalty put Schempp nearly a minute behind Svendsen at the start of his last loop.
While he waved to the crowd as he finished, Schempp later said he wasn’t happy with his performance. The German team accrued 10 spares and three penalties (two of which came in Doll’s second leg).
“I just was disappointed in my race,” Schempp told German broadcaster ARD of his finish-line body language, according to a translation. “But at the end of the day we won the medal. That is the most important thing, that’s what matters, but of course, I can’t be satisfied with my shooting bouts. It was so incredibly gusty … I waited crazily long with my spare shots today because I thought the gusts would be over soon and then I could shoot. But unfortunately that was not the case, so I was on the range forever, losing a lot of time and then still didn’t hit every target. It was like a vicious cycle.”
Lesser and Canada’s Christian Gow Up Front
Sweden had positioned itself for a medal from the gun, with first-leg skier Femling tagging Nelin in fifth, 27.3 seconds back, at the first exchange. Germany’s Lesser had put his team in first on that leg with near-perfect shooting — cleaning prone and using one spare in standing (0+0, 0+1). Lesser tagged Doll 18 seconds ahead of Slovakia in second, which had put itself in contention with a flawless first leg from Matej Kazár. (Slovakia dropped to 15th on the second leg and was lapped on the third leg.)
Canada’s first-leg skier Christian Gow (12) leading the field, including France’s Simon Desthieux and Germany’s Erik Lesser (far l), to the top of a climb in the men’s 4 x 7.5 k relay at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
Canada attracted some serious TV time when Christian Gow took the lead on the first climb out of the stadium. He went on to hit five targets in a row in prone and left the range in second, 1.2 seconds behind Lesser in first. One loop later, Gow had slipped to eighth and about 20 seconds back when he needed three spares to clean. He ended up tagging his brother and teammate Scott Gow in ninth, about 48 seconds out of first.
“It wasn’t planned, for sure,” Gow, 24, told FasterSkier after about his decision to lead on the first loop. “Right at the top of the first climb, everyone was kind of moving over to the right, staying in kind of two lines, and there’s quite a bit of space there, so I took the opportunity to move up just because I’ve done so many relays where you’re stuck in the middle of the pack. … I saw an opportunity to get to the front — I didn’t think it would be the front — but that’s what ended up happening, and I just did my pace and no one wanted to pass me.
“I’m really happy to have cleaned the prone for sure because it’s great if you can lead it, but if you can’t knock down the targets it doesn’t mean too much,” he continued. “In the standing I’m trying to be a bit easier on myself, just because it’s a new situation to be way up in the front like that and having a great day. I wish I would have held it together a bit better than I did. I think I let the nerves get to me a little bit more than I should of, but a lesson learned and I’m happy with the first two-thirds [of my race].”
Sweden’s Steady Rise
Nelin raced Sweden into second place, 16 seconds behind the Czech Republic in first by the second exchange. He cleaned prone with one spare and avoided a penalty with three spares in standing while Germany’s Doll, who had been skiing alone in first before the standing shooting, dropped to fifth and almost 38 seconds back with two costly penalties.
The Czech Republic’s Michal Šlesingr cleaned standing without a miss to take the lead with one loop to go in the second leg, 6.8 seconds ahead of Austria’s Simon Eder in second. Nelin followed another 8 seconds back in third, and tagged just 0.2 seconds ahead of Austria in the exchange.
The third leg saw Johannes Bø, who had been tagged 31 seconds back in fourth, put Norway in first with a clean prone and a single spare in standing. Samuelsson, who had previously taken silver in the 12.5 k pursuit and placed fourth in the 20 k individual race at these Olympics, put Sweden in a position to win gold, using just one spare to clean prone and shooting without a miss in standing. He latched onto Bø, leading the Norwegian on their final loop and handing off to Lindström just 0.4 seconds behind Norway.
The Swedish men’s gold-medal relay team, with Peppe Femling, Jesper Nelin, Sebastian Samuelsson, and Fredrik Lindström, after winning the last biathlon race of the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
Earlier this season, Sweden won the men’s relay at the IBU World Cup in Oberhof, Germany. The order was the same, except Martin Ponsiluoma skied the first leg, rather than Femling. While the win was a big deal for Sweden, it was against a slightly watered-down field, with some of the top biathletes opting to skip the Oberhof World Cup at the start of the new year.
Friday’s victory marked Sweden’s first Olympic relay gold in biathlon after it earned bronze in 1976 in Innsbruck, Austria, and again in 1992 in Albertville, France.
“It means a lot. It’s the first medal for men’s relay team in biathlon for Swede,” Samuelsson said. “Of course we are really satisfied. We did four good races everyone today and we’re super happy.”
U.S. Ties Olympic-Best 6th
While Austria finished Friday’s relay in fourth (+2:52.5), and France placed fifth (+3:26.6), the U.S. men tied its country’s best Olympic relay result in sixth (+3:50.2) with Lowell Bailey, Sean Doherty, Tim Burke, and Leif Nordgren. They had been 10th after Bailey’s first leg, in which he used two spares in each stage, and improved to sixth, then fifth on Doherty’s and Burke’s legs.
Doherty used just one spare in prone and cleaned standing without a miss, leaving the range in sixth and 42 seconds back with one loop to go. He then tagged Burke in sixth, about 54 seconds out of first, and Burke held that position with a flawless prone stage followed by three spares in standing. He picked off one place on his last loop to tag Nordgren in fifth, 1:38.8 minutes back.
The second-leg skier in the U.S. men’s relay, Sean Doherty racing his team into sixth on Friday at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. They went on to finish sixth to tie the best U.S. Olympic relay result. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
“I’m real happy about that,” Doherty, 22 and in his second Olympics, said of his shooting. “I feel like I struggled with the prone earlier on [at these Olympics] and I got that kind of dialed in today, which was nice. Standing was good. I had a little break in the wind and I took full advantage. I shot pretty fast, pretty aggressive, but I hit all five from the clip and that’s what really moved things up.
“We had a few days after the individual [race] to go back to the drawing board, come back to some of the fundamentals of shooting,” Doherty explained. “It’s nice to kind of reinforce that I’m capable of hitting targets and fixing things. When you’re not shooting well, you don’t have to keep not shooting well, if that makes sense.”
Nordgren incurred the team’s only two penalties on his prone stage, but because of the strung-out field, he hung onto sixth, losing time to those ahead of him. He used three more spares in standing but stayed out of the penalty lap, finishing about about 24 seconds behind France in fifth.
“Honestly it is a little disappointing,” Nordgren said after. “I know we were gunning a lot more as a team. I had some mistakes there in prone, too. That hurt a lot since we were right there in contention with some top teams in the world…
“I will say we had amazing skis today so I pushed really hard on the first loop and I think I got a couple seconds on [Austria’s] Landertinger,” Nordgren added. “And then just in prone … I was just getting thrown around by the wind. It is has given me trouble the whole couple weeks here I obviously never quite figured it out.”
In addition to tying the best U.S. relay result at an Olympics (of sixth place in the men’s relay at the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo, Japan), sixth was a big improvement for this team, which placed 16th at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. It was also the best Olympic relay result for Bailey and Burke, after they placed eighth in the 2014 mixed relay and ninth in the 2006 Olympic men’s relay.
Tim Burke (l) on the range during a difficult standing shooting with France’s Martin Fourcade. While Burke cleaned with three spares, Fourcade had to ski a penalty lap in the men’s 4 x 7.5 k relay at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
Asked whether this was his last Olympic race, Burke said it was.
“Today was a good for me so yeah, I would say yes,” the 36-year-old four-time Olympian said. “Biathlon is a crazy sport; it is so up and down from one race to the next. The emotional rollercoaster is amazing. I am done though.
“It has been my life for so long. It is what I know. It is what I love,” he added. “But it is time for the young guns to step up and take my place.”
Bailey told reporters while the race was still going on that he was glad to finish his Olympic career with a race that didn’t include any penalty laps.
“On a day like today, you saw that France was in the loop, now Germany, so the top nations are in there,” he said. “I cannot tell you how challenging this range is. It is so much different than most of the other ranges we shoot on.
“Every Olympics has been different,” Bailey, also 36 and a four-time Olympian as well as 2017 world champion, reflected of his career. “In Sochi I had my career best with eighth place in the individual, and I will always have that. I will always know what I am capable of. That said, I know what I am capable of and I didn’t reach the bar that I set for myself. But all four Olympics have been honestly an incredible honor to put on Team USA uniform and go out there and compete for my country.
“I know that it’s time to make the next step, to make the next transition,” he continued. “I’m really excited for our future, my family’s future. And I’m really excited for the future of US Biathlon.”
Canada 11th
Canada’s Scott Gow leading American Sean Doherty on the second leg of the men’s 4 x 7.5 k relay at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
Canada finished the race in 11th (+5:40.3). Scott Gow had brought them up to seventh with perfect shooting on both his stages (0+0, 0+0) and tagged Macx Davies about a minute out of first.
“My race pan today was to really emphasize the wind flags, and if it changes direction don’t be afraid to correct for it,” Scott Gow said. “In standing when I came in, it was quite windy, so I just waited a extra couple of seconds and then started to shoot when I felt like it was calm. It is hard to remember that sometimes because you are in the race mode and you just want to get it over with so you can try and just get back on course, so I was happy with that execution.”
Davies, in his first Olympic race, needed three spares to clean prone and slipped to 10th, then had a penalty in standing to leave the range in 12th with one loop to go. He tagged Canada’s anchor Brendan Green in 13th, 4:29 behind. Green went on to use one spare in each of his shooting stages (0+1, 0+1) to bring the team up to 11th at the finish.
Macx Davies skiing the third leg for Canada’s 4 x 7.5 k men’s relay at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
“It wasn’t a great race for me, but I fought through it and pushed myself so that’s all I can ever really do,” the 25-year-old Davies said. “Coming into this race I was kind of just excited to get an Olympic start. We didn’t know if I was in or not until yesterday morning. Then kind of sitting around today, slowing realizing that it was happening tonight and getting a little bit more nervous and a little bit more excited as it went on. That was exciting.
“Being part of the team, being part of Team Canada, it’s such a great feeling, great atmosphere,” Davies added. “Everyday you see someone do something amazing and that just inspires you to keep pushing yourself and do everything in your power to succeed.”
As for Green, he said it’s safe to say these were his last Olympics.
“I’ve been to three Games now and they’ve all been very unique and special in their own way,” the 31-year-old Green said. “I think Korea did a great job hosting. Volunteers are spectacular and so friendly. It’s too bad the weather didn’t cooperate a little bit more, but we did our best We all fought hard and I think we’ll be going away motivated and looking forward to more.”
What’s Next?
While the IBU World Cup season resumes March 8-11 in Kontiolahti, Finland, then makes its next stop in Oslo, Norway, March 15-18, both the Canadian and U.S. teams have stated they will boycott the season-ending World Cup in Tyumen, Russia, March 22-25.
“The latest decision by the IBU was to send the World Cup tour to Tyumen, Russia for our World Cup final,” Bailey said on Friday. “Team USA is boycotting. The Czech team is boycotting. Canada is boycotting. We are trying to rally more support. I know that as an [IBU] athletes’ rep, we had almost every country had athletes that wrote letters to the IBU saying that we do not want to go to Tyumen. We don’t think it’s the right thing for clean sport, and still, the executive board with Anders Besseberg at the helm decided that it was in their best interest to go to Tyumen. So it’s time for a change. IBU leadership needs to change. Besseberg needs to step down. He’s lost the trust of the athletes.”
“We won’t go to Russia,” Green said. “Instead we’ll go back to Canada for nationals. … I think until Russia is compliant we’ll probably continue to take a hard stance until things change.”
Fredrik Lindström of Sweden crosses the line after securing a gold medal for his Swedish teammates in the men’s relay to close out biathlon competitions at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
Germany were the favorites coming into this men’s relay and Erik Lesser started them off with a near-perfect relay leg to sit in first place, but shooting collapses by Benedikt Doll and Simon Schempp left the team with bronze medals at the finish.
On a windy, gusty day, the relay instead came down to a race between Norway and Sweden. Coming into the last shooting stage Fredrik Lindström of Sweden and Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway were stride for stride. Each missed their first shot in standing, but Lindström pulled himself together and hit the next four shots, then hit the final target using a spare round. Svendsen, on the other hand, kept missing and ended up skiing a penalty loop – just as he had when anchoring the Norwegian team in the Olympics in Sochi four years ago.
A strong leg from Tim Burke, who cleaned prone and then survived on spare rounds while chaser Martin Fourcade of France headed to the penalty loop, helped the U.S. secure a best-ever sixth-place finish in the Olympic men’s relay. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
Then, that left Norway off the podium. This time, Norway still earned silver, as behind him Schempp had his own shooting woes.
An exciting relay with multiple lead changes in the end turned into something of a blowout, with Lindström able to celebrate on his final loop before joining overjoyed teammates Peppe Femling, Jesper Nelin, and Sebastian Samuelsson at the finish. It was the first Olympic relay gold medal in the history of Swedish biathlon, and the team did it with phenomenal shooting – just seven spare rounds despite difficult conditions. They were the only team to avoid the penalty loop, which most teams visited more than once.
The Norwegian squad of Lars Helge Birkeland, Tarjei Bø, Johannes Thingnes Bø, and Svendsen finished 55.5 seconds back. The Germans with Lesser, Doll, Arnd Peiffer, and Schempp crossed the line +2:07.1, and the Austrian squad of Tobias Eberhard, Simon Eder, Julian Eberhard, and Dominik Landertinger were the first ones out of the medals, +2:52.5.
The American team of Lowell Bailey, Sean Doherty, Tim Burke, and Leif Nordgren finished sixth, +3:50.2, tying the best-ever men’s relay finish by an American team at the Olympics. They had 14 spare rounds and two penalty loops.
The Canadian squad of Christian Gow, Scott Gow, Macx Davies, and Brendan Green finished 11th, +5:40.3, with 11 spare rounds and a penalty loop.
France’s Martin Fourcade (right) and Germany’s Simon Schempp (left) lunging for first at the finish of the men’s 15-kilometer mass start at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. In a photo finish, Fourcade was deemed the winner with Schempp claiming the silver medal. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
After both athletes had lunged over the finish line and fallen down, France’s Martin Fourcade initially thought he just lost an exciting finish sprint against Germany’s Simon Schempp in the men’s 15-kilometer mass on Sunday night at the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.
He slammed his pole into the snow and shook his head in anguish. Not again.
Almost exactly the same had already happened to Fourcade four years ago at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, as he narrowly lost a sprint finish for the gold medal in the mass start to Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen.
“I was sure that Simon did it,” Fourcade said of Schempp at Sunday’s post-race press conference. “It was just because four years ago in Sochi, Emil did me a lot of pain, and tonight I was sure that history was repeating again.”
“I didn’t know who was in front of the other, and Martin as well,” Schempp recalled at the press conference. “So we were both waiting.”
During the race Fourcade had incurred two penalty laps (1+0+0+1) while Schempp had missed just one target (0+0+0+1). However, Fourcade made up for that by skiing the fastest course time of the day.
France’s Martin Fourcade (r) and Germany’s Simon Schempp (l) pushing to the finish of the men’s 15-kilometer mass start at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. After a photo-finish lunge, Fourcade was deemed the winner while Schempp claimed silver. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)
But while they both had finished with the same time of 35:47.3 minutes, the photo-finish image evaluated by the race jury for about a minute would prove they were not exactly even: Fourcade had moved the tip of his boot just about half a foot before his opponent over the line.
Now it was Schempp who looked a bit frustrated, tilting up his head and letting out a sigh after he saw the official result on the big video wall. But that feeling did not last for long, with pride about the strong performance he had just shown after a difficult season and the happiness about his first Olympic medal in an individual-start race in his third Olympics taking over.
“For me, it was not too hard; I was happy to get one of these three medals,” Schempp said.
“Of course I am enormously happy,” he had previously told German broadcaster ZDF immediately after the race, according to a translation. “I had to wait a long time for this, and now until the last individual-start race. I think it was incredibly suspenseful for all viewers.”
Behind them the above-mentioned 2014 Olympic gold medalist Svendsen placed third to claim the bronze medal this time, 11.2 seconds out of first, with two penalties. He was on the winning side of a final sprint with Schempp’s teammate Erik Lesser, who placed fourth (+11.6), with two penalties. Germany’s third man in the top five, Benedikt Doll finished another few seconds back in fifth (+18.8), with one penalty, only slowing in the last 100 meters after he realized third and fourth place were out of reach.
Fourcade Starts on Wrong Foot
Initially the race had not started out well for Fourcade, with little indication that he could end the day with his historic fourth Olympic gold medal.
On the first loop, he led the mass start field of only 30 athletes, comprised of the medal winners from the previous sprint, pursuit and individual races in PyeongChang, as well as the other top 15 in the current World Cup Total Score standings and filled up with the next-best performers of the last week not among those two groups.
It was truly an elite field, including all seven different biathletes who had become International Biathlon Union (IBU) world champion in the mass start discipline in the last seven iterations.
The whole pack stayed close together within a few seconds, with Germany’s Lesser bringing up the back, not investing any energy with fruitless maneuvers to gain a few positions.
In the first prone shooting stage, 14 athletes remained clean while Fourcade missed a target, forcing him to ski a penalty lap. Then as he returned to the course, he stumbled briefly when his ski caught a V-board and he fell on his behind. He left the range in 19th position and 25 seconds behind South Korea’s Timofey Lapshin, who was leading into the next loop to the delight of local fans in the stands.
But Fourcade quickly narrowed the gap on the next loop, and after a clean second prone shooting had moved up to eighth place, less than ten seconds behind Germany’s Doll, who had led the field for large parts of the prior loop and now also kept that position after the shooting stage.
In that second prone, one of the presumed favorites and 15 k individual winner Johannes Thingnes Bø of Norway ruined his race with three penalties, falling back to 27th and almost 1:15 out of first. He eventually finished 16th (+1:20.0) after cleaning the remaining standing stages (0+3+0+0).
Obviously having very fast skis, all four German athletes in the race stayed at or near the top throughout the next loop.
“The way they were able to aggressively put their mark on this race, all four of them, from the first to the last loop … we surely didn’t expect that considering this level of competition,” German men’s head coach Mark Kirchner later told ZDF.
(From left to right) Germany’s Simon Schempp, his teammate Erik Lesser (19) and France’s Martin Fourcade lead the field on the third loop of the men’s 15 k mass start at the 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. Fourcade went on to win the race, while Schempp finished second and Lesser fifth. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
After again shooting clean in the first standing while Doll incurred a penalty, Fourcade took the lead going out on the course, with Schempp and Lesser followed within two seconds of him.
On the third loop, Fourcade, Schempp and Lesser pushed hard for a high tempo and swapped leads several times. The gap to a group led by Czech Republic’s Ondrej Moravec and Austria’s Simon Eder ballooned after Eder had been less than 7 seconds behind leaving the range. At a split time following the longest climb, the group clocked in 24 seconds behind, and that time back grew to 30 seconds on that loop.
Just before the range, Lesser and Schempp briefly looked at each other, then Lesser increased the frequency pushing hard for a few meters to move into first, knowing that would give him the first-lane position on the shooting range. From years of racing against each other, the German athletes were aware Fourcade often prefers to have that position in a final shooting as a demonstration of confidence, so it might have been a little psychological trick to irritate him.
But Lesser’s race tactic did not exactly work out, as all three failed to clean their targets in the final shooting. Fourcade and Schempp both had to ski one penalty lap, while Lesser missed two shots and came back on the course in fifth, just behind teammate Doll and Norway’s Svendsen, who had both managed to hit all targets to move back into podium contention.
About 20 seconds ahead, Fourcade kept the speed fairly high leading in front of Schempp throughout the loop, but did not attempt one of his signature ferocious attacks up a climb for which he is feared by his opponents.
“I thought about a few scenarios how this could play out,” Schempp told ZDF, according to a translation. “I knew either he attacks on the first very steep and long climb, but there he only pushed the tempo and I could stay with him. And then he rather decelerated and I knew I had not other choice but stay behind him in his draft to save some energy for the finish stretch, because my current shape is not good enough to try and get away from him. … So then I knew it would end in a finish sprint. I tried to push hard into the downhill maybe taking the momentum with me, but unfortunately that was not enough.”
“I tried to be faster than Simon in the first part of the loop, but he was still in my skis,” Fourcade said of the last loop. “So then I knew it will be a tight finish. I gave everything I had, but I know that Simon is a really good sprinter and that is not my main quality.”
On the final downhill, Fourcade led the duo into the arena with Schempp drafting behind him. Fourcade briefly stumbled in the final right turn but retained his balance, not losing much speed. Entering the finishing straight, Schempp initially motioned toward a lane to the left of Fourcade, but when Fourcade veered that way as well before picking the center Schempp switched over to the right lane and poled all-out.
France’s Martin Fourcade lunging for his second gold of the 2018 Olympics, and fourth Olympic gold of his career, in PyeongChang, South Korea, winning the men’s 15 k mass start on Sunday. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
“I chose my corridor late because earlier this season in Hochfilzen [in the pursuit’s finishing race for third place] I did it a bit early, and then he went right into the one I wanted to go in as well,” Schempp told ZDF. “I still had that in the back of my mind.”
“Our last sprint in Hochfilzen together was not a fair one,” Fourcade recalled of the same race, unprompted in his interview with ZDF. “And I thought during the final loop, ‘Beat him, but just do it in a fair way,’ because Simon is one of the best opponents I fight with. So thanks Simon for this fight, and it makes my gold more valuable.”
“Choosing the finish stretch corridor, that’s the prerogative of the athlete who has pushed the tempo on the final loop,” Schempp explained in an interview with ZDF later in the evening. “So I could ski behind him, save a bit of energy, and in turn he gets that advantage. Poetic justice.”
With the finish line approaching, Schempp managed to pole closer and finally next to the French athlete. “I felt that Simon was taking me meter after meter,” Fourcade recalled at the press conference.
Both athletes lunged far as they approached the line, and with slightly higher velocity Schempp seemed to move past Fourcade as they slid and fell, causing Fourcade’s frustrated initial reaction as he looked over and saw the German coming to a stop slightly ahead of him.
“After the finish line I thought I was in his back,” Fourcade told ZDF.
But as the photo finish revealed, right on the line Fourcade had still been in front by about half the length of his foot this time and was the lucky winner.
Any signs of initial frustration from Schempp were quickly replaced as he celebrated with his teammates and staff who rushed to congratulate him, and later was hoisted up on their shoulders.
“The finish line came maybe five meters too early for me,” Schempp told ZDF. “But still, I am also totally happy and satisfied about silver. It was a suspenseful competition, and I am so glad it worked out. … I have had a few photo finishes in my career when I was in first, and now it’s the other way around. Martin was incredibly strong on the course today, and he had one more penalty than me, so he also fought enormously for gold, and I did my best.”
Behind them, Lesser had tried to attack up the last big climb to break away from Norway’s Svendsen and his teammate Doll, but Svendsen managed to stay on his ski tails and in the finish sprint claimed the bronze medal by 0.4 seconds. It was his fourth individual medal in four Olympics (plus one gold medal in the men’s relay in 2010).
France’s Martin Fourcade (c) in first, Germany’s Simon Schempp (l) in second, and Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen (r) in third, during the flower ceremony of the men’s 15 k mass start at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)
Four years ago at the Sochi Olympics, Svendsen had won the gold medal just ahead of Fourcade, as Fourcade recalled at the press conference.
“It means very much, it’s been really bad Olympic Games for me,” Svendsen said in the press conference when asked about his bronze medal. “So I didn’t really believe in a medal at all. When I came into a position to get a medal I really fought hard. And to be on the podium with these guys, it’s a very good feeling.”
When the experienced podium finishers were asked about their “secret” for a finish sprint, Svendsen added: “For me, I was thinking a lot about Marit Bjørgen from yesterday, what she did on the last few hundred meters [when] she didn’t allow the Swedish girl to catch her. That helped me a lot today, maybe that was the key to beating Lesser and Doll.”
Disappointed, Lesser initially did not talk to German media following the race. Only several hours later, he posted an image of him hugging Schempp after the race and superimposed with the words “in the end the only thing left for me is to congratulate” to his Facebook fan page, adding a paragraph that according to a loose translation reads:
“Wow!!! That was tight, annoying, hammer, humbling, pleasant, unbelievable, mega, crass, semi, phenomenal… no one has a leg up on our team. Everyone on our team is now individual-race World Champion and in possession of an individual-race Olympic medal. No other team can show that off.”
On his Instagram account he wrote in English “Once again #wtf !!! It’s amazing to be part of this great team” to a photo of the team’s coaches and staff hoisting up Schempp.
“Another really strong shooting performance, just one miss, that is great,” Doll told ZDF right after the race. “For two loops I skied at the top of the field, so that gives me some self-confidence … On the final lap, that kind of head-to-head duel isn’t really my strength, unfortunately I couldn’t win that today. It was difficult, even though we had the better ski today. We could have made a little more out of that, me and Erik, but that’s just the way it is.”
Making History Instead of History Repeating Itself
For Fourcade it was the fourth Olympic title of his career. In the mass start he had already won silver in both the 2010 Vancouver and 2015 Sochi Olympics. He now also has a gold medal in each non-relay discipline (sprint, pursuit, 15 k individual, and mass start).
“Today I am so satisfied because I was second eight years ago in Vancouver in the mass start, I was second four years ago, and today I finally win this competition,” Fourcade said at the press conference. “So I am really proud.”
As an added bonus, Fourcade is now tied with two French fencers for having won the most gold medals at either a Summer or Winter Olympic Games in the history of his country with six total.
“That’s something really incredible. I grew up watching biathlon on TV and sport at the Olympics, so being the best French Olympian ever is something I am really proud of,” Fourcade said at the press conference. “But then you need to compare, because if I was Norwegian I would not be the best Olympian ever.”
“After effort and suspense Martin Fourcade makes us tremble and dream a second time by winning a new gold medal for France. A legend of the Olympic Winter Games and biathlon,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on his official Twitter account, according to a translation, alongside with an image of the photo finish.
Deep Respect for Each Other
Fourcade’s opponent Schempp had not been in optimal health going into these championships after dealing with persistent back problems that forced him to miss several races on the 2017/2018 World Cup competition calendar. So in the end he was happy that despite losing out on gold so narrowly, he had been able to reach his first Olympic medal in a non-relay race. Last year, Schempp had won gold in the mass start at the 2017 World Championships, back then also his first title excluding relays.
France’s Martin Fourcade (2) leading Germany’s Arnd Peiffer (1) and Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø (3) early in the men’s 15 k mass start at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. They went on to place first and second, respectively. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
“I wasn’t really afraid [of the back injury returning], I was just hoping it would hold up,” Schempp told ZDF in a studio interview later Sunday evening. “It was very tedious and often also frustrating in January, because I did a lot to get it under control and a lot of people helped me with that. … But then 10 days before we flew over here, I just thought, ‘Woah, I don’t know if it will work out like this, if that will be enough.’ But then shortly before [the races] it got enormously better, there was a big leap, but I still didn’t know how it would be in the stress of a competition. … Until now it was pretty good and I hope it stays that way.”
In his interviews right after the race, Fourcade had been very congratulatory of how hard his opponents had made it for him and how highly the won medal ranks for him.
“I must apologize to the German fans because I know how much I disappointed them tonight,” Fourcade told ZDF. “But Simon is one of my best opponents. When I was on the podium with Simon and Emil I told them that I could not have a [better] podium for me tonight. It was the best podium I could hope for. You know, Simon is an incredible champion, and I am so proud I beat him in the sprint.”
“We are on very good terms, and two years ago I have visited him at home,” Schempp later said of Fourcade to ZDF. “In general we get along very well. Maybe not so great on the tracks, but later in the finish, respectively before competitions. Of course he also has this crazy killer instinct and can assess race situations very well.”
The close race also brought up memories of past events with an end like this.
At the 2003 World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, two gold medals had been awarded in the women’s pursuit race to France’s Sandrine Bailly and Germany’s Martina Glagow after the photo finish had been deemed too close to call.
But with the help of more modern technology there was a visible difference this time, and the German team readily accepted that when questioned if they thought it was fair that after a 15 k race you lose an Olympic gold medal merely by inches.
“I think there are plenty of other sports were decisions are this close,” coach Kirchner told ZDF. “If you think about alpine skiing where races also get decided by hundredth of a second, or in others like bobsledding even by a thousandth, that’s the way it is. The athletes know they are fighting for every second, and in the end there has to be a winner. When the clock is running you know that it’s fair, there is no subjective judging.”
No North Americans qualified for the top-30 men’s mass start field at these Olympics.
The biathlon competitions in PyeongChang continue with the mixed relay on Tuesday at 8:15 p.m. local time. (6:15 a.m. EST).
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo anchoring the Norwegian men’s 4 x 10 relay to gold on Sunday at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, while Denis Spitsov (background) celebrates silver for the Olympic Athletes for Russia. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
For a while in the men’s 4 x 10-kilometer relay on Sunday, it looked like the Russians might run away with the win. But that was just two classic legs and 20 k into the race, with a lot more racing to come.
While Kazakhstan’s Alexey Poltoranin had handed off in first at the first exchange, just ahead of Andrey Larkov of the Olympic Athletes from Russia, Italy, France and Norway skied together behind them, with Norway’s Didrik Tønseth trailing off the back, 18 seconds behind.
On the next classic leg, Russia’s Alexander Bolshunov put a hurt on the field. Within the first 3.3 k lap, he was 25 seconds ahead of Kazakhstan’s Yevgeniy Velichko in second, who was followed closely by Italy, Norway and France in third through fifth. Sweden’s Daniel Rickardsson had fallen farther behind to more than a minute back in sixth place, after his teammate Jens Burman lost contact with the lead group on the first leg.
By the second exchange, Russia was 24.5 seconds clear of second place, while Italy’s Francesco de Fabiani tagged Giandomenico Salvadori in second, France’s Maurice Manificat tagged Clement Parisse in third (+28.0), and Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby tagged Simen Hegstad Krüger in fourth (+32.1). Kazakhstan’s Velichko had fallen off the pace and was another 19 seconds back in fifth.
Over the next 10 k, the first skate leg, Krüger and Parisse reeled in Russia’s Alexey Chervotkin, catching him before the end of their second lap. One lap later, Krüger came through the final exchange in first, tagging Johannes Høsflot Klæbo 0.4 seconds ahead of France in second. Chervotkin tagged Russia’s anchor Denis Spitsov in third, 16.2 seconds back, while Finland’s Matti Heikkinen passed Italy’s Salvadori on the last climb to put Finland in fourth (+58.6).
Team France celebrates its bronze-medal finish in the men’s 4 x 10 k relay at the 2018 Olympics on Sunday in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FIS Cross Country/Twitter)
Early in the final leg, France’s Adrien Backscheider took the lead ahead of Klæbo. The two held Spitsov off until the end of the second lap, where Spitsov came through the stadium first to start the final loop. Spitsov and Klæbo soon upped the pace, dropping Backscheider, and shortly after the 8.27 k checkpoint, Klæbo truly put the jets on to accelerate away from Spitsov. He dropped the Russian on a climb just before the final uphill, where it was clear that the gold was Norway’s.
As he sped down into the stadium, Klæbo relaxed his arms, skied to the sideline and took a flag from the stands. He looked back for a moment and then crossed the finish line first in 1:33:04.9 hours, while Spitsov followed 9.4 seconds later for silver for Russia. Backscheider held on for bronze (+36.9) as his team exuberantly celebrated with him at the finish.
Finland placed fourth (+1:40.5), Sweden fifth (+2:05.6), Germany sixth (+2:08.2), Italy seventh (+2:35.2), and Kazakhstan eighth (+3:31.4). Canada was ninth (+3:41.0) for its second-best Olympic relay result (with Len Valjas, Graeme Killick, Russell Kennedy, and Knute Johnsgaard), and the U.S. finished 14th (+9:24.2), out of 14 teams, with Andy Newell, Reese Hanneman, Scott Patterson, and Noah Hoffman.
France’s Martin Fourcade lunging for his second gold of the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, winning the men’s 15 k mass start on Sunday. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
Martin Fourcade is the champion once again. Six days after he won the 12.5-kilometer pursuit for his first gold in PyeongChang, the 29-year-old Frenchman did it again in the men’s 15 k mass start on Sunday, winning in a photo finish at the line.
He took charge on the first loop, leading the field into the range for the first prone shooting. There, Fourcade shot a penalty and slipped to 19th, but it wasn’t over.
Clean shooting on the second prone brought him up to eighth, 9.4 seconds out of first. Germany’s Benedikt Doll took that lead at that point after his second stage without a miss. Meanwhile Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø shot three misses on that second stage and dropped out of contention.
One loop later, Fourcade moved into first with a clean standing. He left the range about 1 second ahead of Germany’s Simon Schempp and 2 seconds ahead of Germany’s Erik Lesser, after both made it through the first three stages without a miss. Doll missed one to slip to seventh, almost 30 seconds behind.
After Fourcade and Schempp exchanged leads over the next loop, Lesser moved into first just before the final shooing, Going head to head, Fourcade and Schempp both missed one while Lesser missed two. Fourcade and Schempp still left the range in first and second, respectively, separated by 0.4 seconds, while Lesser slipped to fifth, 22.5 seconds back.
Doll left the range in third (+19.2) after cleaning and Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen moved into fourth (+21.9) with a clean standing stage as well.
In the end, Fourcade outlunged Schempp for the win in 35:47.3 minutes, with Schempp finishing less than a tenth of a second behind for silver, and Svendsen beat out Lesser in the finishing stretch by 0.4 seconds to claim bronze, 11.2 seconds behind, while Lesser settled for fourth (+11.6). Doll followed them in fifth (+18.8), Austria’s Julian Eberhard placed sixth (+30.7) with three penalties, Norway’s Erlend Bjøntegaard seventh (+32.1) with two misses, Norway’s Tarjei Bø eighth (+34.6) with three penalties, Sweden’s Jesper Nelin ninth (+34.6) with two misses, and Slovenia’s Jakov Fak 10th (+36.1), just ahead of the Czech Republic’s Ondřej Moravec in 11th (+36.3), with one miss each.
France’s Martin Fourcade defending his Olympic gold from four years ago on Monday in the men’s 12.5 k pursuit at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
Imagine for a moment, if you can, that you’re a two-time Olympic gold medalist from four years ago, and so far this winter, you’ve been on the podium in every biathlon World Cup you’ve raced but one (the first race, a single-mixed relay in November).
Your name is Martin Fourcade and you’re an 11-time world champion from France. You’re also a 29-year-old dad and you’ve spent the last four years since the last Olympics more or less preparing for gold in another race: the first race of the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.
Now imagine that in that race, which you came into feeling more prepared than ever, you finished eighth after missing three targets in the first prone shooting stage.
Fourcade recalled in a press conference on Monday that his result in the men’s 10-kilometer sprint on Sunday wasn’t frustrating. It was disappointing.
“It was a really strange feeling,” Fourcade said after Monday’s 12.5 k pursuit. “… I was disappointed because yesterday I did not understand why I missed three, and I wanted this Olympic gold in the sprint more than any of the competitions. I worked really hard for this competition. I worked on my shooting for being good in the sprint, I worked on my skiing to be good in the sprint, and I think I was relaxed, I was in a good mood, I had good preparation. … And after the race [yesterday] I was really sad because I didn’t understand what I did bad.”
On Monday morning, he reviewed a photo of his missed shots in the sprint and figured out his error. The red flags that show the strength and direction of the wind in the range were waving more violently than he had remembered feeling during that prone bout.
“I realized it was not because I was unlucky … it was because I did a mistake, and from that time it was really much more easy to turn my anger into strength for the competition today,” Fourcade said. “It’s a bit masochist, but it works.”
Fourcade started the second race of the 2018 Games, the pursuit, 22 seconds behind Germany’s Arnd Peiffer (who won Sunday’s sprint) in eighth. Peiffer held his ground through the first loop and first prone shooting in first, hitting all of his targets and leaving the range in second, just 0.8 seconds behind Austria’s Julian Eberhard, who also cleaned and started the race in fourth.
France’s Martin Fourcade (8) skiing in the pack en route a gold medal in the men’s biathlon pursuit on Monday at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
Fourcade missed his third shot and emerged from the penalty loop still in eighth, now 28 seconds out of first. He and Peiffer both cleaned the second prone, putting Peiffer back into first and Fourcade up to sixth, 21 seconds behind, while Eberhard missed one to drop to seventh.
All the while, the little red flags blew in various directions, twirling around their posts. Gusts kicked up flurries of snow into the air, under a pitch black sky past 9 p.m. Korea time — the start of the men’s pursuit.
It was once again frigid out there and only those who were shooting carefully enough and could feel their fingers (or were managing it regardless) were succeeding.
On the third loop, Fourcade hooked up with a chase group in an effort to catch Peiffer, and by the end of that 2.5 k loop, they did. Heading into the range for the first standing shooting, Fourcade put himself in second, just ahead of Germany’s Simon Schempp in third and behind Peiffer in first. Fourcade and Peiffer lined up in the second and first shooting positions, respectively, putting the pressure on Peiffer in particular.
Then, Peiffer missed his first shot. He hit the remaining four, but it wasn’t enough — Fourcade had knocked down all five and had taken his time to do so, posting the 28th-ranked shooting time. While Peiffer skied his first penalty lap of the day, Fourcade headed back to the course in first place. Peiffer slotted into second, 20.3 seconds behind.
“I think it was a key time of the competition because on the third shooting, the wind was really tricky, challenging, probably it was the most difficult shooting of today,” Fourcade recalled of that standing stage. “I took a bit more time then my opponents to shoot my first ammunition and then when I realized I was the only one who shot clean, I knew that I was the only one who could decide who would be the Olympic champion. I didn’t say that I was sure I would win, but the decision was in my hand.”
He rounded the fourth loop on his own and entered the range for the last time all alone. Then, Fourcade cleaned all five targets with the ninth-fastest shooting time, and turned to the stands behind him with a celebratory fist pump.
“My finish line was not the real finish line, it was the last ammunition of my last magazine on the fourth shooting,” Fourcade said. “I really put all my energy into this shooting and I think if I had to fight with any athlete on the tracks, I wasn’t able to do it because after this shooting I was totally empty.”
He didn’t need to fight with anyone on that last loop. Behind him, Germany’s Benedikt Doll had moved into second with a clean final stage, 36 seconds back, and Sweden’s Sebastien Samuelsson was up to third, another eight seconds behind.
On that final loop, Fourcade locked up gold, coming into the stadium with enough time to grab a large French flag from the stands, about 100 meters from the finish. Meanwhile, Doll and Samuelsson duked it out for second, with Samuelsson closing the gap to Doll then challenging him on the final climb.
“I saw Sebastien behind me and my legs felt weaker and weaker in the long uphill,” Doll, the 2017 sprint world champion, said at the press conference. “And he came closer and closer, and then he [caught] me so I was thinking, ‘OK, now I need to make a new tactic for sprinting for the finish.’ ”
The 20-year-old Samuelsson overtook Doll, 27, as they crested the last climb and led the downhill toward the stadium finish.
“I knew we had really good skis today and I knew that if I can catch him at the top, I had a really good chance,” Samuelsson reflected. “My plan was to go a little bit later because I wanted a wind shadow, but [my team’s] waxers were … yelling a lot and then I just had to go. I was helped a lot with my skis today.”
Sebastien Samuelsson of Sweden celebrating silver in the men’s 12.5 k pursuit at his first Olympics on Monday in PyeongChang, South Korea. It was also his first non-relay podium at the World Cup/World Championships level. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)
In the end, Samuelsson got him by 3 seconds for silver, finishing 12 seconds after Fourcade claimed the win in 32:51.7 minutes. Doll, who had started the pursuit in sixth, settled for bronze, 15 seconds behind Fourcade, for his first medal in his first Olympics with a single penalty (0+1+0+0).
“I couldn’t follow [Samuelsson] and he had faster skis,” Doll concluded. “He was a little bit stronger, and so I think he’s the right holder for the silver medal.”
In addition to shooting 19-for-20 (0+0+1+0), Samuelsson, who started the race in 14th, raced the fastest overall course time of the day, 8.6 seconds faster than Fourcade, who was second fastest. The young Swede reportedly told the International Biathlon Union (IBU) on Periscope that he’d cut his hair if he won a medal at his first Olympics in PyeongChang.
“I think nobody was thinking I’d be able to cut my hair after these Olympics, but now I have to do it, I have said so,” Samuelsson said at the press conference. “But I heard that my teammate said maybe you should keep the hair until the relays because you never know what will happen if you cut it.”
Samuelsson’s previous individual World Cup best was 13th in a sprint last season. He won a relay with his four-man team this season in the 4 x 7.5 k in Oberhof, Germany. After Monday’s pursuit, Fourcade said he congratulated him.
“I told Sebastien in the changing room, it’s not a bad day to start his first Olympics with his first international podium. I know a guy who did that eight years ago in the Olympics in Vancouver,” Fourcade said, referring to his first Olympic medal (silver) in the mass start at the 2010 Games.
Fourcade went on to win the pursuit and 15 k individual race at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, where he also took silver in the sprint.
“Martin is, I mean, the perfect biathlete,” Samuelsson said. “I knew when he finished eighth yesterday that today he would be really fighting for the gold medal. For me, it’s a big victory for me to just be on the podium and Martin is unbelievably good.”
“Martin was not happy [after the sprint],” Doll said when asked about Fourcade. “Of course three mistakes in the prone shooting, it’s horrible, so it was for sure that today that he will fight and give everything to win, and in the end his plan fulfilled. He was I think the fastest skier or maybe Sebastien was the fastest skier, I don’t know, but he was the best biathlete today.”
France’s Martin Fourcade after winning the men’s 12.5 k pursuit on Monday at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. He also won the pursuit at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
In his book, “Martin Fourcade: Mon rêve d’or et de neige” (My dream of gold and snow), which came out in November, Fourcade wrote about how nervous he was the night before his first gold medal in Sochi.
“Four years ago before the Olympics in Sochi, I was simply shaking because I had a lot of fears,” Fourcade said at Monday’s press conference when asked about that passage from the book. “Many things changed in my life since Sochi. When I came here in Korea, I knew that I will be a happy man even without any Olympic gold in this event, so I think it helped me to take it more easy and I was in a really good mood and really satisfied with how I prepared this competition.”
Asked now if that fear is gone, he said it was.
The men’s 12.5 k pursuit podium at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, with France’s Martin Fourcade (c) in first, Sweden’s Sebastien Samuelsson (l) in second and Germany’s Benedikt Doll (r) in third. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)
Finishing 47.5 seconds after Doll was Norway’s Tarjei Bø in fourth (+1:02.6). Bø started 13th and posted the fourth-fastest course time to overcome three penalties (0+0+1+2). He held off three others in a sprint to the line, with Schempp following in fifth (+1:02.7), after starting seventh, Switzerland’s Benjamin Weger placing sixth (+1:03.1), up from 15th at the start, and France’s Simon Desthieux placing seventh (+1:03.7), up from 12th. Peiffer ended up eighth (+1:14.1) with three penalties (0+0+1+2), and Sunday’s silver medalist Michal Krčmář of the Czech Republic finished 30th (+3:49.9) with seven misses (2+0+3+2).
Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø finished the race in 21st (+2:51.0), up 10 places from starting 31st based on his sprint result, with six penalties on Monday (0+2+4+0).
“We both [knew] before the Olympics that it will not be only a fight between us because we know the shooting range [here] is challenging,” Fourcade said of Johannes Bø, his main rival this season. “I thought that at our best level, we could be difficult to beat, but the wind and the Olympic situation will bring many opportunities for outsiders to take [medals], yesterday Arnd did in a magnificent way. It’s not a competition about Johannes today. It’s biathlon.”
Burke Up to 17th
Tim Burke (US Biathlon) racing to 17th in the men’s 12.5 k pursuit at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, up from 47th at the start. (Photo: NordicFocus/US Biathlon)
Three Americans and one Canadian qualified for the pursuit in the sprint top 60, and US Biathlon’s Tim Burke raced all the way up to 17th (+2:19.6) after starting 47th, with two penalties (0+1+1+0) and the 15th-fastest overall course time.
“I am very happy with the race,” Burke said in a post-race interview with FasterSkier. “I really felt like I put it together for the opportunities I was given in the race today, but this is not normal biathlon. You saw that they moved the downhill [competition] to a different day; we can’t do that in biathlon we have too many events, so we have to go on these days when it’s honestly unfair conditions like today. I benefited a lot from having very little wind in my standing positions, and I was able to move up a lot. Others I know were not so lucky. Unfortunately that is part of an outdoor sport.”
Asked how he reset after the sprint the day before, Burke said he talked about it with his coach.
“I was disappointed in the result not the performance,” he recalled. “I felt like I executed well. I felt like I hit my cues on the course and on the range, and it just didn’t happen yesterday. The game plan going into today was nothing, there was nothing new, stick to the things that have been working well for me in the World Cup and that’s what I did.”
After Burke, Lowell Bailey was the next best American on Monday, finishing 32nd (+3:51.6) after starting 33rd. He cleaned the first two stages but missed five between the two standing bouts (0+0+3+2).
American Lowell Bailey (33) racing to 32nd in the men’s 12.5 k pursuit at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea (Photo: NordicFocus/US Biathlon)
“Unfortunately today, the weather got involved and I had one stage that really just threw my race off,” Bailey told FasterSkier after. “Wind, I mean, that third stage was just absolutely ridiculous. … There was nothing longer than 20 seconds of those big gusts and that time it was like two minutes. I got through of about 40 seconds of standing there waiting, time bleeding off the clock at that point I just started pulling the trigger, I couldn’t hold on the target, you just got to do your best on that point.”
Then there was Leif Norgren, also of the U.S., who finished 50th (+5:48.7), up from 58th at the start, with five penalties (2+2+0+1).
“Physically I think it was improvement from yesterday,” Nordgren told FasterSkier. “I still struggled with the wind and shooting, and it makes it kind of frustrating because with windy conditions like these it’s a big opportunity to move up in the pursuit and I wasn’t able to capitalize on that today. So a little disappointed in that regard, but that’s just how it goes sometimes.”
Canada’s lone man in the pursuit, Nathan Smith crossed the line in 54th (+6:06.5), after starting 44th, with four misses (0+0+1+3).
While he raced up to 37th after the first three stages, Smith dropped to 51st with three misses in the last standing.
“Three penalties on the last standing was really a lot of time spent in the loop,” he reflected.
Physically, he said the race felt, “really, really hard.”
Biathlon at the Olympics continues with the women’s 15 k individual on Wednesday and men’s 20 k individual on Thursday.
Keep calm and be the best: one missed shot early on did not keep France’s Martin Fourcade from defending his Olympic gold medal in the men’s biathlon pursuit. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
“Use this rage as energy!” Martin Fourcadewrote on Instagram after finishing eighth in the men’s 10-kilometer sprint on Sunday.
Um, yeah. The French biathlon star defended his gold medal from the 2014 Olympic pursuit with just one missed shot in Monday’s 12.5 k competition, taking the lead after the third shooting stage and never giving it back. He finished with a comfortable enough margin to grab the French flag and take his time waving it down the finishing straight.
A large pack of chasers were all in contention for second place coming into the final shooting stage, but of them all only Benedikt Doll of Germany and Sebastian Samuelsson of Sweden cleaned their targets. Samuelsson took his time to do so, and left the range with a nearly eight-second deficit on Doll. But he gradually worked his way up to the German on the trails, before putting in a spurt on one of the last small uphills on the course. The 20-year-old Swede managed to hold his lead on the swooping downhills into the stadium and not get consumed by the draft effect, and celebrated crossing the line in second place. Samuelsson’s previous best result was 13th place in a World Cup. It is Sweden’s first Olympic biathlon medal since 2010.
Tarjei Bø of Norway finished fourth (+1:02.6) after missing three shots; all the medalists had only a single penalty apiece. Germany’s Simon Schempp was fifth (+1:02.7), also with three penalties, and Switzerland’s Benjamin Weger finished sixth with two missed shots (+1:03.1), narrowly edging France’s Simon Desthieux (+1:03.7).
For the U.S., Tim Burke finished 17th (+2:19.6) with just two missed shots after starting in 47th position after a disappointing sprint race. Lowell Bailey placed32nd (+3:51.6) with five penalties — all in standing — and Leif Nordgren 50th (+5:48.7), also with five missed shots.
For Canada, Nathan Smith finished 54th (+6:06.5) with four missed shots.
With just one missed shot, Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier took her second gold medal of this young Olympic Games when she won the 10 k biathlon pursuit by 29.4 seconds. Dahlmeier finished no better than 13th in the 2014 Olympics — where she was only 20 years old – but four more years of experience have made her nearly unbeatable, if last year’s triple gold haul from World Championships serves as a basis for comparison. But even if she only nets these two golds, she has already made history: no other woman has ever won both the sprint and the pursuit at the same Olympic Games.
Dahlmeier started in bib 1 but the other medalists used stellar performances to move up after disappointing sprint races. Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia edged France’s Anais Bescond by just 0.2 seconds to take silver. Kuzmina had started in bib 13 and won her medal despite four missed shots – she had the fastest course time of the whole field – while Bescond had started 19th but had hit all but one of her targets.
Fourth place went to the sprint silver medalist Marte Olsbu of Norway (+1:07.3), fifth to Hanna Öberg of Sweden (+1:08.9), and sixth to Denise Herrman of Germany (+1:19.4).
Rosanna Crawford of Canada started 53rd after a tough sprint race, but shot 18/20 and moved up to 19th place (+2:27.7), the best Olympic result of her career.
Montana State University student Johanna Talihärm, representing Estonia, missed four shots to finish 26th (+2:59.4). Just behind her was Canada’s Julia Ransom in 28th (+3:03.0) with one missed shot.
The lone American in the race, Emily Dreissigacker, set a new career best with 47th place (+5:01.4), and Canada’s Emma Lunder finished 53rd (+6:16.8). Teammate Megan Tandy did not start.
Germany’s Arnd Peiffer (front) on his way to winning the men’s 10 k sprint at the Alpensia Biathlon Center on Sunday at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. The German was one of just four men to shoot clean in windy conditions. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
Arnd Peiffer’s race day before the men’s 10-kilometer sprint at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang began anything but ideal, not giving any indication that it would end as one of the luckiest days in the athletic career of the German, standing at the top of the podium and flanked by Michal Krčmář of the Czech Republic in second and Italy’s Dominik Windisch in third place.
“Shortly before ski testing, the bolt on my rifle broke. Then I slipped outside the wax cabin [on a flight of stairs] and badly bruised my elbow,” Peiffer told German broadcaster ARD about a series of mishaps that also included a cut to his hand, a forgotten key for his rifle storage locker and a poor warmup. “Somehow nothing was really working as planned, but then in the race everything did.”
About an hour before the race during dry firing target practice (without loaded ammunition clips), the bolt on Peiffer’s rifle that triggers the shots just snapped. On short notice the weapon had to be disassembled and the bolt replaced with the help of men’s head coach Mark Kirchner (a successful biathlete himself with a gold medal in the sprint and two in relays at the 1992 and 1994 Olympics), a problem that according to Peiffer “happens about once every six months to a year… That’s not so bad, but something you don’t really want to occur right before a race”.
“I am generally not superstitious at all,” Peiffer recounted during an interview with ARD in the Olympic broadcasting center late Sunday night. “But Mark told me, ’22 is a good bib number, I once became world champion with that… And [teammate Erik Lesser] also had a broken bolt before the individual race at the [2014] Olympics in Sochi when he shot clean four times and won silver, that was surely a good omen.’ I was like, yeah, that won’t help me today either.”
Yet after he had started his race, Peiffer was indeed the lucky one, hitting 10-for-10 shots in every bit as difficult wind conditions as the day before during the women’s sprint when his teammate Laura Dahlmeier won gold, while the presumed favorites such as France’s Martin Fourcade and Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø missed too many targets to contend for the medals.
In his prone shooting, Peiffer reacted correctly to a strong gust of wind from the left side of the range, adjusting his sights with several clicks on his rifle. Then in the standing shooting he took advantage of manageable conditions to shoot in rhythm and again remained clean. On the final loop he skied the 10th-fastest time (18th overall), crossing the line in a time of 23:38.8 minutes. That mark would not be beaten anymore by the 65 athletes starting behind him.
“I have waited a long time for this individual medal,” he said during his in-studio interview with ARD. “I won one in 2011 [at IBU World Championships] and since then had a few chances that I didn’t take advantage of, and sometimes didn’t have any chance at all. So that it worked out today, with a pretty mediocre course time, is a gift that I am very grateful for.”
It was Peiffer’s first individual medal at Olympics, following a silver medal in the men’s relay in Sochi and no podium in Vancouver in 2010. Most of the World Cup successes for the 30-year-old biathlete have been in sprints, and he won the title in this discipline at the 2011 World Championships in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia. His first World Championship medals also came in PyeongChang, back in 2009, when he took bronze with the relay and mixed relay, which he fondly remembered.
Germany’s Arnd Peiffer is hoisted up by his coaches, staff and teammates, celebrating his victory in the men’s 10-kilometer sprint on Sunday at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld.com)
“I am honestly completely surprised that my result was so amazing, that I am standing at the very top,” he had told ARD right after the race. “I am just happy about my performance, because in Vancouver and Sochi I twice had a bad sprint [finishing outside the top 30]… So for today I just was determined to have a good one, have a good shooting performance, and if it had been a sixth place I’d also have been happy.”
The silver medal in Sunday’s sprint went to Krčmář, who also hit 10-for-10 and finished 4.4 seconds shy of Peiffer’s time. Starting behind Peiffer in the middle of the field, that clean shooting performance opened a window of opportunity to wedge himself between the times set by Peiffer and Windisch, who ultimately placed third (+7.7) with one penalty.
“For me, it was very hard in the last loop,” Krčmář said at the post-race press conference. “I [had no] power in last loop and my teammate on the track said to me, ‘You are five seconds behind Arnd’. I do maximum [went as hard I could], but Arnd [was really] better today.”
He made up 2.4 seconds on that final loop, but could not catch up to Peiffer’s time. It was the first sprint podium for the 27-year-old Krčmář at the World Cup or championships level, and at these Olympics it came just at the right moment.
“It’s true, for me a big, big medal. First in career,” Krčmář said. “It’s for me [a] very surprising day because I [felt bad] in the training here. My shooting in training [was] not so good. And now, zero-zero. I am lucky man today because I [had] very good condition in standing shooting and on the track.”
Windisch missed one target in his standing bout, and came back on the course 12.2 seconds behind Peiffer’s time and 5.4 seconds behind Krčmář. He narrowed that gap on the final loop, but it wasn’t enough to catch either one.
“The wind was not easy because it continued to change … but maybe it was the best for me because I had something to think about and to be concentrated on my work,” Windisch said at the press conference. “I didn’t think about results, and maybe that was my secret today.”
For Windisch, 28, it was the second Olympic medal of his career after he held Italy to bronze in the mixed relay in Sochi four years ago.
“The relay is always a tough race because you are racing also for your friends or for three other persons. Maybe it’s more pressure there,” Windisch said when asked to compare the two achievements. “But to win an individual medal [means] a little more because it’s really hard to reach it, because there are so many different good athletes. I think the emotions are really big. But also [for the] relay the emotions are maybe bigger because the whole team celebrates the medal.”
Down On Their Luck
Having started in bib 5, Austria’s Julian Eberhard led the race early on until Peiffer beat his time, and in the end he just missed a medal by 0.7 seconds when Windisch bumped him off the podium to fourth place (+8.4, with one penalty).
During the race, Eberhard, who has three World Cup victories to his name, broke a pole on the loop after prone shooting and had to ski about 300 meters before receiving a spare. But he couldn’t explain why he lost time on the final downhill before the finish.
“I definitely started today with the goal to get the victory. I did my job, and it was very close. Only eight seconds are missing, so of course this is very bitter now,” Eberhard told Austrian broadcaster ORF, according to a translation. “Especially considering that before the downhill 500 meters before the finish I was clearly in second place … Those are the little details that have to work out for a gold medal.”
Norway’s Erlend Bjøntegaard led the race after the prone stage with his time and in the end finished fifth (+17.4), also just missing the podium after he missed two targets in his standing stage (0+2). He had been selected as the final athlete on the Norwegian men’s Olympic roster, effectively replacing biathlon legend Ole Einar Bjørndalen, a decision debated controversially in his home country. But on Sunday, Bjøntegaard, 27, justified his start.
“It feels incredibly strange when you put it that way,” Bjøntegaard told Norwegian broadcaster NRK when told he might have been one miss away from the podium, according to a translation. “It slowly dawns on me that I was so close to an Olympic medal and the gold. There is a lot of buzzing in my head. I’m happy, but also a little disappointed and mad at myself. It’s strange to look at the results list. Very strange. I’m struggling to take it in, but it’s slowly coming to me that I was so close.”
A number of athletes could have echoed same feeling, including three of Peiffer’s teammates.
Benedikt Doll, the defending sprint world champion, placed sixth (+17.6) after missing his final shot. Mass-start world champion Simon Schempp came almost as close in seventh (+21.4, with one penalty), and Erik Lesser, whose past rifle troubles had served as a positive example for Peiffer, was not far behind in 11th place (+31.9, also missing his final shot), despite starting the race with a bruised ribcage.
“I am rooming with Arnd and lost our team-internal duel. So that totally annoys me,” Lesser jokingly told ARD.
“I think that is the hallmark of our men’s team. Today I was the lucky one who got through. From my point of view, it could have been any one of the other three as well. I am not just saying that, I truly believe that,” Peiffer told ARD.
“I will definitely drink a small beer with my coaches, wax techs and teammates, I won’t let myself be denied of that,” he added with a laugh, although it was already past midnight local time. “And then I’ll be looking forward to [the pursuit], because now the pressure is gone. We have a great starting position, the others also did a great race even if that won’t be at the center of attention now. We can be really proud of that.”
As for the presumed “Big Two” race favorites who have dominated the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup this season, with France’s Fourcade standing on the podium in every individual race he started and Norway’s Johannes Bø having won eight races including three sprints, on Sunday they looked like mere mortals for once.
While Peiffer was approaching the finishing stretch, Fourcade, who had started in a later group in bib 54, missed three prone shots. He came out of the penalty lap with a split time that ranked 56th overall. That setback would have taken just about any other athlete completely out of contention, but with a clean standing shooting and the fastest overall course time of the day, Fourcade limited the damage and rose to eighth at the finish (+22.1).
Bø, currently ranked second behind Fourcade in the World Cup Total Score, also missed three shots in prone and another one in standing (3+1), crossing the line 1:12.7 back in 31st.
Their uncharacteristic days left openings and opportunities for the three podium finishers.
“I think on these conditions, it’s possible for everything and nothing, so today it was our lucky day and maybe not the day for Bø and Fourcade,” Windisch said at the press conference. “It was really difficult to shoot, and I think they will have many other chances at these Olympic Winter Games and they will be here [at the press conference] the next time.”
“I don’t know how this could happen,” Peiffer said at the press conference, still a bit incredulous about the outcome. “The other two [Fourcade and J.T. Bø] were dominating the season in ski times and on the range, so I didn’t expect that anyone would be in front of them, for sure not me.”
Four North Americans Qualify for Pursuit
American Lowell Bailey racing to 33rd in the first men’s race of the 2018 Olympics, the 10 k sprint, on Sunday in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
The best North American in the difficult conditions was US Biathlon’s 2017 individual-discipline world champion Lowell Bailey, who began his race by cleaning all his prone targets, leaving the range with a split time that ranked him in eighth overall.
Then Bailey was shown on the international broadcast as one of the last remaining podium contenders still out on the course when he came into the range again for his standing shooting, in which he missed the fourth shot and thus had to ski through the 150-meter penalty lap.
That set him back to 24th place, and after losing about 30 more seconds on the final loop he crossed the line 1:15.6 out of first in 33rd.
“I had a good performance on the range, I was happy with the shooting but, unfortunately, I just didn’t have it in the legs,” Bailey said, according to a US Biathlon press release. “I just haven’t had the ski shape that I had last year. I haven’t gotten the speed going this year and that’s the way biathlon is. It wasn’t a bad race. I had a really good first lap, I just didn’t have it on the second and third laps. With any luck I’ll feel better and better as the Games go on.”
Tim Burke (US Biathlon) en route to 47th in the men’s 10 k sprint at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
His teammate Tim Burke finished 47th (+1:47.5) with four penalties (2+2).
“Physically I felt descent. It wasn’t a bad start,” Burke told FasterSkier after the race. “Shooting was tough. I had four penalties. It was real tricky today; it’s a bit of a lottery and that’s the way it goes. … I thought I had similar wind [to zeroing] when I was shooting prone, but what makes it really tough here is it switches literally from one shot to the next. I am really curious to talk to the coaches and see where I was at because I felt totally fine and normally I don’t miss all these shots.”
“It’s a tough course because you have longer climbs,” he said of the course at the Alpensia Biathlon Center, after skiing the 28th-ranked time of the day. “A lot of biathlon courses today, the climbs are only 30 seconds long before you get a break and here you have a couple climbs that are significantly longer than that, so that suits me well.”
Leif Nordgren (US Biathlon) en route to 58th in the men’s 10 k sprint at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
Leif Nordgren will join them in Monday’s pursuit after finishing 58th (+2:10.2) with a missed shot in each of his shooting stages (1+1).
“I’m satisfied that I made the pursuit and there’s another [race] day tomorrow, but yeah, the shooting was quite tough today and the wind,” Nordgren said after. “I made two mistakes and that was too much to have a great race today.”
Asked about the challenging conditions, he added:
“The wind was obviously number one, but actually the cold is another thing. If your hands ever get cold, it impacts the shooting tremendously. If you pause just for a second to even think about how cold your hands are that can throw off the shooting right away. So little things like that. It doesn’t take much to really lose that focus.”
Sean Doherty (US Biathlon) racing to 65th in the men’s 10 k sprint at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
The fourth American starter Sean Doherty missed four of his five prone targets, having to shoot about in the middle of the lane positions on the wind-exposed range. The penalties set him back almost 2 minutes, and even a clean standing shooting was not enough to overcome that deficit. He ultimately finished 65th (+2:16.4, 4+0), only about 2.5 seconds out of the top 60 needed to qualify for the pursuit.
“The wind today is very highly variable and I really thought I had a handle on it in zero [target practice],” Doherty said after. “I had a good zero, I had a good shooting warm up. I had pretty good confidence in what I am doing with things. I came in and I thought I had it under control and obviously something is off. … When I came in I did not assess the wind to be that severe, I guess I didn’t give it enough credit. … But everything else went well. The skiing feels strong. Standing shooting was fine.”
Doherty skied the 48th-ranked course time for the day.
“The course is skiing well,” he said. “It’s very fast and firm and this is a good hard course. … I am happy with the skiing, I felt fairly energetic and I am pretty encouraged with that, but it’s just the range. You leave a lot out there when you miss four.”
The Canadians also struggled with the windy conditions and demanding course.
Nathan Smith was able to cope best, shooting clean in prone before having to ski one penalty lap in his standing bout (0+1) to finish 44th (+1:43.5).
“I was happy with my shooting,” Smith said of his race. “Nine out of ten so that’s good for the windy conditions. … My shooting has been really good this year. Whenever I race I’m probably like 90 percent average or something. I usually shoot pretty quick and this year I haven’t been afraid to slow down when I need to be to hit those targets.”
On the course Smith only skied the 77th-ranked time of 87 starters, after he missed every World Cup race since the sprint in Annecy, France, before Christmas.
“Skiing was hard,” Smith said. “I haven’t raced for two months so it’s hard to jump into the top level of racing when you have just kind of been racing by yourself for a bit after getting sick … When you’re not feeling tip top, I think the biggest difference is when you’re going over hills and stuff, you’re tired and you’re just like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m getting to a downhill,’ and you can’t really push hard through all those transitions.”
Unfortunately he was Biathlon Canada’s only team member to qualify for the pursuit, while others missed the top 60 by mere fractions of a second.
Scott Gow missed four shots in his prone stage before cleaning all targets in standing (4+0), finishing 2:14.0 back in 61st place. That was just 0.1 seconds behind Romania’s Cornel Puchianu, who had incurred just one penalty, and finished 60th.
Gow told FasterSkier he took special care to bundle up before the race to keep warm fingers and a feeling for the trigger, but when he reached the prone stage, the wind had changed directions from the zeroing target practice, posing yet another problem.
“I had a fairly consistent wind from the left I would say, then when I came in to shoot in the race, it had switched directions,” Gow said. “So I thought I had accounted for it and I could hear that I was actually, we call it splitting, but hitting like half the target there and I didn’t want to chance making an overcorrection. So it was disappointing. I think luck-of-draw type of thing. It was too bad.”
The four penalty laps set him back two minutes and all the way to 84th place at the split time, and despite hitting all his targets in the following standing stage, Gow couldn’t quite make up that deficit.
On the course he skied the 46th-ranked time of the day overall and the 29th-ranked final loop.
“It’s a really hard course,” Gow said. “It’s basically three big hills with a couple downhills in-between. There’s no transitional areas, there’s no flatter spots. So it feels like you’re always grinding up a hill just to go back down and have to go up it again. … I felt like I could go a little harder on the first two-thirds of the course, and then just make sure I drop back a little bit on the last climb before you come back into the stadium just for the shooting sake. Then also with the wind, especially the headwind, to try and ski behind people if possible to get a good draft. … Overall I would say I did a fairly solid job with my race plan.”
Christian Gow (Biathlon Canada) racing to 62nd in the men’s 10 k sprint at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
His brother Christian Gow was just behind him in 62nd, 2:14.7 back with three penalties (2+1). Thus he also was less than a second out of the top 60.
“The conditions are tough today,” Christian said after. “It’s windy. It’s not nearly as bad as it was this afternoon, that was crazy. But regardless, it’s changing a lot, which I think is the hardest thing.”
“I corrected in prone and so I have to talk to the coaches and see if it was me or if I missed the correction, where those misses were,” he said of his shooting performance. “Then standing I think was a bit more my fault than anything. Shooting on lane 30 here, it’s quite sheltered. It blocks most of the wind, so it was pretty calm when I shot there and I still came away with a miss.”
Christian skied the 61st-ranked course time, acknowledging that he was impacted by the cold temperatures and wind.
“Today I felt a bit heavier than I would have liked to on the track,” he said of his skiing. “It’s a tough course for sure, really big climbs in it, and you’ve got to manage your energy so that you can do them time and again. … The wind, absolutely you get thrown around by it, but I kind of figure that everyone is getting some of that at some point.”
Brendan Green (Biathlon Canada) en route to 82nd in the men’s 10 k sprint at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
The fourth Canadian starter Brendan Green cleaned prone and was also shown on the international broadcast as a potential late contender when he came into the range for his standing shooting. But with strong wind he then missed three shots, ultimately finishing the race in 82nd place (+3:09.2, 0+3).
“It was a tough day,” Green said. “The conditions were obviously very challenging. But on a day like today that … opens up the door a bit, there’s a good opportunity, but I just was not able to put together a solid performance today. … Standing I just had a lot of gusts, just couldn’t quite overcome the wind for standing.”
“It’s a very challenging course,” he said of the conditions. “The cold weather and the wind. The snow is very dry and very slow, kind of like a sandpaper feel to it. But hopefully the weather starts to cooperate and things start to warm up a bit and the wind drops.”
The biathlon competitions in PyeongChang continue Monday with pursuits for the women at 7:10 p.m. local time (5:10 a.m. EST) and men at 9 p.m (7 a.m. EST). The times back to the winner from the sprint carry over into the pursuit race.
Norway’s Simen Hegstad Krüger celebrates after winning gold in the men’s 30 k skiathlon on Sunday at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
It was an improbable move: Norway’s Simen Hegsted Krüger attacked a few kilometers from the finish of the men’s 30 k skiathlon, and the rest of the field let him go. Krüger didn’t let up and at one point had a lead of 25 seconds with just about two kilometers to go, all the more impressive because he had crashed just meters into the race and broken a pole, having to then make up 35 to 40 seconds to get back to the lead pack.
Norwegian teammates Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Hans Christer Holund tried to close the gap to Krüger in the final kilometer, but the 24 year old hung on for a 8-second win. Sundby was second and Holund was third (+9.0) to give Norway a medal sweep.
Denis Spitsov of the Olympic Athletes of Russia, also in his first Olympics, finished fourth, 12.7 seconds back. Maurice Manificat of France was fifth (+14.2), Dario Cologna of Switzerland sixth (+25.1), Andrew Musgrave of Great Britain seventh (+25.7), and Alex Harvey of Canada edged Martin Jaks of the Czech Republic for eighth (+33.4 and +33.8, respectively). Johannes Høsflot Klæbo of Norway, one of the pre-race favorites, finished 10th (+43.4).
For the U.S., Scott Patterson led the way in 18th (+1:07.5). Erik Bjornsen finished 42th (+4:34.7), Paddy Caldwell 51st (+6:58.1), and Noah Hoffman 54th (+7:08.7).
After Harvey’s top-10 finish, the next Canadian across the line was Devon Kershaw in 36th (+3:35.3). GraemeKillick finished 45th (+5:19.6), and Knute Johnsgaard was lapped and did not finish.
University of Utah alum Snorri Einarsson finished 56th (+7:13.9) in Iceland’s best result in Olympic cross-country skiing since 1994.
Arnd Peiffer on his way to winning the 10 k sprint at Alpensia Biathlon Center today. The German was one of just four men to shoot clean in windy conditions. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
With the race favorites each picking up a bevy of penalties, Germany’s Arnd Peiffer skated to a gold medal in the men’s 10 k sprint on Sunday. Both he and silver medalist Michal Krčmář of the Czech Republic shot clean, and were two of only four men in the field to do so. With that performance, Peiffer — whose lone senior Championship-level individual medal came when he won the World Championships sprint back in 2011 — made Germany two-for-two in biathlon races so far after Laura Dahlmeier’s win in the women’s sprint on Saturday.
The top of the results sheet was tight, with Krčmář finishing just 4.4 seconds slower than Peiffer. Krčmář only has one World Cup podium to his name, coming last season. Dominik Windisch of Italy finished with the bronze medal (+7.7) despite one missed shot, and edged out Austria’s Julian Eberhard (+8.4) seconds, who also had one penalty.
Erlend Bjøntegaard of Norway was fifth (+17.4) with two penalties, and Benedikt Doll (+17.6) and Simon Schempp (+21.4) gave Germany an impressive three spots in the top seven.
Those pre-race favorites? Martin Fourcade of France missed three shots in prone and despite cleaning standing, couldn’t make up enough time on the final loop for a top result. He finished eighth, +22.1. Johannes Thingnes Bø of Norway missed three shots in prone and then another in standing, finishing 31st, +1:12.7.
For the U.S., Lowell Bailey cleaned prone and then collected one penalty in standing to end the day 33rd (+1:15.6). Tim Burke had four penalties to land 47th (+1:47.5), and Leif Nordgren will join them in Monday’s pursuit after finishing 58th (+2:10.2) with two missed shots. Sean Doherty missed four of his five prone targets and was unable to come back from that blow, finishing 65th (+2:16.4).
The Canadians also suffered shooting woes. with Nathan Smith able to limit the losses to one penalty and finish 44th (+1:43.5). He is the only team member to make the pursuit. Brothers Scott and Christian Gow missed four and three shots, respectively, to earn the unlucky honor of being the first two men outside the pursuit cutoff in 61st (+2:14.0) and 62nd (+2:14.7). Brendan Green cleaned prone but then missed three shots in standing to finish 82nd (+3:09.2).
The women’s 10 pursuit and men’s 12.5 k pursuit are set for Monday at 5:10 a.m. and 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Darya Domracheva of Belarus (center) won the final World Cup race before the Olympics, a 12.5 k mass start in Antholz, Italy. Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia was second and Kaisa Makarainen of Finland third. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)
On Saturday, Darya Domracheva watched as second place in the World Cup pursuit skied away from her.
She had stepped on competitor Dorothea Wierer’s pole in the final corner of the 10 k pursuit in Antholz, Italy, and felt it unsportsmanlike to try to beat Wierer to the finish when the Italian had only one ski pole. So she let Wierer go and settled for third.
In Sunday’s World Cup mass start, Domracheva was rewarded by some combination of karma, skill, and hard work, and rounded that same corner to the finish line all alone in first place to claim her second win of the season.
Nobody shot better than Domracheva, and only six other women matched her single penalty loop. The Belarusian left the shooting range after the fourth and final stage with just a 3.3-second lead on Slovakia’s Anastasiya Kuzmina, who missed three shots in total and was coming out of the penalty loop as Domracheva skated past.
Germany’s Maren Hammerschmidt fights through thick snow in the forest during Sunday’s 12.5 k mass start in Antholz, Italy. (Eurovision screenshot)
“It was very tough race, and very slow snow conditions,” Domracheva said in a press conference of the abundant fresh snow that had fallen overnight and continued to fall off trees and onto the trails (and racers) during the competition. “So I understood from the start of the competition that it was really important to be focused on shooting today.”
But Domracheva was able to put the hammer down and extend the gap on Kuzmina, who had been the most dominant athlete of the first half of the season, and win by 11.9 seconds.
“I can say that today was quite a tough race for me,” Domracheva said. “The feeling was not so light. It was also not in the plan that here in Antholz would be very easy. So we are still in preparation, and it’s one very important step in my preparation for the next races.”
It was the last World Cup competition before the Olympics, where Domracheva will do her best to follow up on the three gold medals she won in Sochi in 2014.
Kaisa Makarainen of Finland fights to the finish line. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)
Third place went to Kaisa Makarainen of Finland, who was frustrated by four missed shots and left the range (and penalty loop) the final time in eighth place. But in a stunning show of grit and speed, she charged past racer after racer; she had the fastest ski time of the day and that was particularly true on the last loop.
The Finn celebrated as she crossed the line 16.2 seconds behind Domracheva. That meant another podium – her fifth of the season – and two spots on Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier, thus hanging onto the yellow bib of the overall World Cup leader until racing resumes after the Olympics (which don’t count for World Cup points).
“I tried to ski as fast as possible and catch some places,” Makarainen said in the press conference. “I was not sure if I could catch the podium because it was quite a big gap. But I guess some other girls were more tired than me!”
Fourth place went to Norway’s Marte Olsbu (+22.6), fifth to Dahlmeier (+23.9), and sixth to her teammate Maren Hammerschmidt (+25.2).
Wierer had shot clean through three stages and led the race onto the shooting range the last time, to the thrill of the home crowd. But she missed two shots and ended the day in seventh, +29.4.
Fourcade Extends World Cup Lead with Another Win
While Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø came into the men’s 15 k mass start with two consecutive wins under his belt, he immediately missed two shots in the first prone stage, then two more in the next prone stage.
While Bø has turned in some of the most stunning performances on the World Cup this season, another man leads the standings, and that’s Martin Fourcade of France. Fourcade is nothing if not consistent and with only two missed shots in the mass start, he picked up his sixth win of the season.
Martin Fourcade of France leading the 15 k mass start in Antholz, Italy, where he picked up his sixth win of the season. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)
“It’s good to find back this position in Antholz,” he said in a post-race press conference. “It’s only my second victory here. The first one was in the mass start in 2011, so it’s been a while and I’m very satisfied and happy to be back on top of the podium in Antholz.”
The last time Fourcade was off the podium was in the single mixed relay in Östersund, Sweden, in the very first race of the season, and the last time he was off the individual podium was back in Kontiolahti, Finland, in the second-to-last weekend of last season.
“The weekend was really nice,” Fourcade said. “I had not my best ski level on the first two competitions, but today felt really good on the skis and it gives me confidence for the Olympics… I want to keep my hunger from that last [bullet] I missed, to keep some things to work on for the Olympics.”
With the younger Bø out of the picture, the two men who ended up battling behind Fourcade were both still Norwegian: Tarjei Bø, the older brother in the family, and his teammate Erlend Bjøntegaard.
Tim Burke of the United States after finishing 22nd in the World Cup mass start in Antholz, Italy. (Photo: USBA/Instagram)
Former World Champion Bø won their sprint to the finish, crossing the line 2.8 seconds behind Fourcade (who had eased through the last few hundred meters after maintaining a big lead through the rest of the course), and Bjøntegaard picked up his first career podium in third (+5.1).
“It was quite fun actually,” Bjøntegaard said of his battle with Bø. “I’ve had a lot of hard sessions with that guy in the past two years. We were talking to each other on the fourth loop and the last loop, trying to exchange who was in front. I think that worked out quite well. I know that he is strong in the head, especially at the end, but I think I gave it a good shot and I really tried.”
After the Norwegians it was two Germans battling to the line, with Benedikt Doll taking fourth (+16.0) and Johannes Kuehn fifth (+18.3), each with two missed shots.
Johannes Bø struggled mightily against his five total penalties, and remarkably managed to make it up to sixth place, just 29.2 seconds behind Fourcade.
The Norwegian men’s relay after winning the 4 x 7.5 k on Friday at the IBU World Cup in Ruhpolding, Germany, with Lars Helge Birkeland (l), Tarjei Bø (far r), Emil Hegle Svendsen (second from r), and Johannes Thingnes Bø (second from l). It was their second win of the season (after winning with Ole Einar Bjørndalen, Henrik L’Abée-Lund, and Erlend Bjøntegaard, and Birkeland in the first men’s relay of the 2017/2018 season in Hochfilzen, Austria. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)
IBU World Cup (Ruhpolding, Germany): Men’s 4 x 7.5 k relay
Less than a week after Sweden won the men’s 4 x 7.5-kilometer relay in Oberhof, Germany, with an up-and-coming group, Norway posted its second win (in three relays) this season, with an all-star lineup on Friday in Ruhpolding, Germany.
Lars Helge Birkeland, Tarjei Bø, Emil Hegle Svendsen, and Johannes Thingnes Bø took the lead during Johannes Bø’s anchor leg and ultimately the win in 1:13:11.1 hours, 24.9 seconds ahead of France in second and 53.4 seconds ahead of Russia in third.
On a bluebird day with no wind in the range, according to an International Biathlon Union (IBU) press release, the Norwegians avoided the penalty lap and used seven spares to clean. First-leg skier Birkeland put them in second with near-perfect shooting (0+0, 0+1), just 0.4 seconds behind Germany’s Erik Lesser, who cleaned without any spares, in first. (Birkeland was also on the Norwegian team that won the first relay of the season in Hochfilzen, Austria.)
Norway remained in second during Tarjei Bø’s second leg, in which he had to use three spares to clean prone (0+3, 0+0). He tagged Svendsen in second, 0.6 seconds behind Italy, which had risen to first thanks to Lukas Hofer’s fast skiing and solid shooting (0+0, 0+2).
Svendsen slipped slightly to third place by the final exchange despite only needing one spare to clean (0+0, 0+1), but was still just a second out of first at the tag. France had moved into first place with a predictably strong third leg from Martin Fourcade (0+0, 0+0), in which he brought the team from seventh to first place, just ahead of Italy’s Dominik Windisch and Norway’s Svendsen.
Johannes Bø skied the third-fastest anchor leg and cleaned prone and used two spares in standing (0+0, 0+2) to overtake France’s Antonin Guigonnat and Italy’s Thierry Chenal, who slipped to second and seventh, respectively, by the finish.
Guigonnat shot well, requiring just one spare (0+1, 0+0), but finished nearly 25 seconds after Bø for second place. Russia reached the podium with Anton Shipulin picking off two places, after being tagged in fifth.
In all, France had zero penalties and six spares, with Simon Desthieux, Quentin Fillon Maillet, Fourcade, and Guigonnat, and Russia used a total of just four spares and had no penalties with Alexey Volkov, Maxim Tsvetkov, Anton Babikov, and Shipulin.
Germany finished fourth (+1:26.5) with zero penalties and 10 spares, with Lesser, Benedikt Doll, Arnd Peiffer and Simon Schempp. After Doll dropped to fifth on the second leg, they skied in fourth on the last two legs.
Austria took fifth (+1:39.8) with zero penalties and six spares, with David Komatz, Simon Eder, Daniel Mesotitsch, and Dominik Landertinger. Sweden followed in sixth (+1:50.6) with zero penalties, six spares and three of the same men who won last Sunday’s relay (Sebastian Samuelsson, Martin Ponsiluoma and Fredrik Lindström) with new member Torstein Stenersen. Italy finished seventh (+1:58.5) with one penalty and 11 spares.
Of 26 teams in the relay, Canada placed 14th (+3:22.3) with one penalty and 10 spares, and the U.S. finished 24th (+16:21.6) with eight penalties (four of which stemmed from cross-firing) and 13 spares.
Notably, the U.S. had been fourth and just 3 seconds out of first after Lowell Bailey’s first leg, which he cleaned without any spares (0+0, 0+0). Leif Nordgren then dropped to 22nd with a penalty in each of his shooting stages (1+3, 1+3) and the 25th-ranked second-leg time. Tim Burke as the team’s third leg had to ski two penalty laps as well (0+2, 2+3), and anchor Sean Doherty was penalized for cross-firing in his last standing stage (0+1, 4+1), according to a US Biathlon press release, and the team was hit with four additional penalties.
“We have a solid team and I know we didn’t show our true potential today,” Bailey said, according to the release. “But the most important relay is still to come. We’ll just have to wait until then.”
“I was happy to put together a good race on the track and in the range,” he said. “The first lap was a bit of a roller derby with no easy way to get to the front. I was fortunate to clean without extra rounds because this allowed me to leapfrog up to the lead pack exiting the range. I tried to keep an even pace for loop two and I thought I would be able to hang in second or third, but no one wanted to pass so I had to lead for most of the loop.
“I had struggled in standing in the previous race so I wanted to get back to taking good shots in standing,” he added. “Although I didn’t shoot as quickly as some of the other guys, I felt good about the stage and the fact that I didn’t have to use extras. It was a fight to catch the lead group on the last loop, but fortunately I had some help from [Italy’s Thomas] Bormolini (of Italy) and we worked together to get back in contact with the lead group.”
Canada finished 14th with Christian Gow, Scott Gow, Macx Davies, and Brendan Green. On the opening leg, Christian Gow put them in 11th with clean prone shooting and just one spare needed to clean standing (0+0, 0+1), but they slipped one spot to 12th with a penalty on Scott Gow’s second leg (0+0, 1+3). Davies then dropped two more places to 14th despite avoiding the penalty lap (0+3, 0+1), and Green held that position to the finish (0+1, 0+1).
The women’s 4 x 6 k relay will be held Saturday in Ruhpolding, with Canada starting Emma Lunder, Julia Ransom, Sarah Beaudry, and Rosanna Crawford. For the U.S., it will be Susan Dunklee, Clare Egan, Emily Dreissigacker, and Joanne Reid. Watch it live on the Olympic Channel at 8:30 a.m. EST.
Caitlin Patterson (Craftsbury Green Racing Project) charging up the wall climb en route to the win in the women’s 10 k freestyle on Sunday at the Sovereign Lake NorAm/SuperTour near Vernon, B.C. (Photo: Peggy Hung)
NorAm/SuperTour (Sovereign Lake near Vernon, British Columbia): 10/15 k freestyle
VERNON, B.C. — The combined NorAm and SuperTour event at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre continued with individual-start distance races and continued with the theme of U.S. domination of the leaderboard.
Ian Torchia, of Northern Michigan University (NMU) and the U.S. Ski Team D-team, started the day with a big victory in the men’s 15 k freestyle, finishing in 36:29.7 minutes and on the heels of Canadian Para-Nordic guide Graham Nishikawa, who started 30 seconds ahead of him and ended up sixth. Jack Hegman of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) placed second, 19.0 seconds back, to complete his good weekend. Canadian Para-Nordic superstar Brian McKeever rounded out the podium in third, 22.6 seconds back.
Graham Nishikawa (l) and Ian Torchia worked together after Torchia closed the 30-second gap en route to a victory in the men’s 15 k freestyle on Sunday at the Sovereign Lake NorAm near Vernon, B.C. (Photo: Peggy Hung)
The women were next to get some time in the sunshine with two laps for 10 k. Caitlin Patterson of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CRGRP) upgraded from Saturday’s silver to gold on Sunday with winning time of 27:13.0. Rosie Frankowski of Alaska Pacific University (APU) snatched second, 30.7 seconds back. Caitlin Gregg (Team Gregg) raced to third, 1 second behind Frankowski.
Former Canadian national-team biathlete Zina Kocher started her new cross-country career as the top Canadian in seventh (+1:31.2).
The weather was a repeat of Saturday: -2 degrees Celsius, windless and sunny. Smiles were evident everywhere, even for athletes who didn’t quite nail the pacing on an unforgiving course.
France’s Maurice Manificat (c) after winning the men’s 15-kilometer freestyle on Sunday in Davos, Switzerland. He finished ahead of Russians Sergey Ustiugov (l) and Alexander Bolshunov in second and third respectively. (Photo: FIS Cross-Country/Twitter)
FIS Cross Country World Cup (Davos, Switzerland): 10/15 k freestyle
After a day of sprinting, cross-country racers returned to the Davos World Cup venue on Sunday for the women’s 10-kilometer and men’s 15-kilometer freestyle individual start competitions.
For his first World Cup win in almost two years, France’s Maurice Manificat took the men’s 15 k race title in a time of 33:56.2. Exactly 4 seconds flat behind Manificat in second place was Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov. Ustiugov’s teammate Alexander Bolshunov, finished 10 seconds behind Ustiugov and 14.6 seconds behind Manificat for the men’s third and final podium spot.
The remainder of the men’s top ten included Norway’s Simen Hegstad Krüger in fourth (+21.3), Switzerland’s Dario Cologna in fifth (+26.5), Sweden’s Marcus Hellner in sixth (+35.4), Russia’s Denis Spitsov in seventh (+36.1), Hans Christer Holund of Norway in eighth (+36.9), Russian Alexey Chervotkin in ninth (+54.2), and Alex Harvey of Canada in 10th (+1:01.2).
The next best male North American finisher was American Patrick Caldwell in 41st (1:50.2).
Canada’s Devon Kershaw placed 44th (1:59.8), Graeme Killick 59th (+2:27.8), Russell Kennedy 68th (+2:43.4), and Julien Locke in 94th (4:27.5). Knute Johnsgaard did not start.
For the U.S., Noah Hoffman finished 48th (2:05.5) and Scott Patterson 88th (3:46.2). Simi Hamilton did not start and Andy Newell did not finish.
The women’s 10 k freestyle podium on Sunday at the Davos World Cup in Switzerland, with Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (c) in first and Ragnhild Haga (l) in second, and Finland’s Krista Parmakoski (r) in third. (Photo: FIS Cross Country/Twitter)
In the women’s 10 k, 75 starters finished the 10 k course with Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg claiming first in a time of 25:28.5. Her Norwegian teammate, Ragnhild Haga finished 5.9 seconds behind her for second place. Krista Pärmäkoski of Finland raced to the third and final podium spot, 7.9 seconds back from Østberg’s winning time.
Rounding out the women’s top ten was Heidi Weng in fourth (+14.5), Austria’s Teresa Stadlober in fifth (+16.4), Switzerland’s Nathalie von Siebenthal in sixth (+16.4), Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen in seventh (+24.9), Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla in eighth (+26.8), Norwegian Marit Bjørgen in ninth (+35.9), and Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen in tenth (+37.6).
Leading the U.S. women was Sadie Bjornsen in 12th (+44.6), seven seconds outside the top ten. The next two Americans finishers were within 3.1 seconds of each other, with Kikkan Randall finishing 14th (+56.8) and Jessie Diggins in 15th (+59.9).
Also scoring World Cup points for the Americans, Rosie Brennan finished in 17th (+1:11.2) and Chelsea Holmes in 29th (+1:32.9).
The U.S.’s Liz Stephen and Sophie Caldwell finishedin 40th (+1:58.5) and 52nd (+2:20.1), respectively.
For the Canadians, the team was led by Cendrine Browne in 45th (+2:05.9), followed by Emily Nishikawa in 50th (+2:18.4). Dahria Beatty placed 73rd (+2:53.0) and Katherine Stewart-Jones 79th (+3:44.6).
IBU World Cup (Hochfilzen, Austria): Men’s and women’s relays
Men’s and women’s relays took place on the final day of racing in Hochfilzen, with Norway winning the men’s 4 x 7.5 k and Germany topping the women’s 4 x 6 k by considerable margins.
Norway’s Ole Einar Bjørndalen, Henrik L’Abée-Lund, Erlend Bjøntegaard, and Lars Helge Birkeland raced to first in 1:21.21.8 hours, nearly two minutes clear of Germany in second, after taking the lead on L’Abée-Lund’s second leg. They avoided the penalty loop and used a total of nine spares, and never lost hold of first place for the rest of the race.
Germany raced to second (+1:54.9) with Erik Lesser, Benedikt Doll, Arnd Peiffer, and Simon Schempp, with zero penalties and 17 spares, after Peiffer lifted them from fourth to second on the third leg. Schempp held them there, despite using a maximum of three spares on each of his shooting stages, in the final leg.
France claimed third (+2:34.0) with Jean-Guillaume Béatrix, Simon Desthieux, Emilien Jacquelin, and Quentin Fillon Maillet, despite three penalties and 13 spares. Two of their penalties came on Beatrix’s first leg and another in Fillon Maillet’s final shooting. After being tagged in fifth, Jacquelin raced them up to third on the third leg and Fillon Maillet held onto that position for the last spot on the podium.
The U.S. men finished ninth (+3:38.3) with Lowell Bailey, Leif Nordgren, Tim Burke, and Sean Doherty, after they combined for three penalties and 13 spares. Bailey avoided the penalty lap and put them in third at the first exchange, while Nordgren slipped to seventh after a penalty, Burke remained in seventh with one penalty as well, and Doherty had one more penalty to anchor the team to ninth.
Canada placed 15th (+6:22.5) with six penalties and 20 spare rounds, with Christian Gow, Scott Gow, Nathan Smith, and Brendan Green. After being tagged in 21st, Smith raced them up to 13th, using just two spares to clean. Green anchored them to 15th after using six spares and skiing the 15th-ranked time on that last leg.
In the women’s relay that followed, Germany won by 44.9 seconds over Ukraine, with Vanessa Hinz, Franziska Hildebrand, Maren Hammerschmidt, and Laura Dahlmeier using nine spares while staying out of the penalty lap.
After Hinz raced them into first, Hildebrand slipped to fourth after using four spares on the second leg. Hammerschmidt raced the fastest third leg to put them back in first, and Dahlmeier held them there to the finish, crossing first in 1:14:36.4.
Ukraine (0 penalties, 5 spares) took the lead on the second leg but ultimately settled for second with Vita Semerenko, Yuliia Dzhima, Valj Semerenko, and Olena Pidhrushna. Dzhima put them in second heading into the race’s halfway point, but Valj Semerenko lost two places to tag Pidhrushna in third. Pidhrushna used just two spares on the final leg to bring them to second, about 20 seconds ahead of France in third.
Despite a tough first leg for Marie Dorin Habert, in which she had two penalties and tagged off in 14th, France rose to third place at the finish (+1:04.5) thanks to strong skiing and shooting from anchor Anaïs Bescond.
The team had a total of two penalties and 13 spares. Celia Aymonier used four spares to put them in ninth after the second leg, and third-leg Justine Braisaz lifted them one more place to seventh before Bescond skied the fastest last leg to pick off four more places.
Canada placed ninth (+2:31.6) with Emma Lunder, Rosanna Crawford, Megan Bankes, and Julia Ransom, with no penalties and nine spares. Crawford put them in fifth after the second leg, Bankes lost one place on the third leg, and Ransom slipped three more with three spares on her final shooting to finish ninth.
(Left to right) Norwy’s Emil Hegle Svendsen, Johannes Thingnes Bø, Tiril Eckhoff and Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold show off their medals after winning the mixed relay on the opening day of the 2017/2018 IBU World Cup season in Östersund, Sweden. (Photo: IBU/biathlonworld)
Even the most renowned athletes and national teams in the mixed relay on Sunday afternoon admitted they had not yet found their perfect groove in Östersund, Sweden, on the opening day of the 2017/2018 International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup season.
Nevertheless it still made for an exciting race, with four teams vying for the podium on the last lap. And in the finishing stretch, anchored by veteran Emil Hegle Svendsen, the same country prevailed as in the last two seasons in the same race and at the same place: Norway.
In a time of 1:11:31.7 hours, Svendsen held off a final push from Italy’s Lukas Hofer by 5.3 seconds. Norway required 13 spare rounds on the shooting range while Italy needed just six; however Hofer incurred a penalty lap in his prone stage, momentarily falling back 30 seconds and to fourth place before returning to the top three.
Germany, anchored by Arnd Peiffer, placed third, 6.4 seconds back with 10 spare rounds and no penalties, with Peiffer managing to overtake Slovakia’s Matej Kazar on the final lap. Slovakia narrowly finished off the podium after a strong team performance with its best World Cup result in a mixed relay in five seasons. The team finished 7.7 seconds out of first, with nine spares and no penalties.
“It was a really tough fight with Lukas just behind,” Svendsen recounted of the final lap during the post-race press conference. He had used all of his spares to clean his standing stage.
“I was happy to walk away with the win. I looked back, it’s impossible not to I think, but I felt quite strong…,” he continued. “I was unsure if I should just let him come to me and then we can finish in a sprint, but I looked behind and I had about a five-second gap so I just said to myself to just go and see what happens … Always a good feeling to start the season with a victory, good for the team, good for the spirit.”
“The last lap, when I went out from the stadium, I saw Emil in front of me and tried to close the gap as fast as possible,” Hofer said at the press conference. “But it was a bit too much because he also pushed so strong, and normally he is one of the best on the last loop. I was happy to finish like this… It was a really good start into the season.”
In the mixed relay format, with a 2 x 6 + 2 x 7.5-kilometer course length, two women followed by two men hand off to one another on the track, and each can use up to three spare rounds per shooting stage to avoid a penalty lap.
This time of the year, the sun sets early in Östersund in central Sweden. In a race under floodlights with mostly calm wind conditions, Norway, with Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, Tiril Eckhoff, Johannes Thingnes Bø and Svendsen, combined for the best performance once again.
“I was really nervous, but I think everyone was, especially on the first loop,” Tandrevold said at the press conference, after she got the nod to start, replacing sick teammate Marte Olsbu. “The standing shooting was really hard, but I think the rest of my race was good. I was happy to be in front on the last downhill, because last year I fell [there] so I was a bit scared.”
“I was a bit rusty, I need some more races, then hopefully it will be a really good season,” added her teammate Eckhoff.
“Full speed from the start, that was the only plan I had,” Bø explained the tactics on his leg, where he required two spares in the prone shooting and all three in standing. “Of course I didn’t plan to use five extra [shots]. All in all I am satisfied, but there are still some things I need to improve on. A little bit faster skiing, a little bit better shooting.”
That prompted laughter from his teammates and his competitors on the podium.
Italy’s Dorothea Wierer tags Dominik Windisch at the halfway point of the mixed relay in Östersund, Sweden. The team went on to finish second on the day to open the 2017/2018 IBU World Cup season. (Photo: IBU/biathlonworld)
Italy, with Lisa Vittozzi, Dorothea Wierer, Dominik Windisch and Hofer, narrowly missed out on its first victory in the mixed relay, tying its second place from two seasons ago in Canmore, Alberta.
“I was sure that Lukas would catch Emil!” Wierer said in the press conference with a laugh. “I think we can be satisfied. Of course we are not in perfect shape yet right now. I for sure didn’t have the best autumn, I was sick three times in two months. So it wasn’t perfect, but with some more races I can get in shape.”
The defending mixed relay world champion Germany, with Franziska Preuss, Maren Hammerschmidt, Benedikt Doll and Peiffer, was also happy with its outcome. Last season’s 2017 World Championships star Laura Dahlmeier will likely miss the whole opening weekend following an illness.
“It’s always a good feeling to start the season with a podium,” Hammerschmidt said at the press conference. “First race, I am always very nervous.”
“It was OK. In prone I could have hit my shot if I had taken a little more time,” Peiffer told German broadcaster ARD in an interview after the race, according to a translation. “It was a hard last lap, they really pushed the tempo right out of the shooting range and then I immediately had a small gap. I am glad that I was able to make up one more position and secure the podium … You are always nervous before a relay, with a big audience, and you have to race against all the good guys again who you didn’t see all year, so everyone is a bit excited.”
Slovakia, with Paulina Fialkova, Anastasiya Kuzmina, Tomas Hasilla and Kazar, had to settle for fourth place, but still the team was all smiles in an interview with the IBU.
“I am really surprised, but it was great,” Fialkova said. “It was close to the podium, but we hope maybe next time.”
“A good start to the season, and we will do it again and again,” Kuzmina added.
“I was really happy for the shooting and also running, a good result for the team today, good motivation,” their teammate Hasilla agreed.
“Very happy from this competition,” Kazar said. “Very hard last lap, going from [second] place after the final shooting to fourth place in the finish. There were really good men [racing against me].”
The home team from Sweden, with Hanna Öberg, Anna Magnusson, Jesper Nelin and Fredrik Lindström, was fifth on the day (+34.5, with one penalty and five spares), delighting the fans in Östersund after Öberg tagged off in first place after the first leg.
Another surprise of the day was Finland, with Mari Laukkanen, Kaisa Mäkäräinen, Tero Seppälä and Tuomas Gronman, leading the race at the halfway point behind a strong performance from Mäkäräinen, who moved up from eighth to first place with the best first-leg course time.
“It was a hard race, especially with Kaisa Mäkäräinen, she was really fast today,” Eckhoff said during the press conference.
The two Finnish men could not quite hold on to that position, but still finished in eighth place, 1:32.4 back with one penalty and eight spares.
It was Finland’s best World Cup mixed relay performance since placing seventh during the 2011/2012 season and sixth at 2009 World Championships in PyeongChang, South Korea, host of the upcoming Olympics.
Also with Mäkäräinen and Laukkanen, Finland actually won the gold medal in the mixed relay at the 2016 summer biathlon world championships, a rollerski biathlon event typically skipped by a number of the world’s best athletes. Similarly three of Slovakia’s starters on Sunday had placed second in that event last summer, gaining some positive experiences for the upcoming season.
Canadians Satisfied with First Race, Despite ‘Race Jitters’
For Biathlon Canada, Emma Lunder, Julia Ransom, Scott Gow and Brendan Green formed the relay team on Sunday.
“Today was the second mixed relay I’ve ever done on the World Cup circuit, and I felt pretty calm going into the race,” the 26-year-old Lunder wrote in an email to FasterSkier. “My plan was to sit back on the first lap as I know it can get really frantic, and I didn’t want to get tangled up with anyone.”
She cleaned her prone stage, coming back on the course in 12th place just 13 seconds out of first.
“I’ve never raced in Östersund before and I’ve always heard that it’s notorious for tricky winds, but the flags were almost totally still during both my zero [target practice] and the race,” Lunder wrote. “I was really proud of my prone as I’ve been working hard to improve my accuracy and speed this summer.”
In the standing stage, she had to use all three spares to avoid skiing a penalty lap, but improved positions nonetheless as other teams struggled as well.
“I had a bit of a problem when I came into standing with my contact lens moving around leaving my eye blurry,” she explained. “I think I paid a little bit too much attention to that, and wasn’t as focused on the standing shooting as I would’ve liked.”
On the last loop, she was passed by three teams fighting for positions in a pack, but didn’t lose any more time to the top.
“We had amazing skis after a great performance from our wax team, so I was able to take advantage of that on the downhills and zip past people,” Lunder wrote. “It was pretty exciting for me to be skiing with a pack where I could actually see the leader of the race, and I felt strong for the most part. Overall I was happy with my race today.”
Lunder exchanged to Ransom in 13th position, still only 24.2 seconds out of first.
“I was very excited for Emma Lunder’s race,” Ransom wrote. “She handled the start leg calmly and confidently, tagging me off in a great position.”
Like Lunder, Ransom also shot clean in her prone stage, then needed two spares to also clear her standing targets.
“The shooting range was really calm, especially in comparison to past years I’ve raced here,” Ransom wrote. “I was happy that I kept my shooting somewhat together. That was a big improvement from last year’s mixed relay in Östersund.”
But on the course she had some trouble holding up with the pace set by the race leaders, losing more than 40 seconds to them on both her second and third loops.
“Today was a tough day for me. My legs were lead on the course, but I half expected that to be the case [on] day three after travel,” she wrote.
Ransom tagged Gow in 15th place, 1:46.2 back.
“It was nice to be back racing again,” Gow wrote in an email. “This was probably the most calm I have been for a season opener.”
The older brother of Christian Gow, who raced the single mixed relay with Rosanna Crawford earlier in the day, required all three spares in his prone stage and another two in standing.
“I was mostly happy with my race except for my shooting. The conditions can be very tricky here, but my problem was with my head, not the wind,” Scott Gow wrote. “I was so wrapped up in the race and trying to make as much time as possible that I think I was too excited going in to each shooting. I will try to be more relaxed for the upcoming races.”
He he tagged Green in 16th place, after losing more than another minute to the leaders (+3:03.9).
“Östersund can often provide some very tricky racing conditions, but today was actually almost perfect in terms of wind,” Green, Canada’s anchor, wrote in an email. “In my experience, it’s rare to see a day like this.”
He only needed one spare each in his prone and standing stages, and with the 15th-ranked course time improved again by one position to finish 15th, 3:28 minutes behind Norway, without any team penalties and a total of 12 spares.
“I always find the season opener quite tough,” Green explained. “Digging deep to find that extra gear always hurts at the beginning of the season, but hopefully it will get easier and start to feel better from here on out.”
The Canadians agreed that all in all, the race was a good building block to start off the new season.
“From chatting with the team I think we all had some good parts of our races, and a few things we’ll work on between now and the individual races,” Lunder concluded. “It was a good start today, and we can definitely build and improve from here!”
“After a few more days of adjustment I think our team is positioned for some great results this coming season,” Ransom wrote.
“I think I held us back a little bit with my shooting, but otherwise we did a decent job,” Gow wrote. “We got the race jitters out and now I think we will be ready to give it our all next week.”
“I think each of us were able to take away some positive aspects from todays race, but as a whole we are for sure expecting to improve upon today,” Green concluded. “It was good to get the first world cup race out of way, and we are looking forward to more racing this coming week.”
U.S. Still ‘Blowing Out The Cobwebs’
US Biathlon’s Paul Schommer racing the third leg of the mixed relay on the opening day of the 2017/2018 IBU World Cup season in Östersund, Sweden. (Photo: USBA/NordicFocus)
US Biathlon’s original race lineup included 2017 World Championships gold medalist Lowell Bailey and silver medalist Susan Dunklee, Clare Egan, and former Junior World Champion Sean Doherty.
But on race day, teammate Paul Schommer had to take Bailey’s spot after he “woke up with congestion,” according to a US Biathlon press release.
“We had planned on racing Lowell for the third leg, he didn’t feel 100% today so Paul was subbed in,” Doherty explained in an email to Fasterskier. “Just no risk in pushing it with the hardest individual race of the year on Thursday.”
Dunklee started the team out well, taking the lead on the course to come into the first shooting stage and leaving in eighth position, just under 10 seconds back after needing one spare. She moved up with a pack out on course, but in the standing stage required all three spares after initially missing one target.
“I felt strong and relaxed skiing during the first two loops and I think my technique is already a notch above last year,” Dunklee wrote in an email. “The third loop was a bit painful as my legs flooded with lactic acid and I wasn’t quite able to reel in the pack ahead. I struggled in standing with the spare rounds despite favorable conditions but shooting can often improve with my better race fitness.”
Coming back on the course in 11th position and 26.1 seconds back, she still managed to cut the distance to the leaders in half on her final lap and tagged off in ninth place.
Egan got off to a strong start, both on the course and in her prone stage, where she cleaned without any spares and started her second loop in 11th. But with athletes like Mäkäräinen and Kuzmina setting a high pace up front, she explained she was struggling.
“This was my first race of the year and it was a rude awakening,” Egan wrote in an email to FasterSkier. “From the very beginning the pace seemed crazy and I was just trying to hold on. I am reminded now that the level is super high and I just need to go harder and faster all the time. I’ll get better as I race more but today was a bit of a shock.”
In the standing stage, she quickly ran out of spares and had to ski two penalty laps, which put her back to 20th (+2:27) when she returned to the course for her final loop.
“Conditions were perfect for me on the range today,” Egan wrote. “Last year in this race I did the exact same thing. I think the shock to the body makes it almost impossible to keep my mind where it needs to be for shooting. My prone is automatic — I am at the level of ‘unconscious competence’ — where I can do it right without thinking about it. But in standing I’m at the ‘conscious competence’ level. I really have to use my brain to execute all the steps.
“Today, I shot all 5 rounds from the clip plus 1 spare before suddenly having a moment of clarity and saying (out loud actually), ‘where have I even been aiming??’ …may or may not have included an expletive,” Egan continued. “Then, using my brain, I was able to easily hit my last two shots.”
She tagged Schommer in 21st, 2:51.5 minutes back.
Schommer lost more time on the course, but with a good shooting performance — needing just one spare in each of his stages and a range time ranked in the middle of the field — he avoided getting lapped and held the team in 21st, 4:29.5 seconds back.
It was only his second World Cup appearance in a mixed relay, following an eighth place last season in Kontiolahti, Finland.
From there, Doherty anchored the team to 21st place, also requiring just one spare round in each of his shooting stages.
“The conditions were uncharacteristically calm,” Doherty wrote in an email. “But I would not expect the conditions to stay calm for all the races so I forecast some challenging shooting on the [next] weekend.”
“It felt great to be back on the world stage,” he added. “It is a fantastic atmosphere. I enjoy competing on the world cup and I am always looking forward to the start of the season. The level of competition is just as high as I remember it last year and I am excited to see where I stack up after a great summer of training.”
“The good news was that I was never nervous, which is something I’ve struggled with in the past, and I shot fast today,” Egan reflected. “My shooting has been excellent in training since we got on snow, so I just need to transition into race mode. Today was what you might call ‘blowing out the cobwebs’!!!”
“The first race of the season is typically a tune up race for us and not one where we necessarily try to optimize our performance,” team veteran Dunklee concluded. “There are more nerves, there’s jet lag, and it often takes a few real races before the body starts to feel fully sharp again. We didn’t end up very high on the results list tonight, but I have no doubt that our best is yet to come.”
“I was impressed watching Emily [Dreissigacker] lead the first loop of the single mixed relay – she looked very comfortable in front of the pack,” Dunklee also commented on the performance of her teammates in Sunday’s single mixed relay. “Most rookies are terrified of trying something like that. You’ll see more of her in the future for sure.”
Racing will continue on Wednesday with the women’s 15 k individual, and the men compete on Thursday in the 20 k individual.
Next season, Östersund will host the 2019 IBU World Championships. Norway surely wouldn’t mind making it four wins in a row in Östersund in the mixed relay there.
US Biathlon’s Susan Dunklee competing in the women’s sprint as an international guest at the 2017 German National Biathlon Championships on Sept. 9 in Langdorf, Germany. (Photo: Niklas Breu)
Dozens of German biathletes from all parts of the country descended on the small town of Langdorf (Arber) in the Bavarian Forest mountain range last weekend for their national championships. Since guests are allowed to compete in the races (a sprint and a pursuit), a number of international biathletes — including a handful of North Americans — made use of this opportunity during a training block in Europe for a performance test against some tough competition.
The American contingent of national-team members and a few more representatives from the Craftsbury Biathlon Club of Vermont was led by 2017 IBU World Championships silver medalist Susan Dunklee and fellow national-team veteran and 2013 silver medalist Tim Burke.
“It was a great event,” Dunklee wrote in an email to FasterSkier. “The large crowd of spectators and high level of competitors made it great practice for the winter.”
Last season’s World Championships gold medalist Lowell Bailey did not travel with the rest of the men’s team, neither did World Championship participants Clare Egan and Maddie Phaneuf of the women’s team.
Joining Dunklee were national-team members Joanne Reid, Emily Dreissigacker (Craftsbury Biathlon Club/US Biathlon B-team), as well as Hallie Grossman (Craftsbury/ US Biathlon National Development Group).
On the men’s side, Burke was joined by multi-time youth/junior world champion Sean Doherty, fellow Olympian Leif Nordgren, national-team rookie Paul Schommer (A-3 team), Michael Gibson (Craftsbury), and Alex Howe (Craftsbury/US Biathlon National Development Group).
The Canadian national team did not make the long journey overseas this summer, opting to prepare at home instead, but team member Megan Tandy (who lives and trains in Germany for large parts of the year) joined Dunklee, Reid and a group of other international athletes for a short training camp and the two races.
“I train mostly alone so to have coaches and teammates for a week was awesome,” Tandy wrote in an email. “Great for some friendly competition, coaching feedback, some laughs and I learned a few things, too. I always appreciate the chance to train with other athletes!”
New Biathlete Herrmann Tops Women’s Races, Dunklee Leads Americans
Germany’s Denise Herrmann en route to a victory in the women’s pursuit at the 2017 German National Biathlon Championships on Sept. 10 in Arber, Germany. (Screenshot: BR “Blickpunkt Sport” broadcast)
Germany’s Denise Herrmann, who switched from being a cross-country sprint specialist to biathlon only a year ago, was the standout female athlete of the weekend, winning the national title in both the sprint and pursuit.
In the sprint on Saturday, Sept. 9, the German biathlon B-team member shot clean on her way to the victory in a time of 18 minutes, 2.5 seconds on the 7.5-kilometer course, ahead of national-team members Maren Hammerschmidt (+30.9 with zero penalties) and Laura Dahlmeier (+36.0 with zero penalties). Finland’s biathlon star Kaisa Mäkärainen placed fourth after shooting two penalties (+42.2, 1+1).
In a field of 44 starters, Dunklee led the North American women in 15th place (+2:29.6) with three penalties (2+1). She was the fourth-best non-German woman.
“Of course every time you toe the line you want the win but I wasn’t among the fastest there this weekend,” Dunklee explained. “My goal is to be at my best in February and my focused work at these races will help get me there. The course had a nice flow with rolling terrain which made it great for practicing uphill V2 and transitions.”
Reid placed 18th (+2:45.8) with one penalty (0+1), while Tandy finished just behind her in 19th (+2:48.7) after having to circle three penalty laps (2+1). Dreissigacker placed 31st (+3:57.4) also with three penalties (1+2), and Grossmann was 40th (+4:57.9) with five penalties (2+3), out of 44 finishers.
In the following 10 k pursuit on Sunday in rainy conditions, Herrmann was able to rack up her second title in as many days in 30:17.5 after shooting three penalties (0+1+1+1). Dahlmeier, by her own account not a big fan of rollerski races, was unable to catch her despite another flawless shooting score and she finished second, 43.4 seconds back. Third place went to Mäkäräinen, who overcame five penalties (+1:37.8, 3+1+1+0), while Nadine Horchler in fourth overall claimed the bronze medal among Germans, moving up from sixth at the start after a solid performance on the range (+1:48.5, 0+0+0+1).
“I am really happy for her, that she now has been able to execute her abilities in both races,” Dahlmeier, a seven-time world champion, said of Herrmann to German broadcaster BR. “Her shooting, her racing, keeping her nerves in check. That demonstrates she has really taken another step forward. Still, this was a summer race without big pressure, but things are clearly moving in the right direction for her.”
The newly crowned national-champion, Herrmann was invited to a TV sports talk show hosted by the network later that evening for a more wide-ranging interview about her career, transition from cross-country to biathlon and the upcoming Olympics.
Germany’s Denise Herrmann dry firing in her kitchen. (Screenshot: Bavarian TV/BR)
“I was hoping to be able to translate my training performances into a good result, but I really wouldn’t have expected two titles this weekend,” Herrmann said. “When I made the switch [to biathlon] the Olympics in PyeongChang were my big stated goal, and I knew this wouldn’t be easy, also because this team might be the most competitive in the world. I am on my way now. Of course this was only a summer competition, but I can finally execute my shooting performances from training. I know what is left to do the next two months, and am looking forward to the winter.”
The program showed her training diligently on the shooting range, even doing “dry fire” practices at every opportunity while steaming coffee in her home kitchen. So far, Herrmann has pre-qualified for Germany’s IBU Cup team, but she started a few World Cups last season, including the Olympic test events in PyeongChang, South Korea, where she was part of the winning relay team.
“Being able to race in that relay made me incredibly happy,” Herrmann explained, remembering that day from last March. “Shooting in the first lane there, I had a few other distracting thoughts in my head. But that is the mental challenge and the allure of biathlon, and I would like to create more experiences like that.”
Clean Pursuit for Tandy on Her Birthday
Megan Tandy rollerskiing in Germany in August 2016. (Courtesy photo)
Dunklee again led the North Americans in 12th place in the pursuit (+3:42.1, fourth-best international) moving up three places from the sprint, with three penalties (0+1+0+2).
Seven seconds behind her, Tandy of Canada finished 14th (+3:49.1), just 0.1 seconds behind Germany’s Marie Heinrich (+3:49.0 with two penalties), after moving up from her starting position of 19th thanks to four clean shooting stages. She did so on her 29th birthday.
“The sprint was quite disappointing,” Tandy wrote in an email to FasterSkier. “Not the result I was aiming for… During the pursuit I really pulled the shooting together: for me it was a perfect day on the range with solid shooting times and 20/20 – it doesn’t get much better than that! To top it off, Sunday was my [29th] birthday so I was pretty pleased.”
Tandy was also happy with her performance considering she lives about an hour away from the nearest biathlon range. She estimated she had accumulated several thousand fewer shots in practice than most of her competitors this year.
“I had two 20/20 races on the World Cup circuit during the 2015-16 season, but I think this is the first time since then… so it has definitely been awhile!” she wrote. “The plus side is that I really value my time on the shooting range and I am approaching shooting training with such an intense focus that I am sure this summer has been some of my highest quality shooting training ever.”
“My race form is not where it needs to be yet, but I am feeling stronger than I was at this time last year and I believe I am making good progress,” Tandy wrote of her skiing. “The potential for a great season is there, but I still have a lot of work to do before the snow flies!”
Reid finished the pursuit in 21st place (+6:10.3) with three penalties (0+2+1+0), Dreissigacker moved up one spot to 30th (+7:34.6) with three penalties (1+0+2+0), and Grossman repeated in 40th (+12:21.9) with nine penalties (2+2+3+2).
The men’s 10 k sprint title went to Germany’s Benedikt Doll in a time of 24:33.3 despite two penalties (1+1) for his first national title. In a bit of a surprising outcome, Doll won the sprint at the 2017 World Championships in Hochfilzen, Austria, last season. On Saturday he prevailed over teammates Matthias Dorfer (+17.6, 0+1) and Simon Schempp (+24.2, 2+1), respectively. Switzerland’s Mario Dolder was the top non-German in fourth overall (+29.0, 1+0).
Leif Nordgren placed 15th with a single standing miss to lead the North American men in the sprint, finishing 1:21.3 back from Doll. Nordgren was the third-best international guest behind Dolder and his Swiss teammate Benjamin Weger, who was ninth overall.
“It was a fun weekend at the German summer championships in Langdorf, the race shape is not there yet though!” Nordgren wrote on Instagram.
Just two seconds behind him, Burke placed 18th (+1:23.4, fifth-best international) with three penalties (2+1). Doherty was 27th (+2:14.3) with four penalties (2+2), Schommer finished 34th (+2:54.0) with five penalties (4+1), and Gibson placed 48th (+4:32.5) with five penalties (3+2) in the field of 54 finishers.
Howe did not start, but posted on social media about supporting his wife Emily Dreissigacker:
In the men’s 12.5 k pursuit on Sunday, Germany’s Schempp improved from third at the start to claim the championship in commanding fashion in a time of 30:41.1 with a single penalty (0+1+0+0). His fellow senior national team member Erik Lesser moved up from seventh to claim the silver medal (+1:14.5 with two penalties), while Doll swapped positions on the podium with Schempp, coming in third place (+1:22.0 with four penalties). Sprint silver medalist Dorfer fell back to fifth place (+1:43.2 with four penalties).
“Totally satisfied with my performance the first weekend of the nationals,” Schempp posted on Instagram.
Tim Burke (USBA) racing to third in the men’s mass start at US Biathlon Rollerski Championships on Aug. 13 in Jericho, Vt. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)
For the U.S., Burke moved up from 18th to seventh place with three penalties (0+0+2+1). He finished 2:16.9 minutes after Schempp and battled with local juniors David Zobel and Lucas Fratzscher to the line. Zobel placed sixth (+2:16.1 with one penalty) and Fratzscher eighth (+2:17.2, moving up from 23rd with clean shooting). Burke was the top non-German in the pursuit.
“These races were a good opportunity for me to see where I am at after the spring/summer training season,” Burke wrote in an email. “The races over here definitely have more of a ‘winter feel’ with bigger crowds and larger start fields. Overall, I was satisfied with my results. I felt like I did well in the areas that I have been focusing on this summer, and I now have clear areas of focus heading into the winter.”
Nordgren finished 18th (+3:33.5) slipping three positions and incurring two penalties on the shooting range (1+0+0+1). Schommer came in 29th (+5:06.1) improving by five places despite five penalties (3+1+1+0). Doherty was 30th (+5:22.0) after starting 27th, also with five penalties (1+3+1+0). Gibson finished 42nd (+8:17.8) improving by six places while registering six penalties (1+1+2+2), and Howe was unable to start after missing the sprint.
The German athletes will continue their national championship races with mass start and relay events in Ruhpolding next weekend. Meanwhile, the US athletes planned to use the week for testing and on-snow training in a ski tunnel at the World Cup venue in Oberhof, Germany, before returning to the U.S., according to Dunklee and Burke.
“Hopefully there will be a few more weeks of sunny fall training [in Germany] before it is time to hit the snow, before heading home to Canada for National team trials in early November,” Tandy wrote of her next plans.
The Hohenzollern Ski Stadium venue at the Arber will host another IBU Cup in January, when some of the German and North American athletes competing last weekend might return there.
FasterSkier’s Coverage of the Biathlon World Championships is made possible through the generous support of the Craftsbury Outdoor Center: New England’s finest snowmaking, world class race venues and touring trails, healthy food in abundance, comfortable accommodations at Craftsbury: Sports, Sustainability, Stewardship.
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