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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.

Tag: Hanna Oeberg

  • Historic 1-4 Sweep for France in Women’s Biathlon Sprint

    Historic 1-4 Sweep for France in Women’s Biathlon Sprint

    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.

     

    France swept places 1-4 in the Sprint at the 2024 Biathlon World Championships. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Ever since France upset Norway to win the opening Mixed Relay of the 2024 Biathlon World Championships, their magnificent esprit de corps has been on display. After that race, the entire team gathered around the podium and belted “La Marseillaise” in the rain as the French flag was raised in the Vysocina Arena in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic. That same winning energy pulsed through the French women’s team Friday as they delivered an historic sweep of the first four places—a feat not seen since the inaugural Women’s Biathlon World Championships in 1984 when the Soviet Union swept the 10 k Individual. (American Kari Swenson was fifth.) There were 35 finishers in that race. In Friday’s 7.5 k Sprint, The French quartet of Julia Simon, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, Lou Jeanmonnot, and Sophie Chauveau bested a field of nearly 100.

    Early starter Julia Simon (FRA) crosses the finish line, setting the time to beat in the Women’s Sprint. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    All eyes were on Simon, wearing bib 2, to set the time to beat for the day. After laying down a perfect anchor leg in Wednesday’s Mixed Relay, she picked up where she left off with another 10/10 performance, leaving little room for any challengers. Simon’s ski time ranked fourth and her total shooting time of 42 seconds for prone and standing was the fastest of the day. It was a dominant Sprint performance from the 2023 World Cup Overall champion, who is better known for her head-to-head racing.

    Lou Jeanmonnot (FRA) shot 9/10 to land on her first World Championships podium, taking home the bronze for France. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Another early starter, Jeanmonnot in bib 5 matched Simon’s speed on the course but lost some time to her on the range (like everyone else) and missed one target in standing, eventually finishing 40 seconds back. It seemed inevitable that other competitors would fill that gap, but as the race went on it became clear that the only athletes skiing fast enough to challenge the French women were their own teammates.

    Justin Braisaz-Bouchet (FRA) outskied the field by nearly 30 seconds to take silver despite one miss. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Out-skiing the field by over 30 seconds in Wednesday’s Mixed Relay, Braisaz-Bouchet demonstrated that she is one of very few athletes who can ski a penalty loop and still fight for gold. That scenario nearly played out in Friday’s Sprint, as Braisaz-Bouchet gapped the field by 28 seconds, missed one in prone but then hit all of her standing targets, leaving the range with just a 13-second deficit to clean-shooting Simon. She closed the gap in the final kilometers but couldn’t quite catch Simon, crossing the line just 4.9 seconds behind.

    World Cup Overall leader Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold (NOR) led the race after the first shooting but then fell to 25th after a disastrous three misses in standing. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    The two Italian stars, Lisa Vittozzi and Dorothea Wierer, were early challengers for the podium, both showing their trademark poise on the range with 10/10 hits, but they didn’t have the ski speed to keep up with the French women and ended up seventh and tenth. Swedish sisters Hanna and Elvira Oeberg did the reverse; they skied well but both missed in standing and dropped to eighth and ninth.

    The only other athlete who could challenge Simon for the gold was World Cup Overall leader Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold (NOR) in bib 26. She came through the prone shooting in the lead, 1.5 seconds ahead of Simon, but then suffered a disastrous standing bout, missing three targets and falling to 25th place—her worst result of the season.

    Sophie Chauveau (FRA) reacts to her team’s one-through-four sweep. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    The podium positions seemed secure until Chauveau, wearing bib 40, nearly overtook Jeanmonnot. Chauveau found herself down in 30th after a miss in prone but then launched into podium contention with her clean standing shooting and third-ranked course time. In the finish she was a mere four seconds off the podium.

    Simon’s gold is her first Sprint podium of the season and only her second-ever Sprint victory. Braisaz-Bouchet, who skipped last season to have her first child, had never finished better than 25th in a World Championships Sprint, despite taking part in every edition since 2015 and winning a list of World Cup races and an Olympic gold medal in Beijing along the way. Jeanmonnot’s bronze is her first World Championship medal, and Chauveau’s fourth place ties her second-best career finish. She earned her first World Cup medal, a bronze, in January of this year.

    While the French women shot exceptionally well, they owe their sweep to their ski speed. Four of the top-five fastest skiers in the Sprint were French. The other was 2021 cross-country World Cup Overall Sprint champion, Anamarija Lampic of Slovenia, who missed five and finished 36th. Reflecting on the role that ski preparation played today, US Biathlon ski technician Federico Fontana said, “The dirt and the wet in Nove Mesto is always challenging. The French had incredible skis.”

    Baiba Bendika (LAT) skied the seventh-fastest course time and hit 9/10 to tie her career-best finish of fifth. (NordicFocus).

    The surprise of the day was Latvia’s Baiba Bendika, who finished fifth to match her career-best result, having given birth to her first child in October—just four months ago. She had a chance to break up the French sweep but missed her last shot. Franziska Preuss of Germany completed the Flower Ceremony, also with one standing miss.

    Irwin and Geraghty-Moats Qualify for Pursuit

    Deedra Irwin was the top American in the Sprint, finishing 39th with one miss each in prone and standing. She wrote on her Instagram account, “It isn’t what I wanted but then I realized that it is my personal best World Champs Sprint finish!” Irwin has consistently been scoring World Cup points in the top 40 this season and has the potential to move up significantly in Sunday’s Pursuit. She’ll be joined in the Pursuit for the first time by teammate Tara Geraghty-Moats, who sneaked into the top-60 qualifiers with a new personal-best of 58th.

    Tara Geraghty-Moats (USA) smiling in the finish line after setting a new personal-best of 58th to qualify for her first Pursuit. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Geraghty-Moats cited her start position as playing a role in her qualification. “I had good course conditions with the second-to-last starting bib. With the warm temperatures, I thought the course would degrade a lot by the time I raced but it didn’t.” She had the advantage of watching earlier athletes go through, and drawing on their energy. “It looked so epic. It made me super excited to go out there. With the results I’ve had this winter I didn’t think I would make the Pursuit so I just wanted to have a race where I executed my plan well.”

    Jackie Garso (USA) racing in her first World Championships. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Chloe Levins and Jackie Garso completed the US roster in Friday’s race. Levins echoed Geraghty-Moats’ comments about the atmosphere in the stadium: “The energy under the lights in Nove Mesto was electrifying tonight.” Levins, who finished 80th with two misses, is coming off a training season that was interrupted by a number of health issues. “I’m nowhere near satisfied with my result, but continue to gain great experience and feel myself racing back into shape.” Garso, competing in her first World Championships, finished 87th with three misses. She, too, was shocked by the crowds: “It’s unbelievably loud! You can’t even hear yourself breathe.”

    Full Results

    Up Next

    Saturday 10 Feb Men’s Sprint 11:05 (Eastern Time)

    Watch Here

    Julia Simon (FRA) took home her second gold of the 2024 Biathlon World Championships. (Photo: NordicFocus)
  • France Snags Mixed Relay Gold Ahead of Norway at Biathlon World Championships

    France Snags Mixed Relay Gold Ahead of Norway at Biathlon World Championships

    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.

     

    The start of the Mixed Relay at the 2024 Biathlon World Championships in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    In the opening race of the 2024 Biathlon World Championships, France overcame heavy favorite Norway to take gold in the 4×6 k Mixed Relay. It was a tightly contested race with 25 nations on the start line and only 40 seconds separating the top five teams at the third exchange. On the final leg, Norway and Sweden overtook Switzerland to capture silver and bronze. The Swiss ended up a mere 1.2 seconds off the podium in fourth—their best finish ever in a World Championships Mixed Relay. Steady freezing rain did not stop 30,000 biathlon-crazed fans from packing the Vysocina Arena in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic, making for an electric atmosphere on opening night.

    Germany led early in the Mixed Relay thanks to exceptional shooting by Justus Strelow and Phillip Nawrath. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    The unofficial “ice breaker” of World Championships, the Mixed Relay tends to be chaotic and full of surprises, and today’s race was no exception. Ranked sixth going into the race, the home Czech team met disaster on the very first visit to the shooting range when Michal Krcmar incurred a penalty loop and found himself in second to last, a full minute behind the leaders. Krcmar exchanged in 21st, two minutes back. Third-ranked Italy fared even worse: Didier Bionaz incurred two penalty loops in his standing shoot and tagged off in 23rd. Meanwhile, 19th-ranked Kazakhstan and 17th-ranked United States tagged in fifth and sixth, thanks to world-class performances from Alexandr Mukhin (KAZ) and Vincent Bonacci (USA).

    Tarjei Boe (NOR) is followed by Vincent Bonacci (USA) in the first leg of the Mixed Relay. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    The big surprise on the second leg was that Norway did not come through on top. Norwegian brothers Tarjei and Johannes Boe—ranked third and first in the men’s World Cup overall standings—are such a powerhouse combination that they were all but guaranteed to deliver a Norwegian lead at the half-way point; however, they both lost time on the range that they were unable to recover on skis. Germans Justus Strelow and Phillip Nawrath combined to put 48 seconds into the Norwegians just in shooting time. At the halfway point, Germany led, with France eight seconds back and Norway another twenty behind. The US and Canada tagged in ninth and tenth, just 15 seconds outside the top six.

    Franziska Preuss (GER) fell from first to fifth after incurring a penalty loop in her standing shoot in the Mixed Relay. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Anyone who bet on the Norwegians for gold would have felt uneasy going into the third leg, with the German and especially the French women’s teams both very strong on paper. But it was a rollercoaster for all. France’s Justine Braisaz-Bouchet went into the penalty loop in prone and dropped to fifth place, giving Franziska Preuss of Germany a 39-second advantage. Then their fortunes switched in standing when Preuss went into the penalty loop! Braisaz used a single spare and out-skied the field in leg three by a whopping 33 seconds, making an enormous comeback for France and tagging in first. At the third exchange, only eight seconds separated the top three teams, with Switzerland moving up into second and Norway hanging in third. After a quiet first half, Sweden’s Hanna Oeberg brought her team within striking distance on the third leg, tagging her younger sister Elvira in fourth, just 14 seconds off the podium. Germany fell to fifth. Both the USA and Canada held in the top ten.

    Sweden’s Elvira Oeberg out-skied Switzerland’s Amy Baserga to take bronze in the Mixed Relay. (Photo NordicFocus)

    In the final leg, Julia Simon left no room for any contest, blazing down all her targets, taking a bow, and then skiing to the finish with a comfortable 45-second lead for France. Switzerland’s Amy Baserga performed flawlessly under pressure, shooting ten out of ten, but was overtaken on her first loop by the World Cup overall leader Ingrid Tandrevold of Norway and then on the last loop by Elvira Oeberg, who captured the bronze for Sweden by just one second.

    Julia Simon (FRA) takes a bow on the shooting range after clinching gold for France with her flawless final shoot. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    The US stayed in the top ten until the very last loop when the Italians came clawing their way back from the dead and pushed the US down into 11th. Canada finished 13th, just in front of the Czech Republic.

    Next up is the women’s 7.5 k Sprint on Friday, February 9th.

    Full Results

    The winning team from France from left to right: Eric Perrot, Quentin Fillon-Maillet, Justine Braisaz, and Julia Simon. (Photo: NordicFocus)
  • Hanna Oeberg of Sweden Claims Women’s Mass Start Title, Lunder 7th

    Hanna Oeberg of Sweden Claims Women’s Mass Start Title, Lunder 7th

     

    The start of the 12.5 k Women’s Mass Start at the Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof, Germany. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    On the final day of the 2023 Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof, Germany, the top thirty women in the world took to the course for the 12.5 k Mass Start. For some, it was the seventh race in twelve days. Under steady rain, the top fifteen athletes from the World Cup Overall standings plus the medalists and other athletes with the most cumulative points from the World Championships Sprint, Pursuit, and Individual races battled through four shooting stages and five laps up the Birxsteig climb. Of the thirty women on the start list, 11 had won a race, 19 had been on a podium, and a couple others had a personal best of fourth, including Emma Lunder of Canada.

    Thirty competitors head out on the first of five 2.5 k laps in the Women’s Mass Start at Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof, Germany. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    The race was wide open, but eventually three familiar faces filtered to the top. After Sebastian Samuelsson and Martin Ponsiluoma unexpectedly swept gold and silver for Sweden in the morning’s Men’s Mass Start, Hanna Oeberg made it a Swedish double, winning the Women’s Mass Start by just a few seconds over Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold of Norway and Julia Simon of France. While there was little doubt that the name “Oeberg” would be at the top of the results sheet at these Championships, most people would have bet on Hanna’s younger sister, Elvira, who is ranked second in the World Cup Overall behind Simon. Unfortunately, Elvira got sick at the beginning of the Championships and only raced the Sprint and Women’s Relay. Hanna, ranked tenth in the Overall, stepped up in a big way to win both the 15km Individual and the Mass Start, becoming the only woman at these Championships to win two individual titles.

    Wearing bib 11 in the Mass Start, Anais Chevalier-Bouchet (FRA) shot clean through the first three stages and led most of the race. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    The Mass Start was tight from start to finish. At the first shooting stage, 20 out of 30 competitors shot clean and left the range within 15 seconds of one another. Oeberg and Simon both missed one and left the range together in 21st and 22nd. As Anais Chevalier of France set the pace at the front, Oeberg and Simon skied the fastest second loop to reconnect with the lead pack before the second shooting. At Shooting 2 Chevalier stayed clear but Oeberg and Simon both missed again, this time joined by Tandrevold and Lunder. None of the them were able to reach the lead pack before the third shooting, but they were all well within striking distance. Approaching Shooting 3, the top 21 women were all within 30 seconds.

    Julia Simon (FRA) standing on Lane 1 for Shooting 4 during the Women’s Mass Start at the IBU World Championships in Oberhof, Germany. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    As is often the case, Shooting 3—the first of two standing stages in the Mass Start—proved decisive. Chevalier, Simon, Oeberg, and Tandrevold all cleaned and took places one through four at the front of the race. Lunder missed once more and found herself in 17th with a 50-second deficit. Simon and Chevalier pulled into the final shooting together, with Tandrevold and Oeberg following 16 seconds later. The two French women incurred one miss each, leaving the door open for the Scandinavian chasers. Both Oeberg and Tandrevold capitalized on the moment, hitting five for five! Oeberg led out of the range with Tandrevold four seconds behind. Simon and Chevalier exited the penalty loop together another four seconds behind Tandrevold. The chase was on. Lunder cleaned her last stage as well, jumping from 17th to seventh.

    Hanna Oeberg (SWE) celebrates her victory as she crosses the finish line in the Women’s Mass Start at the IBU World Championships in Oberhof. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Over a grueling last 2.5 k loop, Simon caught Tandrevold, but then Tandrevold put in a hard push on the last climb and dropped Simon, coming within seconds of Oeberg. But Oeberg didn’t give an inch to Tandrevold, matching her course time over the last loop down to the tenth of a second. With a strong finish, Oeberg claimed her fourth medal and second individual gold of these Championships. Tandrevold collapsed in tears of joy at the finish. Having struggled mightily from the standing position during these Championships, hitting a miserable 60%, she made a total turnaround in the Mass Start, hitting 10/10 in standing to capture the silver medal. Simon comfortably held off Chevalier to claim the bronze.

    Emma Lunder (CAN) leads a pack of eight people into the finish lanes in a fight for sixth place. Marketa Davidova (CZE), blurred in the foreground, catches her breath after claiming fifth thanks to a fast last loop. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Behind Chevalier, the race for the last two places in the top-six Flower Ceremony was even more intense. Only twelve seconds separated places five through thirteen. Samuela Comola (ITA) left the range in fifth, having added another 20 hits to her now 50-shot streak. She was hunted down by Marketa Davidova (CZE), Dorothea Wierer (ITA), Emma Lunder (CAN), and Karoline Knotten (NOR), who all had one or two misses and were skiing faster than Comola. Davidova made an early move and passed Comola to secure fifth. With less than 1 k to go, Lunder and Knotten dropped Wierer, and with Lunder pushing the pace, the two caught and passed Comola just before the finishing lanes. In a photo finish, Knotten out-lunged Lunder to take sixth by one tenth of a second. Just behind them, six athletes more crossed within three seconds.

    Wearing bib 28, Karoline Knotten (NOR) out-lunges Emma Lunder of Canada to take sixth in the Mass Start at the IBU World Championships in Oberhof, Germany. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    With the conclusion of the Mass Starts, the 2023 Biathlon World Championships have come to a close. Biathletes now have one week to rest before they head to Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic for the first of three World Cup stages in the final trimester of competition.

    Biathlon World Championships Women’s Mass Start RESULTS

  • Biathlon World Championships: Oeberg Claims Individual Title; Irwin and Lunder top-25

    Biathlon World Championships: Oeberg Claims Individual Title; Irwin and Lunder top-25

    Ever since Hanna Oeberg burst onto the podium for the first time, winning Olympic gold in the 15km Individual at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, she has been a consistent force in the event. She defended her title at the 2019 World Championships, just missed the podium in fourth in 2020, and took silver in 2021. After faltering slightly in the 2022 Olympics in Beijing with a 16th place finish, Oeberg came back today to win her third Championship-level gold, in spite of one miss. Oeberg’s teammate, Linn Persson, shot 20/20 for the silver medal, and Italy’s Lisa Vittozzi missed only her last shot to finish third.

    Medalists in the IBU World Championships 15km Individual: Linn Persson (SWE), Hanna Oeberg (SWE), Lisa Vittozzi (ITA), (l-r). (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Dorothea Wierer (ITA) was an early leader, wearing bib four and missing only once in the first three stages. But disaster struck on the final stage when she missed three, sending her three minutes down in the results. A few minutes later wearing bib 11, Wierer’s Italian teammate Lisa Vittozzi came through in the lead, having shot 15/15 in the first three stages. Vittozzi was fifth in last Friday’s Sprint but then came down with a cold on Saturday and had to skip the Pursuit. Despite returning from illness, she managed to ski the sixth-fastest course time today and carried a big lead into the final shooting stage. She hit the first four shots but then missed the last, opening up a door for Linn Persson of Sweden. Persson also shot clean through the first three stages and was holding Vittozzi’s pace; the two were separated by only .6 after Shooting 3. Persson hit the perfect 20/20 to take the lead, leaving the range with a huge smile on her face.

    Lisa Vittozzi (ITA) on her way to a bronze medal finish in the IBU World Championships Individual. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Persson crossed the finish line in first place, but her teammate Hanna Oeberg was chasing her down. With one miss in the first stage but then clean shooting for the rest of the race, Oeberg left the range after the final stage with a 14-second deficit to clean-shooting Persson. Knowing that the gold medal was on the line, Oeberg outskied Persson by nearly 25 seconds over the last three-kilometer loop to claim the World Championship title.

    Linn Persson (SWE) shot the perfect 20/20 to take silver in the IBU World Championship Individual in Oberhof , Germany. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Persson was one of just three women to shoot the perfect score today. The others, Samuela Comola (ITA) and Suvi Minkkinen (FIN), both set new personal bests, finishing fourth and eighth, respectively. Joining Comola in the Flower Ceremony were World Cup Overall leader, Julia Simon of France in fifth, and Tuuli Tomingas of Estonia, whose sixth place finish is the highest ever for an Estonian woman at a World Championships.

    Deedra Irwin (USA) racing in a t-shirt due to uncharacteristically warm and sunny conditions at the IBU World Championships in Oberhof, Germany. (Photo, NordicFocus)

    From the USA, Deedra Irwin found her groove today. After sickness and tricky range conditions hampered her efforts in the Sprint and Pursuit, Irwin pulled together her best focus today to finish 20th—her third-best career result and best this season. Of 90 starters in today’s race, only three shot clean and only four hit 19/20; Irwin was one of them, missing one from the standing position in the second stage. “I’m just glad I was able to keep it together on the range,” said Irwin, who couldn’t train normally in the lead up to the Championships due to illness. “I feel flat, but it’s getting better every race.” Lucky for Irwin, she has two more races in the next three days to keep the positive momentum going. Irwin’s parents are supporting her on-site; they made the big trip from Wisconsin to see their first international biathlon races and are wearing Green Bay Packers gear with pride. Look for the cheesehead on the live stream!

    Emma Lunder (CAN) on her way to 25th in the IBU World Championships Individual in Oberhof, Germany (Photo: NordicFocus).

    Emma Lunder of Canada finished 20 seconds behind Irwin in 25th, in spite of three penalties. With 11th and 30th place finishes from the Sprint and Pursuit, Lunder has comfortably qualified for next Sunday’s Mass Start. In the two Mass Starts this winter she has finished 9th and 11th, and she is skiing faster now than she was earlier in the season so she has podium potential.

    Kelsey Dickinson (USA) made her IBU World Championships debut, shooting 90% to finish 67th. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Nadia Moser of Canada finished 58th with five penalties. Joanne Reid skied just nine seconds slower than Irwin but had difficulty on the range, missing three in the first standing stage and six overall to finish 61st. In her World Championships debut, Kelsey Dickinson (USA) had excellent shooting, missing only two, but felt like she couldn’t push into her highest gear and ended up 67th. Right behind Dickinson was Chloe Levins (USA) who had a total of four misses and finished 68th. Also with four misses, Benita Peiffer of Canada was 69th.

    Four races down, three to go!

    IBU World Championships Women’s 15km Individual RESULTS

    UP NEXT:

    Thursday at 9:10AM Eastern Time: Single-Mixed Relay
    Saturday at 5:45AM Eastern Time: Men’s 4 x 7.5k Relay
    Saturday at 9:00AM Eastern Time: Women’s 4 x 6k Relay
    Sunday at 6:30AM Eastern Time: Men’s 15k Mass Start
    Sunday at 9:30AM Eastern Time: Women’s 12.5 Mass Start

    Watch live here.

  • Biathlon World Championships: Dream Day for Germany, Lunder 11th

    Biathlon World Championships: Dream Day for Germany, Lunder 11th

    Denise Herrmann-Wick (GER) shooting from the standing position at the IBU World Championships Sprint in Oberhof, Germany. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Biathlon fans anticipated that the women’s 7.5km Sprint would be one of the most tightly-contested races of the BMW IBU World Championships, and it did not disappoint. In the end, only 2.2 seconds separated the new World Champion, Denise Herrmann-Wick of Germany, from the silver medalist, Hanna Oeberg of Sweden. Oeberg’s teammate, Linn Persson, finished third. These athletes will start at the front of Sunday’s 60-person Pursuit and try to stave off the chasers for another chance at a World Championship medal.

    Hanna Oeberg (SWE) leaving the range in the lead of the IBU World Championships Sprint in Oberhof, Germany. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Fourteen women from seven nations have landed on the podium this winter. But among all those contenders, arguably no one had more pressure on them today than hometown favorite, Denise Herrmann-Wick. Ranked first in the World Cup Sprint standings, the 34-year-old revealed in Wednesday’s Mixed Relay that she has peaked perfectly for these races. Even with nine out ten hits, Herrmann-Wick is skiing fast enough that she could have a chance at a podium finish, but today she left nothing chance. Unfazed by tens of thousands of spectators cheering in unison after each shot, Herrmann-Wick steadily cleared ten out of ten targets. One word came to mind: impressive.

    But the race wasn’t over. A few minutes later, Hanna Oeberg of Sweden managed the same perfect shooting, leaving the range for the final 2.5km loop with a nine second advantage over Herrmann-Wick. A hush of collective anxiety came over the full stadium of German fans. By the top of Oberhof’s signature Birxsteig climb, Oeberg’s advantage had dwindled to a near tie. It wasn’t until the final meters of the race, when Oeberg’s time ticked above Herrmann-Wick’s winning mark of 21:19.7, that the Thuringen Arena burst into cheers.

    Denise Herrmann-Wick (GER) celebrates after winning the IBU World Championships Sprint in Oberhof, Germany. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    The battle for gold was not limited to those two athletes. Wearing bib number two, Anamarija Lampic of Slovenia cleaned her prone targets, leaving the audience wondering if today might be the day for the former cross-country skier to break onto her first podium. But that kind of biathlon magic wasn’t to be; Lampic’s inexperience came through when she missed four targets in standing. With the 17th-ranked course time, she narrowly managed to qualify for Sunday’s Pursuit in 58th. It was Lampic’s teammate, Polona Klemencic, who stepped up and shined for Slovenia with the perfect shooting score to take her first career top-10 in 8th place.

    Ingrid Tandrevold of Norway led the race after Shooting 1, showing once again that her ski speed and prone shooting skills are there. But the standing shooting slump which has been bothering her since January persisted and she missed two on her way to a 14th place finish. Lisa Vittozzi of Italy missed just one in standing but skied fast enough to briefly take the lead from Marketa Davidova of Czech Republic, who had hit 100% as she so often does in championship races.

    The defending Olympic Champion in the Sprint, Marte Olsbu Roeiseland, was sitting way back in 26th after missing one in prone, but with a clean standing bout and the second-ranked course time, she pulled her way back to fourth, just five seconds shy of the bronze medal. She’ll be motivated for more in the Pursuit. The World Cup Overall leader, Julia Simon, was well on her way to a podium finish with eight hits before she missed the last two. Simon thrives in head-to-head races and will be a threat in the Pursuit even starting 1:02 back in 10th place.

    Emma Lunder (CAN) following Marte Olsbu Roiseland (NOR) in the IBU World Championships Sprint in Oberhof, Germany, where they finished 11th and 4th, respectively. (Photo: NordicFocus).

    Less than one second behind Simon, Emma Lunder of Canada posted her best-ever Championship result in 11th. After a season-best ski performance on Wednesday in the Mixed Relay, Lunder knew anything was possible in today’s Sprint. “I was a bag of nerves,” she said. “I was more nervous for this than the Olympics, because I knew I had a chance.” Once she started, her good preparation kicked in and with a clear mind she executed to near perfection, with just one prone miss and a top-15 course time. Lunder attributes her excellent shape to staying healthy. She hasn’t been sick since last year’s Olympics, so she has been able to train continuously and make steady gains. She also credited her ski technicians for fast skis. In Sunday’s Pursuit, only 1:03 will separate Emma from Herrmann-Wick. To the podium, it’s just 37 seconds.

    Nadia Moser (CAN) on her way to 48th in the IBU World Championships Sprint in Oberhof, Germany. Photo: (NordicFocus)

    Two other North Americans qualified for the Pursuit. Nadia Moser (CAN) finished 48th with one penalty, and Deedra Irwin (USA) finished 55th with two. “I’ve barely trained for the last two weeks,” said Irwin after the race, referencing a sickness she came down with in January which required a round of antibiotics. “And this course is so hard. The headwind on that straightaway was brutal.” Some athletes were luckier than others, finding themselves in position to draft for the 500m windy straightaway approach to the range. Lunder put in a hard sprint to catch someone there. Chloe Levins, the second American today in 73rd, was alone every time on that section, but she performed well on the range, hitting nine of ten.

    Joanne Reid (USA) shot clean in prone but suffered three penalties in standing to finish 75th. Competing in her first biathlon World Championships race, former Nordic Combined athlete Tara Geraghty-Moats (USA) similarly cleaned prone but struggled in standing, missing four to finish 86th. Canada’s Benita Peiffer rounded out their squad, missing five to finish 93rd.


    Chloe Levins (USA) hit nine out of ten to finish 73rd in the IBU World Championships Sprint in Oberhof, Germany. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    The women will be back in action on Sunday, but first it’s the men’s sprint, Saturday at 8:30AM Eastern Time.

    IBU World Championships Women’s Sprint RESULTS

    Coming Up Next:

    SATURDAY:
    Men’s Sprint at 8:30AM Eastern Time.

    SUNDAY:
    Women’s Pursuit at 7:25AM Eastern Time.
    Men’s Pursuit at 9:30AM Eastern Time.

    FREE LIVESTREAM HERE

    IBU World Championships women’s Sprint podium: Denise Herrmann-Wick (GER) in first, Hanna Oeberg SWE) in second at left, and Linn Persson (SWE) in third. Oberhof, Germany. (Photo: NordicFocus)
  • Belarus Nabs First Olympic Gold in Women’s Relay; Canada 10th, U.S. 13th

    Belarus Nabs First Olympic Gold in Women’s Relay; Canada 10th, U.S. 13th

    The Belarusian women’s biathlon team, with (from left to right) Nadezhda Skardino, Iryna Kryuko, Dzinara Alimbekava, and Darya Domracheva, celebrates winning a historic gold for their nation in the 4 x 6 relay at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. They were ranked 10th coming into the day. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)

    FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Madshus USA, Concept2, Boulder Nordic Sport and Swix Sport US for their generous support, which made this coverage possible.

    PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Some things were the same on Thursday night: the attention-grabbing biathlon stadium announcer generating an atmosphere of stoke, thumping house music, and shivering yet engaged fans. Making it feel like true winter, a heavy snow squall settled in over the Alpensia Biathlon Center for the women’s 4 x 6-kilometer relay.

    Ultimately, Belarus won gold in a time of 1:12:03.4 hours with Nadezhda Skardino, Iryna Kryuko, Dzinara Alimbekava, Darya Domracheva. Sweden’s Linn Persson, Mona Brorsson, Anna Magnusson, and Hanna Öberg took silver (+10.7), while France’s Anaïs Chevalier, Marie Dorin Habert, Justine Braisaz, and Anaïs Bescond claimed bronze (+17.6).

    For the first few legs, however, all three medaling teams seemed an outside shot at the podium. On a windy and, for the first time at the Olympics, snowy evening, the win was up for grabs from the start.

    After the first lap, a rainbow of suits came into the shooting range together, 7.8 seconds separating the leader from the field’s tail. America’s lead-off skier, Susan Dunklee, skied out of the range first after shooting clean in prone. The U.S. skier was followed by Ukraine, 2.9 seconds back. And Canada’s Sarah Beaudry had also cleaned without any spares to put her team in third, 7.1 seconds back.

    Dunklee held her lead through the 2.9 k checkpoint and by 3.6 k, she was up to 8.1 seconds ahead of Japan chasing in second. Canada had fallen to 12th, 14.9 seconds back. With dumping snow and blustery wind before their second shooting round, it was Dunklee all entering the range all alone that was featured on the stadium’s jumbotron.

    For her standing stage, Dunklee missed one target, but cleaned it with one spare. She left the range 5.2 second behind Italy’s Lisa Vittozzi, who had also cleaned with one spare. After the first leg’s final shooting stage, the field started to spread out. Beaudry used three spares to clean standing and avoided the penalty lap, returning to the course in 13th, 50.5 seconds out of first.

    Susan Dunklee skiing the first leg of the mixed relay on Tuesday at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. She tagged the team in fifth and they went on to place 15th. On Thursday, she skied the U.S. women’s 4 x 6 k relay into second by the first exchange. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    “There’s some, as a friend of mine would call it, Disneyland snow, falling from the sky so it makes it exciting in the relay,” Beaudry told FasterSkier after her race. “Everyone shoots at the same time so I wouldn’t say anything is unfair. It makes opportunity. So hopefully my teammates can take advantage of that.”

    Dunklee came through the 5.6 k checkpoint trailing Vittozzi by 7.2 seconds. At the first exchange, Italy tagged off first and Dunklee handed off to Clare Egan 7.6 seconds back in second. 

    “It has been a tough Games. We came in here with a lot of expectations and certainly haven’t really lived up to them,” Dunklee told FasterSkier after her leg. “It’s extremely frustrating. To think about every decision you make in your life over four years, with your best training in mind and your best performance in mind, and then getting sick at the wrong time is tough. The guys have struggled.

    “We have had some bright spots with the girls; Emily and Joanne have carried us, they have had PR’s here. That is exciting,” Dunklee added, before looking up at the screen to see Egan skiing in third. “And this is exciting today. This is really exciting! Anything is possible.”

    Beaudry tagged Canada’s Julia Ransom in 15th, 1:15 minutes out of first.

    “I was really happy with my first lap and my prone,” Beaudry said after her first Olympic relay. “I tried to keep with the group on my second lap and I think that left me a little shaky in standing. I’m not too pleased with my two spares, but I mean, I missed three and I didn’t miss a spare, so at least shoot a spare, hit a spare.”

    After the first loop of the second leg, Italy was still in first, with Dorothea Wierer at the helm. In prone, there was a reshuffling of leaders as Slovakia’s Anastasiya Kuzmina cleaned with one spare to move into first, 15.3 seconds ahead of Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff, who had cleaned with a single spare, in second. Egan cleaned without a miss and left the range in third (+17.3). Meanwhile, Wierer still had two targets standing after using all three spares, leaving her with two costly penalty laps and 1:11 minutes back in 13th.

    Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen shot clean to put her team in fourth, 23.9 seconds behind Kuzmina. France was sixth (+32.6), and Belarus ninth (+46.6). Canada’s Ransom shot clean without any spares and left the range in  12th (+1:08.3) while Sweden was 15th (+1:16.4).

    While Kaisa Mäkäräinen moved into second behind Kuzmina on the next loop, Eckhoff and Egan followed them into the range in third and fourth, respectively. There, during an especially blustery standing stage, Kuzmina missed her first three shots and ended up with a penalty lap, which put her 20 seconds back in eighth. Wierer cleaned to reclaim first for Italy, just 0.9 seconds ahead of Mäkäräinen in second, who used two spares to avoid a penalty. Belarus’s Kryuko shot clean to leave the range in third (+7.9), and Egan hit five more shots without any spares to follow her in fourth (+10.7).

    Ransom used three spares to avoid the penalty lap and headed back on the course in 10th (+44.2) for her final 2 k loop.

    “Oh my gosh, I was really due for this,” Egan said after. “It’s by far my best race of the season so I couldn’t be more happy with my race.”

    By the time the skiers came in for the second exchange, the order had changed again. Finland handed off in first, Italy second, 14.2 seconds back, Slovakia third (+16.1) and U.S. fourth (+16.8). Canada came through in 10th (+1:09.5).

    “Kuzmina kept being behind me and then passing me,” Egan reflected. “I think every lap Kuzmina passed me so there is a lot of really fast skiers, most teams put their fastest skiers on their second legs. I tried to stay with them, but I can’t always do that. I did have people around me the whole time though so I was able to keep fighting.”

    “All you can do is just leave it all on the track no matter what it is,” Ransom said of her race. “My standing was a little bit precarious, missing three from the clip. But I’m happy I was able to hit the precious spares. It was very gusty.”

    Egan tagged off to Joanne Reid for the third of four legs. Reid slipped to sixth on her first loop and during her first prone shooting, she used three spares and had to ski a penalty lap, returning to the course in ninth, 33.6 seconds behind Italy’s Nicole Gontier, who cleaned with three spares, in first. Gontier skied just 0.4 seconds ahead of Slovakia’s Terezia Poliakova, who used one spare to clean. 

    Belarus had moved into third (+2.4), France into seventh (+19.2), while the Swedes sat in 11th (+1:33.6) and Canada, with Emma Lunder who had to ski a penalty, was still in 12th (+1:45.7).

    As the leaders came in for their standing bout, it was Italy, France, Belarus, Norway, Finland, Slovakia, Poland, and U.S.A. Belarus’s Alimbekava took the lead after using one spare, Poland chased in second (+6.2), Slovakia was next, followed by Italy. The U.S. was back up to fifth (+28.1) after Reid used one spare to clean. France was sixth (+29.2) and Sweden eighth (+1:10). Lunder cleaned to put Canada in 11th (+1:24.7).

    “I had a pretty good standing, but we need every second we can get,” Reid said after. “You never know what will happen in the next stage and the wind picking up. So even if we’re in fifth you never know. I was just trying to hang on on that uphill and give it everything I had.”

    “I didn’t feel amazing, skiing, but I ripped off my standing with no spares, like, record fast, so I was really pumped about that,” Lunder reflected. “I moved up like a ton in the range there. So I think I tagged Rosanna in a decent position to be with some girls and fight a bit.”

    Poland’s Krystyna Guzik caught Belarus’s Alimbekava and by the final exchange, it was Poland in first, France in second, Italy in third, and Belarus in fourth. Reid handed off to Emily Dreissigacker in sixth (+21.4) while Lunder tagged Rosanna Crawford in 13th (+1:22.6). Sweden exchanged in eighth (+59.1)

    The skiers had maintained their order as they approached the range for the seventh round of shooting. Belarus’s anchor leg, Domracheva, shot clean to take the lead. France was now in second, Poland third, and the U.S. in seventh (+41.1), after Dreissigacker used two spares to clean. Sweden was back in ninth (+41.9), while Crawford cleaned with one spare and out for her second loop in 12th (+1:28.6).

    Coming into the final shooting shooting round, Belarus teetered on a lock for gold, 24.8 seconds ahead of France in second. Poland still clung to third, 34.5 seconds back, while Sweden was now ranked seventh, 56.4 seconds back. The U.S. had moved back to tenth, while Canada was right behind them in 11th.

    Domracheva missed three targets standing, but used three spares to clean and avoid any penalties to hang onto first. France’s Bescond needed three spares to clean but stayed out of the penalty lap and headed out on the final loop in second (+6.4). Sweden’s Öberg cleaned her second-straight stage without any misses to move all the way up into third (+10.9). 

    For the U.S., Dreissigacker used her three spares to clean standing, but experiencing unsteady winds, took her time to steady her shot and left the range in 12th (+1:20.2). Canada’s Crawford used one spare to clean and moved up to 11th (+1:19.9).

    “It was really windy for my standing,” Crawford noted. “I really waited it out.”

    “It wasn’t great,” Dreissigacker, a first-time Olympian, said of her race. “I didn’t feel that great skiing, might’ve went out a little hard, and the shooting just wasn’t good either. I was happy to at least hit them all with my spares, but standing especially, I took all three spares and the wind came up like crazy, right before I started shooting my spares, so I had to like stand there and wait out the wind, which cost me a lot of time.”

    The Belarusian women’s biathlon team, with Nadezhda Skardino, Iryna Kryuko, Dzinara Alimbekava, and Darya Domracheva, snaps a podium selfie after winning their first relay gold on Thursday at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)

    Over the last 2 k of the race, Domracheva kept her competition behind her and crossed the line first for Belarus’s first relay gold in 1:12.03.4 (after its mixed relay team placed fifth two days ago). 

    Öberg passed Bescond to claim silver for Sweden, 10.7 seconds back, while Bescond anchored France to bronze (+17.6), ahead of Norway in fourth (+29.7), Slovakia in fifth (+38.4), Switzerland in sixth (+43.5), Poland in seventh (+43.6), Germany in eighth (+53.9), Italy in ninth (+1:04.1), and Canada in 10th (+1:33.4). The U.S. finished 13th (+2:01.9) of 18th teams.

    With the first-place finish, Domracheva is the most decorated female biathlete in Olympic history, with six medals (four golds, a silver and a bronze) between three Olympics. Her husband, Ole Einar Bjørndalen of Norway, is the most successful Olympic biathlete of all time with 13 medals. 

    “I didn’t think that before you said it,” Domracheva, 31, said of her medal record during the post-race press conference. “Of course it was a lot of challenges for me on the way. Such days and such medals mean that it’s important to believe in yourself, important to believe in your team and overcome some difficulties, and then all doors are open for you.”

    In the last four Winter Olympics, France has claimed three relay medals. Before Thursday’s bronze, their most recent was silver in 2010 and prior to that, bronze in 2006.

    Sweden’s silver medal was its first in the women’s 4 x 6 k relay at the Olympics.

    “This team worked together really hard for the last couple of years,” said Öberg, who won her first medal — gold — in the 15 k individual race earlier in the Games. “That we are here today is unbelievable. I’m really happy to share this medals with the rest of the girls.”

    Crawford caught Ukraine’s Anastasiya Merkushyna in her final lap to anchor Canada to 10th while the U.S. finished three places later in 13th.

    “My last loop I could hear Julia [Ransom] and Sarah [Beaudry] all around the course,” Crawford told FasterSkier. “They managed to be everywhere really cheering me on, and that fueled me to catch the Ukrainian.

    “I’m just so proud of this women’s team,” Crawford added. “We fought so hard out there today. We’ve been through a lot this summer and really supported each other. And I’m just really proud of the team and I think biathlon in Canada has the potential to have a bright future.”

    Results

  • Thursday Olympic Rundown: Haga Crushes 10 k, Diggins 5th; Öberg Stuns and Bø Reigns in Biathlon Individuals

    Ragnhild Haga on the way to gold in the 10 k skate at the 2018 Olympics. It is the first medal for the 27-year-old Norwegian. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Madshus USA, Concept2, Boulder Nordic Sport, and Swix Sport US for their generous support, which made this coverage possible.

    2018 Winter Olympics (PyeongChang, South Korea): Biathlon Men’s 20 k individual

    Full report

    It was a disappointing opening to the Olympics for Johannes Thingnes Bø of Norway, who despite winning eight World Cup races this season started the Games with finishes of 31st and 21st in the sprint and pursuit. But on Thursday he showed why he was a medal favorite and won the 20 k individual race – only by 5.5 seconds, but that margin becomes impressive when you consider that he had two penalties, and thus two minutes of penalty time, while silver and bronze medalists Jakov Fak of Slovenia and Dominik Landertinger of Austria (+14.2) shot clean.

    Johannes Thinges Bø celebrates with Norwegian team staff after winning Olympic gold in the 20 k individual despite two missed shots. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld.com)

    Sweden’s Sebastian Samuelsson followed up a silver medal in the pursuit with fourth place in the individual, missing one shot and notching a time 29.1 seconds behind Bø. France’s Martin Fourcade, gold medalist in the pursuit, missed two shots like Bø but finished in fifth (+42.4). Switzerland’s Benjamin Weger placed sixth (+48.6) with one penalty.

    It was a good day for Canada on the back of strong shooting: Scott Gow placed 14th (+2:02.5) with one penalty for a career-best result result; he had previously had two 16th-place finishes on the World Cup this season. With the same shooting, Brendan Green placed 22nd (+2:26.6). Christian Gow had two penalties to finish 26th (+2:57.2). Canada’s fourth man, Nathan Smith, missed five shots and placed 81st (+8:11.9).

    For the United States, shooting was not as successful and Tim Burke led the way in 41st (+4:01.9) with four penalties. With one less penalty Sean Doherty was close behind in 44th (+4:21.8). Lowell Bailey placed 51st with four penalties (+4:53.0) and Leif Nordgren missed five shots to finish 66th (+6:27.3).

    Results

    ***

    Biathlon: Women’s 15 k individual

    Full report

    Sweden’s Hanna Oeberg (center) won gold in the biathlon women’s 15 k pursuit, followed by Slovakia’s Anastasiya Kuzmina (left) in silver and Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier in bronze. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld.com)

    A few days after teammate Samuelson scored a career-best result to earn silver in the pursuit, Hanna Öberg of Sweden used perfect 20-for-20 shooting to capture gold in the women’s 15 k individual. The 22-year-old’s previous best results were fifth place in both Monday’s pursuit, and in a World Cup race last season.

    She bested the two pre-race favorites: Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia had two penalties but still managed a silver medal, her second of the games, finishing +24.7. And double gold medalist Laura Dahlmeier of Germany had one penalty and earned bronze (+41.2).

    It was a good day for both of those teams as Franziska Preuss of Germany finished fourth, +59.0 with clean shooting, and Paulina Fialkova of Slovakia placed sixth (+1:02.3) with one missed shot. Poland’s Monika Hojnicz finished sixth (+1:54.8) with one missed shot as well.

    The United States was led by Susan Dunklee in 19th, with two penalties (+3:26.3). Her teammate Joanne Reid finished 22nd (+3:34.1), her best-ever result in top-level international competition, with just one missed shot. Clare Egan finished 62nd (+6:53.6) and Emily Dreissigacker 67th (+7:09.2) with four penalties apiece.

    For Canada, Rosanna Crawford led the way in 26th (+3:48.7) with two penalties and Sarah Beaudry was close behind in 29th (+3:58.4) with one missed shot. Emma Lunder finished 54th (+5:49.4) with three penalties and Julia Ransom was 74th (+8:31.4) with five missed shots.

    Montana State University student Johanna Talihärm of Estonia finished 50th (+5:36.8) with three penalties.

    Results

    ***

    Cross-Country Skiing: Women’s 10 k freestyle

    Full report

    Quotes & photos

    Thursday afternoon saw more of the same for the women’s cross-country ski events at this year’s Winter Olympics: Scandinavia filling up the podium, with American Jessie Diggins tantalizingly close to that breakthrough American podium in fifth. This time it was Norwegian Ragnhild Haga in first in the 10 kilometer freestyle individual start, Charlotte Kalla of Sweden in second (+20.3), and Finland’s Krista Pärmäkoski and Norway’s Marit Bjørgen tied for third (+31.9).

    The bronze is Bjørgen’s 12th lifetime Olympic medal, moving her into a tie with fellow Norwegian Bjørn Dæhlie for the most Olympic medals won by a cross-country skier. Countryman Ole Einar Bjørndalen, a biathlete, holds the overall Winter Olympics record with 13.

    Diggins was 35.2 seconds back of Haga in fifth. She was in seventh place through 1.6 k, up to fifth at 5 k, up to third at 6.2 k, and still in third at the 8.4-k time checkpoint, 1.9 seconds up on Bjørgen and five seconds up on Pärmäkoski. But her form seemed to break down over the final uphill, and Diggins lost just enough time on Bjørgen and Pärmäkoski over the final 1.6 k to slip off the podium.

    Between a 4.6-second deficit to third in Saturday’s skiathlon and a 3.3-second gap here, Diggins has now missed two bronze medals by a combined 7.9 seconds over 25 kilometers of racing.

    Jessie Diggins pushing to the finish in the Olympic 10 k skate. The American finished fifth. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    Sixth place went to Swiss skier Nathalie von Siebenthal (+49.8), who slowed slightly after a fast start that saw her with the second-ranked time through 1.6 k. Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (+1:05.5), in seventh, was the third Norwegian in the top seven.

    Olympic Athlete from Russia Anastasia Sedova (+1:07.3), Austrian Teresa Stadlober (+1:15.6), and Olympic Athlete from Russia Anna Nechaevskaya (+1:24.3) rounded out the top ten.

    Sadie Bjornsen (+1:42.1) in 15th and Kikkan Randall (+1:49.9) in 16th were the next two Americans. Randall started relatively early with bib number 23, and was the leader in the clubhouse when she crossed the finish line. Liz Stephen (+2:35.4) was 30th.

    For the Canadians, Emily Nishikawa (+2:41.) led the way in 32nd. Dahria Beatty (+2:48.4) was 37th, Cendrine Brown (+3:11.9) 43rd, and Anne-Marie Comeau (+4:10.8) 62nd.

    Also of note, Australia’s Jessica Yeaton, who lives and trains in Anchorage with Alaska Pacific University, recorded an Olympics personal best finish of 41st (+3:09.1). University of Alaska Anchorage student Casey Wright, also competing for Australia, finished 81st (+6:55.8).

    University of Colorado skier and NCAA champion Petra Hyncicova of the Czech Republic finished 60th (+4:09.4). University of New Hampshire alum Annika Taylor of Great Britain finished 75th (+5:52.4).

    And Jaqueline Mourau of Brazil, who lives and trains in Quebec, was 74th (+5:49.8).

    Results

     

  • Bjørndalen Up To Old Tricks As Norway Strikes Gold in IBU Mixed Relay

    Bjørndalen Up To Old Tricks As Norway Strikes Gold in IBU Mixed Relay

    (l-r) Norway's Johannes Thingnes Bø, Fanny Horn Birkeland, Marte Olsbu, and Ole Einar Bjørndalen celebrate after winning the first race of the 2016-2017 biathlon World Cup season, a mixed relay in Ostersund, Sweden. (Photo: IBU/Evgeny Tumashov/Twitter)
    (l-r) Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø, Fanny Horn Birkeland, Marte Olsbu, and Ole Einar Bjørndalen celebrate after winning the first race of the 2016/2017 biathlon World Cup season, a mixed relay in Östersund, Sweden. (Photo: IBU/Evgeny Tumashov/Twitter)

    It’s a new season on the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup, but the Norwegian biathlon team made it clear that they didn’t want anything to change: just as they won the World Cup mixed relay trophy in 2016, they picked up a 33.7-second win in the event in Östersund, Sweden, on Sunday to kick off the new year.

    And just as he had so many times before, it was Ole Einar Bjørndalen — the “King of Biathlon” — who provided one of the crucial contributions for the Norway team, bringing them a lead that his teammates would never relinquish.

    The Norwegians were one of just three relay teams all afternoon to avoid the penalty loop, but things didn’t start out so auspiciously. Marte Olsbu used a spare round in the first prone stage, dropping to eighth.

    But despite missing again in standing, she left the range in first place, then held on to the lead almost to the exchange, where she tagged off 0.1 seconds behind Susan Dunklee of the U.S.

    Twenty-one-year-old Anna Magnusson of Sweden was also in the lead pack, tagging off 0.6 seconds back and making for a tough fight on the last loop.

    Susan Dunklee (US Biathlon) racing in Sunday's mixed relay, the first race of the 2016/2017 IBU World Cup season, in Östersund, Sweden. (Photo: USBA/NordicFocus)
    Susan Dunklee (US Biathlon) racing in Sunday’s mixed relay, the first race of the 2016/2017 IBU World Cup season, in Östersund, Sweden. (Photo: USBA/NordicFocus)

    “I was really impressed with Sweden being right up there on the first loop, too,” said Dunklee, who had a similar battle with Olsbu in the mixed relay at 2016 IBU World Championships. “The three of us were just duking it out that whole last loop. I flooded my system a little early with lactic acid on one of the early hills… but then I came back and caught them towards the end of that lap and we all came in together. Yeah, it was fun!”

    Norway’s second athlete, Fanny Horn Birkeland, held the lead for several kilometers, but was one of many women felled by the wind in the second-leg standing stage. Birkeland used all three spare rounds to knock down her targets, and yet only fell 9.3 seconds out of the lead; at this point all but one team in the field had used at least four spare rounds, and some had used many more.

    Birkeland wasn’t thrilled with her shooting, but knew it was good enough to get the job done.

    “It was an acceptable leg,” she told Norway’s NRK broadcaster.

    Clare Egan was another casualty of the wind. The American had taken the tag from Dunklee in first place, and maintained a sixth-place position close to the leaders at the halfway point of her race. But with two penalty laps in standing, she dropped to 13th, 1:39.9 from the lead.

    “Clare had a fantastic first half of her race,” Dunklee said. “I was really impressed that she stayed with the pack in the prone, and shot clean under that pressure. I think the pieces are there and they’ll come together later in the season for us as a team.”

    By the next tag, Italay’s Dorothea Wierer had put together a small 4.9-second lead over Birkeland. Lukas Hofer, the first man out of the exchange zone, had a near-perfect start for Italy, extending his lead over the first loop and then using one spare round to clean his targets, finishing his shots before anyone else had even begun shooting.

    But Norway’s Bjørndalen was steadily chasing, and on the second loop began to close ground. By the time the two came into the range for standing, it was a close race and Bjørndalen showed that despite being 42 years old, he still has the instincts and strength that have earned him well over 90 World Cup wins.

    Hofer and Bjørndalen traded shots, cleaning one target after another, and Hofer began to leave his mat before realizing that his last target hadn’t actually fallen. Bjørndalen hit five for five and left with the lead, but Hofer had to use all three spare rounds to knock down that one target.

    “I felt really good all the first four shots, and I was so sure I cleaned the last one, I was about to put the rifle back on,” Hofer lamented in the post-race press conference.

    In the meantime, Benedikt Doll of Germany finished his shots and headed out on course in second place, 25.4 seconds behind Norway.

    “There was a tricky wind today, which was noticeable in the standing shooting,” Bjørndalen said in a television interview with NRK. “For my part it went all right today. It ‘worked out’ and I was able to do what I was supposed to do.”

    Johannes Thingnes Bø of Norway "flies" across the finish line to win the mixed relay in Östersund, Sweden.
    Johannes Thingnes Bø of Norway “flies” across the finish line to win the mixed relay in Östersund, Sweden.

    Bjørndalen tagged off to Johannes Thingnes Bø, who cruised around his first loop and then missed his last target in prone. He easily cleaned it with a single spare round, however, and was back on his way.

    In standing, Bø put on a clinic and had one of the fastest range times of the day while cleaning all five targets.

    “The last leg is very hard, and I haven’t done it so many times,” Bø said in a press conference. “When I was starting alone the pressure was off, and I wanted to do my own race. I tried to gain some seconds from the very start.”

    Arnd Peiffer likewise held Germany in second, using one spare round in prone and none in standing.

    “I was pretty much alone the whole time, but I received pretty good information from the coaches, so I could find a good speed,” he said in an interview with Germany’s ZDF broadcaster. “In prone I was a bit hectic, also because it wasn’t so easy today, the wind was changing back and forth. Already during the zeroing [target practice] I had a few problems. So I was a bit insecure and unfortunately shot the last one away, but was able to hit the first spare. Overall I think it worked out pretty well today.”

    So just like Norway, the German team had stayed out of the penalty loop and used just six spare rounds total.

    “I have to say they worked really well at the range today,” German men’s coach Mark Kirchner told ZDF. “It was not so easy, with changing winds you had to be wide awake. You can’t complain if you need just one spare each.”

    The most exciting finish of the day was the race for third place between Russia – a team which had bounced between fifth and seventh for much of the race – and Italy. Anton Shipulin pulled the Russians from seventh into fifth and then into third with two perfect shooting stages and the fastest ski time of all anchor leg skiers.

    But Dominik Windisch of Italy was eager to make up for his teammate Hofer’s shooting collapse and after leaving the range just a few seconds behind Shipulin after standing, managed to catch up and stick on him like glue. Windisch looked labored as the two flew around the course, but he knew that the venue has a downhill finish.

    Windisch shadowed Shipulin down the hill, then used a slingshot of momentum to fly past into the finishing straight and outsprint the Russian to secure third place for Italy, +44.2.

    Tim Burke (US Biathlon) during his prone stage of the mixed relay, the first race of the 2016/2017 IBU World Cup season. The U.S. anchor, Burke brought his team from 10th to eighth at the finish. (Photo: USBA/NordicFocus)
    Tim Burke (US Biathlon) during his prone stage of the mixed relay, the first race of the 2016/2017 IBU World Cup season. The U.S. anchor, Burke brought his team from 10th to eighth at the finish. (Photo: USBA/NordicFocus)

    As for the U.S., Egan had already moved from 13th up to 12th by the time she tagged to Lowell Bailey, who brought the team into 10th. Tim Burke then brought them up into eighth place, despite three spare rounds.

    “I was happy with my shooting from the clip in standing but disappointed that I needed three extras to get the last [standing] targets,” Burke wrote in an email. “I tried to push the pace on the first two spares and just missed with both. On the third extra round, I really took my time to make sure I hit because I knew there was no one to catch in front and that I would lose a few places if I missed… I just need to be a bit more relaxed with the extras in the future.”

    Burke had the fourth-fastest course time of the anchor-leg athletes, and said that while he “did not feel at my absolute best”, his ski speed was where he wanted it to be at this early point in the season.

    “It certainly was not our best race or perfect race, but a good sign that we can fight for the podium later in the season if we all have an ‘on’ day,” Dunklee said. “So that’s exciting to know.”

    “Going into the race I know we all hoped for a better result,” Burke agreed. “[But] in years past, we could have been 15th place with this shooting, so we are encouraged by that improvement and we know more is possible in the future.”

    The Canadian team was never really in the picture after leadoff athlete Julia Ransom skied two penalty loops in the opening standing stage. Megan Tandy and Scott Gow had shooting troubles of their own, and the team was sitting in 22nd place with those two penalty loops and 11 spare rounds before being lapped and pulled from the race.

    Results

    – Harald Zimmer, Aleks Tangen and Ian Tovell contributed

    The field leaves the start in the mixed relay in Ostersund, Sweden, on Sunday. (Photo: USBA/NordicFocus.com)
    The field leaves the start in the mixed relay in Östersund, Sweden, on Sunday, with American Susan Dunklee in bib 7. (Photo: USBA/NordicFocus.com)