FasterSkier

Tag: Le Grand Bornand

  • Notes and Quotes: French Biathlon World Cup Weekend

    Notes and Quotes: French Biathlon World Cup Weekend

    Martin Fourcade of France leads the IBU World Cup 15 k mass start in Le Grand-Borland, France, on Sunday. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    LE GRAND-BORNAND, France — After a long weekend of racing, beginning with heavy snow and continuing with glazed tracks, the biathlon World Cup is on break for two weeks to recalibrate and rejuvenate as the athletes prepare for the rest of the season and the 2018 Olympics in February.

    Here’s what some members of the field thought about the races this weekend – the bits of interviews and press conferences that didn’t make it into our race reports.

    On Pressure

    “This was tougher than some World Cups where we are less expected. But it’s also what we want, asking for a World Cup at home. We know that it’s not the same as when we are competing in Norway. It’s so much bigger in terms of emotions. I would do it again.”

    — Martin Fourcade (France)

    Susan Dunklee of U.S. Biathlon after the mass start, which moved her up to being ranked 30th on the World Cup after a disastrous first two weeks of racing had left her out of the points. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    On Annecy & Le Grand-Bornand

    “I like this place. Four years ago I was on the podium too in the pursuit behind Johannes. I was one year later on holiday here. I like this place, I like the people. It’s a really nice nature, mountain, valleys. I know that I got some Reblochon cheese, too.”

    — Erik Lesser (Germany)

    “It was very loud. I couldn’t hear what my coaches were saying on the side of the course at all. I knew they were there because I could see them out of the front of my eyes, but their voices just got lost in that big, massive noise. Getting this many people here, is absolutely incredible. It has grown so much since last time [in 2013]. It’s a lot of positive energy, and that counts for a lot.”

    — Susan Dunklee (USA)

    “I love it. It’s definitely a different race course with those steep little bumps. But I think it could be [more often] on the circuit.”

    — Julia Ransom (Canada)

    “There are amazing trails that go up the valley. I just went for a classic cruise yesterday just looking around everywhere in awe. The food… We are staying right in the downtown, and the food in our hotels is like cheese and dessert after every meal. I’m like ‘oh no I have to pass on that…’ And the fans, too, I couldn’t believe it. They are so loud, cheering for everyone. I was a little bit overwhelmed just with the sound during the race. I was like ‘okay, keep going’. I love this place.”

    — Emma Lunder (Canada)

    Anastasiya Kuzmin of Slovakia leading the women’s mass start. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    “We had a really good atmosphere four years before. But now we really have so much snow in the mountains and in the village. That is why we all make biathlon – we love winter and we love the snow. I’m really happy to have such good conditions here.”

    — Laura Dahlmeier (Germany)

    “You can feel power from the mountains and the snow. What is more important is that there are many fans here… you feel the power from the people who are always supporting you. It’s like a big energy wave. On the track it helped me. Thank you so much.”

    — Anastasiya Kuzmina (Slovakia)

    “Every athlete has their World Cup which is their favorite and where they always do good races. And I think this is one of my top three venues on the World Cup. I really like it here.”

    — Johannes Thingnes Bø (Norway)

    “I want to point out that the organization and the popularity of biathlon grew a lot since 2013. I was really surprised to see so many people around the track cheering, not only local athletes but also international athletes. I could hear them saying my name. So I want to thank them for supporting us.”

    — Anton Shipulin (Russia)

    On Three Weeks of Racing, and Now a Break

    Emma Lunder of Canada competing in the mass start in Le Grand-Bornand, France. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    “I think it’s great to finish with a nice race. Now I can enjoy the time at home, the time in France. And keep confident of the work which was done.”

    — Justine Braisaz (France) after winning the mass start

    “I think my shape is getting better and better and also on the shooting range. It’s important to make some good races, it’s good for your own feeling. It’s good for the Christmas holiday now.”

    — Laura Dahlmeier (Germany) after finishing third in the mass start

    “To have good races going into the Christmas break, that’s all I could ask for… Now we can feel like we did a good job, relax, and get some good training in.”

    — Emma Lunder (Canada), who had her best-ever World Cup result and qualified for her first mass start

    “Yeah, I definitely felt [the fatigue] today, but you kind of come to expect that after the first trimester. Now we have a good block of recovery time, and I’ll definitely be looking forward to a few days off.”

    — Lowell Bailey (USA)

    (l-r) Erik Lesser, Martin Fourcade, and Johannes Thingnes Bø after the mass start. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    “It is always a fight there. Today [Erik] Lesser was there also and [Anton] Shipulin is coming back top-six too. They will be stronger after Christmas.”

    — Johannes Thingnes Bø (Norway), winner of the sprint and pursuit, after the mass start

    “I’ll be getting some good volume training in, I think. Kind of reset the body and get a bit of a training load.”

    — Scott Gow (Canada)

    “I felt pretty tired today, and then on top of it everyone is fast in the mass start… I was looking forward, looking forward to the finish line.”

    — Emma Lunder (Canada), after the mass start

    “Now I’m just [working on] my good shooting and staying concentrated on the shooting position. I think I need a little bit more time, a little bit more practice. But I’m happy that my ski times are still good.”

    — Anastasia Kuzmina (Slovakia)

    Mission Accomplished

    Scott and Christian Gow of Canada after the pursuit, where they both finished in the top 30. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    “I was hoping to just lock up the Olympic qualification and get that off my back, which is really nice. And then really just put together a solid three sets of races. Last year I was sick, and I wasn’t even in Europe at this point. I was kind of just slogging my way back to good health. So I’ve had some good races here and it’s a good block to start the year… Last year taught me how to grind through something that isn’t the best hand of cards that you could have been dealt.”

    — Sean Doherty (USA), who was named to the U.S. Olympic Team after his performances this weekend

    “I’m really glad that we are finally part of the podium. Finally third, on the World Cup.”

    — Anton Shipulin (Russia), after finishing third in the pursuit and earning Russia’s first podium of the season

    Goals

    Laura Dahlmeier of Germany setting up to shoot in Thursday’s sprint. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    “I’ve been trying to win the yellow bib every year since I came in the World Cup. But I’ve never had a chance. So we will see this year. But I know it’s a long way there. Now I’m just focusing on the race today, and the next race, and not about the whole season. I’m in good shape here and I try to do the best I can.”

    — Johannes Thingnes Bø (Norway), currently trailing Martin Fourcade by 20 points in the World Cup Total Score

    On Ski Speed

    “I’m definitely working my way back into it. I don’t feel 100% on skis. I felt good all the way up to the beginning of the season, and then got set back with some sickness. But I’m still confident with how we trained this summer, and the path towards PyeongChang, so just have to stick to the plan.”

    — Lowell Bailey (USA)

    “Honestly, my skiing, I’m not very satisfied with it at the moment. It’s coming back, step by step, and week by week it has improved, but I feel like there is a lot of room there and I don’t totally feel like myself yet. There’s still plenty of season left.”

    — Sean Doherty (USA)

  • Fourcade Gets Emotional First Win of Season in Annecy, But Battle with Bø Continues

    Fourcade Gets Emotional First Win of Season in Annecy, But Battle with Bø Continues

    Martin Fourcade leads the men’s 15 k mass start out of the gate in Le Grand-Borland, France. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    LE GRAND-BORNAND, France—Martin Fourcade was winless so far this season, a strange situation. On Saturday he joked that his current foe, Johannes Thingnes Bø of Norway, was just too good and couldn’t be beaten.

    But in the last race of the French World Cup weekend, the men’s 15 k mass start, Fourcade managed to do it, thrilling the 16,000-strong home crowd in the process. The formula was simple: shoot clean.

    Fourcade did, Bø didn’t, and the Frenchman came away with is first win of the season.

    “It’s difficult to speak of it,” Fourcade said. “What I can say is that in terms of emotions, it’s probably the most amazing competition in my life. It was something really incredible to be supported by all the fans.”

    Fourcade shoots slowly in prone, and so it wasn’t until the third loop that he came to the front, passed rivals Erik Lesser of Germany and Anton Shipulin of Russia, and then just kept going.

    “It was very tough against these guys,” Lesser said in a post-race press conference. “Martin was always aggressive on the track. He was never happy with my pace, especially on the third loop.”

    Martin Fourcade celebrates at the finish as Johannes Bø and Erik Lesser race to round out the podium. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    Coming into the fourth shooting, Fourcade had built a lead of more than ten seconds. That allowed him to take one of the slowest shooting times in the whole field to clean his last five targets.

    Lesser and Shipulin also both cleaned to go 20-for-20, and left the range eight seconds behind. And Bø – who had missed two shots in the very first stage and clawed his way back – also cleaned, and fast, and headed out in fourth, 15 seconds back.

    Fourcade’s win was secure. He kept attacking anyway, never allowing the chasers to come close. That gave him time to pick up a French flag and saunter his way down the finishing stretch.

    “I could enjoy it a bit, but I was still under pressure and I had to keep a good level of speed,” he said. “But it was something really special because it was a mix of emotion. It was not only hunger or happiness or satisfaction. It was all of that. It was probably the craziest race of my life and I will remember it for a long time.”

    Behind him, Bø was charging and passed first Shipulin and then Lesser. The German tried to follow, but couldn’t quite hold on to Bø’s tails. Bø crossed the line in second, 3.9 seconds behind the loitering Fourcade, and Lesser was third, +6.2.

    “I knew that Shipulin wasn’t in great shape today,” Lesser told German broadcaster ZDF. “I just didn’t quite know where to attack him. Then going past Andi [assistant coach] I thought about passing by Johannes just to fake it, but I noticed that my legs were flooded already after I have done every race this season so far. I am mega-happy about the third place, with a clean shooting. Yesterday I pitied myself after my bad shooting, now I proved to myself that I can do it.”

    “I was quite a little bit stressed out on the first shooting so I missed two targets,” Bø said. “From there it was really painful because I had to ski really fast to make up for those mistakes. To finish in second place is a little more than I was hoping for after the first shooting.”

    Shipulin hung on for fourth (+25.1), outsprinting Switzerland’s Benjamin Weger (fifth, +25.8).

    Sean Doherty racing in his first mass start in Annecy, France. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    Four North Americans qualified for the in the 30-man mass start, but American Tim Burke did not race because he was sick. His teammates Lowell Bailey and Sean Doherty did most of the race within a few seconds of each other, finishing 23rd (+2:22.4) and 24th (+2:52.5) with three and four penalties, respectively.

    “The first lap was a bit of a cluster,” Doherty said. “It just gets such an accordion with that bridge right after the start, and a couple of other spots. This course, you know, it’s fun, but it needs a little bit of realignment for the bigger races. Everyone knows what they’re doing though, so you don’t have to worry much that some guy will crash and take out 30 people or something like that.”

    With a few penalties apiece, the Americans couldn’t hope for top finishes.

    “It was a solid race, but in this field you need an exceptional race to do well,” Bailey said. “It’s funny, I had this thought maybe in the third or fourth loop. I’m working so hard, and it’s like, in this field, it’s the top 30 guys in the world and you can have what on any other day would be like a decent race, but you’re, you know, 23rd or 24th. It wasn’t a bad race.”

    Scott Gow on his was to 26th place in the Annecy mass start. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    It was Doherty’s first mass start.

    “It was a fun experience,” he said. “Getting in there and mixing it up with the top 30 guys in the world–it’s a treat, it’s fun. And next time, I hope just to be fresher and be ready to get in there and throw some elbows and just hit a few more shots. The other guys, they’re right there, it’s not like I’m way off.”

    For Canada, Scott Gow competed in his second-ever mass start, finishing 26th (+4:05.4) with five missed shots.

    “I didn’t shoot well today,” Gow said. “Five misses was, like, five way too many, so — a little disappointed, shooting-wise, especially because it’s perfect shooting conditions. There’s no real good excuse for it. Skiing I was kind of tired…. I will just work on shooting and work on my the confidence in the range, because it’s there sometimes, but it’s not there other times. I need to get a little more consistent.”

    Results

  • Braisaz Stuns in Home Mass Start with First Victory; Dunklee 20th, Lunder 28th

    Braisaz Stuns in Home Mass Start with First Victory; Dunklee 20th, Lunder 28th

    Justine Braisaz of France crossing the finish line with her first World Cup victory, in Le Grand-Borland in the 15 k mass start. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    LE GRAND-BORNAND, France—Justine Braisaz was so excited for today’s 15 k mass start that she jumped the gun, scooting forward on her skis a few seconds before the start and having to reset.

    That provoked a laugh among the crowd and perhaps even her competitors, but they weren’t laughing by the time the race finished and Braisaz had left them in the dust, claiming her first World Cup win – on her father’s birthday, no less.

    The early start was more than nervous energy. Braisaz wanted to soak in everything in the last race of the weekend, the first time in four years that the biathlon World Cup had come to her country.

    “I just wanted to take pleasure today and have no pressure at all,” she said in a press conference after the race. “It’s just like that. I did not have any serious ambition, I just wanted to try my best.”

    Once the race was off, she followed Kaisa Makarainen of Finland – who started in the front row directly ahead of her – and Anastasiya Kuzmina and Denise Herrman, and the four women gapped the field to come into the range ahead of the others, a rare situation on the first loop of a women’s mass start.

    Anastasiya Kuzmin of Slovakia leading Denise Herrmann, Kaisa Makarainen, and the rest of the women’s mass start. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    Braisaz cleaned that stage, as well as the next, and was never far from the lead. When Braisaz and Kuzmina missed shots in the first standing stage, Herrman surged to the lead.

    A relatively recent convert to biathlon – a relay medalist in cross-country skiing at the 2014 Olympics – Herrmann has already won two races this season. She has become an impressively stable shooter given her short career, and when she came into the shooting range alone for the final bout she hit the first target.

    But then she missed. And missed, and missed. She hit the last shot, but had to ski three penalty loops and came out in 13th. With the third-fastest last-loop time she moved up to twelfth.

    Braisaz, in the meantime, had come in to the second lane of the range and hit all of her targets, skiing out in first place. When Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier, the winner of Saturday’s sprint, missed one shot behind her, Braisaz seemed to be in the clear. The next woman out on course was Belarus’s Iryna Kryuko, who had cleaned the whole race and hit the trails 15 seconds back.

    But Braisaz felt the threats behind her, real or imagined.

    Justine Braisaz leadin Denise Hermmann and Kaisa Makarainen in the middle of the race. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    “During the last loop on the track, I just thought, the women behind me will catch me,” Braisaz said. “I was so stressed, under pressure. I did not believe it [would happen]. When I saw my wax man with the French flag, I just started breathing.”

    That moment came 200 meters before the finish, when Braisaz had enough of a cushion to stop and grab the tricolore. She waved it behind her as she skied down the finishing lanes, the crowd of 15,000 spectators going more than wild.

    “It was just great,” she said. “A very nice feeling to share it with all the crowd and all the French people and everybody. It was just like a dream. But the reality is better actually.”

    Kryuko, too, hadn’t felt secure in her position on the last loop. Dahlmeier came out of the penalty loop and into third place, just under ten seconds behind her; after that was Kuzmina, whose ski speed had impressed over the last several weeks.

    “I saw that I shot clean – and I certainly saw that behind me there were some very strong girls,” Kryuko said through a translator at the press conference. “The only thing I was hoping for was to get flowers, the top six.”

    Dahlmeier put in an early surge to try to close the gap.

    “On the final lap I tried to give it everything I had,” she told German broadcaster ZDF. “I fought hard right from the beginning, and immediately went a very high tempo. I didn’t really get closer to her [Kryuko] initially, then made up a few meters, but in the end the necessary energy wasn’t there anymore to really overtake her.”

    Kryuko thus held onto second place, finishing 11.2 seconds behind Braisaz. Dahlmeier was third (+19.9), Kuzmina fourth (+25.5), and Germany’s Vanessa Hinz fifth (+28.4). Anais Chevalier gave the French crowd another reason to lose their minds when she crossed the finish line in sixth (+30.1).

    For Kryuko, her very first mass start came on the same day as her first World Cup podium. The 26-year-old’s previous best finish was ninth in the pursuit in Hochfilzen, Austria, last weekend.

    Susan Dunklee racing to 20th in the mass start. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    “It’s my first mass start and of course my first podium,” she said. “It’s a really great feeling.”

    Dunklee 20th, Lunder 28th

    Both Susan Dunklee of the U.S. and Emma Lunder of Canada started in the back of the mass start, with bibs 26 and 29, respectively. In most World Cups, starting at the back of the pack is not a big problem, as most of the field is still together when athletes enter the range for the first shooting.

    “This course it is!” Dunklee exclaimed. “This course it absolutely is. This is a very narrow course… that first bridge, we just had this major accordion-ing, where everybody stopped for about five or six seconds in the back waiting for the top people to get up there. We had to snowplow and then just stand there and wait. We were laughing. So it was a lot of just being really patient on the first loop because there was no good way to pass.”

    “Probably 300 meters into the race there is a super steep little hill, and the back of the pack, the back 15, literally came to a standstill and then it took people a lot to get going, and it was so spread out by then,” Lunder said. “So I was last and I just tried to hang on to number 29. I had figured I would come into the range last or close to last, but I felt pretty relaxed during that lap.”

    Canada’s Emma Lunder chasing the Czech Republic’s Eva Puskarcikova in the women’s mass start in Le Grand-Bornand, France. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    Despite strong races earlier in the week, finishing 10th and sixth, Dunklee never made contact with the leaders – in part because they had broken away already on the first lap when she was stuck in the back, and partly because she missed a shot in the first prone stage.

    Dunklee missed two more, one in the first standing stage and then the very last shot of the race.

    “With 85% shootings, it was obviously not my best, but certainly something I can be proud of,” she said.

    She crossed the line in 20th after laying down the fifth-fastest closing loop and moving up two spots.

    “I had a great battle going with Maren [Hammerschmidt] and Selina [Gasparin],” Dunklee said. “Selina got me by a tenth of a second, which is, well, ugh. She had the better lane in the finish and I just couldn’t get around her, but it was fun. I like it when it’s exciting like that.”

    Lunder also missed a shot in the first prone, but she was clean after that. She had some issues with her rifle though, which resulted in slower shooting times even though she never again had to visit the penalty loop.

    “I was a little bit shaky and I double-ejected three times,” she explained. “So then I had to load a spare and was like ‘okay, do not miss this and then have a penalty loop on top of it.’ I am so happy with shooting 19 out of 20 again, I’m really relieved. And it was a good chase again out there. On the last lap there were two Polish girls right with me, I tried so hard but I just didn’t have it in me.”

    She crossed the line 28th, +2:21.4. It was the first mass start of her career.

    “This was an awesome experience,” Lunder said. “Any time I finish in the top 30 I think I’ll still be happy… I can say I had fun. It’s like the most painful kind of fun. I felt pretty tired today, and then on top of it everyone is fast in the mass start. So I just knew that I wanted to execute on the range the same way I have been this weekend.”

    Results

  • Saturday Rundown: Annecy, Toblach, St. Ulrich, Rossland (Updated)

    Saturday Rundown: Annecy, Toblach, St. Ulrich, Rossland (Updated)

    The photo finish for first in the men’s skate sprint final on Saturday at the NorAm in Rossland, B.C., with Julien Locke (near) outstretching Evan Palmer-Charette for first, and Julian Smith (r) taking third third ahead of Bob Thompson (yellow NorAm leader’s bib). (Photo: CCC/Twitter)

    NorAm Mini Tour (Rossland, B.C.): Freestyle sprints

    On Day 2 of NorAm racing in Rossland, British Columbia, Julien Locke, of the Black Jack Ski Club and Canadian National U25 Team, won the men’s 1.4-kilometer freestyle sprint final on his home trails by just one-hundredth of a second over Evan Palmer-Charrette, of the National Team Development Centre (NTDC) Thunder Bay, in 2:38.13. NTDC Thunder Bay had two on the podium with Julian Smith in third, 0.4 seconds behind Locke.

    Locke started the day by qualifying second, just 0.06 seconds behind Bob Thompson (NTDC Thunder Bay), who won the qualifier in 2:39.49. Locke went on to finish second to Thompson in the first quarterfinal, then won the second semifinal while Thompson won the first semi.

    In the final, Locke tallied his first NorAm win of the season, while Thompson, last weekend’s classic-sprint winner at Sovereign Lake, placed fourth (+0.43), missing the podium by three-hundredths of a second. Andy Shields (Lappe Nordic) finished fifth (+1.78) and Sebastien Boehmler-Dandurand (Canmore Nordic/Stefan Kuhn HP Team) sixth (+5.21) in the men’s final.

    Also on Saturday, American Caitlin Gregg (Team Gregg/Loppet Nordic Racing) racked up her second-straight win in Rossland (after topping Friday’s 5 k classic), winning the women’s 1.4 k skate-sprint final in 3:03.36. Canada’s Andrea Dupont (Rocky Mountain Racers) finished 2.5 seconds later for second place and Zina Kocher (Foothills Nordic) scored her first podium of the season in third (+3.53).

    Dupont won the women’s qualifier in 3:07.68, and Gregg qualified second, 0.87 seconds back. Dupont went on to win the first quarterfinal and first semifinal, while Gregg won her quarterfinal and semifinal as well. (Gregg’s quarterfinal had four racers, compared to five in Dupont’s quarterfinal, as only 21 women competed in the senior women’s heats.)

    Also in the final, Laura Leclair, of the Centre National d’Excellence Pierre Harvey/Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre (CNEPH), finished fourth (+6.11), Maya MacIsaac-Jones (U25 Team) was fifth (+6.31) and Sophie Carrier-Laforte (Skinouk) sixth (+8.57).

    Results: Heats | Qualifier

    ***

    OPA Cup (St. Ulrich, Austria): 5/15 k classic

    On the second day of Alpen Cup (a.k.a. OPA Cup) racing in St. Ulrich, Ida Sargent of the U.S. Ski Team (USST) finished third in the women’s 5 k classic behind two Russians, Elena Soboleva and Natalia Matveeva, respectively.

    Soboleva took the win in the individual-start race in 14:25.8, and Matveeva was 12.5 seconds back for second place. Just like Matveeva, Sargent reached the podium for the second-straight race in third (+18.1), after placing third in the freestyle sprint on Friday (Matveeva finished second in the sprint).

    Germany’s Antonia Fräbel finished fourth (+21.0) and American Sophie Caldwell (USST), who won the sprint the day before, placed fifth (+22.7). The other USST member in the race, Julia Kern finished 15th (+53.5).

    The men raced a 15 k classic, with France’s Alexis Jeannerod taking the win in 38:45.6. Germany’s Thomas Wick was 4.7 seconds back in second, and Russia’s Gleb Retivykh placed third (+11.3). The lone American man racing, Andy Newell (USST) finished 36th (+2:07.1) out of 125 finishers.

    The three-day OPA Cup weekend in St. Ulrich wraps up Sunday with 10/15 k freestyle mass starts.

    Results: Women| Men

    https://www.instagram.com/p/Bcxx2GhlDfv/?taken-by=juliakernski

    ***

    IBU World Cup (Annecy, France): Women’s and men’s pursuits

    Susan Dunklee (US Biathlon) after placing sixth and reaching the flower ceremony in the women’s 10 k pursuit at the IBU World Cup on Saturday in Annecy, France. After starting 10th, sixth stands as a season-best for Dunklee. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    Women’s race report

    Men’s race report

    Germany’s Laura Dalhmeier captured her first win of the season, preventing Slovakia’s Anastasia Kuzmina from her third-straight win, and American Susan Dunklee raced to a season-best sixth in the women’s 10-kilometer pursuit on Saturday in Annecy-Le Grand Bornand, France.

    Canada’s Emma Lunder achieved a career-best 18th after starting 34th, and her teammate Julia Ransom placed 27th after starting 39th.

    In the men’s 12.5 k pursuit that followed, Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø started first, shot clean and fended off his competition to rack up his fourth-straight victory — winning by more than a minute.

    And for the second-straight race, France’s Martin Fourcade finished second, this time 1:01.4 minutes behind Bø, who crossed the line first in 32:52.1. Fourcade had to ski two penalty laps later in the race (0+0+1+1), while Russia’s Anton Shipulin, who started sixth and had a single miss (0+0+0+1), rose to third place (+1:10.5).

    American Lowell Bailey shot clean to race up to 14th (+2:13.9) after starting 35th. His US Biathlon teammate Tim Burke finished 26th (+3:03.1) with three penalties (1+0+1+1), after starting 10th.

    Canada’s Scott Gow finished a second later for 27th (+3:04.1) after starting 16th and skiing four penalty laps (1+0+1+2). His brother Christian Gow moved up one spot to 29th (+3:06.6) after starting 30th and shooting 19-for-20 (1+0+0+0).

    The U.S. had four men in the pursuit, with Sean Doherty placing 30th (+3:07.0) with three penalties after starting 17th.

    Leif Nordgren improved to 48th (+4:54.9), up from 56th, despite three misses.

    ***

    FIS Cross Country World Cup (Toblach, Italy): 10/15 k freestyle

    Women’s report

    Men’s report

    The men’s 15 k freestyle podium at the Toblach World Cup in Italy, with Norway’s Simen Hegstad Krüger (c) scoring his first World Cup victory in first place, last weekend’s winner Maurice Manificat (l) of France in second, and Great Britain’s Andrew Musgrave (r) in third. (Photo: FIS Cross Country/Twitter)

    In the men’s 15 k freestyle on Saturday in Toblach, 24-year-old Simen Hegstad Krüger achieved his first individual World Cup victory in 29:58.8 minutes, and was joined on the podium by France’s Maurice Manificat in second (+10.6) and Great Britain’s Andrew Musgrave in third (+11.5).

    Canadian World Cup Team member Alex Harvey missed the podium by 2.5 seconds in fourth place (+14.0), tying his best result of the season after finishing Ruka Triple mini tour in fourth place late last month in Kuusamo, Finland.

    Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov followed in fifth, Norway’s Finn Hågen Krogh was sixth and Hans Christer Holund seventh, Finland’s Matti Heikkinen eighth, Switzerland’s Toni Livers ninth, and notably, Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo — who hasn’t lost a race all season (he sat out last weekend’s 15 k skate in Davos, Switzerland) — was 10th.

    Erik Bjornsen of the U.S. Ski Team (USST) was the lone American in the points (top 30) in 29th (+1:09.6), Noah Hoffman finished 40th (+1:24.5), Scott Patterson (USST) was 42nd (+1:29.4), and Paddy Caldwell (USST) 53rd (+1:50.0)

    For Canada, Devon Kershaw (World Cup Team) placed 38th (+1:22.1), Graeme Killick (World Cup Team) was 49th (+1:47.8), Russell Kennedy (Team R.A.D.) 60th (+2:13.2), and Knute Johnsgaard (World Cup Team) 85th (+3:28.3).

    The women’s 10 k freestyle podium on Saturday at the World Cup in Toblach, Italy, with Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla (c) in first, and Norway’s Ragnhild Haga (l) and Heidi Weng (r) in second and third, respectively. (Photo: FIS Cross Country/Twitter)

    In the women’s 10 k freestyle individual start in Toblach, Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla tallied her third win of the season in 22:40.1 minutes, ahead of five Norwegians and American Jessie Diggins.

    Norway’s Ragnhild Haga was 5.8 seconds shy of Kalla’s time for second place, and her teammate Heidi Weng was another 8 seconds back in third (+13.8).

    Norway occupied second through sixth place, with Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen in fourth (+17.9), Marit Bjørgen in fifth (+22.6) and Ingvild Flugstad Østberg in sixth (+29.3). Diggins led the U.S. Ski Team (USST) in seventh (+40.5), with Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen close behind in eighth (+43.5) and the second U.S. woman in the top 10, Sadie Bjornsen, another 0.4 seconds back in ninth (+43.9).

    The USST had three in the top 20 with Rosie Brennan placing 19th (+1:15.2) for her second-straight top-20 result (following a 17th place in last weekend’s 10 k freestyle in Davos, Switzerland). Chelsea Holmes (Alaska Pacific University) finished 36th and Liz Stephen (USST) was 47th.

    Emily Nishikawa (Canadian World Cup Team) led her team in 51st, Cendrine Browne (Canadian U25 Team) followed in 55th, Dahria Beatty (World Cup Team) was 69th, and Katherine Stewart-Jones (U25 Team) 77th.

    Results: Women | Men

  • Bø Extends Lead in Annecy Pursuit; Clean-Shooting Bailey Climbs to 14th

    Johannes Thingnes Bø has never been beaten in an individual race in Annecy, France, and that didn’t change today. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    LE GRAND-BORNAND, France– Johannes Thingnes Bø had won three straight races coming into today’s 12.5 k pursuit.

    But if anyone was going to knock him off his pedestal, it seemed likely to be the home team. Behind Bø, Martin Fourcade started second, Antoine Guigonnat third, and Simon Destheiux fifth. When each of them sprinted out of the race start, the 15,000 spectators went wild, enveloping this mountain venue in a wall of noise.

    But never mind the noise, Bø was focused. He cruised around the course, and shot 20-for-20 – including with some of the fastest shooting time in the field in standing. He had such a lead on his last loop that as his coach ran along beside him up a hill, he slowed down and gave the guy a fist-bump.

    The last one to win four races in a row was Fourcade, who finished second today, with two penalties and one minute and one second back.

    Martin Fourcade of France chasing. He was in second place for entire race. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    “I am quite satisfied about my performance, despite my slow prone and two mistakes on the standing,” he said in a post-race press conference. “But also of course I am struggling to catch the win, because this man to my left is simply too good now.”

    For Bø’s part, he can’t put his improving performance down to any one factor. He has had many bouts of brilliance in the past, including sweeping the World Cup weekend the last time it was held here, in 2013.

    “I’m really surprised about my own shape and that I now have my fourth win in a row,” he said. “It’s very untypical me. When I do a good race, I often do a bad race after… This sport is like, the more you train and the more races you have, the better you will be. I am one year older than last year. And I think this is a good thing. You get older you get more experience, and you can use that.”

    Not only could the French team not put Fourcade – Olympic gold medalist, World Champion, several time World Cup overall champion, the most reliable prediction to win at any time in the last few years – on the top step of the podium, but the teammate behind him also faltered.

    Guigonnat, who was called up to the World Cup after starting the season at a lower level and had immediately scored his first ever podium in Thursday’s sprint, missed three shots and finished 12th (+2:06.9). Desthieux missed two shots, crucially one coming in the last bout, and finished sixth (+1:41.9).

    Instead it was two Russians sprinting for the podium. Anton Shipulin edged past younger teammate Alexander Loginov to take third place by just two tenths of a second.

    “Alexander was really going really well today,” Shipulin, through a translator, said of his teammate. “He was battling really hard and I’m really proud of him. But I’m also very happy for myself that I am part of the podium today.”

    When asked by a French journalist about the recent IOC decision that Russian athletes must compete under the Olympic flag at the upcoming Games in PyeongChang due to doping violations, Shipulin said, “let’s not talk about the past.”

    Bailey Cleans All 20, Moving Up to 14th

    Lowell Bailey charging to 14th place in the pursuit. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    Like Bø, American Lowell Bailey had some happy memories of the last time the World Cup visited the French Alps.

    “I cleaned the pursuit the last time I was here,” he explained. “My coach said that to me. He said, you like this course, last time this was your first clean pursuit.”

    Bailey doubled down on that effort. After a sprint that hadn’t been perfect, he shot 20-for-20 in the pursuit, moving up to 10th after the last shooting bout before slipping a few places on the last loop to finish 14th (+2:13.9).

    “I am really happy with the result today,” he said. “It was painful out there on the course, but we had great skis and we had enthusiastic staff and my family is here too, which is awesome.”

    Bailey was sick earlier in the season, and feels like it is still limiting his ski speed. And while he had an incredible run at World Championships last year and one of the best shooting percentages of any male athlete on the World Cup all season, this year his shooting hasn’t been on sharp.

    “My shooting hasn’t been bad this year, but I also haven’t had a race where I felt that everything clicked,” he said. “For today I really just wanted to have a good solid shooting race I just haven’t put it together in the races — especially in the sprints. And if you don’t put it together in the sprints, then obviously it doesn’t help you in the pursuits. So yeah, I was happy. I didn’t quite have [the speed] in the last few loops, but… I was really happy to hold it together.”

    On his way up through the field he passed a few teammates, including Tim Burke. Burke had finished tenth in the sprint, but was undone by three missed shots scattered across his different shooting bouts. He ended up 26th (+3:03.1).

    Sean Doherty had started 18th and like Burke, missed three shots – one in each stage after a clean first bout.

    “The shooting overall, looking at everyone else’s, three penalties isn’t terrible,” he said. “It’s just the timing. To miss that one in my last stage really cost me big. The other two misses weren’t as consequential. It’s a little unfortunate because I felt like I was taking pretty good shots. It’s a high pace out there. It’s not like the sprint where you can get in your own rhythm. You have got to ski, you have to hold on to other guys around you. That can make things tougher on the range.”

    Also for the U.S., Leif Nordgren started 56th and moved up to 48th (+4:54.9) with three penalties.

    Gows Top-30 Again for Canada

    Christian Gow racing in the 12.5 k pursuit in Le Grand-Bornand, France. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    For Biathlon Canada, two men had turned in excellent sprint performances: Scott Gow had been a career-best 16th, and his brother Christian’s 30th place was also one of the top few results of his senior career.

    Both had reasons to be cautious about their prospects in the pursuit.

    “I got sick on the day of the relay [last weekend],” Christian Gow explained. “I woke up not feeling great and it got worse as the week went on. I’ve been getting better the last couple of days but honestly, I was debating whether or not to race the sprint. And then I decided, well, we have a lot of break after this to recover. So I figured I’d go for it but I had no expectations really… I had no expectations for this whole weekend.”

    The younger Gow had just one penalty and moved up one spot to 29th (+3:06.6) for a second-straight top-30 finish.

    “I think that, honestly, maybe what helped me was going into this with an open mind, not expecting anything, and not feeling pressure to do really well,” he said. “Just thinking, it’s going to be what it’s going to be. Of course, I knew that if I wanted to do anything I would have to shoot really well this weekend. But I’m very confident in my shooting. It has been really good this year. I knew I could put that together. But it felt like good pressure, a positive pressure.”

    Scott Gow has struggled in pursuits in the past, often undone by poor shooting after good sprint results put him in a good position. Today, he missed four shots and finished 27th (+3:04.1).

    “This wasn’t too bad,” he said. “I’m not super happy with it but I’m not upset either. It’s a small step towards finally improving my pursuit racing. Normally I drop 20 or 30 spots.”

    Coming into the final bout, he was in the top 20. That’s what he began to think about, before missing two shots there.

    “I am disappointed with my last shooting,” he said. “It felt quite good, but I think I was just a little too nervous. Just knowing where I was in the race. I was coming in at the tail end of a group of guys, so I knew a clean shooting would go a long way. Obviously I’m not supposed to think that, but it’s hard not to sometimes.”

    He left the range in 29th, but was able to pick up two spots by the finish (one of them his brother, who had left the range in 22nd). Scott Gow had the 24th-best ski time of the day.

    “My skiing felt quite good today,” he said. “It kept me in the mix.”

    Results

    Anton Shipulin of Russia outlunging teammate Alexander Loginov for third place. (Photo: Glen Crawford)
  • Dunklee Proves Her Resiliency, 10th in Annecy Sprint

    Dunklee Proves Her Resiliency, 10th in Annecy Sprint

    Susan Dunklee (US Biathlon) hitting every target in the prone shooting stage of the women’s 7.5 k sprint at the IBU World Cup in Annecy, France, on Thursday. She ended the day in 10th place with perfect 10-for-10 shooting. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    Susan Dunklee’s start to another International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup season hadn’t played out as she’d hoped, specifically in terms of results. Coming off a banner winter, with a silver at 2017 World Championships (in the women’s mass start), Dunklee 31, had so far placed 53rd, 79th and 97th, respectively, in non-relay races over the last two weeks. She had yet to race a mass start, but also had yet to qualify for a pursuit in two World Cup sprints.

    So she went back to the drawing board, back to basics and to a “moose garden”.

    “My confidence took a big hit these past couple weeks and it was a real challenge was working through that,” Dunklee wrote in an email to FasterSkier on Thursday.

    “I tried to find some non-biathlon activities like visiting a ‘moose garden’ in Sweden and seeing the ‘Krampus’ in Austria,” she explained, referring to an Advent costume tradition, “to keep my mind fresh so I wouldn’t obsess 24/7 over disappointing results.  I also tried really hard to take a moment each evening to appreciate all the positive things that happened over the course of the day. And I kept telling myself that I am resilient.”

    After missing eight targets in last week’s snowstorm sprint in Hochfilzen, Austria, she sat down to brainstorm with US Biathlon consultant Matt Emmons, a 2004 Olympic champion in rifle shooting.

    “All summer I’ve been working on some fancier shooting skills, such as wind shading,” Dunklee explained. “Basically we decided I could benefit from focusing back on the absolute basics of shooting: sight alignment, trigger squeeze and follow [through]. That’s what I’ve been doing the last few days.”

    Susan Dunklee (US Biathlon) out of the start of the IBU World Cup women’s 7.5 k sprint on Thursday in Annecy, France, where Dunklee placed 10th overall for her best result of the season. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    On Thursday, she started 60th out of 93 in the women’s 7.5-kilometer sprint in Annecy (Le Grand Bornand), France. In warm, slushy conditions with little wind, as Dunklee described it, she fired away for perfect 10-for-10 shooting to put herself in ninth at the finish.

    Dunklee was ultimately bumped one spot down to 10th overall, 1:16.8 minutes behind the winner, by Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier, who started in bib 86 and ended up second — 33.9 seconds behind Slovakia’s Anastasia Kuzmina in first.

    Kuzmina, who notched her second-straight individual World Cup win with a time of 20:59.6, and  the rest of the top-four finishers — Dahlmeier, Ukraine’s Vita Semerenko in third (+41.4) and Italy’s Lisa Vittozzi in fourth (+50.0) — all shot clean, just like Dunklee. Semerenko’s twin sister Valj, who placed seventh (+1:06.8), was the other woman in the top 10 to hit every target.

    Dunklee spent all of the race in the top 10, ranking eighth after the first of three loops and seventh after the second loop.

    “All the difference today for me was made on the shooting range,” Dunklee wrote. “The skiing has been fine all season. I backed off approaching the range, and I took enough time to make sure I was taking good shots.”

    Her top 10 was her best result since placing seventh in a sprint last March in Oslo, Norway. By landing in the top 60, Dunklee qualified for the Annecy pursuit on Saturday, which will be her first of the season.

    “Today helped me put to rest some doubts I was starting to have in my abilities,” she wrote. “I am very grateful to qualify for the pursuit.  It will be a good opportunity for some head to head racing which I haven’t seen much of yet this year.”

    Kuzmina in Control

    Slovakia’s Anastasia Kuzmina racing to a nearly 34-second win in the women’s IBU World Cup sprint on Thursday in Annecy, France. (Photo: IBU/biathlonworld)

    Starting in bib 23, Kuzmina rocketed to first place with the fastest course time and fourth-fastest shooting and range times, all while hitting every target.

    “It is always a great feeling to be a winner, especially when the race was pretty good from start to finish,” Kuzmina, a two-time defending Olympic sprint champion (from 2010 and 2014), told the IBU, according to a press release. “It was really important to shoot two times zero. The snow condition was not too comfortable for me; I really want to thank my service team for the skis. That was an important part of my victory.”

    The Russian-born Slovakian (whose brother is Russian biathlete Anton Shipulin) took the lead after the first shooting, leaving the range 6.3 seconds ahead of Germany’s Denise Herrmann, who started ahead of her in bib 16 and also cleaned prone. Herrmann had a penalty lap in the standing bout to slip to sixth and 45 seconds back, while Kuzmina cleaned again to start her final loop 35 seconds clear of Vittozzi, who was in second at the time wearing bib 13.

    Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier prepares to hit all five targets in the standing stage of the IBU World Cup women’s sprint on Thursday in Annecy, France. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    A much later starter in bib 86, Dahlmeier cleaned prone to move into third, 6.7 seconds off Kuzmina’s time. Her next time in the range, Dahlmeier shot clean again to improve to second, but she was still 25.8 seconds short of Kuzmina’s time with one loop to go. Kuzmina skied the second-fastest last loop (about two seconds slower than Switzerland’s Selina Gasparin) to lock up first, while Dahlmeier ended up nearly 34 seconds back in second place.

    “This was the first podium in an individual-start race of the new season for me and that makes me very very happy,” Dahlmeier told German broadcaster ZDF, according to a translation. “I am excited that it worked out today, it took a while until I now got back in shape. I am not at 100 percent yet, but today was a super race and I am just happy about that, it was a lot of fun to race today.”

    Thursday marked Dahlmeier’s fourth race of the season after she missed the World Cup opener in Östersund, Sweden, due to illness. In Hochfilzen, she anchored the women’s 4 x 6 relay to the win and placed 10th in the pursuit and 16th in the sprint.

    “It’s a bit of an unusual situation for me to have such a late bib in an individual race, but as an anchor in relays I am kind of used to that, passing the time by listening to music or something like that,” she said. “When I was at the start gate I was focused again and just tried to do my on race. It has its pros and cons, I just tried to make the best of it.”

    The women’s IBU World Cup sprint podium on Thursday in Annecy, France, with Slovakia’s Anastasia Kuzmina (c) in first, Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier (l) in second, and Vita Semerenko (r) in third. (Photo: IBU/biathlonworld)

    For Vita Semerenko, it was her first podium since taking bronze in the sprint at the 2014 Olympics. She missed the two seasons that followed due to a back injury, and gave birth to her son just over a year ago.

    “I will never forget my first training after giving birth,” she told the IBU. “My coach said, ‘If we don’t give it a try, we will not find out what happens next.’ I said ‘OK’, but I had a lot of anxiety about coming back to biathlon, as I understood that coming back after three years would be tough. I am also thankful to my husband who told me every day after I had my child, ‘Vita, come on, come on, let’s make a comeback!’ ”

    Herrmann was the top finisher with a penalty (0+1) on Thursday in fifth place (+50.6), while Gasparin was just behind in sixth (+53.4) with one miss as well (1+0).

    “I am noticing that I am not feeling as fresh anymore as in Östersund, it was quite the number of races for me already,” Herrmann, who won both the sprint and pursuit in Östersund, told ZDF. “And I’d say deep snow conditions like today aren’t ideal for athletes over 60 kilograms. But nevertheless it was a good race, I really tried to hit every shot, and lost quite a few seconds with my shooting time. But I am back on track compared to last weekend, and hope I can continue my successes in the pursuit race.”

    In the women’s 10 k pursuit on Saturday, Kuzmina will start 34 seconds ahead of Dahlmeier in second, and Vita Semerenko will head out another 7 seconds later in third. Dunklee will start 1:17 back and just 4 seconds behind Valj Semerenko in seventh.

    Emma Lunder (Biathlon Canada) racing to 34th in the IBU World Cup women’s 7.5 k sprint on Thursday in Annecy, France. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    Three Canadians qualified for the pursuit, with Emma Lunder leading them in 34th (+2:07.4) with one standing penalty (0+1). Julia Ransom followed in 39th (+2:13.9) with one prone miss (1+0) and Rosanna Crawford snuck into the top 60 in 60th (+2:39.1) with two penalties (1+1). They will start the pursuit 2:07, 2:14 and 2:39 back, respectively.

    Also for Biathlon Canada, Megan Bankes missed the cutoff in 65th (+2:51.5) with one penalty (1+0).

    For the U.S., Clare Egan finished 81st (+3:43.7) with three misses (1+2), and Emily Dreissigacker was 88th (+4:36.0) with three penalties as well (2+1).

    The Annecy IBU World Cup men’s 10 k sprint takes place Friday, starting at 8:15 a.m. EST.

    Results | Pursuit start list

  • Semerenko Locks Up First IBU World Cup Win Before Holiday Break; Crawford Cracks Top 20 in Annecy Pursuit

    Semerenko Locks Up First IBU World Cup Win Before Holiday Break; Crawford Cracks Top 20 in Annecy Pursuit

    Biathletes Andrea Henkel, Veronika Vitkova and Valj Semerenko (r) in a World Cup pursuit last season in Oberhof, Germany.
    Biathletes Andrea Henkel (l) of Germany, Veronika Vitkova (second from r) of the Czech Republic, and Ukraine’s Valj Semerenko (r) in a World Cup pursuit last season in Oberhof, Germany. Semerenko placed third in the pursuit behind Russia’s Olga Zaitseva (not shown) in first and Vitkova in second. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

    About halfway through the IBU World Cup women’s 10-kilometer pursuit on Sunday, Valj Semerenko’s luck started to change.

    A penalty on her first prone had put her in 11th with four loops to go at Le Grand Bornand in Annecy, France. The Ukrainian had started third behind Switzerland’s Selina Gasparin and Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen, respectively; backwards wasn’t the direction Semerenko was hoping for.

    Most of the eventual top 16 cleaned the first stage, except Gasparin, Semerenko and Germany’s Franziska Preuss. Meanwhile, Mäkäräinen, Gabriela Soukalova of the Czech Republic, and Russia’s Olga Vilukhina moved to the front of the pack, all cleaning their second prone.

    The first standing, however, threw a stick in their tracks. Mäkäräinen entered the range first and came out with three penalties, and Vilukhina missed one. Soukalova cleaned again for a 10-second lead over Semerenko and another Ukrainian, Olena Pidhrushna, who cleaned the first three stages.

    Ukraine was quickly moving up in the standings, along with Russia’s Irina Starykh and Vilukhina, another 10 seconds behind heading into the final standing.

    With the pressure on, Semerenko entered the range third behind Soukalova and Starykh, respectively. The Czech World Cup leader missed one, Starykh cleaned once more and Semerenko did the same to put 20 seconds into Soukalova and Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff, who came back from a penalty in the third stage.

    With a kilometer remaining and the top two women accelerating toward the finish, Semerenko attacked on the final climb to drop Starykh and win her first World Cup in 28:05.4. Starykh was 4.2 seconds behind, and Eckhoff overtook Soukalova for third and her first World Cup podium, another 11.3 seconds back. Soukalova finished fourth (+21.9) about seven seconds ahead of Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier, who cleaned for fifth. Gasparin finished sixth (+37.1).

    “I did not expect such success here in France,” the 27-year-old Semerenko, who turns 28 on Jan. 28, told IBU. “It is a nice New Year present to myself. I am happy to win, especially after such a battle with a great competitor like Irina on the last lap … It is just starting to sink in.”

    After 20-for-20 shooting, Starykh dismissed suggestions that she was Russia’s top woman. “I do not think I am the top woman. This is the result of my summer training. I am only concerned about results,” she told IBU.

    Despite her first World Cup podium, Eckhoff was similarly straightforward. “It was just my day,” she said. “I shot well and did my work.”

    Crawford Cracks Top 20

    Rosanna Crawford (CAN).
    Biathlon Canada’s Rosanna Crawford at last week’s IBU World Cup in Hochfilzen, Austria..

    Out of four Canadian women in the pursuit, Rosanna Crawford had the best position from the beginning, starting 26th and a minute behind Gasparin. Her first prone didn’t go so well and she racked it up to the range’s quick entry from a downhill, which was especially tough in lanes 25 through 30.

    “My first prone don’t think I switched over soon enough. The shots were everywhere,” Crawford wrote in an email. “From there I made sure to start my range entry sooner.”

    The 25 year old then cleaned her second prone and missed one more on her first standing. She rose from 37th on the second loop to 29th on the third (with the ninth-fastest loop time), and finally 20th before her final loop. With Norway’s Fanny Well-Strand Horn about eight seconds ahead of her on the last loop, Crawford worked hard to catch her and credited her fast skis for helping her do so.

    She finished 19th for her best pursuit result, 1:47.5 behind Semerenko and 1.1 seconds ahead of Horn.

    “Anything is always possible in a pursuit,” Crawford explained. “It’s been a good 4 weeks in Europe but I am ready to go home and recover and see my family! The next trip will be a long one.”

    The IBU World Cup resumes Jan. 3 in Oberhof, Germany.

    Crawford’s teammate Megan Heinicke rose from 50th to 33rd with two penalties – one in the first and third stages – for her second-best pursuit result at the World Cup. Starting 1:41 behind, Heinicke figured a top 30 was possible given how tightly packed everyone was from the start.

    Despite missing her first shot in the first prone, Heinicke, 25, clocked the third-fastest range time. The second time around, she was second fastest on both the range and the loop.

    “The fast shooting times were part of my plan … I wanted to go into the shooting confident, focused, fast and aggressive,” Heinicke explained in an email. “While I did make a conscious decision to shoot aggressively on the whole I was more focused on the shooting process today which was a good thing.”

    She ended up with the fastest overall shooting time, which surprised her.

    “The ski times came about more naturally,” Heinicke wrote. “I was feeling a bit tired today and the loop times partially reflect my own feeling as well as the speed of the different groups I was skiing with.”

    She finished 2:25.2 behind the winner and was pleased to end the day and trimester with 90-percent shooting.

    “I feel a mixture of frustration and determination,” she said of the last five days in Annecy, which started with the Canadian women notching an unprecedented fourth in Thursday’s relay. “I have seen fast enough skiing, fast enough shooting and good enough shooting from myself to know that the top 30 and top 16 are realistic goals. Of course, to reach these goals I will need to do a better job of bringing everything together on the same day which makes me very determined to train smart and focused over Christmas.”

    Heinicke’s headed home to her husband and son Predo Emil, who turned 3 in November and was at the races last week in Hochfilzen, Austria.

    Rounding out the Canadian performances on Sunday, Megan Imrie placed 41st – one place behind where she started – with four standing penalties. Three came on the first standing and she missed one more on the last stage.

    Zina Kocher had seven penalties to drop from 45th to 52nd (2+1+2+2) and American Susan Dunklee finished 53rd of 58 with 15-for-20 shooting (1+1+1+2).

    Results

  • Gasparin Rides Confidence for Another Sprint Win; Canadian Women All Qualify for Pursuit

    Gasparin Rides Confidence for Another Sprint Win; Canadian Women All Qualify for Pursuit

    Selina Gasparin racing at 2012 World Championships. Last week in Hochfilzen, Austria, she became Switzerland's first biathlete to win a World Cup, and she repeated with another victory on Saturday in the 7.5 k sprint in Annency, France.
    Selina Gasparin racing at 2012 World Championships. Last week in Hochfilzen, Austria, she became Switzerland’s first biathlete to win a World Cup, and she repeated with another victory on Saturday in the 7.5 k sprint in Annecy, France.

    Confidence is a funny thing. In skiing, you spend a summer – or a lifetime – of training to achieve a certain outcome and once you obtain it, sometimes it naturally repeats itself.

    That was the case for Selina Gasparin on Saturday, who captured her second IBU World Cup victory eight days after notching her first in the 7.5-kilometer sprint in Hochfilzen, Austria.

    Gasparin, 29, tallied yet another 7.5 k sprint win for Switzerland after becoming her nation’s first biathlete to win a World Cup last week. Back then, she didn’t think the win was possible with a penalty in standing.

    But it was, as she edged Veronika Vitkova of the Czech Republic by 1.2 seconds. On Saturday at Le Grand Bornand in Annecy, France, Gasparin shot clean for the win – which almost shocked her more. Fifth after the first loop, the Swiss rose to second after knocking down every target before her second lap.

    After starting four minutes behind Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen, Gasparin bumped her out of the lead on the second loop. Mäkäräinen cleaned her prone, but missed one standing to fall to seventh before clawing back on the last lap.

    Gabriela Soukalova of the Czech Republic cleaned her prone as well and took a 7.5-second lead on Gasparin, but also suffered a single standing penalty to drop 11 seconds behind the eventual winner with 2.5 k remaining.

    Gasparin seized the victory in 20:51.4 minutes, 8.3 seconds ahead of Mäkäräinen in second, and Ukraine’s Valj Semerenko placed third (+11.5) with a standing penalty. Soukalova finished fourth, 13.2 seconds out of first, and the next three finishers all cleaned: Russia’s Olga Vilukhina in fifth and Germany’s Franziska Preuss and Franziska Hildebrand, who tied for sixth.

    Olena Pidhrushna of Ukraine had a prone penalty and placed eighth, and Poland’s Krystyna Palka and Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier in ninth and 10th, respectively, were perfect on the range.

    “I will be happy to wear number 1 tomorrow and then go home for Christmas,” Gasparin told IBU, according to a press release. “After that, I will go back to doing the same thing: focus on the race, shoot clean and take one race at a time. I do not look forward too much, because I know how fast it all can change in biathlon.”

    All Four Canadians Pursuit-Bound

    The Canadian women jumping for joy after notching Biathlon Canada's best-ever finish in a relay. (Photo: Biathlon Canada/Matthias Ahrens)
    The Canadian women jumping for joy after capturing Canada’s best-ever finish in a relay. (Photo: Biathlon Canada/Matthias Ahrens)

    Coming off their nation’s best-ever relay in fourth on Thursday, the Canadian women all qualified for Sunday’s pursuit with top-60 results on Saturday.

    Rosanna Crawford led the crew in 26th, 1:01.1 behind Gasparin. Excited about the race and the course that suits her, Crawford wrote in an email that she woke up with a slightly different feeling than two days before.

    “My legs were not feeling as fresh as they were on Thursday, and skiing was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be,” she wrote. “The 2.5km course has some deceiving long gradual climbs, that end with a short steep bridges!”

    Leaving prone with a penalty and ranking 54th, Crawford rose to 27th after cleaning her second stage. She had initially overcorrected for wind on a generally calm day and learned from her mistake to shoot flawlessly – and fast – in standing.

    “I think my one miss was just my silly brain showing up where it’s not wanted!” she explained. “The final lap was pretty tough, I didn’t cross the line totally gassed but I wasn’t able to make my legs move any faster out there on course.”

    Quick-and-careful shooting turned out to be key as Crawford tallied the best North American result in Saturday’s 7.5 k.

    “I am always happy to be in the top 30 and 90% is better than any of my sprint races so far this season, so I am happy about that!” she wrote. “I wish I could have been skiing like the relay, but tomorrow is another day! Another chance to go to battle!”

    Teammate Megan Imrie placed 40th with one penalty in each stage to finish 1:26.4 behind the winner. On a day when her legs felt “torched,” Imrie tried to focus on gliding and took advantage of the range’s downhill entry.

    “It feels easier for me to relax into my shooting position,” she explained of the approach. “The conditions were pretty calm on the range, but the snow wasn’t very fast. It’s a course of continuous gradual climbing, so it was a leg burner out there. You worked for your seconds.”

    While she’s unsure how she’ll fare in the pursuit – a race that’s not traditionally her strongest – Imrie’s optimistic that the trend could change.

    “This season I’ve been approaching each race with the mindset of bringing my very best to the line regardless of circumstances or conditions,” she wrote. “I’ve been feeling relaxed, happy, and my shooting is reflecting that.”

    Another Canadian, Zina Kocher tied for 45th (+1:35) with Norway’s Marte Olsbu after three penalties: one prone and two standing. The fourth relay member, Megan Heinicke also missed one prone and two standing for 50th (+1:41.2).

    After starting 96th of 97, Heinicke described the conditions as “perfect.” While the uphills and corners became slightly “sugary,” some of the long descents also got faster later in the race, so she didn’t feel as though she was at a disadvantage.

    When she missed shots, Heinicke simply moved on. She had the third-fastest shooting time in the first stage and 16th-fastest in the second bout.

    “Today was all about moving on efficiently to the next step which was getting out of that penalty loop and onto the course as fast as possible!” she wrote. “I feel like I went into this race with the right approach – fast and aggressive, but I am feeling frustrated and disappointed about the misses.”

    In Sunday’s 10 k pursuit, she expects to analyze more during the race.

    “I believe in my training and am just looking forward to another chance to try and bring it all together,” Heinicke wrote. “I am very determined and I want to go into the Christmas holidays satisfied with my own performance!”

    Narrowly making the cut in 60th, Susan Dunklee was the lone American to qualify for the pursuit. Dunklee suffered one prone miss then skied three penalty laps after her standing stage to finish 2:13.4 behind the winner.

    After ranking 66th on the first loop and 72nd on the second, she was surprised to hear she made the top 60. She started 10th and didn’t hear much for splits, but had a sense she might squeak through with four misses.

    Dunklee explained she changed her pacing for Saturday’s course, holding back slightly on the uphills in order to accelerate through the transitions and downhills.

    “I fought hard the last loop,” Dunklee wrote. “I wanted it too badly in standing and forgot to focus on the process of shooting well.”

    Three other Americans placed outside the top 60: Annelies Cook was 62nd with two penalties (1+1), Sara Studebaker finished 76th with three misses (2+1), and Hannah Dreissigacker was 77th with two misses (1+1).

    “All and all, a very disappointing day for the whole crew,” Dunklee wrote. The team tied their career-best relay result of eighth on Thursday. “I am happy to get one more chance before heading home for the holiday break [on Monday].”

    Results