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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: Marte Olsbu

  • Saturday Rundown: NCAA Champs; Holmenkollen 50 k; Kontiolahti Relays

    Saturday Rundown: NCAA Champs; Holmenkollen 50 k; Kontiolahti Relays

    The top finishers in the men’s 20 k freestyle mass start at 2018 NCAA Skiing Championships in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, with Northern Michigan University’s Ian Torchia (c) in first. (Photo: Dartmouth Sports/Clarkson Creative)

    NCAA Skiing Championships (Steamboat Springs, Colorado): 15/20 k freestyle mass starts

    On the fourth and final day of NCAA Skiing Championships at Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs, Katharine Ogden skied to her second-straight national title, Ian Torchia became an NCAA champion and the University of Denver (DU) won its 24th NCAA National Championship.

    Dartmouth freshman Katharine Ogden racing to her second-straight victory of the 2018 NCAA Skiing Championships in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. She won Saturday’s 15 k freestyle mass start by more than 38 seconds. (Photo: Dartmouth Sports/Clarkson Creative)

    Ogden, a Dartmouth College freshman, raced to a 38.4-second victory in the women’s 15-kilometer mass start, finishing in 43:22.0 minutes for her second win in as many races at 2018 NCAA Championships. She won the 5 k classic on Thursday and with her win on Saturday, she became the first Dartmouth skier in 56 years to win two national titles in the same year, according to a Dartmouth press release.

    On the second of three laps, Ogden broke away early with close to 10 k to go. According to the press release, she had a “quick fall” near the end of the second lap, but that didn’t derail her as she had time to grab sunglasses from Dartmouth men’s coach Brayton Osgood and a Dartmouth Lone Pine flag before the finish.

    At this year’s championships, Ogden’s two titles are accompanied by victories from Dartmouth men’s alpine skiers Brian McLaughlin (who won the giant slalom) and Tanguy Nef (who won the slalom). This marked only the second time that Dartmouth’s Big Green won four individual titles in a single NCAA Championships; that also occurred 61 years ago.

    “Katharine absolutely wanted this one, and she really likes to win,” Dartmouth Director of Skiing and Women’s Nordic Head Coach Cami Thompson Graves said in the press release. “She wasn’t about to let a fall slow her down, she has such a great competitive fire. But she also showed her playful side grabbing Brayton’s glasses and smiling all the way to the finish line!”

    Hailey Swirbul of the University of Alaska Anchorage placed second and Linn Eriksen (DU) reached the podium in third (+46.3). Denver had three in the top 10 with Jasmi Joensuu in ninth and Taeler McCrerey in 10th. Also landing in the top 10 for All-American honors were Guro Jordheim of the University of Utah in fourth, Emma Tarbath (Montana State University) in fifth, Petra Hyncicova of the University of Colorado Boulder (CU) in sixth, Christina Rolandsen (CU) in seventh, and Lauren Jortberg (Dartmouth) in eighth.

    Torchia, an Northern Michigan University (NMU) junior and U.S. Ski Team Development Team member, became the seventh NCAA champion in NMU Wildcats nordic skiing history, according to an NMU press release. Fredrick Schwenke was the Wildcats’ last nordic champion; he won the 2015 NCAA Championships 20 k classic.

    Torchia drew bib 1 for Saturday’s 20 k freestyle mass start and crossed the finish line first in 54:21.0, just 2 seconds ahead of CU’s Alvar Alev. Eivind Kvaale (DU) finished just four seconds back in third, and Denver had three in the top seven with Dag Frode Trollebø in fourth and Lars Hannah in seventh. Darmouth’s Cal Deline placed fifth, Zane Fields of Colby College finished sixth, and the 20 k freestyle’s 2017 NCAA champion Martin Bergström (Utah), who also won Thursday’s 10 k classic, placed eighth.  CU’s Petter Reistad and Sondre Bollum finished ninth and 10th, respectively.

    In the team standings, Denver beat Colorado by 41 points for the overall win with a total of 604 points between the nordic and alpine events at this year’s championships. Dartmouth placed third, 114.5 points behind Colorado, and Utah was another 63 points back in fourth.

    According to a DU press release, Denver has won at least one national championship in each of the last five athletic seasons (skiing: 2013/14, 2015/16, 2017/18; hockey: 2016-17; men’s lacrosse 2014/15), joining only Stanford on the list of schools that have done so in the last five seasons. (Oregon, West Virginia, Penn State, Oklahoma, Ohio State and Florida could potentially join that list later this year.)

    “It feels incredible,” said DU head coach Andy LeRoy said in the press release. “I am so happy for all of our athletes, they’ve been training all week and all season and to do it in Steamboat in front of our crowd is special.”

    Results: Women | Men| Team 

    Photos

    ***

    The Holmenkollen men’s 50 k freestyle mass start podium on Saturday at the World Cup in Oslo, Norway, with Switzerland’s Dario Cologna (c) in first, Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby (l) in second, and Russia’s Maxim Vylegzhanin (r) in third. (Photo: FIS Cross Country/Twitter)

    FIS Cross Country World Cup (Oslo, Norway): Men’s 50 k freestyle mass start

    Full report

    A four-time Olympic champion, Dario Cologna of Switzerland won his first 50-kilometer World Cup race on Saturday, topping the podium in the famous Holmenkollen 50 k freestyle mass start after outlunging Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby (who won the event last year) for the win in 2:01:48.1. Sundby finished one-hundredth of a second behind for second place, ahead of Russia’s Maxim Vylegzhanin, who was 1.1 seconds back in third in his first World Cup race since November of last year.

    The photo finish for first between Switzerland’s Dario Cologna (near) and Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby at the Holmenkollen 50 k freestyle mass start on Saturday in Oslo, Norway. Cologna got it by 0.01 seconds. (Photo: FIS Cross Country/Twitter)

    Norway’s Sjur Røthe came out on top in a race for fourth (+4.2), ahead of Russia’s Denis Spitsov in fifth (+4.4) and his Norwegian teammate Hans Christer Holund in sixth (+4.5). Great Britain’s Andrew Musgrave followed in seventh (+15.1), Germany’s Florian Notz placed eighth (+25.9) and Canada’s Alex Harvey finished ninth (+32.4), ahead of France’s Robin Duvillard in 10th (+33.5).

    Scott Patterson led the U.S. in 16th (+56.3) coming off an 11th place in the 50 k classic mass start at last month’s Olympics, and Canada’s Devon Kershaw finished in the points in 28th (+3:43.6). Just outside the top 30, Canada’s Graeme Killick finished 34th (+4:55.1).

    Also for the U.S, David Norris placed 38th (+6:19.7), Paddy Caldwell was 46th (+8:12.3), Noah Hoffman 49th (+10:27.9), Kevin Bolger 52nd (+12:44.2), and Simi Hamilton did not finish.

    Canada’s fourth man in the race, Andy Shields finished 47th (+8:13.6).

    Results

    ***

    Italy’s Lukas Hofer celebrates his team’s win in Saturday’s mixed relay at the IBU World Cup in Kontiolahti, Finland. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)

    IBU World Cup (Kontiolahti, Finland): Single mixed relay & mixed relay

    (Note: This rundown has been updated to include comments from Christian Gow and Sean Doherty.)

    In the last single mixed relay and mixed relay of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup season, France and Italy came out on top, with France winning the two-person single mixed relay and Italy taking first in the coed mixed relay.

    France’s Anaïs Chevalier and Antonin Guigonnat after winning Saturday’s single mixed relay at the IBU World Cup in Kontiolahti, Finland. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)

    France’s Anaïs Chevalier and Antonin Guigonnat combined for zero penalties and six spares to finish first in the single mixed relay in 33:29.1 minutes. Guigonnat as the team’s anchor secured the win by just 2.4 seconds over Austria’s Julian Eberhard while Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø finished 4.4 seconds back for third.

    Chevalier put France in fifth after the first leg, 15.5 seconds behind Ukraine’s Iryna Varvynets in first. Guigonnat used just one spare on his first leg to move them into fourth, 9.2 seconds back while Norway led at the second exchange. On Chevalier’s second leg, she shot clean in both stages to lead through the final exchange, with Ukraine skiing just 6.2 seconds back in second.

    On the final leg, Guigonnat used two spares and stayed out of the penalty lap, keeping the team in first through the finish. Eberhard skied the second-fastest course time on that leg to elevate Austria (with Lisa Theresa Hauser) from fourth at the tag to second place at the finish, and Bø skied all the way up from eighth to third place for Norway (with Marte Olsbu) with the fastest course time.

    Ukraine’s Artem Tyschenko used just one spare but slipped to fourth with the 11th-ranked course time on that leg, as he finished 10.8 seconds behind Norway.

    Behind Russia in fifth and Italy in sixth, Canada placed seventh (+23.8) with Rosanna Crawford and Christian Gow. The duo combined for zero penalties and six spares, and put themselves in third place early in the race. Crawford skied them into third on the first leg, using just two spares and tagging Gow 7.4 seconds out of first.

    Gow went on to take the lead after cleaning prone without any spares, and he cleaned standing as well but slipped back to third while Bø took the lead. Gow tagged Crawford in third, 8.9 seconds behind Norway in first.

    “I didn’t think too much about being tagged in third,” Gow recalled in an email to FasterSkier. “It was exciting for sure, but I let it fade to the background so that I could focus on my job both on the track and in the range.  It was great to leave prone in first place! It was also surprising, but it was a good place to be in.

    “My skiing was ok today,” he continued. “It is a really challenging and demanding race format that we don’t get a lot of practice with.  I was sick after the Olympic Games and only finally coming around the past couple days.  The Sprint race was horrendous for me, so today was much better than that. In the range I just focussed on myself and trusted my shooting.  I tried my best not to get caught up in the race going on around me and it worked to my benefit.”

    Crawford then slipped to seventh and 21 seconds back with three prone spares, but avoided the penalty lap, and Gow held onto seventh through the finish, using just one spare and skiing the eighth-fastest course time on that leg.

    “We are both happy with this result,” Gow wrote. “I think that we are both looking at the 23 second gap to first and thinking that if things had worked out just a bit better we could be there.  It can be both exciting and frustrating to be that close to the podium.  We know we can do it, it’s just a matter of putting it together on the right day. We are happy with 7th, but hungry for more.”

    Susan Dunklee and Lowell Bailey finished 14th for the U.S., 1:13.0 out of first with one penalty and 14 spares. The penalty came on Dunklee’s first leg during her standing stage, after she had cleaned prone without any spares. She tagged Bailey in 14th and he brought them up to 11th, using three spares on that leg, then Dunklee came through the final exchange in 13th after using four spares to clean. Bailey lost one place on the final leg, using four spares but staying out of the penalty lap.

    Twenty-six teams competed in the single mixed relay, compared to 23 in the mixed relay that followed.

    Team Italia celebrates its win in the IBU World Cup mixed relay on Saturday in Kontiolahti, Finland, with its relay members Dorothea Wierer, Lisa Vittozzi, Dominik Windisch, and Lukas Hofer. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)

    In Saturday’s 2 x 6 + 2 x 7.5 k mixed relay, Italy nabbed a 1.5-second victory over Ukraine in 1:15:08.3. Dorothea Wierer, Lisa Vittozzi, Dominik Windisch, and Lukas Hofer — the same Italian team that took bronze in the mixed relay at last month’s Olympics, although in a different order — combined for the win with one penalty and 13 spares.

    Ukraine, with Anastasiya Merkushyna, Vita Semerenko, Artem Pryma, and Dmytro Pidruchnyi, had zero penalties and just three spares throughout the whole race. For the second-straight relay on Saturday, Norway placed third (+9.1) with Synnøve Solemdal, Tiril Eckhoff, Henrik L’Abée-Lund, and Tarjei Bø totaling zero penalties and nine spares.

    Italy’s lone penalty came in Vittozzi’s second leg, but it didn’t derail the team as it improved from sixth to fifth with Vittozzi, who skied the third-fastest course time on that leg. She tagged Windisch 6.8 seconds out of first, and Windisch, who had anchored the team in the Olympics, took the lead by the final exchange after using two spares to clean. Hofer left the exchange just 3.3 seconds ahead of Norway’s Bø but used just one spare and skied the second-fastest anchor leg to finish first, beating his rivals up Kontiolahti’s infamous climb known as “The Wall”. Ukraine’s Pidruchnyi also shot clean with a single spare and clocked the fastest anchor leg to move his team from fourth to second place. Bø lost one place and finished third after using one spare as well and skiing the third-fastest anchor leg.

    Russia followed in fourth, France fifth, Sweden sixth, Germany seventh, Austria eighth, and the U.S. ninth (+2:48.4). The U.S. team, with Clare Egan, Joanne Reid, Tim Burke, and Sean Doherty, had one penalty and 11 spares. Egan cleaned her first prone but had to ski a penalty lap after her standing stage, tagging Reid in 17th, 58.7 seconds out of first.

    Reid used three spares on the second leg and moved up to 13th by the second exchange, and Burke used three spares as well to pick off one more place and tag Doherty in 12th. Doherty skied the eighth-fastest anchor leg and used two spares to clean to put the team in ninth at the finish.

    “I don’t consider two spares to be anything special, but today it was enough to make up some ground,” Doherty wrote in an email to FasterSkier.”I felt strong skiing, more like myself which is fun even if it’s a little late in the season. We had very good skis which always helps. I have done quite a few laps on this course over the years so the lines and transitions are pretty refined, so that is where I made time on the course.

    “I am happy with my leg. I enjoyed my little battle for 9th,” he continued. “I can’t speak too much for the other members of the relay tonight but I think 9th is a solid effort.”

    Canada finished 17th (+4:34.9) with Emma Lunder, Julia Ransom, Scott Gow, and Brendan Green combining for one penalty and 13 spares. Lunder put them in 12th at the first exchange and Ransom skied up to 10th, but Scott Gow had a penalty on his standing stage to drop to 16th. Green lost one more place on the last leg despite only requiring two spares.

    Results: Single mixed relay | Mixed relay

  • France Golden in Biathlon Mixed Relay; Canada 12th, U.S. 15th

    Martin Fourcade waves the tricolore down the finishing straight as France claims gold in the biathlon mixed relay on Tuesday at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (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.

    PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — In its four-card-deep deck, the French biathlon team had an ace. Anchoring France’s 2 x 6 + 2 x 7.5-kilometer mixed relay was Martin Fourcade. The 29 year old had already taken two individual gold medals at these Winter Games. The final leg of Tuesday’s race presented the opportunity for another.

    Coming through the last exchange, it was Germany’s Erik Lesser tagging off to Arnd Peiffer. Without Fourcade chasing them, Germany’s chances of a medal would have seemed certain.

    Peiffer, who learned around 1 p.m. that afternoon that he would start the relay in place of Simon Schempp, who reportedly was feeling under the weather, was first into the range after one loop for his round of prone shooting. There, Peiffer missed two shots, but using two spares, hit the remaining two targets and stayed out of the penalty lap.

    Then came Fourcade. The Frenchman shot clean. Skiing into the range with France was Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen and Italy’s Dominik Windisch. Svendsen and Windisch both used one spare each to clean and steer clear of the penalty lap as well.

    Out on course, Peiffer had a 6.1-second buffer between himself and Fourcade. Windisch was the third racer to depart the range, 16.3 seconds out of first, and just 0.1 seconds behind him was Svendssen.

    The 6.1 seconds separating the two frontrunners was soon down to zero. Fourcade attacked on the first uphill, passing the German and was the first into the range for the standing shooting — exactly the type of stage Fourcade craves. 

    Five days ago, Fourcade was in a similar situation. During the men’s 20 k individual race, he skied into the range for the final round of shooting with a comfortable lead. The almost-always clutch Frenchman missed the last two targets, losing the gold and finishing fifth on the day.

    Martin Fourcade cleaning his final five targets of the day to secure gold for France in the mixed relay at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    During Tuesday’s mixed relay, Fourcade was on his A-game. Five pings heard throughout the stadium and five targets down. With his remaining 2.5 k to go, another medal for France and Fourcade was certain. Not long after, it became clear that medal would be gold.

    Back in the range, Peiffer struggled, using three spares and having to ski a penalty loop. Meanwhile, Svendsen used one spare to clean and Windisch two. Svendsen slid into second place, 34.3 seconds behind an already long-gone Fourcade.  

    Windisch left about 15 seconds after the Svendsen. After emerging from the penalty lap, Peiffer skied up behind Windisch. In a moment of déjà vu, Fourcade carrying France’s fluttering flag crossed the finish line first in a time of 1:08:34.3 for the gold medal. Svendsen held his own with the third-fastest anchor lap to secure silver for Norway, 20.9 seconds behind Fourcade.

    For Fourcade, it was his fifth gold medal in two Olympics and his first in a team event. France last won the mixed relay at the world-championships level at 2016 World Championships in Oslo, Norway.

    Asked what it was like capturing his fifth Olympic gold, Fourcade responded at the press conference, “Tonight it’s not about numbers, it’s not about personal, it’s a team adventure that began in 2009 in the world champs in [PyeongChang] Korea, and tonight it’s a really big emotion for the team and all the crew because we are individual athletes and the emotion of an individual Olympic gold medal is amazing, but when you can share it with your teammates it’s something really much more incredible.”

    “I think for the Norwegian team, we have a big priority on this relay,” Svendsen said at the press conference. “We really like it a lot, great to race both women and men together. You can see the best biathlon nations … so great event, it was very exciting.”

    Italy’s Dominik Windisch (r) celebrates bronze for his team in the mixed relay, which he took by 0.3 seconds over Germany’s Arnd Peiffer (l) at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)

    The battle for third and fourth came down to a contentious last 100 meters.

    As they rounded into the finishing straight, Peiffer was skiing in the left lane and Windisch in the right. In one final push to the line, Windisch crossed over into the Peiffer’s lane and took third place and bronze medal by 0.3 seconds ahead of him, 26.9 seconds after Fourcade.

    Peiffer crossed in fourth place (+27.2) and Germany subsequently filed a protest that Windisch obstructed Peiffer. Ultimately, the protest was denied and the results stood.

    Speaking to German broadcaster ARD after the race, Peiffer initially said Windisch’s move was within the rules. However, after viewing the replay, he changed his mind.

    “I believe he [Windisch] would have beaten me if he’d just remained straight ahead in his corridor and not skied such a curve,” Peiffer later told ARD, according to a translation. “That’s what I also told him. I told him I congratulate him because I believe he was better today. I just did a poor job today, that’s how it even came to this situation…

    Germany’s mixed relay anchor Arnd Peiffer during his last shooting stage on Tuesday, where he incurred a penalty and slipped out of gold-medal contention and ultimately finished fourth in the event at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    “I took another look at it now, and to me it’s a rule violation,” Peiffer added. “But from experience I know that the jury never makes any decision or generally denies appeals. Just because they don’t have the courage, I believe. I am sorry for the other three, because they did a great job. I don’t believe I would have deserved a medal today, but it’s always sad if rules get broken.”

    During a post-race press conference, the issue of Italy’s move was raised again. One reporter directed a question at Windisch, asking about his thoughts on the filed complaint.

    “It happened realy really fast because it come down from the downhill and I was convinced to do the right thing because I was in front of Peiffer,” Windisch said.“The jury had a long, long meeting to take this decision and they decided for us. I am really happy about this, so I think they had their reasons and I am happy for Italy.”

    The same reporter posed the question to Fourcade, stating that the move seemed like one the Frenchman has done in the past.

    “As Dominik Windisch told you it happened really fast in a situation we are not fully able to decide really quickly because we already have 7.5 kilometers in the legs,” Fourcade said. “When you are looking a the picture you can see it’s probably not the best decision Dominik took, but in the end it changes nothing because Dominik is stronger than Arnd in the sprint and he didn’t change anything with the final results. I think and I’m sure if it happened again he would choose another line.”

    Italy’s Strong Start

    Italy’s Lisa Vittozzi (2), alongside Germany’s Vanessa Heinz, leads the first leg of the 2 x 6 + 2 x 7.5 k mixed relay on Tuesday at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. She went on to hand off in first, and Italy ultimately earned bronze in the event. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    In the first leg of the race, Italy’s Lisa Vittozzi and Germany’s Vanessa Heinz tagged off in first and second, respectively, with Germany 2.2 seconds back at the exchange after both skiers shot clean without any spares. Vittozzi hanged off to Dorothea Wierer, while Heinz tagged Germany’s strongest leg Laura Dahlmeier, who took gold in the sprint and pursuit to start the Games and placed third in the 15 k individual.

    Dahlmeier shot clean in the first prone and used one spare to clean standing, tagging Lesser in first, 29.9 seconds ahead of Italy, at the second exchange. 

    Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø racing the third leg of the mixed relay at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. After being tagged in 10th, he skied up to fourth at the last exchange, and Norway ultimately finished second. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    Norway’s ascent to second place involved a strong third leg from Johannes Thingnes Bø. Using just a single spare to clean his two stages (0+0, 0+1), Bø overcame two less-than-stellar legs from teammates Marte Olsbu (0+2, 0+1) and Tiril Eckhoff, who had a penalty (0+2, 1+3). When Eckhoff tagged Bø, he was in 10th, 1:24.4 minutes behind Germany in first. With the fastest third-leg course time, Bø handed off to Svendsen in fourth place, 33.1 seconds behind the Germans and half a second behind Italy.

    Canada 12th, U.S. 15th

    Canada finished the relay in 12th (+2:36.7) after skiing three places up from their bib number.

    Rosanna Crawford skiing the first leg of Canada’s mixed relay at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. She tagged off in 11th and Canada went on to finish 12th. (Photo:FlyingPointRoad)

    Rosanna Crawford skied the opening leg, using two spares, one each in prone and standing, to avoid the penalty lap.

    “I tried to be super focused in prone,” she told FasterSkier after. “I went on to have one miss, that was just a bad trigger pull on my part. Skiing wasn’t great, but I just tried my best to stick with the women around me and give Julia the best chance I could.”

    Crawford tagged teammate Julia Ransom in 11th, 34.7 seconds out of first. Ransom shot without a miss in prone and used two spares to clean standing. She maintained 11th while tagging Brendan Green 1:44.7 minutes behind the leaders.

    After what Ransom considered a less-than-ideal personal start to the Olympics, she was pleased with how she felt racing on Tuesday.

    “Today I felt like I could actually push a little harder and have fun racing,” she said.

    Canada’s Brendan Green racing the third leg of the mixed relay at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    Green used three spares in total (0+1, 0+2) but remained clear of the penalty lap. He came through the last exchange in 14th, 2:27.9 out of first.

    “I thought the wind would make it a little bit challenging today,” Green said after finishing his leg, with Canada’s fourth-leg skier, Christian Gow, still on course. “It was up a bit from the other days, [but] thankfully it was fairly consistent. This won’t be the result we are hoping for but it’s a good primer for the men’s and women’s relays later this week and so looking forward to that.”

    In his first mixed relay and first time anchoring a championship relay, Christian Gow headed out on the final leg to pick off some places.

    Canada’s Christian Gow racing to 26th in the men’s 20 k individual for his best non-relay result at his first Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    “I knew there would be a bit more pressure depending on the position that we were in when I got tagged because all the teams were putting their strongest guys last,” Gow said after. “It’s some pretty big names when you’re looking at the list. You’re like, ‘OK, there are some of my idols,’ so there’s a bit more pressure there, but I have been feeling pretty good.”

    The 24-year-old Gow shot clean and then used two spares in standing, racing the ninth-fastest last leg to put Canada in 12th at the finish (+2:36.7).

    “I think Nathan [Smith] one time told me you can’t idolize your competition, which is very true,” Gow said of his teammate and fellow Olympian. “I think I get a little better at that every year, believing in myself a little more and not looking at the big names I’m racing as untouchable or anything like that. I am especially happy with how I have been doing that this year. You try to handle it just like any other race and it doesn’t matter who the guy is next to you, it’s what you do in the race to beat them.”

    Julia Ransom racing the second leg for Canada in the mixed relay at the 2018 Olympics. She kept the team in 11th and they went on to place 12th. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    Four years ago at the Olympics in Sochi, Russia, the Canadian mixed relay finished 11th. As the race was still going on Tuesday, Crawford said a top eight would be a good result and top six would be “the dream result.”

    Despite their goals, Ransom, a first-time Olympian, said they hadn’t felt any added pressure coming into the mixed relay.

    “… Everybody on the team knows that we’re all trying our best and are gonna bring our best to the day,” Ransom, 25, said of the team’s effort on any given relay day. “It’s an unsaid sort of encouragement, I guess.”

    For the U.S., Susan Dunklee skied a strong first leg, putting the team in fifth at the first exchange, 23.8 seconds out of first. She used two spares to clean prone and hit every target in standing (0+2, 0+0).

    Susan Dunklee (center, in all blue) leading out for the U.S team in the first leg of mixed relay at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. She handed off in fifth and the team ultimately finished 15th. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    “I definitely felt better today than I did in the individual,” Dunklee said, referring to the 15 k race where she placed 19th. “I was closing on the lead group for the first kilometer or so and then by the top of the big hill, I kind of ran out of steam a little bit and was just trying to get into the finish.”

    After being tagged in fifth, right behind the Czech Republic* in fourth, Joanne Reid hung in contention in sixth after cleaning prone without any spares. But in standing, she missed all five targets and used all three spares, ultimately having to ski three penalty laps. She went on to tag Tim Burke in 18th, 3:10 minutes back.

    “It went poorly,” Ransom said after. “… The best I could do was just try and stick on and hand over with something they could work with, and that didn’t really work out for me today.”

    “I guess the strategy was once I got tagged try to make some time, try to get in contact with at least one other team so that Lowell could have someone to chase,” Burke said.

    Tim Burke racing the third leg of the U.S. mixed relay at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. After being tagged in 18th, he moved the team into 16th and they ultimately finished 15th. (Photo: FlyignPointRoad)

    Burke in fact caught two other teams, shooting without a miss in prone and using three spares to clean standing (0+0, 0+3), and tagging teammate Lowell Bailey in 16th (+3:24.4).

    The U.S. anchor leg, Bailey used one spare in prone and none in standing (0+1, 0+0). He skied the seventh-fastest anchor leg and finished the race in 15th (+3:31.1) out of 20 teams.

    “We actually had decent performances, it was really just one bad stage,” Bailey said. “Joanne had a good race otherwise and Susan had a great start, Tim had a solid race, I feel good about my race, so unfortunately, it’s eight stages not seven, but I think everyone gave everything they had and that’s the way biathlon goes. Some days go your way and some days don’t.”

    Olympic biathlon racing continues Thursday with the women’s 4 x 6 k relay.

    *Note: After her race, Dunklee told reporters about her collision with the Czech Republic’s Veronika Vítková as the two first-leg skiers came through the exchange with several others. The crash broke Vítková’s rifle right after she tagged off in fourth, just ahead of Dunklee.

    “I feel really bad,” Dunklee said. “I tangled with [Vítková] in the tag-off zone and she tripped and broke her rifle and that just puts a real damper on everything. So that’s sad. … It doesn’t affect her race today, but it certainly affects her races going forward. Stocks are highly customized pieces of equipment and you can spend months tinkering with them to get them to fit you just right, so it’s not easy to fix them when they break.”

    The Czech team went on to finish eighth (+1:39.3).

    Results

  • Tuesday Olympic Rundown: France Wins Biathlon Mixed Relay; Germany Sweeps NoCo Event, B. Fletcher 17th Again

    Germany en route to a clean sweep of the podium in the men’s nordic-combined individual large hill/10 k on Tuesday at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, with Johannes Rydzek (5) leading Fabian Rießle (6) and Eric Frenzel (4). They went on to place first, second and third, respectively. (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 Olympics (PyeongChang, South Korea): Biathlon Mixed Relay

    Full report

    A few shooting errors by pursuit bronze medalist Anais Bescond were not enough to derail France, as the team of Marie Dorin Habert, Bescond, Simon Desthieux, and Martin Fourcade took gold in the mixed relay. Skiing the first leg, Dorin Habert shot clean and tagged off just seven seconds behind the leading team from Italy. Bescond then used four spare rounds over the course of her relay leg, dropping the team to fourth (+48.9) at the halfway point. But both Desthieux and Fourcade shot 10/10, capitalized on the errors of others, and ended up with a clear 20.9 second margin for gold at the finish.

    Susan Dunklee put the U.S. in fifth after the first leg of the mixed relay. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    Norway came back from a rough start to earn silver despite a whopping eleven spare rounds and a penalty loop. Marte Olsbu had three spare rounds to tag off in ninth, 32.8 seconds back, and then Tiril Eckhoff used two spare rounds in prone and then took a penalty loop in standing. But Johannes Thingnes Bø used just one spare round and skied the team from tenth to fourth, in contact with the medal pack, on his relay leg, and then Emil Hegle Svendsen used one spare round in each shooting stage to climb into a clear second; he skied alone on the final loop before crossing the line for silver.

    There was controversy about bronze, however. Germany had led much of the race thanks to a solid leg by Vanessa Hinz to start and then a brilliant leg by Laura Dahlmeier; Erik Lesser also excelled, and at the third exchange the team had used just two spare rounds and had a 32.6-second lead on the field. But sprint gold medalist Arnd Peiffer couldn’t keep it together and first used a spare round in prone, then took a painful penalty loop in standing.

    He exited the loop just as Italy’s Dominik Windisch went past. Lisa Vitozzi had put Italy in the lead after one leg thanks to perfect shooting, and despite three spare rounds Dorothea Wierer had tagged off in second at the halfway point. Lukas Hofer had maintained that position and Windisch was really only in fourth because of three of his own spare rounds.

    Windisch and Peiffer battled all the way around the final 2.5 k, with Windisch leading the final downhill; the pair were nearly even coming into the stadium, but Windisch sprinted for the finishing lanes and in doing so angled from one far side of the trail to the farthest finishing lane, just barely getting there ahead of Peiffer and debatably choosing a lane before the lane markings began. Peiffer, who had skied a straight course all the way from the downhill into the finish, was forced to then switch lanes and couldn’t regain the momentum to keep up with the Italian, who crossed the line in third place.

    The Germans protested, but the race jury ultimately decided to keep the Italians in third place, awarding them bronze, and the Germans finished fourth.

    “The jury has decide to keep the bronze medal for Italy; Peiffer did not have to alter his speed, therefore no reason to disqualify Windisch,” the IBU stated in a tweet. (The response to that tweet has nearly unanimously condemned it as the wrong decision.)

    The IBU 2016 Competition Rules give only a vague definition of obstruction, stating, “It is strictly forbidden to impede other competitors in any way at any time during the competition.”

    The Canadian team of Rosanna Crawford, Julia Ransom, Brendan Green, and Christian Gow finished 12th, +2:36.7, with nine spare rounds.

    The U.S. team of Susan Dunklee, Joanne Reid, Tim Burke, and Lowell Bailey finished 15th, +3:31.1, with three penalty loops and nine spare rounds.

    Results

    ***

    2018 Olympics (PyeongChang, South Korea): Nordic Combined Large Hill/10 k

    Full report

    Germany pulled off a podium sweep in the second nordic combined combined competition of the Olympics, with Johannes Rydzek, Fabian Riessle, and Eric Frenzel earning gold, silver (+0.4 seconds), and bronze (+0.8 seconds), respectively. They had been ranked fifth, sixth, and fourth after the jumping round on the big hill, but edged Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber off the podium. Riiber had the second-best jump of the day and ended up just 2.8 seconds out of a gold medal. Japan’s Akito Watabe topped the jumping scores and finished fifth, +12.5 seconds.

    For the U.S., Bryan Fletcher led the way again and just like in the normal hill competition, finished 17th. This time he was ranked 23rd after the jump and made up six places to cross the line +1:42.9. Ben Berend, Ben Loomis, and Jasper Good finished 39th (+4:28.2), 40th (+4:38.8), and 43rd (+5:50.2).

    Results

  • Saturday Olympic Rundown: Norway Tops Women’s Relay, U.S. 5th; Kuzmina Dominates Mass Start

    Saturday Olympic Rundown: Norway Tops Women’s Relay, U.S. 5th; Kuzmina Dominates Mass Start

    Norway won the women’s 4 x 5 k relay, with Sweden taking silver and Russia bronze. (Photo: FIS Cross Country/Twitter)

    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): Women’s 4 x 5 k Relay

    International report

    North American report

    It wasn’t the wire-to-wire triumph that Norway sometimes achieves, but the pre-race favorites got the job done despite a scare midway through, thanks to dominant skiing by Ragnhild Haga and smooth strength from anchor Marit Bjørgen.

    Norway took gold in the 4 x 5 k relay by two seconds over Sweden in 51:24.3 minutes. Olympic Athletes from Russia took bronze (+43.3), Finland fourth (+1:02.6), and the United States fifth (+1:20.5).

    The first leg went out with Natalia Nepryaeva of Russia setting a blistering pace, fracturing the field almost immediately. A number of racers tried to stay with her only to get shot off the back of the pack. Taking a different pacing strategy, Slovenia’s Anamarija Lampic made up ground in the final section of the first leg to tag off in second, with Norways’ Ingvild Flugstad Østeberg third, all within a few seconds of each other.

    Part of Nepryaeva’s fracturing of the field led to U.S. lead skier Sophie Caldwell getting dropped, to tag off 1:01.5 minutes back in 11th place.

    In the second leg, Charlotte Kalla of Sweden and Kerttu Niskanen of Finland clocked the fastest times, making up 24.4 and 9.9 seconds that had been lost to Russia and Norway by their teammates Anna Haag and Aino Kaisa Saarinen, respectively. In the meantime, Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen of Norway had a disastrous relay leg and notched just the eighth-fastest split time, falling to fourth.

    Yulia Belorukova of Russia continued to lead the race on that second leg, but Kalla tagged off at the end of the classic portion just 1.4 seconds back, and Niskanen in third (+10.1). Sadie Bjornsen made up three places to tag off in eighth (+1:05.2).

    Jacobsen tagged Haga 29.8 seconds out of first. From that point, Haga gradually reeled in the leaders over the course of the 5 k skate leg. It was an absolutely dominant performance, with the fastest split time by 24.7 seconds in a less than 12-minute race.

    Sweden’s Ebba Andersson led Russia’s Anastasia Sedova for the whole leg and stayed clear of the field, but Haga — the gold medalist in the 10 k skate — made up enough ground to finish her effort in third, 3.4 seconds back.

    That was more than enough for Bjørgen to work with, and she and Swedish anchor Stina Nilsson quickly dropped Anna Nechaevskaya of Russia and set off on their personal duel for gold. Bjørgen led the whole way, but could not make any decisive move to drop the Swede. Instead, over the top of the climb she had about a second, which Nilsson could not close on the downhill or the final flats into the finishing straight: gradually, Bjørgen just added a meter and another to her lead and crossed the line with gold.

    Nechaevskaya continued to lose time on the leaders, but still held on to bronze. Krista Pärmäkoski skied an aggressive effort for Finland to pass the team from Switzerland, which had been in fourth after strong legs from Laurien van der Graaff, Nadine Fähndrich, and Nathalie von Siebenthal. But 21-year-old Lydia Hiernickel was unable to keep the pace and Switzerland dropped to seventh by the finish, getting passed by not only Parmakoski and Jessie Diggins, but also Sandra Ringwald of Germany. The Germans finished sixth (+1:49.4) and Switzerland seventh (+1:51.5).

    Kikkan Randall had skied the third-fastest split of the field (behind Haga and Andersson) in the third leg to bring the U.S. into sixth, and Diggins also skied the third-fastest split (behind Bjørgen and Nilsson) for her leg to bring the team up to fifth at the finish.

    The Canadian team of Dahria Beatty, Emily Nishikawa, Cendrine Browne, and Anne-Marie Comeau placed 13th (+4:50.3) of 14 teams.

    Results

    ***

    The women’s biathlon 12.5 k mass start medalists at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, with Slovakia’s Anastasiya Kuzmina (c) in first, Belarus’s Darya Domracheva (l) in second, and Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff (r) in third. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)

    Biathlon: Women’s 12.5 k mass start

    Full report

    Not even a miss in the final stage could keep Slovakia’s Anastasiya Kuzmina from her third medal of the 2018 Olympics, this time gold, in the women’s 12.5-kilometer mass start on Saturday at the Alpensia Biathlon Center.

    Kuzmina took charge early in the five-loop race, leading Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier into the range for the first prone shooting stage. There, Kuzmina cleaned all five targets quickly to get back out on course in first, while Dahlmeier missed one to slip out of the top 20, while several other athletes cleaned.

    Kuzmina went on to hit every target over the next two shooting stages to distance herself from second place, and even with a miss on the last standing stage, she left the range 24.7 seconds clear of Darya Domracheva of Belarus in second.

    Domracheva had put herself in second with clean shooting in the first two stages, then dropped to fifth with a miss on the third stage. Italy’s Dorothea Wierer was up to second by the fourth shooting after three clean stages, then fell back to seventh with a miss on the last standing.

    There, Domracheva cleaned to get back into silver-medal contention, 9.3 seconds ahead of Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff in third.

    Heading into the final downhill into the stadium, Kuzmina had enough time to grab a flag from one of her team’s staff members running alongside the trail. She crossed the finish line first in 35:23.0 minutes without anyone close for her third-career Olympic gold (after winning the sprint at the 2010 and 2014 Games).

    Domracheva skied on her own to second, 18.8 seconds behind, for her first medal of the 2018 Games (and fifth of her career after winning three races at the 2014 Olympics).

    Eckhoff, who had skied two penalty laps, took third, 27.7 seconds behind Kuzmina, while Italy’s Lisa Vittozzi held off Sweden’s Hanna Öberg, Wierer and Belarus’s Nadezhda Skardino for fourth place (+45.6). Öberg placed fifth (+46.5), Wierer was sixth (+47.3), and Skardino seventh (+47.9), ahead of Norway’s Marte Olsbu in eighth (+51.6), France’s Marie Dorin Habert in ninth (+57.9) and Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen in 10th (+1:00.9). Dahlmeier, who had won two races and placed third in another at these Olympics, finished 16th (+1:47.1) with two penalties (1+1+0+0).

    No North Americans qualified for the mass start.

    Results

  • Dahlmeier Seizes Second Gold with Frozen Fingers; Crawford 19th in PyeongChang Pursuit

    Dahlmeier Seizes Second Gold with Frozen Fingers; Crawford 19th in PyeongChang Pursuit

    Gold medalist Laura Dahlmeier of Germany celebrates waiving a national flag as she crosses the line first in the women’s 10-kilometer pursuit at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. (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.

    ***

    It was almost another start-to-finish victory at the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang for the current golden girl of biathlon, Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier. But it came with a painful price to pay.

    After starting the women’s 10-kilometer pursuit on Monday evening local time in freezing temperatures and with a 24-second lead following her sprint victory, Dahlmeier began the race intensely focused, again cleaning the first prone stage.

    But this time she was not uncontested.

    After starting in 13th position and almost a minute back to begin the pursuit, Slovakia’s Anastasiya Kuzmina, who’s currently second in the World Cup Total Score standings, caught up to Dahlmeier after both had incurred one penalty in the second prone shooting and avoided more by performing multiple adjustments on their rifle sights to deal with gusts of wind.

    After closing a nine-second gap, Kuzmina passed her rival on the next loop. But Dahlmeier did not seem to mind someone else helping her to set the pace in once again difficult conditions on the course and range (the race jury reportedly debated a potential postponement), and tucked behind Kuzmina to wait for her next chance in the standing shooting. There Dahlmeier cleaned again, leaving the range with a 38-second lead after Kuzmina had to twice ski through the penalty lap, but still retained second place as the closest pursuer.

    “On the third loop we raced together, and on the uphill part Anastasiya was really strong and I just wanted to follow her and we had a good speed together,” Dahlmeier later recounted at the post-race press conference. “And at the shooting range, I felt really comfortable. I know about my good standing shooting, and I just looked to my targets and wanted to hit the middle and it worked … During the last years I could improve my shooting in wind situations, but I didn’t especially train wind situations [for PyeongChang].”

    “Laura is a very hard opponent to beat,” Kuzmina said at the press conference, via a translator. “She is able to fully focus on the shooting and she is able to shoot very good also in the strong wind, so you can fight with her on the skis of course, but you need to shoot very good to beat her.”

    In her final shooting stage, Dahlmeier again cleaned all targets and left the range with a 55-second lead on Kuzmina, with France’s Anaïs Bescond right behind the Slovakian.

    “If I would already think that I might miss a target when approaching the range for the fourth time, I believe that would be the wrong mindset. I just tried to concentrate on myself, on my own targets,” Dahlmeier told German broadcaster ZDF when questioned about the final shooting, when she probably could have afforded to compensate for one penalty lap. “I have proven often enough that I can hit [when it matters], in training we simulate that every day. And I just firmly believed that it will work out again today. And it did, so I am very grateful for that.”

    With such a comfortable lead, nobody could challenge her anymore on the final loop. On the finishing stretch Dahlmeier had enough time to reach for a German flag handed to her from the stands, before crossing the line in a time of 30:35.3 minutes, with one penalty (0+1+0+0).

    Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia celebrates after crossing the finish line in second place in the women’s 10-kilometer pursuit at the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: IBU/ Biathlonworld)

    Fighting for the positions on the podium behind her, Kuzmina crossed the line 29.4 seconds back to claim the silver medal, winning the finishing sprint against Bescond, who had to settle for bronze (+29.6).

    Bescond moved up from a 19th starting position largely thanks to her 19-for-20 shooting with just one penalty lap (0+0+1+0), though she also skied the fifth-best overall course time, while Kuzmina overcame four misses (0+1+2+1) with the fastest course time of the day, just as she had done in the sprint.

    Almost another minute back, fourth place went to sprint silver medalist Marte Olsbu of Norway (+1:07.3, four penalties), fifth to Hanna Öberg of Sweden (+1:08.9, three penalties), and sixth to Dahlmeier’s teammate Denise Herrmann (+1:19.4, two penalties), who improved from starting in 21st position. Sprint bronze medalist Veronika Vitková of the Czech Republic fell back to seventh (+1:37.3, three penalties).

    Going to the stands a few minutes after reaching the finish, Kuzmina hugged her friends and relatives, including her husband and a teary eyed woman (presumably her mother) who was wearing a sports jacket embroidered with Russian emblems. Herself a mother of two, Kuzmina is the older sister of Russian star biathlete Anton Shipulin, who was not invited by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to compete as part of the neutral Olympic Athletes from Russia team in PyeongChang. An appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) was denied just hours before the Opening Ceremony. Kuzmina has been racing for Slovakia since 2008, only competing for Russia at two Junior World Championships and never at senior-level championships.

    “I am missing my brother. I hoped to the last moment that he will be able to compete here,” Kuzmina said about the topic when asked about it in the press conference, via a translator. “I don’t want to talk a lot about this issue. I am really sorry about what happened and that my brother is not here. I am here to fight for medals for my entire family. I won the one medal, and I want to win another medal for my brother.”

    Kuzmina, 33, is an Olympic gold medalist in the sprint and silver medalist in the pursuit at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, and sprint gold medalist from 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

    “This is a very special feeling to have the third medal from the third Olympics in a row,” Kuzmina explained. “Almost everybody who talked to me was [expecting] that I could win the sprint here, because I won the sprint in Vancouver and Sochi as well. That didn’t happen, but I am very glad that I managed to defend the silver medal in this event like in Vancouver eight years ago.”

    For the 30-year-old Bescond it was her first medal at Olympic Winter Games, after she narrowly missed out four years ago in Sochi with two fifth places in the sprint and individual.

    At 2016 World Championships she had taken silver in the 15 k individual in Oslo, Norway, and she’s also earned six medals with French relay teams. But last season was a down year where she started just one race at 2017 World Championships in Hochfilzen, Austria, and finished outside the top 50 before she rebounded with a third place in the pursuit at the World Cup test event last year in PyeongChang.

    “Of course it was never granted that I make the podium,” Bescond said in the press conference, via a translation. “It was very difficult for me not being able to do the World Championships [in Hochfilzen]. This year I really wanted to perform very well, and the Olympic Games is the best thing you could think of, the Holy Grail. So I did think about last year this time, and I was very happy to have a very good race.”

    “Laura really dominates our sport, but there a lot of good athletes out there,” Bescond stated when asked how her opponent could be beaten at these Olympics. “They are strong, they got lots of qualities, what you need to do is be faster on the skis and shoot better and faster, that’s it.”

    Sounds easy enough.

    But if her opponents couldn’t quite yet do it in the pursuit on Monday, the weather conditions and all the increased attention on Dahlmeier, who usually guards her private life closely, pushed her to her limits.

    “I am extremely happy that everything worked out so well again today,” Dahlmeier told German broadcaster ZDF right after the race. “I tried to be fully focused on the shootings, on the course I didn’t feel quite as relaxed. On the one hand the conditions were very demanding, and the past two days have taken a toll on me with a lot of media appointments, a lot of additional stuff. At the moment I am feeling quite well, but of course it is cold and when the fingers thaw up, maybe some viewers know it, that hurts quite a bit.”

    Soon after, Dahlmeier was no longer in the mood to celebrate, as she had fully exhausted herself for the victory. And her frozen fingers exposed to the cold in thin race gloves now seemingly really hurt, even though in the press conference before she had claimed that “I always spend a lot of time in the mountains and there it’s normal to have wind and cold temperatures, so perhaps I am a little bit used to it.”

    “Primarily it was the cold. She is in extreme pain,” Stefan Schwarzbach, a manager and speaker for the German Ski Federation, later told ZDF after she had to cancel a planned studio appearance. “So when [her hands] thawed up she really had tears in her eyes, it was painful to watch. After the doping control she put herself to rest, she is just completely finished.”

    At last year’s World Championships in Hochfilzen, where she won five medals, she physically collapsed after two races to the point that the German team doctor did not want her to start the mass start. In the end her stubbornness prevailed, and she also won that race overtaking American Susan Dunklee on the final lap.

    “We already know that from last year, we just have to be careful with the sum of the exertions in competition,” Schwarzbach said. “And I believe the spectators will be accepting if she reduces the media work a little bit, and then hopefully can stand at the start line for the individual with full strength. … She will be all right, but we will reduce her program to what is necessary, even if it would have been nice to celebrate the second gold medal.”

    North Americans Moving On Up

    Canada’s Rosanna Crawford finished 19th in the pursuit as the best North American, moving up from 53rd at the start, based on her sprint result, to finish 19th (+2:27.7) for her best individual result at her third Olympics.

    Canada’s Rosanna Crawford (22) during the women’s 7.5 k sprint on Saturday, Feb. 10 at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. She finished 53rd then went on to place 19th in the pursuit on Monday. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    On the range, Crawford managed to cope well with the windy conditions, shooting 18-for-20 with one miss in each of her standing stages (0+0+1+1). In an interview with FasterSkier after, she said she would have liked to avoid one mistake she made in the final shooting.

    “[The wind] seems to have been more consistent,” Crawford said. “My zeroing went really well, I had my sights, I knew exactly where they were and what corrections I would need to make. So prone I was really confident. … In my last standing I didn’t mean to pull the trigger on my first shot, so that was a bit of a disappointment.”

    She enjoyed her race despite the harsh weather and demanding tracks, skiing the 19th-ranked overall course time.

    “For sure I love the 2k [pursuit loop] here,” Crawford said. “I [also] was 19th with 18-for-20 last year at the World Cup here. Yeah, the 2 k is so much fun. You just have to grit your teeth up that hill and then just rip along the top and back down to the range, and I love it so much. My skis were amazing. Our techs did such a good job. So I just had some fun out there today.”

    Asked how she got into a better mindset following the sprint, Crawford said she called her older sister, a 2006 Olympic gold medalist in cross-country skiing.

    “I had some really good chats with my sister Chandra,” Crawford said. “She’s a huge motivator for me and my biggest cheerleader now. She really just talked some sense into me to not be so down on myself after the sprint, so that was really helpful.”

    Julia Ransom (Biathlon Canada) during the women’s 7.5 k sprint at her Olympic debut in PyeongChang, South Korea. She finished 40th then went on to place 28th in the pursuit on Monday. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    Teammate Julia Ransom also improved from her sprint position, moving up by 12 places to finish in 28th place (+3:03.0) with one miss in her last standing stage. She was one of just six women on Monday who shot 19-for-20, with no one shooting clean.

    “I had some really solid shooting today hitting my first 15, missing my 18th or 17th shot,” Ransom recounted after the race. “I am a confident shooter in the wind, I know corrections fairly well, and I think you just have to make good shots and that’s all you can hope for”

    On the course she skied the 44th-best course time after a faster first loop.

    “My legs were not feeling as good as I was hoping they’d be, so I was really happy to keep it together in the range and just slowly work my way up and ski with the other girls,” Ransom concluded.

    American Emily Dreissigacker racing to 47th in the women’s 10 k pursuit at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: Ross Burton/US Biathlon)

    Emily Dreissigacker, the lone American to qualify for the women’s pursuit, improved by four positions after starting in 51st to finish 47th (+5:01.4) with four penalties (0+1+1+2).

    That was another improvement on her personal best at the World Cup-level, which she achieved in Saturday’s sprint. Before these Olympics, Dreissigacker’s best result on the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup had been 56th place in a pursuit in Antholz, Italy, last month.

    On the course she recorded the 54th course time, steadily holding her position on the three loops between the shooting stages.

    “I think the skiing felt a little better than the sprint two days ago,” Dreissigacker said after. “Getting to ski with people is always really fun, and my skis were amazingly fast.”

    Just like Crawford, she also preferred the loop the pursuit was raced on over other courses in PyeongChang.

    “I really like the 2 k course,” Dreissigacker said. “You climb up and then you come back down, which is something that I really like. I think mentally especially, I’m like ‘All right, gotta get to the top of this hill and then I have time to recover,’ which is nice.”

    “I really just like to try to keep things simple,” she said of her shooting performance and approach to the wind-exposed range. “Just relax, if the wind comes up just wait for it to pass or if it’s not going to pass take some clicks. I really think the simpler you can keep it the better.”

    “The wind can be a little tricky,” she told US Biathlon, according to a press release. “In my first standing stage, actually, I had to wait out a pretty big gust of wind. All the people around me were waiting, too, and we’re all just standing there waiting for it to die. That’s kind of just how it is. You have to be able to deal with that … be able to wait and not freak out.”

    Canada’s Emma Lunder finished 53rd (+6:16.8) after starting 54th then shooting four penalties (0+1+1+2).

    “It was not great,” Lunder reflected. “Started out with shooting OK, unfortunately missed two in my last standing and just did not have it in the legs today, so the skiing was a big struggle.”

    While not completely satisfied with her race performance, the 26-year-old Lunder said she was making the most out of her first Olympic experience.

    “The whole time I was just trying to remind myself, I am at the Olympics, racing my first Olympics. It’s such a cool atmosphere, so even if the race isn’t going as well as I would like I am still pretty happy to be here,” Lunder explained. “The racing doesn’t feel different from a World Cup. It’s being at the Athlete’s Village with athletes from every sport all over the world, the best in the world, that’s been pretty special. I have [met] quite a few people who I never thought I would meet, so I have just been trying to take it all in and also try to perform as well as I can.”

    Asked how she is dealing with the cold conditions and prepares for her upcoming races, Lunder added, “I would say a lot of it is energy management. When it’s this cold out I find I am a lot more tired, burning more calories just from shivering. So we have a therapist here with us. I will see her for some treatment, just take a bit of time to lay in bed and watch some movies, do whatever I can to rest up a little bit.”

    The fourth Canadian, Megan Tandy, did not start,as she’s working to kick a cold in time for the next race on Wednesday.

    “Disappointing news, but it is for the best,” Tandy wrote in an Instagram post before the race. “I have decided not to start the 10km Pursuit tonight in order to get healthy for our upcoming Individual Race. I will be cheering on my girls from bed, I know they can rock this stadium tonight.”

    Estonia’s Johanna Talihärm, who skis collegiately for Montana State University and last year split her training time between Bozeman, Montana, and Estonia, finished 26th (+2:59.4) with another strong performance after a career-best 22nd place in the sprint. She incurred four penalties (0+1+2+1), and skied the 27th-ranked course time.

    The biathlon competitions in PyeongChang continue on Wednesday with the women’s 15-kilometer individual and Thursday with the men’s 20-kilometer individual race.

    Results

  • A Golden Dream Fulfilled for Dahlmeier; Ransom Leads North Americans in 40th

    Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier racing to her first Olympic gold (and first Olympic medal) on Saturday in the women’s 7.5 k sprint, the first biathlon race of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (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.

    ***

    (Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Canada’s Julia Ransom.)

    “Perfectionist” is a term the coaches of Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier often use to describe her.

    On Saturday, this quality helped Dahlmeier to brave difficult wind conditions on her way to winning the gold medal in the women’s 7.5-kilometer sprint that opened the biathlon competitions at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, ahead of Norway’s Marte Olsbu in second and the Czech Republic’s Veronika Vítková in third place.

    “A childhood dream is coming true,” Dahlmeier told German broadcaster ZDF after the race, according to a translation. “I have always imagined this, that some day I would stand at the very top at the Olympics, that I could win a gold medal. And somehow exactly that happened to work out today. I am incredibly grateful and proud. It’s an amazing feeling, and I don’t think I have fully realized it yet.”

    On the shooting range, Dahlmeier twice adjusted her rifle’s sights in the prone stage to successfully cope with changing winds. Coming into the standing stage, she hit three targets in rhythm, then waited for what seemed like excruciating seconds for a gust to pass, before triggering her fourth and fifth shots. Both targets flipped over to white.

    She had taken so long that she only recorded the 76th-ranked shooting time in this stage in the field of 87 athletes, 22 seconds off the pace and almost as long as the time it takes to ski a penalty lap. But that she had hit all shots mattered the most. Only two other athletes managed to clean all 10 targets on Saturday.

    Dahlmeier followed that up by skiing the fastest course time on the final loop, and fourth-best overall. She crossed the finish line in a time of 21:06.2 minutes, lunging to not squander even a tenth of a second more, before pounding her chest and raising her arms in jubilation, knowing the time she had set would be hard to beat. Indeed her mark could not be improved again by any athlete starting later.

    “I believe if you want to win a race like this one, that doesn’t happen by chance,” Dahlmeier told ZDF. “A lot goes into that. It’s true, I really had to work for it in the race today. But also the team around me, what they had to work during the last days, weeks, months, years, that is embodied by today’s result. It’s just beautiful that I was allowed to fulfill that dream today.”

    Olsbu claimed the silver medal, 24.2 seconds back with one penalty in her prone shooting stage and just 1.6 seconds ahead of Vítková on the bronze podium spot, who had missed one target in the standing stage.

    France’s Marie Dorin Habert placed fourth (+33.1) with one penalty in prone, while Dahlmeier’s teammate Vanessa Hinz was fifth (+40.3), losing out on a potential medal when she missed the last shot of her competition. Several other favorites struggled with the wind conditions and incurred a number of penalties.

    For the two runner-ups, winning a medal at the Olympics was also a dream come true.

    “Of course I am happy, it was my best race ever,” first-time Olympian Olsbu, 27, said when asked in the press conference if she was satisfied with the silver medal. “It was difficult on the shooting range today because it was so windy, but I just stuck to my plan. And I was so happy when I crossed the finish line. … That was a dream from when I started in biathlon. Of course [compatriot] Ole Einar Bjørndalen was my hero when I was a child, and I was hoping that one day I will do the same. I don’t know what to say, it is just amazing and today I am sitting here with an Olympic medal.”

    “Yeah, it was my dream too, like for Marte, and I am happy that my dream is here,” Vítková, 29, said of her first individual Olympic medal in her third Winter Games.

    Starting early in bib 12, Vítková initially appeared dissatisfied when she crossed the finish line and saw that she had not managed to beat Olsbu’s time, after the Norwegian had finished the race just one bib ahead. The Czech feared more athletes would finish ahead of her and still push her several positions down, but aside from Dahlmeier starting in bib 23, no one managed to do that.

    So at the “flower ceremony” in the arena, where the podium finishers each received a stuffed animal as their prize (a snow-white tiger called Soohorang that is the official mascot of the 2018 Winter Olympics), Vítková was beaming just like her two peers. The Olympic medals will be awarded in an separate ceremony later.

    “I am very happy, because this medal is my first ‘big’ medal in an individual race,” Vítková explained at the press conference. “I had a [silver] medal from the Olympic Games in Sochi, but it was a mixed relay medal. And now I have MY medal!”

    Last season, Dahlmeier set a record by winning five events at a single International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Championships, taking gold in every race but the sprint (where she placed second) in Hochfilzen, Austria. But winning the gold medal in PyeongChang was indeed the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. As an elementary school student, Dahlmeier reportedly had written two career goals into a class book: Olympic champion in biathlon and becoming the manager of an Alpine Club hut, since mountaineering continues to be her other big passion. One down, one to go.

    “Today was a victory Laura had to work very hard for, that wasn’t automatic,” German women’s national team coach Gerald Hönig told ZDF, according to a translation. “My highest respect for how she withstood the conditions today. How she repeatedly had to make the right decisions by herself on the course and on the range in order to be successful. She did that great, and she is outshining a great overall team result.”

    In 2014 at her first Olympics in Sochi, Russia, the biathlon competitions for Dahlmeier, who was 20 at the time, and the rest of the German women’s team had started off as disappointing with no individual medals, and then descended into turmoil when on the eve of the women’s relay, the doping case of Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle due to a tainted food supplement came to light (her suspension later was reduced to six months) and the team again failed to reach the podium.

    “For our team this medal is particularly important,” Hönig said. “We still have the defeats of Sochi somewhere in the back of our minds. Well, I particularly do, so for me this is a gigantic moment. I believe having a medal in the very first race here makes the tasks that lie ahead much easier … It’s the prerogative of young athletes like Laura to chalk that off faster, but I have repeatedly thought about these days in Sochi … Laura showed coolness today, but also executed everything she had worked for in training.”

    Dahlmeier, now 24, became the second German athlete to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics in the women’s sprint, after Kati Wilhelm claimed the title at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.

    Mixed Day for North American Starters

    Canada’s Julia Ransom was the best North American in the sprint, finishing in 40th place (+2:08.8) after she shot fast and accurately, incurring just one penalty in her standing stage.

    Julia Ransom (Biathlon Canada) racing to 40th in the women’s 7.5 k sprint at her Olympic debut in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    On the course she skied the 68th-ranked time of the day, consistently losing about 45 seconds on each loop to the blazing pace set by Slovakia’s defending Olympic sprint champion and current World Cup Sprint standings leader Anastasiya Kuzmina, who ended up 13th place with three penalties (2+1).

    For Ransom it was her first start in an Olympic race, building on three appearances at Biathlon World Championships.

    “It was amazing to start the race today,” Ransom wrote in an email to FasterSkier. “Some of my family were in the stands and the others had woken up early in Canada to catch it. Definitely feeling the love!”

    She described the conditions as “windy with some extremely strong gusts,” Ransom wrote. “I noticed it more out on course than in the range. I was quite happy with my shooting today, but unfortunately my legs were just cooked (for whatever reason)! However, I think this was a good leg blowout, and after some rest, I’ll be ready for the pursuit!”

    All four Canadian women that contested Saturday’s sprint finished in the top 60 to qualify for Monday’s pursuit, with Rosanna Crawford next in line in 53rd (+2:23.0) after shooting three penalties (1+2).

    Canada’s Rosanna Crawford (22) racing to 53rd in the women’s 7.5 k sprint on Saturday at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    “It was really tough,” Crawford told FasterSkier in the mixed zone after the race when asked about the conditions. “The wind made it hard for shooting and on the course, all of a sudden these gusts would come and blow your poles right out from underneath you. In prone, I made a correction and missed my first shot which shouldn’t have happened, and in standing I overheld [the rifle] for my second miss so I’m pretty disappointed.”

    Starting fairly early in bib 22, the race was still going on at the time of her interview, so Crawford feared she might miss the cutoff for the pursuit. At least that did not happen.

    “The sprint sets you up for the rest of the week, for two weeks, so I’m pretty bummed,” she continued. “I’m still looking forward to the relays, so that’s definitely positive. It’s just so unfortunate that the sprint dictates the other individual races, other than the 15-kilometer [individual race]. Hopefully I’ll qualify for the pursuit and can go out there and fight again. I love the 2 k course here, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

    In her third Olympics, Crawford skied the 44th-ranked course time of the day.

    Canada’s Emma Lunder racing to 54th in her Olympic debut on Saturday in the women’s 7.5 k sprint in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    Just behind her, Emma Lunder in her Olympic debut placed 54th (+2:24.2) with two misses in the standing stage (0+2). Her course time ranked 65th.

    Megan Tandy, in her third Olympics, finished 57th (+2:36.6) with a penalty in each stage (1+1). She skied the 69th-ranked course time.

    “Although I am somewhat disappointed with today’s result (57th with 2 misses and heavy legs) I am thinking positive,” Tandy wrote on Instagram on Saturday. “8 years ago I was the only woman to qualify for the pursuit, this Olympics all 4 of us will be putting up a fight.”

    (Note: FS missed interviewing Ransom, Lunder and Tandy in the mixed zone, and with the race in the evening local time they could not be reached for comments at press time.)

    In her first Olympic race and on her first year with the senior women’s team, Team USA’s Emily Dreissigacker was the top American 51st place (+2:21.0) after shooting 9-for-10.

    American Emily Dreissigacker racing to 51st in the women’s 7..5 k sprint on Saturday at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. It was her career-best result at the World Cup level. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    “I did I shot zero plus one [0+1], so I’m pretty happy with that,” Dreissigacker told FasterSkier after the race. “The wind was a little tricky out there. I was just trying to stay calm and think about what I could control…. Happy to make the pursuit!

    “It was kind of gusty and changing a lot,” she commented on the conditions. “Like on prone, I got a little lucky, the wind was pretty much what I had zeroed in [target practice], which was still pretty windy, but at least was consistent. Then in standing, I mean, it definitely wasn’t terrible, but I could feel the wind pushing my barrel around a little bit.”

    Dreissigacker’s course time ranked 74th overall and she slipped 10 places on the final loop.

    “I definitely died a little bit on the last lap,” she said. “I think the hills are hard. … You’re not really recovering [anywhere] before you climb back up to come back down into the stadium.”

    Previously Dreissigacker’s best result on the IBU World Cup in a sprint had been a 59th place at last month’s race in Antholz, Italy, followed by a 56th place in the pursuit.

    For the rest of the US Biathlon women, things did not work out as well as they had hoped on Saturday.

    Clare Egan (US Biathlon) racing to 61st in the women’s 7.5 k sprint at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    Also starting in her first Olympic race, Clare Egan just missed the cutoff for the pursuit race in 61st place (+2:45.4) with three penalties (1+2), only two seconds behind Emilia Yordanova of Bulgaria.

    “Honestly as I was warming today it felt like I was warming up today for any other race, which I think is a good thing,” Egan told FasterSkier after. “I knew I was ready to go today and I was excited to do what I’ve been training to do and become an Olympian.”

    But then her race began with a mishap on the course.

    “I fell on the first loop at the bottom of the big hill, which is kind of a nightmare. I haven’t fallen in a couple years probably, but I don’t know, it just happened,” Egan said. “Weird things happen in big races I guess, but besides that I am really pleased with my skiing considering I was really sick in our pre-Olympic training camp.”

    Skiing only the 71st course time on the first loop due to the fall, her pace improved from there, capped by the 30th-ranked time on the final loop (57th overall).

    “I’m really happy with the prone,” she said of her shooting performance. “It was really tricky shooting today, windy, missed one but I am very satisfied with that. Standing I started out really solid, had three good hits and felt good about what I was doing and then I misfired actually. My bullet didn’t eject and I wish I had refocused better after that. I had to kind of pick the bullet out and I didn’t reset adequately. So then I missed my last two shots and I am not happy about that, but it was sort of a mediocre race overall.”

    Team veteran Susan Dunklee incurred an uncharacteristic five penalties (1+4) to finish in 66th position (+3:06.9).

    Starting early in the race in bib 6, she could be seen on the broadcast making a wind adaptation in the prone stage after missing her fourth shot, then went on to hit the last one having to ski once around the 150-meter penalty lap.

    She came back on the course with what would later be the 28th-ranked split time, but in the standing stage, things then turned south and with four additional penalty laps, she could not make up the deficit.

    “I’ve had better days,” the 2017 World Championships silver medalist told FasterSkier after the race. “I missed five shots. You can’t be anywhere close to where you need to be with 50-percent shooting. It’s very frustrating. You work for four years and you have big dreams, you see what’s possible, and it all comes down to one of these races like this and the sprint is so important for the rest of the races here. You really have to have a good sprint to qualify for the pursuit, to qualify for the mass start, so I’m really bummed about that, that’s for sure.”

    Unlike her teammates, Dunklee skipped Friday’s Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics while “fighting off a small cold,” according to a US Biathlon Instagram post.

    She skied the 42nd course time of the day and didn’t want to blame her misses all on the weather conditions.

    “The conditions are actually really nice,” she said. “It’s a little bit cold but not so cold as it was when we first got here. You can feel your fingers, which is really nice. Seems like it’s fair. You’ve got really hard-packed good tracks.

    “I think I’m going to have to figure out how to allow myself to be disappointed for another hour or so, get it out of the system a little bit and then put it behind me and move on,” Dunklee concluded.

    Joanne Reid (US Biathlon) racing to 86th in the women’s 7.5 k sprint at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    Also in her first Olympic race, the fourth U.S. starter Joanne Reid finished 86th (+5:12.6) with seven penalties (4+3), though she explained it wasn’t due to any race jitters already having competed in front of far bigger crowds on the World Cup before.

    “I try and approach every race the same,” Reid told FasterSkier. “Same warm up. Same mentality. Just go out there and hope you hit your targets which didn’t really work out for me today.”

    She skied the 67th-ranked race time of the day overall.

    “It’s much worse on the cross-country side,” she said of the biathlon course and range conditions. “Everything is real open [to wind] over there. We have only the stadium area and the range [that] gets all the wind, but on the backside it’s pretty good, it’s sheltered. It’s actually really fun, it’s really ripping, it’s up and down with some swoopy corners.”

    Reid explained that for her standing shooting she had planned to use the wind cover from a hill on the far left side of the range, as many athletes like Dahlmeier had also done, but that was not possible when she came in to her shooting stage as all those lane positions were occupied.

    “Definitely in standing the farther lanes have less wind and when I came there was no farther lane,” Reid said. “It was 30, 29, 28, 27, 26 were all full and then big gusts coming in and that was pretty brutal. Then the longer you stand the more your muscles shake, so you know, that’s life.”

    Career Best for Johanna Talihärm

    Unlike for most of the North Americans except Dreissigacker, for Estonia’s Johanna Talihärm it was a career-best race in her second Olympics, finishing 22nd (+1:20.8) with one penalty (0+1).

    The resident of Bozeman, Montana, is well known on the U.S. collegiate cross-country skiing circuit as a Montana State University junior and a second-team All-American at last year’s NCAA Skiing Championships.

    This January leading up to the Olympics, she competed in cross-country races at the U.S. Cross Country Championships in Anchorage, Alaska, and in West Yellowstone, Montana.

    Her previous best result on the IBU World Cup was a 29th place in a pursuit race in Hochfilzen earlier this season.

    In the PyeongChang women’s sprint, she was the lone racers for Estonia. In Sochi, she finished 48th in the sprint for her best individual result and placed 16th in the women’s relay.

    The biathlon competitions in PyeongChang continue on Sunday with the the men’s 10-kilometer sprint, followed by the women’s and men’s pursuit on Monday.

    Results

  • Saturday’s Olympic Rundown: Kalla Wins Skiathlon; Diggins 5th; Dahlmeier Tops Sprint

    The start of the women’s 15 k skiathlon on Saturday, Day 1 of the 2018 Winter Olympics, with (front row, from left to right) Austria’s Teresa Stadlober, Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, Norway’s Heidi Weng, American Jessie Diggins, and Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla leading out of the stadium in PyeongChang, South Korea. (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): Women’s 15 k skiathlon

    Full report

    The 2018 Winter Games kicked off Saturday with the women’s 15-kilometer skiathlon, which saw Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla take her second-career individual Olympic gold (third including relays) and first individual gold in eight years. Not far behind her, American Jessie Diggins achieved the best Olympic result for an American woman in cross-country skiing.

    After Kalla established herself as a leader early in the opening 7.5 k classic leg, the Swede spent much of the race working with her teammate Ebba Andersson to counter any type of attack from the Norwegians, specifically Marit Bjørgen.

    On rock-solid classic conditions in PyeongChang, Bjørgen led the second half of the classic leg up until the ski exchange, where she entered the “pit stop” first, just ahead of Kalla in second. Norway’s Heidi Weng was in third at the time and swapped into her skate gear fastest, leaving the exchange about 28 seconds later in first. Her Norwegian teammate Ingvild Flugstad Østberg followed her in second and Bjørgen emerged in third, just ahead of Kalla in fourth.

    Meanwhile, Diggins skied consistently in the top 10 and within about four seconds of the lead throughout the classic leg, entering the exchange in 13th and leaving in ninth, 5.4 seconds after Weng.

    While Kalla took the lead early in that first skate lap, Switzerland’s Nathalie von Siebenthal made a move into first on a climb just before 9.75 k, while Bjørgen kept her close. Andersson continued to keep herself in the mix, skiing in third, just ahead of Kalla in fourth and Finland’s Krista Pärmäkoski in fifth. Diggins slotted behind two Norwegians, Østberg and Weng, while Austria’s Teresa Stadlober followed. At 9.75 k, 11 women were within 6 seconds of first.

    Bjørgen reclaimed the lead shortly thereafter, but Kalla made her game-changing move on a climb about 34 minutes into the race, just before the 12.5 k checkpoint. There, the Swede had begun to gap the pack and was 5.5 seconds ahead of Bjørgen in second. Andersson remained in third, 5.9 seconds back, just ahead of von Siebenthal, Pärmäkoski, and Stadlober. Diggins in seventh pushed to keep herself in the chase group and was able to with about 2.5 to go.

    One kilometer later, Kalla was nearly 10 seconds clear of Bjørgen, as well as Andersson and Pärmäkoski. The Finn moved ahead of Andersson on one of the last climbs to put herself in third as they headed down and back toward the stadium.

    Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla celebrates her victory in the women’s 15 k skiathlon on Saturday at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, and her first individual Olympic gold medal in eight years. She beat Norway’s Marit Bjørgen (behind) by nearly eight seconds. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    All alone, Kalla skied to the win in 40:44.9 minutes, what Bjørgen distanced herself from third place and claimed second, 7.8 seconds later. Pärmäkoski took the bronze medal in third (+10.1), less than a second ahead of Andersson in fourth (+10.9). Kalla’s previous Olympic gold medals came individually in the 10 k freestyle at the 2010 Games in Whistler, British Columbia, and with her team in 2014 in the women’s 4 x 5 k relay in Sochi, Russia.

    Diggins finished fifth (+14.7) for a new all-time best for a female American cross-country skier at the Olympics (after Sophie Caldwell placed sixth in the sprint at the 2014 Games), about three seconds ahead of von Siebenthal in sixth (+17.6). Stadlober placed seventh (+26.6), Russia’s Natalia Nepryaeva was eighth (+33.0), Weng was ninth (+40.7), Sweden’s Stina Nilsson 10th (+48.9), and Østberg 11th (+58.3).

    In her first Olympics, Canada’s Cendrine Browne (Canadian U25 Team) led her team in 33rd (+3:17.0), ahead of American Caitlin Patterson (also in her first Olympics) in 34th (+3:30.0).

    U.S. Ski Team member Kikkan Randall placed 40th (+4:02.3), Canadian World Cup Team member Emily Nishikawa finished 44th (

    +4:31.7), Canada’s Anne-Marie Comeau was 48th (+4:57.9), Australia’s Jessica Yeaton (who trains with Alaska Pacific University) was 50th (+4:59.9), Canada’s Dahria Beatty 52nd (+5:32.4), and American Rosie Brennan 58th (+6:51.1).

    The men’s 30 k skiathlon is the next cross-country event on the schedule in PyeongChang, set for Sunday at 1:15 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.

    Results

    ***

    Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier racing to her first Olympic gold (and first Olympic medal) on Saturday in the women’s 7.5 k sprint, the first biathlon race of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    2018 Winter Olympics (PyeongChang, South Korea): Biathlon women’s 7.5 k sprint

    Full report

    While most others struggled on the range in the first biathlon race of the 2018 Olympics, Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier held steady and shot clean, then posted the winning time in the women’s 7.5 k sprint on a windy Saturday evening in PyeongChang.

    The 23rd starter (out of 87 finishers), Dahlmeier had to wait a long time for her gold medal to be confirmed, but she had done it, winning with a time of 21:06.2 minutes for her first Olympic medal. She has seven gold medals from World Championships but this was her first at her second Olympics. And on Saturday, she was one of just two women in the top 20 to hit all 10 targets in the two-stage race. Russia’s Tatiana Akimova was the other and she finished 20th.

    The 24-year-old Dahlmeier bested the time of Norway’s Marte Olsbu, who started 11th and had a single miss in prone (1+0), by 24.2 seconds. Olsbu’s time was good enough for second, just ahead of the Czech Republic’s Veronika Vítková, who started right behind her in bib 12, in third place (+25.8). Vítková also had to ski one penalty lap after a standing miss (0+1). For Olsbu, 27, this is her first Olympics. For Vítková, 29, it was her first individual medal in three Olympic Games.

    France’s Marie Dorin Habert missed the podium by 7.3 seconds in fourth (+33.1), after one prone penalty (1+0). Germany had two in the top five with Vanessa Hinz in fifth (+40.3) with one miss, Italy’s Lisa Vittozzi was sixth (+40.5) with one miss, Sweden’s Hanna Öberg seventh (+40.8) with one miss, Switzerland’s Irene Cadurisch eighth (+45.5) with one miss, Belarus’s Darya Domracheva ninth (+46.2) with two penalties, and France’s Justine Braisaz 10th (+47.9) with two penalties as well.

    Julia Ransom (Biathlon Canada) racing to 40th in the women’s 7.5 k sprint at her Olympic debut in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

    Canada’s Julia Ransom was the top North American in 40th (+2:08.8) with one standing penalty (0+1). Canada had all four women finish in the top 60 (thus qualifying for Monday’s pursuit) with Rosanna Crawford in 53rd (+2:23.0) with three misses (1+2), Emma Lunder in 54th (+2:24.2) with two standing misses (0+2), and Megan Tandy in 57th (+2:36.6) with a penalty in each stage (1+1).

    One American finished in the top 60 to qualify for the pursuit: Emily Dreissigacker, in her first Olympics, in 51st (+2:21.0), after shooting 9-for-10 (0+1). Clare Egan just missed the cutoff in 61st (+2:45.4) with three misses (1+2), Susan Dunklee fell out of contention with five misses (1+4) to finish 66th (+3:06.9), and Joanne Reid finished 86th (+5:12.6) with seven penalties (+3:06.9).

    Estonia’s Johanna Talihärm, a Montana State University student who lives in Bozeman, finished 22nd (+1:20.8) with one miss (0+1) for her best individual result at her second Olympics.

    The men’s 10 k sprint takes place Sunday in PyeongChang at 6:15 a.m. EST.

    Results

  • Saturday Rundown: Dresden, Ruhpolding, Kaiser Maximilian Lauf

    Saturday Rundown: Dresden, Ruhpolding, Kaiser Maximilian Lauf

    The women’s freestyle sprint podium on Saturday at the World Cup in Dresden, Germany, with Sweden’s Hanna Falk (c) and Maja Dahlqvist (l) in first and second, and American Sophie Caldwell (r) in third. (Photo: FIS Cross Country/Twitter)

    FIS Cross Country World Cup (Dresden, Germany): Freestyle sprints

    Women’s report

    Men’s report

    For her second-straight World Cup sprint, Sophie Caldwell of the U.S. Ski Team reached the podium in the women’s 1.2-kilometer freestyle sprint on Saturday in Dresden, Germany.

    Caldwell placed third in the final behind Sweden’s Hanna Falk, who won it in 2:11.02 minutes, and Maja Dahlqvist, also of Sweden, who placed second (+0.23). Caldwell and Dahlqvist both lunged in a photo finish for second, which Dahlqvist took by 0.07 seconds.

    Also in the final, which included four Swedes, Switzerland’s Laurien van der Graaff finished fourth (+0.58), and Sweden’s Anna Dyvik followed in fifth (+0.68) and Stina Nilsson sixth (+7.56) after tripping.

    Falk started the day by winning the women’s qualifier in 2:06.34, by just 0.02 seconds over Nilsson in second. Caldwell qualified 11th (+2.02). and another American Ida Sargent made it into the heats in 14th (+2.44). Kikkan Randall missed the top 30 by 0.6 seconds in 34th (+6.57), Julia Kern placed 38th (+7.78), and Caitlin Patterson, of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP), was 40th (+8.56) out of 49 women in the qualifying round.

    Sargent finished fourth in her quarterfinal, 043 seconds behind Sweden’s Ida Ingemarsdotter in first, to finish the day in 17th overall.

    For Caldwell, who went on to advance in second in her quarterfinal and third in her semifinal, the podium came after she finished second in the last World Cup skate sprint (the first stage of the Tour de Ski) on Dec. 31 in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

    Her boyfriend and fellow U.S. Ski Team member Simi Hamilton came close to reaching the men’s 1.2 k sprint final on Saturday after qualifying in 15th then placing second in his quarterfinal and fifth in the second semifinal, 0.38 seconds behind Sweden’s Emil Jönsson in first.

    France’s Lucas Chanavat won the qualifier in 1:50.42, 0.15 seconds ahead of Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo in second. Hamilton was 4.32 seconds back in the qualifier, and his U.S. teammate Andy Newell also qualified in 18th (+4.91). Erik Bjornsen missed qualifying by 0.23 seconds in 32nd (+6.15) and Ben Lustgarten (CGRP) finished 49th (+8.64) out of 67 men.

    The women’s freestyle sprint podium on Saturday at the World Cup in Dresden, Germany, with Italy’s Federico Pellegrino (c) in first, Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (l) in second, and France’s Lucas Chanavat (r) in third. (Photo: FIS Cross Country/Twitter)

    While Hamilton’s day ended in the semifinals, putting him 10th overall (and Newell finished sixth in his quarterfinal to place 27th overall), Italy’s Federico Pellegrino timed his attack perfectly in the final, challenging Klæbo for the win down the finishing stretch. The Italian took it by 0.18 seconds in 1:52.77, Klæbo placed second and Chanavat third (+0.98).

    France and Norway had two men in the final, with France’s Richard Jouve placing fourth (+1.23), Sweden’s Jönsson taking fifth (+2.36) for his best individual World Cup result since December 2016. Norway’s Even Northug finished sixth (+12.04) after breaking his pole out of the start.

    Canada’s Julien Locke of the National U25 Team and Black Jack Ski Club had a career-best day, finishing 15th overall. He qualified 16th (+4.61) then placed third in his quarterfinal, crossing the line just 1 second behind Norway’s Fredrik Riseth, who won that heat. Hamilton was second in that quarterfinal, 0.67 seconds back.

    Also for Canada, Bob Thompson (NTDC Thunder Bay) finished 50th in the qualifier (+8.67), Dominique Moncion-Groulx (Alberta World Cup Academy) was 59th (+9.99) and Antoine Briand (Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre) 60th (+10.12).

    Results:

    Women’s qualifier | Women’s heats

    Men’s qualifier | Men’s heats

    ***

    Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier, Franziska Preuss, Denise Herrmann and Franziska Hildebrand (left to right) celebrating their win in the women’s 4×6-kilometer relay at the 2018 IBU World Cup in Ruhpolding, Germany. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)

    IBU World Cup (Ruhpolding, Germany): Women’s relay

    The teams from Germany and Italy dueled for the top position all race in Saturday’s 4 x 6-kilometer women’s relay at the IBU World Cup in Ruhpolding, Germany. Cheered on by some 20,000 home-crowd fans, Germany’s anchor Laura Dahlmeier stayed on the ski tails of Italy’s Federica Sanfilippo after the last shooting stage, then passed her before the last major climb and held a narrow lead around the rest of the course to cross the finish line first in a time of 1:08:47.0 hours, with Italy 2.9 seconds behind. German had a team total of zero penalties and nine spares.

    “It’s incredibly fun to win in front of this audience here today,” Dahlmeier told German broadcaster ZDF in an interview right after the race, according to a translation. “I think this will boost our whole team morale. We showed today that we are a team to be reckoned with in relays. It was just a nice race.”

    Germany with Franziska Preuss, Denise Herrmann, Franziska Hildebrand, and Dahlmeier was never more than 30 seconds behind the pace, even though Hildebrand temporarily fell back from leading the field to tagging off to Dahlmeier in fourth position.

    “My race held all kinds of surprises today,” Hildebrand told ZDF with a laugh. “It started with a fall on an icy patch 100 meters after it began… Then I dropped my pole, also had to exchange the replacement one, and then three spares [in prone] to avoid the penalty. Today everything conspired in my race.”

    Italy with Lisa Vittozzi, Dorothea Wierer (coming off a victory in the individual race on Thursday), Nicole Gontier and Sanfilippo had the best shooting performance of the day, with no penalty and just three spares.

    “That last loop with Laura was really tough,” Sanfilippo said in the press conference. “I gave my best, I tried all for my team. I knew that I can be strong on the last loop. I tried to attack, but Laura was a little bit stronger. But I am also really happy that we finished in second place, I think that was really important for our team.”

    Sweden with Linn Persson, Mona Brorsson, Anna Magnusson and anchor Jenny Öberg was third, 17.2 seconds back, with no penalty and five spares. Brorsson and Öberg managed to move the team up to the podium positions, for the second one in a row following a third place from Oberhof, Germany, a week ago. Before that, the Swedish women’s team had been on a six-year hiatus from those lofty positions.

    “It’s cool to be on the podium again,” Persson said in the press conference.

    “This is like our second home and there were a lot of Swedes here, so we had big support during the race on the tracks,” Brorsson added.” That was an advantage for us.”

    Just a few seconds off the podium, Norway with Synnøve Solemdal, Tiril Eckhoff, Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold and Marte Olsbu was fourth (+23.1, with no penalty and nine spares), with Olsbu outsprinting Poland’s anchor Weronika Nowakowska on the finish stretch (+24.5, with no penalty and five spares). For both teams it was their best relay result of the season so far.

    Switzerland with the three sisters Elisa, Selina and Aita Gasparin reinforced by Lena Häcki surprisingly led the race at the third exchange after Selina had moved them in front, but her youngest sister Aita could not hold that position, falling back with a penalty lap in the last standing stage to finish eighth (+1:37.1, with one penalty and 11 spares).

    Biathlon Canada’s team of Emma Lunder, Julia Ransom, Sarah Beaudry, and Rosanna Crawford started the race with a setback after Lunder incurred a penalty in her prone stage, leaving the range in 23rd position at the end of the field and already almost a minute behind the leader. She managed to limit the gap with a clean standing stage to exchange still in 23rd position and 1:47 back.

    Taking over Ransom then remained clean in both stages to move the team up to 17th, tagging off 2:14 behind. Beaudry only required one spare in her prone stage (0+1, 0+0) to improve to the 12th position even making up 3 seconds to the leaders.

    Then Crawford, fresh off her first career podium in the individual race on Thursday, managed to also shoot clean in both stages and overtook the teams from Slovakia and Ukraine while further decreasing the gap to finish the race in 10th position, 1:56.7 back, with one penalty and just four spares.

    “Things were a bit softer and slushy today compared to the individual, but nothing too bad,” Crawford commented on the conditions in an email to FasterSkier. “There was quite a bit of wind on the range, which I think was tricking people, the wind flags weren’t showing much but I had to make 6 left correction during zero [target practice].”

    “Today was a solid showing from our team,” she added regarding their result. “Everyone cleaned standing, I think we can be really happy of this race, and take some real confidence going into the Olympic relay.”

    Previously this season Canada had finished the relay in Oberhof, also Germany, in 14th position, and the first one in Hochfilzen, Austria, in ninth.

    For US Biathlon with Susan Dunklee, Clare Egan, Emily Dreissigacker, and Joanne Reid, it was the first women’s relay of the year after missing out on the first two races of the season in this discipline.

    Thus starting at the very end of the field, veteran Dunklee moved up through the pack and got through the prone stage with one spare. But then she had to fight against a penalty lap in her standing stage requiring all three spare rounds, leaving the range in 12th position. With the fastest course time on the opening leg, she managed to slightly decrease the gap to 21.6 seconds and made up three positions to exchange in ninth place.

    Egan missed the first two shots in her prone stage, but hit the targets with her spares leaving the range over a minute back. She followed that up by cleaning her standing stage and left the range 1:29.5 back, then only lost five more seconds on the last loop to exchange in 14th.

    Dreissigacker also needed just one spare in her prone shooting, but then incurred two penalties in her standing stage, doubling the gap and falling back to 19th position at the exchange and 3:51 back.

    Anchor Reid needed three spares on her leg (0+2, 0+1) and managed to still overtake the teams from China and Finland to finish 17th, 4:57.7 behind Germany, with two penalties and 13 spares overall.

    “Finally we had a full team and raced a relay!” Dunklee wrote on Instagram. “Competing on a foreign continent has its challenges.”

    Results

    ***

    Ski Classics (Seefeld, Austria): 60 k Kaiser Maximilian Lauf

    The men’s podium at the Kaiser Maximilian Lauf 60 k Ski Classics marathon in Seefeld, Austria, with Norway’s Tord Asle Gjerdalen (c) in first, Sweden’s Andreas Holmberg (l) second, and Russia’s Ilya Chernousov (r) third. (Photo: Visma Ski Classics)

    At the third Ski Classics event of the 2017/2018 season, the 60-kilometer Kaiser Maximilian Lauf on Saturday in Seefeld, Sweden’s Britta Johansson Norgren (Lager 157 Ski Team) and Norway’s Tord Asle Gjerdalen (Team Santander) took the women’s and men’s victories, respectively.

    Johansson Norgren and Japan’s Masako Ishida (Team Koteng) broke away shortly after the start. The two went back and forth for a while until Johannson Norgren gapped Ishida in the Leutasch valley. While Ishida was caught by a chase pack with Sara Lindborg (Team Serneke), Kari Vikhagen Gjeitnes (Santander) and Lina Korsgren (Åre Ski Team), she reined Johansson Norgren back in on the long climbs after the valley. Ultimately, Johansson Norgren took the win in 2:49:16.0 hours, while Lindborg claimed second, 37.5 seconds back. Ishida finished third (+58.9), Gjeitnes placed fourth (+1:40.7) after injuring her ankle about 2 k before the finish, and Korsgren fifth (+2:05.1).

    The women’s podium at the Kaiser Maximilian Lauf 60 k Ski Classics marathon in Seefeld, Austria, with Sweden’s Britta Johansson Norgren (c) in first, Sweden’s Sara Lindborg (l) second, and Japan’s Masako Ishida (r) third. (Photo: Visma Ski Classics)

    “It was my plan to go full speed from the beginning,” Johansson Norgren said, according to a Ski Classics press release. “I knew Ishida will go fast in the climbs, but I felt strong from the beginning. It was really hard skiing alone in the valley, and when Ishida caught me up, I wasn’t sure if I could win the race. But the last part of the course was perfect for me and I had no problems securing the victory today.”

    The Leutasch valley was the turning point of the men’s race as well, where Vinjar Skogsholm (Team Parkettpartner) and Andreas Holmberg (Team Serneke) broke away from the pack and had built a 90-second gap on the chase group as they left the valley. There on the first climb out of the valley, Holmberg pushed the pace and dropped Skogsholm, while Gjerdalen and Ilya Chernousov (Bauer Ski Team) worked to catch Holmberg up front. They caught him 3 k before the finish and Gjerdalen was first across the finish line in 2:27:49 hours, 14.8 seconds ahead of Holmberg in second.

    Chernousov finished third (+32.0), Ermil Vokuev (Russian Marathon Team) was fourth (+1:07.6), and Anton Karlsson (Lager 157) fifth (+1:08.2).

    “I didn’t like the fact that we gave too much leeway for Holmberg and Skogsholm,” Gjerdalen said, according to the press release. “I’m happy that Ilya helped me in our attempt to catch up with Holmberg, but I wasn’t really sure if we were going to make it. You never know how the other person is feeling in the front, what kind of skis he has and what goes on in his mind. But I managed to win today and it feels great to be back on the top.”

    In the overall “Champion” standings, Nordgren leads with 450 points, 110 ahead of Lindborg in second. Gjerdalen is first in the men’s champion standings with 330 points, 50 points ahead of Morten Eide Pedersen in second.

    The Ski Classics tour moves to Zuoz, Switzerland, next weekend for the 65 k La Diagonela.

    Results

  • Saturday Rundown: Davos, Hochfilzen and Sovereign (Updated)

    Saturday Rundown: Davos, Hochfilzen and Sovereign (Updated)

    Bob Thompson (304) of NTDC Thunder Bay leading Sun Valley’s Jack Hegman (307) and Patrick Stewart-Jones (317) of the AWCA during their quarterfinal of the NorAm men’s 1.3 k classic sprint on Saturday at Sovereign Lake near Vernon, B.C. (Photo: Peggy Hung)

    NorAm/SuperTour (Sovereign Lake near Vernon, British Columbia): Classic sprints

    On the opening day of the NorAm Continental Cup series in Canada (which doubled as a U.S. SuperTour), American Kaitlynn Miller of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP) started Saturday with a nearly three-second win in the classic-sprint qualifier at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre, then went on to win her quarterfinal and semifinal before topping the final as well.

    The women’s 1.3 k classic sprint podium and top five at the first NorAm of the season on Saturday at Sovereign Lake near Vernon, B.C., with (from left to right) Caitlin Patterson (CGRP) in second, Kaitlynn Miller (CGRP) in first, Hannah Halvorsen (APU/USST) in third, Kelsey Phinney (SVSEF) in fourth, and Liz Guiney (CGRP) in fifth. (Photo: Peggy Hung)

    Miller was the fastest women’s qualifier by 2.87 seconds on the 1.3-kilometer course with a time of 2:59.39. Ultimately, she won the final in 2:57.53, 0.93 seconds ahead of her teammate Caitlin Patterson in second and 2.59 seconds clear of the third American on the podium, Hannah Halvorsen of Alaska Pacific University (APU) and the U.S. Ski Team (USST) D-team, in third place.

    Halvorsen previously qualified third behind Kelsey Phinney, of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) in second. Phinney finished fourth in the final (+2.85), while a third Craftsbury skier, Liz Guiney placed fifth (+3.53). The lone Canadian in the six-woman final, Sophie Carrier-Laforte of the Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre (CNEPH) placed sixth (+4.38).

    Thompson Fends Off Five Americans

    Of the six racers in the men’s 1.3 k freestyle sprint final, five of them were American. Bob Thompson, of the Thunder Bay National Team Development Centre (NTDC), bested them all for the win in 2:29.31, just 0.03 seconds ahead of Ben Saxton, of the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) Elite Team, in second place. Cole Morgan (SVSEF), the qualifying winner who had so far dominated all of his heats, ended up third overall, 0.48 seconds behind Thompson.

    Sun Valley and APU each had two athletes reach the men’s final with Jack Hegman (SVSEF) taking fourth (+0.51), and APU’s Reese Hanneman and Tyler Kornfield placing fifth (+7.75) and sixth (+7.9), respectively.

    To start the day, Morgan posted the fastest men’s qualifying time in 2:31.00, while last weekend’s SuperTour skate sprint winner Nick Michaud, of the Bridger Ski Foundation (BSF), qualified in second, 0.78 seconds back. Americans took the top-three qualifying spots with Logan Hanneman (APU) in third (+1.59), while Thompson was the top Canadian qualifier in fourth (+2.34).

    Morgan won both his quarterfinal and the first semifinal to advance to the final, along with Thompson who placed second in that semifinal (and placed second to Hegman in the quarterfinals). Saxton won the second semifinal (after finishing second to Logan Hanneman in the quarterfinals) and Kornfield was second behind Saxton in that semifinal to automatically advance to the final. Reese Hanneman and Hegman made it to the final as lucky losers after placing third and fourth, respectively, in the first semifinal.

    Live results

    Qualifier results

    ***

    IBU World Cup (Hochfilzen, Austria): Men’s and women’s pursuits

    Men’s report

    Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø notched his second-straight win in Hochfilzen after Martin Fourcade of France missed three on the final shooting stage of the men’s 12.5 k pursuit on Saturday. Bø, who started the race 12 seconds ahead of Fourcade in second, cleaned the final standing stage to leave the range nearly a minute ahead of Slovenia’s Jakov Fak in second. Meanwhile, Fourcade, who had been skiing in first just ahead of Bø before the last stage, dropped 1:19 minutes back to fifth.

    Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø (1) heading out of the start, 12 seconds ahead of the second starter, France’s Martin Fourcade (yellow bib), on Saturday in the IBU World Cup men’s 12.5 k pursuit in Hochfilzen, Austria. (Photo: IBU/biathlonworld)

    While Bø skied the win in 36:41.1 minutes and Fak, the third starter, finished 58.8 seconds later in second place, Fourcade made up two places on the final loop to place third (+1:10.0) after passing Germany’s Simon Schempp and Russia’s Maxim Tsvetkov.

    Schempp settled for fourth (+1:10.5), and Bø’s older brother, Tarjei Bø, passed Tsvetkov as well to claim fifth (+1:11.9), while Tsvetkov finished sixth (+11:12.3).

    On another snowy afternoon in Hochfilzen, Johannes Bø had three penalties, two of which came in the first stage (2+0+1+0). Fak was one of four men in the race with just one miss (0+0+1+0) — no one cleaned — while Fourcade missed five (1+0+1+3). Schempp had four penalties (3+1+0+0) but held onto his starting position in fourth, Tarjei Bø improved from 14th at the start to fifth with just two misses (1+0+1+0) and Tsvetkov raced up from 20th to sixth with a single miss (1+0+0+0).

    American Sean Doherty tied his second-best World Cup result in 17th (+2:12.8) after starting 23rd and 1:39 out of first. He had two penalties (1+0+1+0).

    Canada’s top finisher, Nathan Smith placed 31st (+3:02.2) after starting 19th and missing three shots (1+1+0+1). His teammate Brendan Green rose to 33rd (+3:15.7), up from 52nd at the start, with three penalties as well (1+0+1+1).

    Four Canadians qualified for the pursuit, with Scott Gow placing 48th (+5:08.4) with seven penalties (1+1+3+2). His younger brother Christian Gow crossed next in 49th (+5:13.7) after missing five (+5:13.7).

    The other American man in the race, Lowell Bailey placed 36th (+3:20.6), up from 53rd, with three misses (0+2+1+0).

    Kuzmina Gets First Win in Three Years

    Slovakia’s Anastasia Kuzmina cleaning one of two standing stages in the women’s 10 k pursuit at the IBU World Cup in Hochfilzen, Austria, en route to a 10-second win. (Photo: IBU/biathlonworld)

    In the women’s 10 k pursuit that followed, Slovakia’s Anastasia Kuzmina overcame a 22-second starting deficit to win her first race in three and a half years, shooting 19-for-20 (1+0+0+0) and finishing in 34:31.2. Kuzmina (the sister of Russia’s Anton Shipulin) started second behind Friday’s sprint winner Darya Domracheva of Belarus. Domracheva had a single miss as well in Saturday’s pursuit (0+0+1+0) but slipped to second after her penalty in the first standing stage, while Kuzmina cleaned the last three stages to take the win.

    Domracheva settled for third (+11.8) and Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen rose to second (+10.2) after shooting 18-for-20 (1+0+0+1) and skiing the fastest course time to rise from her starting position in sixth.

    Italy’s Dorothea Wierer slipped one place to fourth (+51.6) after starting third and missing two (1+0+0+1), while Norway’s Marte Olsbu raced up from 13th to fifth (+58.2) with a single penalty (1+0+0+0). Ukraine’s Yuliia Dzhima improved from 20th to sixth (+1:08) with one miss as well (0+0+0+1).

    Canada’s Emma Lunder achieved her second-best career World Cup result in 27th (+2:31.6) after starting 42nd and cleaning three stages after missing one in the first prone (1+0+0+0). Her teammate Rosanna Crawford improved from 49th at the start to 39th at the finish (+3:44.3) with four penalties, one in each stage (1+1+1+1).

    The U.S. had one woman qualify for the race, Clare Egan, who finished 53rd (+5:21.6) with seven penalties (2+2+2+1).

    For the third and final day of World Cup racing in Hochfilzen, the men’s and women’s relays will be held Sunday.

    Results: Men | Women

    ***

    FIS Cross Country World Cup (Davos, Switzerland): Freestyle sprints

    Women’s report

    Men’s report

    The women’s skate sprint podium at Saturday’s World Cup in Davos, Switzerland, with Kikkan Randall (r) of the U.S. Ski Team in third place, Sweden’s Stina Nilsson (c) in first, and Norway’s Maiken Caspersen Falla (l) in second. (Photo: Reese Brown/US Ski & Snowboard)

    Kikkan Randall returned to the podium on Saturday in the first freestyle sprint of the 2017/2018 World Cup season, placing third in the women’s 1.5-kilometer skate sprint behind Sweden’s Stina Nilsson and Norway’s Maiken Caspersen Falla, respectively, in Davos, Switzerland.

    Americans made up half of the women’s final, with Jessie Diggins racing to fourth and Ida Sargent sixth, with Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg between them in fifth.

    Nilsson started the day by winning the qualifier in 2:51.71 minutes, while Østberg had the second-fastest qualifing time, 2.57 seconds back. Switzerland’s Nadine Fähndrich posted the third fastest qualifying time (+2.73), and for the U.S., Diggins qualified fourth (+3.37), Sargent fifth (+3.78), Randall sixth (+4.11), Sophie Caldwell ninth (+4.87), and Sadie Bjornsen in 11th (+5.38).

    Nilsson then won her quarterfinal and the first semifinal before outlunging Falla by eight-hundredths of a second for the final win in 2:47.99. Randall (who won her quarterfinal and advanced to the final as a lucky loser in third in the first semifinal) finished 2.53 seconds after Nilsson for third overall, and Diggins (who won both her quarterfinal and the second semifinal) was 4.41 seconds back in fourth. Østberg finished 5.62 seconds back in fifth, and Sargent crossed the line 14.49 seconds back in sixth.

    Caldwell placed eighth overall after winning her quarterfinal then placing fourth in the second semifinal, behind Diggins, Sargent and Germany’s Sandra Ringwald, respectively. Ringwald did not advance to the final, either, for seventh overall. Bjornsen placed 13th on the day after finishing third in her quarterfinal.

    Also for the U.S., Julia Kern (U.S. Ski Team D-team) finished in 57th in the qualifying round, 16.55 seconds out of first.

    Dahria Beatty was the top Canadian in 53rd (+15.53), followed by Katherine Stewart-Jones in 55th (+16.18) and Cendrine Browne in 64th (+18.27). 

    In the men’s 1.5 k skate sprint, Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo rocketed to his sixth-straight win in as many World Cup races this season, topping the qualifier in 2:23.10 (by 1.27 seconds over France’s Lucas Chanavat and 1.73 seconds over Italy’s Federico Pellegrino in third) then winning his quarterfinal and semifinal comfortably before capping the day with a victory in the final in 2:28.07. Pellegrino placed second in the final, 1.8 seconds back, and Russia’s Alexander Bolshunov tallied his third podium of the season in third place (+4.64). Finland’s Ristomatti Hakola placed fourth (+5.39), France’s Richard Jouve was fifth (+8.65) and Russia’s Gleb Retivykh was sixth in the final (+18.34).

    Americans Andy Newell and Simi Hamilton both qualified for the heats in 10th and 12th, respectively. Hamilton went on to place ninth overall after finishing second in his quarterfinal (behind France’s Renaud Jay) and fifth in the second semifinal (which Hakola won). Newell’s day ended in the quarterfinals, where he placed fifth, 2.44 seconds behind Klæbo, who won that heat. Overall, Newell was 21st.

    Canada’s Alex Harvey qualified for the heats in 21st and went on to place 23rd overall after finishing fifth in his quarterfinal, 1.14 seconds behind Retivykh in first.

    Also for Canada, Julien Locke missed qualifying in the top 30 by 1.07 seconds in 36th (+7.84). Russell Kennedy placed 48th (+9.39), Knute Johnsgaard was 52nd (+10.35), Jess Cockney 54th (+10.83), Devon Kershaw 63rd (+11.78).

    For the U.S., Erik Bjornsen finished 58th (+11.12) and Paddy Caldwell 108th (+24.04) in the qualifier.

    Results:

    Women’s final | Women’s qualifier

    Men’s final | Men’s qualifier

  • Herrmann Captures Second Win in Östersund; Ransom 23rd

    Herrmann Captures Second Win in Östersund; Ransom 23rd

    France’s Justine Braisaz (left, second place), Germany’s Denise Herrmann (center, first place) and Norway’s Marte Olsbu (right, third place) celebrate during the flower ceremony of the women’s 10-kilometer pursuit at the 2017/2018 IBU World Cup in Östersund, Sweden. (Photo: IBU/biathlonworld)

    Twenty months ago, Germany’s Denise Herrmann was a cross-country skier, ending the Ski Tour Canada in 28th place in the 10-kilometer classic pursuit in Canmore, Alberta. And one with a very successful career, earning an Olympic bronze medal in the relay in Sochi in 2014 and narrowly missing out on another one with a fourth place in the team sprint.

    But her heart seemingly was no longer in the sport. A month after the 2015/2016 season had wrapped up, Herrmann publicly announced her intention to continue her athletic career with the goal of qualifying for the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, yet no longer in cross-country skiing. Instead she dreamed about a second career in biathlon.

    Biathlon is highly popular as a spectator sport in Herrmann’s home country, arguably receiving more attention than cross-country skiing and thus providing a higher earning potential. But while a switch between the two disciplines has not been unprecedented, Germany’s senior national team is also one of the most successful and competitive ones, with no guarantee even for seasoned biathletes to make the World Cup roster. So critics wondered if that was a wise decision by Herrmann, or rather a case of giving up a bird in the hand for two in the bush.

    Herrmann had some initial success right out of the gate in her first season as a biathlete. She instantly qualified for the German team for the second-tier IBU Cup, and with the coaches trying to make use of her athletic talent she was allowed to start three World Cup races, and finished 18th in her first sprint in Pokljuka, Slovenia.

    Then ten months ago in January 2017, she might have had some second thoughts and tried a “mini-comeback” at a cross-country World Cup in Toblach, Italy, in what appeared to be an attempt to qualify for the 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland. Despite placing 13th in a freestyle sprint and fourth in a team sprint, but she was not nominated to Germany’s World Championships team. Instead she received more starts at the IBU World Cup test event in PyeongChang, where she won her first relay race.

    After another successful offseason of biathlon training, highlighted by winning national titles in three disciplines, she was put on the IBU Cup team again. That followed a sprint victory in Sjusjøen, Norway, after which she was ‘called up’ to the roster for this week of races in Östersund, Sweden.

    Breakthrough in Östersund

    Germany’s Denise Herrmann racing to her second career victory in the women’s 10-kilometer pursuit at the 2017/2018 IBU World Cup in Östersund, Sweden. (Photo: IBU/biathlonworld)

    This weekend, Herrmann achieved at least a big milestone on the road to her dream goal and secured her ticket for the German Olympics team for PyeongChang, fulfilling the team-internal qualification criteria (a top-eight result) with an exclamation mark by winning the sprint on Saturday.

    Now a day later she followed that up with another victory in the women’s 10 k pursuit in a time of 30:02.7 minutes with two penalties (0+0+2+0). Her transition to biathlon has come to fruition.

    While the sprint only required two shooting stages, for the pursuit she had to navigate four, an obstacle that typically weeds out inexperienced shooters, especially in the standing stages. But on Sunday, Herrmann demonstrated everything she has already learned about her new sport.

    Starting with a 15-second lead on France’s Justine Braisaz based on the sprint, Herrmann skied with a controlled pace on the first loop and went on to clean her first prone stage, returning to the course with an increased lead of 22 seconds. Then Herrmann reacted correctly to some changing wind influence by adjusting her sights to also clean the second prone stage and kept her distance to Braisaz and the next chase group.

    Herrmann later told German TV broadcaster ZDF she would not have expected to win “in a pursuit having to shoot four times and with a number of extremely good shooters breathing down my neck.”

    “To twice clean in prone made me extremely happy since that is the basis for a good pursuit,” she added. “It was good that I had a little lead so I was not under immediate pressure. With the wind on the shooting range you really had to focus today.”

    Then in the first standing stage she began with a good rhythm but narrowly missed her last two shots, hitting above the edge of the black target. Momentarily she fell back to the second place, with France’s Braisaz taking an 11-second lead after she managed to clean all of her targets.

    But Herrmann had already completed one penalty lap before any chasers had left the range, and after completing the second penalty she was able to regain her lost time on the course. For the final shooting, the two women stood side by side on the range, and both managed to clean their five targets.

    “In the third one I was shaky,” Herrmann told ZDF. “Then in the last one I tried to really give it everything I had and leave with a clean shooting. Easier said than done […] Though we practiced pressure situations like this in training with the coaches teasing us, and that helped me a bit in the last bout.”

    “When I came on the shooting range in the first position, it was the first time that happened to me, and I just had a thought, ‘Wow is it true, is that possible?’ ” Braisaz said at the IBU press conference. “It was a high difficulty today, it was tough, but I did it.”

    Braisaz started the final loop just 1.5 seconds ahead of Herrmann, who quickly passed Braisaz on a climb, then increased that lead into the finish. Braisaz crossed the line 25.8 seconds behind Herrmann, repeating her second place from the sprint and tying her career-best World Cup result for the fourth time. She was one of only three athletes to shoot clean on Sunday.

    “I was afraid,” Braisaz said in the press conference when questioned about Herrmann chasing behind her. “She just passed me on the uphill, I just tried to do my best even if it won’t work. … I am very happy, it was my main goal today to stay focused on what you have to do [on the shooting range], and I did it.”

    With a comfortable lead, Herrmann had enough time to waive to the about 3,000 spectators in the stands. “I already told [my roommate] it’s cool to win, but it must be even cooler to ski across the finish line in first and knowing you have won,” Herrmann told ZDF. “An incredible feeling. … With my tired legs I was happy that there was no battle until the finish line. Then you can really enjoy it, and I have never experienced that feeling [in cross-country], and it’s wonderful.”

    Norway’s Olsbu finished third, 48.0 seconds behind Herrmann with two penalties (0+1+0+1).

    “This means a lot to me, I felt that this week has been good for me, but it has just been almost [on the podium] so I am glad that today I got the podium,” Olsbu explained in the press conference. “I was OK on the track and my shooting was good, even though I am not so happy about my last shooting.”

    “She is really good, I am very impressed about what she is doing in the shooting,“ Olsbu said of Herrmann. “We trained in that for so many years, and she has trained for two years or something, so that is really impressing.”

    Olsbu’s teammate Synnøve Solemdal started the race with the yellow bib of the World Cup Total Score leader, earned via a second place in the individual and a fourth place in the sprint. It was the first time in her career the 28-year-old Solemdal had achieved that distinction, and after she finished 19th on Sunday (+2:23.5 with four penalties), Braisaz took over the lead in the World Cup standings after the first week of races.

    Twenty seconds behind Olsbu, Italy’s Lisa Vittozzi finished fourth (+1:09.1 with one penalty). Herrmann’s teammates Maren Hammerschmidt in fifth (+1:16.8 with two penalties), moving up from starting 14th, and Vanessa Hinz in eighth (+1:29.1 with one penalty), up from 16th, also pre-qualified for the German Olympic team.

    “I got the [qualification norm] today, and that was very important for me,” Hammerschmidt told the IBU in an interview. “I never would have thought that I could already do it here in Östersund, I thought maybe in December was good, so I am very happy to go to Hochfilzen without this [pressure next week]. When I came to the finish line I realized Denise had won again, and I am so happy for her, it is incredible what she has done.”

    Team Germany is starting to take shape for the Olympics, with Herrmann a name on the roster few fans would have expected a year ago.

    “I think Laura is coming back next weekend…,” a laughing Herrmann cautioned at the press conference.

    Laura Dahlmeier, the dominant athlete of the 2017 World Championships in Hochfilzen, Austria, has not started a race this season yet, missing the Östersund World Cup because of illness. She plans to be back for the races later this week (Dec. 8-10) at the site of her biggest successes.

    Third-Best Career Result in a Pursuit for Ransom

    Julia Ransom (Biathlon Canada) racing the second leg of the women’s 4 x 6 k relay at 2017 IBU World Championships in Hochfilzen, Austria. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    Starting in 29th and 1:17 out of first based on her sprint result, Biathlon Canada’s Julia Ransom started her pursuit without a slip, cleaning both her prone shooting stages. Since a number of athletes in front of her incurred penalties, she had moved up all the way to the 11th position as she returned to the course after her second shooting.

    “We get pretty consistent feedback on the course so I was aware I was 11th,” Ransom wrote in an email to FasterSkier. “The wind picked up today and made for some tricky shooting. On one end of the range, the wind can swirl off the building and push the bullets one way, while it blows the bullets another way on the opposite side of the range.”

    On the next round she skied in a pack with athletes, including Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen and Ukraine’s Valj Semerenko (who also cleaned the first prone on Sunday).

    “My legs were a little fatigued but those fast girls definitely helped pull me around the course!” Ransom remembered regarding that loop.

    In her first standing bout, she again cleaned the first four targets before seeming to hesitate a bit and then missed the last target, having to ski a penalty loop. She came back on the course in 17th position.

    Then in the final stage she missed another target, leaving the range for the last time in 21st.

    At the finish Ransom was 23rd for her third-best result in a pursuit behind a tied 19th place in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, last season as well as in Antholz, Italy, two seasons ago. She achieved her best career result in a ninth place in the 15 k individual earlier this week.

    “I really wished I could have kept my focus for those last standing shots because it would have made for a very exciting race,” Ransom concluded. “That is how it goes sometimes. I am thrilled with my race! You can always say ‘what if…?’ but I am stoked with how solid the start of the season has been. I am looking forward to next weekend, especially since my parents are coming out to watch.”

    Starting in 46th position and 1:42 minutes back according to her sprint result, her teammate Rosanna Crawford initially put herself in the mix, cleaning her first prone stage to move up to 38th, even making up a few seconds to Herrmann up front.

    But in her next prone shooting, Crawford incurred three penalties, falling back to 53rd and doubling her deficit. With three more penalties in the standing stages Crawford ultimately finished 52nd, 5:25.1 back with six penalties (0+3+1+2).

    Her World Cup start in Östersund was marred by a nasty crash in the single mixed relay last Sunday. On Wednesday, she placed 39th in the individual for her best result of the week.

    Megan Bankes as Biathlon Canada’s third woman snuck into the top 60 to qualify for her first World Cup pursuit as the 60th and final starter (actually, 59th, since French athlete Anaïs Chevalier withdrew on race day).

    But that meant the 2017 Junior World champion in the individual discipline had to begin the race 2:11 minutes after Herrmann started hers.

    “I was quite excited because pursuits are always fun races, and to be racing with the 60 best women in the world is pretty neat,” Bankes wrote in an email. “Conditions on the course were pretty fast, the uphills were a little chopped up, but not bad. There was more wind today than any other race day, and I found it hard to read on the range, especially in the far lanes (28, 29, 30), because it swirls due to the wall [of a utility building at the end of the range].”

    After missing three targets already in her first prone shooting bout, she lost more time coming back on the track and was 3:50 behind she started her second loop.

    “I did not read the wind properly or make a big enough correction when I came into my first prone, so that is why I missed 3,” Bankes explained.

    After incurring another penalty in the second prone shooting and one more in the following standing stage, Banks was almost 5:30 minutes back, and the top of the field approached quickly from behind on the short 2.5-kilometer lap.

    On her final lap Herrmann passed Bankes, ending the race for the Canadian.

    “I think the techs may have yelled at me that I might be lapped, but I don’t really remember,” Bankes wrote in her email. “I knew about the rule, and knew the top girls were real fast, so I was aware of the possibility that I could be lapped. I could also see them coming into the range as I was leaving the range [after the third shooting], so I knew I had to ski pretty fast if I wanted to get to the range again before they finished. That did not happen, but I got farther on my 4th lap than I thought I would. Overall, it was a good learning experience, and a reminder that you should hit your prone targets in a pursuit!”

    In Saturday’s sprint, US Biathlon’s Clare Egan, Susan Dunklee and Emily Dreissigacker, along with Canada’s Emma Lunder, missed qualifying in the top 60 for the pursuit.

    The IBU World Cup continues next Friday Dec. 8 in Hochfilzen, Austria, with another sprint for the women and men.

    Results

  • Sunday Rundown: Lillehammer; Östersund; West Yellowstone (Updated)

    Sunday Rundown: Lillehammer; Östersund; West Yellowstone (Updated)

    The SuperTour women’s 10 k classic mass start podium on Sunday in West Yellowstone, Montana, with Hedda Bångman (second from r) of the University of Colorado Boulder in first, and Craftsbury’s Kaitlynn Miller (third from r) and Caitlin Patterson (r) in second and third, respectively. From left: Caitlin Gregg in sixth, Katharine Ogden in fifth and Rosie Frankowski in fourth were also recognized at the flower ceremony. (Photo: FBD)

    US SuperTour (West Yellowstone, Montana): 10/15 k classic mass starts

    The second day of SuperTour racing took place as originally planned at the Rendezvous Ski Trails in West Yellowstone, with 22-year-old Hedda Bångman, of the University of Colorado Boulder (CU), and 33-year-old Brian Gregg (Team Gregg) winning the women’s 10-kilometer and men’s 15 k classic mass starts, respectively, on Sunday.

    The men’s 15 k classic mass start SuperTour podium on Sunday in West Yellowstone, Montana,with Brian Gregg (c) of Team Gregg in first, David Norris (l) of APU in second, and Ben Lustgarten (CGRP) in third. (Photo: FBD)

    Bångman, a Swedish freshman on the CU Ski Team, won the women’s race in 30:24.8, just ahead of two Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP) skiers Kaitlynn Miller and Caitlin Patterson. While Miller placed second (+1.3) and Patterson was third (+3.4),

    Rosie Frankowski of Alaska Pacific University (APU) finished another 10 seconds later in fourth (+13.5), and Katharine Ogden of the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) was fifth (+17.2). Caitlin Gregg (Team Gregg) followed in sixth, Felicia Gesior (CXC Team) was seventh, Anne Siri Lervik (CU) eighth, Erika Flowers (SMS Elite Team) ninth, and Corey Stock of the Bridger Ski Foundation (BSF) 10th.

    In the men’s race, Brian Gregg pulled out a 1.9-second win over David Norris (APU), crossing the line first in 41:30.3. Ben Lustgarten (CGRP) reached the podium for the second-straight day (after placing second in Saturday’s skate sprint) in third (+4.6). Kyle Bratrud (CXC Team) finished fourth (+10.9) and Kris Freeman (Caldwell Sport) was fifth (+12.6). Tad Elliott (Ski & Snowboard Club Vail) followed in sixth, Eric Packer (APU) seventh, Ian Torchia (Northern Michigan University/U.S. Ski Team D-Team) eighth, Hunter Wonders (APU) ninth, and Martin Bergström (University of Utah Ski) 10th.

    Videos: Women’s finish | Men’s finish

    Results: Women | Men

    ***

    FIS Cross Country World Cup (Lillehammer, Norway): 15/30 k skiathlons

    Men’s report

    Women’s report

    Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla winning the women’s 15 k skiathlon on Sunday at the Lillehammer World Cup in Norway. (Photo: Henrik Hunnes)

    Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla pulled out another dominant distance performance on Week 2 of the World Cup, racing to a 19.7-second win in the women’s 15-kilometer skiathlon on Sunday, ahead of three Norwegians and American Jessie Diggins.

    Kalla led at the halfway point of the skiathlon when skiers transitioned from classic to skate, just ahead of Norway’s Heidi Weng in second. The two had broken away around 4 k into the classic leg and put more than 20 seconds into the rest of the field by the transition, when Diggins came through 21.6 seconds back in third, leading a large chase group with Finland’s Krista Parmakoski, Norway’s Marit Bjørgen, Austria’s Teresa Stadlober, Norway’s Kathrine Rolsted Harsem, Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen, Norway’s Ragnhild Haga, and Switzerland’s Nathalie von Siebenthal, respectively.

    While Kalla and Weng continued to trade the lead over the next 5 1/2 kilometers or so, by the 13.65 k marker, Kalla had dropped Weng, with 12 seconds between the two, while the chasers remained 29 seconds behind Kalla.

    Over the next 1.2 k, that time gap grew to 20 seconds and 46 seconds, respectively, and Kalla skied off to her second win of the season in 42:24.7 minutes.

    Weng placed second, 19.7 seconds back, and Haga claimed third (+43.6), after skiing alone for the last 4 k of the race. Bjørgen finished just ahead of Diggins for fourth (+54.3) and fifth (+57.0), respectively, and Stadlober was sixth (+1:04.9), Parmakoski seventh (+1:07.8), Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg eighth, Russia’s Natalia Nepryaeva ninth (+1:27.8), and Sadie Bjornsen 10th (+1:32.6).

    Four Americans finished scored points in the top 30, with Kikkan Randall placing 16th (+2:06.5) and Rosie Brennan 29th (+3:07.7). Liz Stephen finished 36th (+3:25.7), Chelsea Holmes was 38th (+3:39.6) and Ida Sargent 55th (+6:41.1).

    Cendrine Browne of the Canadian National U25 Team led Canada in 45th (+4:37.3), and Emily Nishikawa followed in 49th (+5:00.1). Katherine Stewart-Jones did not finish.

    Klæbo Outlasts Sundby; Harvey 6th

    A gassed Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (yellow bib) holding off fellow Norwegian Martin Johnsrud Sundby (r) for the win on Sunday in the men’s 30 k skiathlon at the Lillehammer World Cup in Norway. (Photo: Henrik Hunnes)

    In the men’s 30 k skiathlon that followed, Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo made it a five-peat, proving himself once again unbeatable, this time in the first multi-discipline distance race of the season.

    Klæbo outlasted [edit: rocketed past] teammate Martin Johnsrud Sundby to beat him by 1.3 seconds for his fifth-straight win in 1:16:47.1, and Norway swept the top four with Hans Christer Holund in third (+6.8) and Simen Hegstad Krüger in fourth (+10.9).

    France’s Maurice Manificat followed closely in fifth (+11.3) and Canada’s Alex Harvey was next in sixth (+13.1), ahead of Finland’s Iivo Niskanen in seventh (+16.2), and Russia’s Alexey Chervotkin, Sergey Ustiugov and Alexander Bolshunov in eighth (+37.7), ninth (+42.2) and 10th (+59.6), respectively.

    Klæbo skied patiently in the pack for essentially the entire race. For instance, at 11 k he sat back in 18th, just seven seconds from Canada’s Devon Kershaw in the lead.

    One kilometer later, Klæbo remained 5 seconds back in 13th while Kershaw was 8 seconds back in 16th.

    At the ski exchange at 15 k, Niskanen led Sundby and Italy’s Francesco de Fabiani and a total of 10 men within three seconds of first. Klæbo clocked through 5 seconds back in 13th, just ahead of Harvey in 14th (+5.3). Sixteen men remained within six seconds and striking distance of first. Kershaw in 18th had fallen off the pace and was 36 seconds back at the transition, just behind Russia’s Andrey Larkov.

    While Harvey continued to ski around third place during the first 5 kilometers of the skate leg, Klæbo worked his way closer to the front and led at 22.5 k. By then, the lead group had dwindled to six within two seconds of first. Harvey remained in fourth.

    Over the next 7.5 k, the lead changed several times, with Klæbo hovering near the tail end of the group. With about 200 meters to go, however, it was down to Sundby and Klæbo, with the former leading by 2 seconds (and Holund skiing seven seconds back in third). Klæbo ultimately had the most finishing kick to take the win by 1.3 seconds over Sundby, while Holund crossed 6.8 seconds later for third.

    Canada had two in the top 20 with Kershaw in 19th (+2:59.7). Last year’s NorAm winner Russell Kennedy (Team R.A.D.) placed 53rd (+7:30.7), and Canadian World Cup Team members Graeme Killick and Knute Johnsgaard finished 54th (+7:41.3) and 60th (+9:49), respectively.

    Two U.S. men landed in the points with Erik Bjornsen (U.S. Ski Team) in 20th (+2:59.9; just 0.2 seconds behind Kershaw) and Noah Hoffman in 28th (+3:37.8). Scott Patterson finished 36th (+4:56.1) and Paddy Caldwell was 56th (+7:43).

    Results: Women | Men

    ***

    IBU World Cup (Östersund, Sweden): Men’s and women’s pursuits

    Women’s report

    Men’s report

    France’s Martin Fourcade overcame an early penalty and his No. 2 starting position to take the men’s 12.5 k pursuit win on Sunday, 40.8 seconds clear of anyone with 19-for-20 shooting (1+0+0+0).

    Fourcade started 1 second behind Saturday’s sprint winner, Norway’s Tarjei Bø, and took control of the race after cleaning the second shooting stage. Bø missed one on the first prone stage then five more later in the race (1+0+3+2) to slip to 19th (+1:49.5) while Slovenia’s Jakov Fak raced up from 10th to second, 40.8 seconds behind Fourcade, with two penalties (1+0+0+1). Just behind him, France’s Quentin Fillon Maillet took third (+42.1) with identical shooting after Fillon Maillet started 12th and skied with Fak for most of the race.

    France’s Martin Fourcade (l) and Quentin Fillon Maillet after placing first and third, respectively, in the IBU World Cup men’s 12.5 k pursuit on Sunday in Lillehammer, Norway. (Photo: IBU/biathlonworld)

    None of the 58 finishers cleaned the four-stage race. American Lowell Bailey improved from 22nd to 17th (+1:40.2) with two misses (0+1+0+1). Canada’s Christian Gow achieved a career best in 21st (+2:04.6), up from starting 26th, after shooting 19-for-20 (0+0+1+0).

    Also for Canada, Nathan Smith slipped from 24th at the start to 42nd (+3:19.2, three penalties), Scott Gow finished 50th (+4:10.9; six penalties) after starting 16th, and Brendan Green placed 51st (+4:18.6; five penalties).

    One other American qualified in the sprint top 60 for the pursuit, with Tim Burke finishing 48th (+3:52.7; four misses).

    In the women’s 10 k pursuit earlier in the day, Germany’s Denise Herrmann tallied her second-straight win (and the second win of her IBU World Cup career). She started first and successfully held of France’s Justine Braisaz, who started 15 seconds behind her in second place, by 25.8 seconds. While Herrmann missed two on her third shooting (0+0+2+0), Braisaz was one of three women in the field to clean (0+0+0+0).

    Norway’s Marte Olsbu raced up from seventh to third place (+48.0) with two penalties (0+1+0+1).

    Canada’s Julia Ransom placed 23rd (+2:48.1), up from 29th at the start, with two misses (0+0+1+1). Two of her teammates also qualified for the pursuit, with Rosanna Crawford finishing 52nd (+5:25.1) with six penalties (0+3+1+2). In her first World Cup pursuit, Megan Bankes completed three shooting stages before being lapped (3+1+1).

    No American women qualified for the pursuit.

    With the conclusion of the first IBU World Cup in Östersund, the circuit moves to Hochfilzen, Austria, where racing kicks off again Friday, Dec. 8, with men’s and women’s sprints.

    Results: Men | Women

  • Olsbu and Bjøntegaard Win In Sjusjøen; for Canadian Biathlon Trio, Mission Acomplished

    Olsbu and Bjøntegaard Win In Sjusjøen; for Canadian Biathlon Trio, Mission Acomplished

    Marte Olsbu of Norway leads the women’s 12.5 k mass start out of the stadium in Sjujøen, Norway. (Photo: Vegard Breie/sesongstartskiskyting.no)

    After a disappointing day of sprints in Sjusjøen, Norway, on Saturday, the Norwegian biathlon team rebounded in Sunday’s mass starts to claim wins from Marte Olsbu in the women’s race and Erlend Bjøntegaard in the men’s race.

    In the women’s 12.5 k mass start, Olsbu had just one penalty, in the first prone stage, and came back through the field to ski to a 25-second win over Anais Bescond of France, who had two penalties. Synnøve Solemdal of Norway was third (+31.6) and Fuyuko Tachizaki of Japan fourth (+48.7), both shooting clean.

    “It was very fun,” Olsbu told Norwegian broadcaster NRK, according to a translation. “I did what I had planned, and it means a lot that I can stand on the podium with another Norwegian.”

    The men’s field was so large that it was split into two mass start races, an “A” and a “B” competition, each of which had more than the 30 standard entrants for a mass start competition.

    Martin Fourcade of France was near the front for almost the entire race, on form after having won Saturday’s sprint, but missed the last shot of the competition. He was unable to make it back into first place by the end of the 15 k race.

    Erlend Bjøntegaard heading for the win in Sunday’s 15 k mass start in Sjusjøen, Norway. (Photo: Vegard Breie/sesongstartskiskyting.no)

    Instead, it was Norway’s Bjøntegaard taking the win. Bjøntegaard had missed just one shot, in the second shooting bout. He skated to an 11.8-second victory over teammate Johannes Thingnes Bø, who missed three shots over the course of the race. Fourcade was third, +16.1.

    Despite his win, Bjøntegaard is not headed to the World Cup opener in Östersund, Sweden, next week. Norway’s team had already been decided, and Lars Helge Birkeland and Henrik L’Abee-Lund, who did not have stellar results this weekend, will go instead. They told NRK that they had not focused on these Sjusjøen races because the priority was instead performance at the World Cup.

    “That’s how it is,” Bjøntegaard told NRK. “I don’t bother to spend time on it. I can promise that my possibilities will come.”

    Based on his 29th-place finish in Saturday’s sprint, Scott Gow of Canada made the “A” mass start. He picked up six penalties, including three in the third stage, and skied to 37th place (+4:12.3).

    “I shot poorly today due to me being too much inside my own head,” he wrote in an email. “My first prone was an oversight on the wind conditions, and my first standing was me totally rushing. Lesson learned, I hope… I would say I still have some speed in the tank. Shooting, aside from today, has been very good lately, so I’m happy with that. Skiing has been solid too, but I could feel the travel a bit this weekend, so hopefully that’s all gone by next weekend.”

    Gow and his brother, Christian, went to Sjusjøen along with fellow Biathlon Canada National Team member Brendan Green. It was not an official team trip, but the trio felt the need to get some extra acclimation to the European time zone and another set of races under their belts before the World Cup begins.

    “Christian, Brendan and I had been talking about wanting the team to go to Sjusjøen for a while, but that was never going to happen with our [national team] budget woes, so we took it upon ourselves to make the trip happen,” Scott Gow wrote. “We believe the early acclimation and high-end racing is great preparation for Östersund, where the three of us always feel like we start flat and struggle to achieve good results. Our goal is to adjust to Europe and have our bodies is the best shape possible. I would say we’ve accomplished our goals. We adjusted well to the jet lag, and we all had at least one decent race.”

    After the sprint, Christian Gow and Green were slotted into the “B” mass start. They made the most of the opportunity, with Green missing two shots but taking the win, and Gow missing one shot and finishing 8.8 seconds behind in second place.

    (Story continues below)

    https://www.instagram.com/p/Bbrm3nMjFTf/?taken-by=christ_gow

    Things didn’t go particularly smoothly for either Canadian. Both of Green’s missed shots came in the first shooting bout, but he faced challenges even while cleaning the other bouts.

    “In addition to the two misses, I had some problems in the range during each prone shooting which caused me to lose some more time,” Green wrote in an email. “I spent the entire rest of the race working my way back to the lead group. I think I came in for my final shooting bout in seventh, left the range in third, and was able to ski to the lead from there. Christian lost time early on with a broken pole right at the start of the race, so we both had our work cut out today.”

    While the goal had been to make the “A” mass start, Green pointed out that there was value in racing in a competition where he was fighting for the win, even if few of his regular World Cup competitors were in this race.

    “Today was still good preparation for the World Cup next week, and a nice way to finish the weekend of racing here,” he explained. “ t’s good sometimes to have a little more control during a race, and there is still the pressure when you’re at the front to perform which is always good practice.”

    While Green said his speed was not yet at 100%, the group was excited to be back competing after a long summer and fall of training.

    “I love this time of year because it means we’re racing!!!” Scott Gow wrote.

    Results: men “A” – men “B” – women

  • Norwegians Sweep Sprints; Newell Out in Quarterfinal on Last Day of Blink

    Norwegians Sweep Sprints; Newell Out in Quarterfinal on Last Day of Blink

    Norway’s Maiken Caspersen Falla celebrates across the line after edging out Russia’s Natalia Matveeva and her Norwegian teammate Ingvild Flugstad Østberg in the women’s cross-country sprint on Saturday at the 2017 Blink Skifestivalen in Sandnes, Norway. (Photo: Axelar/Ørjan Dalseth)

    The fans in the well-filled stands of the 1-kilometer rollerski city course in Sandnes, Norway, had many reasons to cheer loudly on Saturday, as their local heroes claimed victories in all four sprint events that concluded the 2017 Blink Skifestivalen (Ski Festival).

    In the final race of the day, the men’s cross-country sprint was decided by the length of a rollerski, with Norway’s Sindre Bjørnestad Skar crossing first, just 0.1 seconds ahead of Sweden’s Teodor Peterson. Skar took the win with a time of 3:27.6 minutes after two laps around the flat course, which featured two short climbs over a ramp and a bridge. The third place on the podium went to Kasper Stadaas, also of Norway, 1.9 seconds out of first.

    Norway’s Sindre Bjørnestad Skar (front) lunges across the line ahead of Sweden’s Teodor Peterson in the men’s cross-country sprint at the 2017 Blink Skivestivalen on Saturday in Sandnes, Norway. (Photo: NRK screenshot)

    Second in Friday’s mass start, Skar advanced through the rounds on Saturday with narrow victories in his quarterfinal and semifinal as well. Last season, Skar won a World Cup at the freestyle sprint in Toblach, Italy, and achieved two other podiums. He raced to third in the sprint qualification at the World Championships in Lahti, Finland, and went on to finish 13th.

    Andy Newell of the U.S. Ski Team (USST) was the lone North American starter of the day, and his run ended in the quarterfinal heats when he crossed the line in third, 1.1 seconds behind Norwegians Sondre Turvoll Fossli and 0.3 seconds behind Sivert Knotten. In an Instagram post, he mentioned breaking three poles in three races he competed in at this year’s Blink. He finished 16th in the 60 k classic and 18th in the 15 k freestyle mass start.

    (Article continues below)

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BXKYSBPhWK1/?taken-by=andynewellskier

    In the women’s cross-country sprint, a number of the last season’s top sprinters contended for the podium. Reigning Sprint World Cup champion Maiken Caspersen Falla emerged with the victory in the final with a time of 3:49.6 after keeping her challengers at bay in the long finishing straight. Russia’s Natalia Matveeva placed second (+0.8) and another Norwegian Ingvild Flugstad Østberg took third (+1.1).

    Earlier in the day, Falla won her semifinal, after she advancing from her quarterfinal with a wildcard. Originally Falla had finished the heat more than 30 seconds back, following a spill from which she emerged with a slightly bloody right knee.

    “Suddenly the asphalt was there,” Falla told Norwegian broadcaster NRK, according to a translation. “I am very happy that I was able to protect the face and head… I was really scared. I’m terrified.”

    She explained that it had been a long time since her last crash on rollerskis, and that she likely had placed a pole on her own shoe. No other athlete was involved in the incident, and her semifinal heat started with seven athletes.

    On Friday, Falla placed third in the women’s 10 k mass start after outlasting the group of skiers she was with in the finishing straight.

    USST member Liz Stephen opted not to start in the sprint on Saturday (after placing sixth in the hill climb and 25th in the 10 k freestyle mass start), instead continuing her European road trip to Östersund, Sweden, according to an Instagram post.

    Biathlon

    In the women’s biathlon sprint, French veteran Marie Dorin-Habert made a minor rookie mistake while leading when she knelt down on the shooting mat for another prone shooting, before realizing that all her competitors had correctly taken a standing-position stance. Maybe she had assumed that — like the men in Saturday’s sprint format — they also would have to shoot four times.

    France’s Marie Dorin-Habert (l) erroneously kneels down to take the prone position in the second shooting stage of the women’s biathlon sprint at the 2017 Blink Skifestivalen on Saturday in Sandnes, Norway. In the lead until that point, she went on to finish third. (Photo: NRK screenshot)

    She quickly stood back up, but after incurring a penalty she was overtaken by Sweden’s Hanna Öberg and Norway’s Marte Olsbu. On the final lap Olsbu managed to pass the Swede to claim the victory in a time of 7:57.3 minutes with two penalties, while Öberg finished second (+2.8, with two penalties) and Dorin-Habert third (+5.0, with one penalty) ahead of Sweden’s Emma Nilsson (+9.4, with two penalties).

    Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen after winning the men’s biathlon sprint on the last day of the 2017 Blink Skifestivalen on Saturday in Sandnes, Norway. (Photo: Axelar/Ørjan Dalseth)

    In the men’s biathlon sprint, racers skied four loops and shot in four stages. Coming into the final shooting stage, Norway’s Lars Helge Birkeland and Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen, along with France’s Simon Fourcade, had created a small gap to the rest of the field. While Birkeland and Christiansen hit all their targets, Fourcade had to ski one short penalty lap through a traffic roundabout. Turning sharp left into the finishing stretch, Christiansen overtook Birkeland and pushed hard until the line in a time of 12:09.6 with two penalties, while Birkeland finished 4.6 seconds back in seconds place (with one penalty). Fourcade held onto third place (+16.2, with three penalties) ahead of a chase group.

    The excited fans also sang a little birthday tune for Norway’s Tarjei Bø — who turned 29 on Saturday — as he came into the finish in seventh place (+42.2) smiling and waving to the crowd.

    No North American biathletes raced at this year’s Blink.

    Saturday’s results:

    Cross-country sprint finals: Women | Men

    Biathlon sprint: Women | Men

  • Ustiugov, Bjørgen Rule Mass Start; Newell 18th After Breaking Pole

    Ustiugov, Bjørgen Rule Mass Start; Newell 18th After Breaking Pole

    Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov (1) winning the men’s 15 k freestyle rollerski mass start on Friday at the 2017 Blink Ski Festival. Norway’s Sindre Bjørnestad Skar (r) finished 2.2 seconds back in second. (Photo: Axelar/Rolf Gunnar Strand)

    In the men’s 15-kilometer freestyle rollerski mass start on the third day of the 2017 Blink Ski Festival in the coastal town of Sandnes in the southwest of Norway, U.S. Ski Team (USST) member Andy Newell constantly held a position in the first group, staying within a few seconds of the leaders. With two laps to go, he was in sixth place, less than two seconds back.

    “I felt good about the race,” Newell reflected in an email to FasterSkier. “I was able to ski up in the top 10 or so throughout the race.”

    U.S. Ski Team member Andy Newell (bib 14) finishing behind South Korea’s Magnus Kim in the men’s 15 k mass start on Friday at the 2017 Blink Skivestivalen in Sandnes, Norway. (Photo: NRK screenshot)

    But as the field heard the bell ringing that signaled the final lap, Newell suddenly skied out of the lead group and rolled to the right side of the city course waving his arm.

    “Just before the start of the last lap I tried to maneuver around a skier to try to get up into the top maybe 5 or 6 skiers and broke my pole on that guy,” Newell explained. “I only had to ski maybe 100 meters with one pole and got a spare but that was enough to lose a lot of places. I can’t feel too bad, there were a lot of broken poles out there, it was still really fun and exciting and a cool atmosphere.”

    After Russia’s reigning Tour de Ski winner Sergey Ustiugov prevailed in a group sprint to finish first in a time of 30 minutes, 29.5 seconds, Newell finished the race in 18th place, 24.1 seconds later. Second place went to Norway’s Sindre Bjørnestad Skar (+2.2), while Sweden’s Teodor Peterson claimed third (+2.9).

    Norway’s Marit Bjørgen winning Friday’s 10 k freestyle mass start at the 2017 Blink Ski Festival, just 0.6 seconds ahead of Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla (r) in second. (Photo: Axelar/Ørjan Dalseth)

    In the women’s 10 k freestyle mass start race, Norway’s Marit Bjørgen took her first win of the series in 21:25.8, narrowly outsprinting Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla by 0.6 seconds (a day after Kalla won the famous Lysebotn Opp uphill race by a comfortable 40-second margin). The duo gapped the field about 15 minutes into Friday’s race, after Kalla had caught up to Bjørgen and then took her turn up front. Winning the finishing sprint out of a larger chase group, third place went to Bjørgen’s teammate and defending Sprint World Cup champion Maiken Caspersen Falla, 8.3 seconds out of first.

    A day after finishing the Lysebotn hill climb in sixth place, USST distance skier Liz Stephen crossed the line on Friday in 25th (+1:29.2) on the flat city course with 1 k loops that suited sprinters, despite two short climbs over fairly steep ramps.

    While the 2016 edition of the festival was marred by some dramatic crashes on those ramps, this time the course remained manageable in cloudy-but-dry conditions, with the field of elite Norwegian and international athletes cheered on by several hundred enthusiastic spectators in the finish area.

    Biathlon

    Also on Friday, the Blink spectators could watch a number of biathlon competitions, both for various junior age groups and the senior fields.

    In a pre-race event dubbed “shooting duels” with the athletes still not on skis, the local fan-favorites prevailed. Norway’s Thekla Brun-Lie won the women’s competition, moving through a series of rounds and cleaning the final in 20 seconds, while her teammate Johannes Thingnes Bø was successful in the men’s shootout, cleaning all targets of the standing shooting stage in a blazing-fast 15.7 seconds for the best time of the day. In a “superfinal”, Bø beat Brun-Lie head-to-head, despite requiring spares and about twice as much time as in the men’s final.

    Norway’s Thekla Brun-Lie (l) and Johannes Thingnes Bø competing head to head in the final round of a shooting competition at the 2017 Blink Skifestivalen in Sandnes, Norway. Both went on to win their respective mass start races later on Friday. (Photo: NRK screenshot)

    Both skiers made use of their excellent shooting accuracy and speed to win their respective races that followed (no exact distance was given). In the second half of the women’s biathlon mass start, Brun-Lie managed to overtake the Russia’s Ekaterina Yurlova-Percht with two clean standing stages, claiming victory in a time of 13:51.5 with one penalty. The penalty loops required rollerskiing on a traffic roundabout next to the range.

    Brun-Lie, 25, is the younger sister of Celine Brun-Lie (a former Norwegian cross-country team member) and a 2011 junior world champion.

    France’s veteran skier Marie Dorin-Habert finished second (+8.5 with four penalties), while Brun-Lie’s teammate Marte Olsbu also passed Yurlova on the final lap to place third (+14.3 with three penalties) and Yurlova finished fourth (+18.2 with two penalties).

    In the men’s biathlon mass start, Sweden’s Tobias Arwidson held the lead after the first two prone shootings, before Bø and teammate Emil Hegle Svendsen overtook him with two clean standing shootings. While both also hit every target in the final standing stage, Bø managed to do it faster once again, crossing the line first in a time of 17:57.8 with three penalties. Svendsen placed second (+12.3) despite cleaning all four stages, and Lars Helge Birkeland completed the Norwegian podium sweep in third (+21.2 with three penalties).

    Unlike in prior years, no North American biathletes have made the trip to Sandnes, Norway, for Blink. The event concludes on Saturday with sprint races for both the cross-country skiers and biathletes.

    Friday’s results:

    Cross-country mass starts: Women | Men

    Biathlon:

  • Saturday Rundown: Quebec City, Oslo and Lillehammer (Updated x4)

    Saturday Rundown: Quebec City, Oslo and Lillehammer (Updated x4)

    The men’s 15 k classic mass start podium on Saturday at World Cup Finals in Quebec City, with Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (c) in first and Niklas Dyrhaug (l) in second, and Russia’s Alexander Bessmertnykh (r) in third. (Photo: FIS Cross-Country/Twitter)

    FIS Cross-Country World Cup Finals (Quebec City): 10/15 k classic mass starts

    During Saturday’s 15-kilometer classic mass start at World Cup Finals, Canada’s Alex Harvey was in it until the end. But so were Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and Niklas Dyrhaug, and Russia’s Alexander Bessmertnykh, to name a few.

    Sitting in second with a few hundred meters to go, Harvey was primed to make his move on Dyrhaug, who was leading at the time. But then came 20-year-old Klæbo, the season-long Sprint World Cup champion, who proved to have more left in the tank than anyone else and passed them both to lead into the finishing straight.

    Klæbo took the victory — his first in a World Cup distance race — on a bluebird day under a beating sun in 35:23.7 minutes, 0.6 seconds ahead of Dyrhaug. Bessmertnykh followed another 0.2 seconds back in third (+0.8) just ahead of Harvey in fourth (+1.2).

    Norway’s Sjur Røthe took fifth (+1.7), Switzerland’s Dario Cologna placed sixth (+1.9), and Norway’s Pål Golberg was seventh (+2.5), half a second ahead of another Norwegian Didrik Tønseth in eighth (+3.0). The top nine were within 3.7 seconds of first, with Russia’s Andrey Larkov in ninth.

    Devon Kershaw was the second Canadian in the points on Saturday in 28th (+1:08.4), after breaking a pole and working his way back up from outside the top 60.

    Erik Bjornsen led the U.S. men in 31st (+1:16.8), about a second ahead of Canada’s Graeme Killick in 32nd (+1:17.7).

    Also for the U.S., Matt Gelso finished 37th, Andy Newell 45th, Scott Patterson 46th, Noah Hoffman 48th, Ben Lustgarten 49th, David Norris 50th, Simi Hamilton 54th, Paddy Caldwell 59th, Jack Hegman 62nd, Cole Morgan 64th, and Brian Gregg 69th.

    For Canada, Bob Thompson finished 55th, Knute Johnsgaard 57th, Len Valjas 61st, Russell Kennedy 63rd, Evan Palmer-Charrette 65th, Andy Shields 66th, Jess Cockney 67th, Brian McKeever 68th, Joey Foster 70th, Gareth Williams 72nd, Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier 74th, and Julien Locke 75th.

    The women’s 10 k classic mass start podium on Saturday at World Cup Finals in Quebec City, with Norway’s Marit Bjørgen (c) in first, Norway’s Heidi Weng (l) in second and Finland’s Krista Parmakoski (r) in third. (Photo: FIS Cross-Country/Twitter)

    In the women’s 10 k classic mass start earlier in the day, Norway’s Marit Bjørgen racked up her seventh victory of the season after leading a pack of two other Norwegians and Finland’s Krista Pärmäkoski and holding them off to the finish.

    Bjørgen put a few meters into the foursome as she entered the finishing stretch and held her lead across the line in 24:23.6 minutes. Norway’s Heidi Weng finished 0.6 seconds back in second to lock up the Distance World Cup title, in addition to the Overall World Cup title she secured on Friday.

    Pärmäkoski finished 2.9 seconds after Bjørgen in third, and Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg missed the podium in fourth (+7.8).

    Behind them, Germany’s Nicole Fessel outlasted a large chase pack to place fifth (+18.6), just ahead of Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla in sixth (+19.9) and Anna Haag in seventh (+19.1).

    Sadie Bjornsen of the U.S. Ski Team led the North American women in 15th (+29.9) after skiing at the back of that chase pack in the final stretches of the race. Also for the U.S., Jessie Diggins placed 27th (+1:06.9) and Sophie Caldwell 38th (+1:56.0).

    Canada was led by Emily Nishikawa in 37th (+1:51.7). Behind her, Cendrine Browne finished 41st (+2:28.2), Dahria Beatty was 53rd, Annika Richardson 54th, Katherine Stewart-Jones 56th, Frederique Vezina 59th, Annika Hicks 60th, Sophie Carrier-Laforte 61st, Andrea Dupont 62nd, Katherine Weaver 63rd, Alannah MacLean 64th, Sadie White 66th, Lisle Compton 67th, Mia Serratore 68th, and Laura Leclair 69th.

    For the U.S. Caitlin Patterson finished 44th, Liz Guiney 45th, Kaitlynn Miller 47th, Chelsea Holmes 48th, Rosie Brennan 50th, Julia Kern 52nd, Erika Flowers 55th, Becca Rorabaugh 57th, and Jennie Bender 58th.

    One day left in the 2016/2017 World Cup season remains, with the women’s and men’s 10/15 k freestyle pursuits on Sunday in Quebec City.

    Results: Men | Women

    World Cup Finals standings (Day 2 of 3): Men | Women

    ***

    Finland’s Mari Laukkanen pointing to the sky in honor of her late shooting coach, after she won the women’s 10-kilometer pursuit on Saturday at the 2017 IBU World Cup in Oslo, Norway. (Photo: IBU)

    IBU World Cup (Oslo, Norway): Women’s and men’s pursuits

    Less than 24 hours after winning her first IBU World Cup on Friday in the women’s 7.5 k sprint, Finland’s Mari Laukkanen immediately capitalized on her ideal position with a start-to-finish victory in Saturday’s 10 k pursuit that was never in doubt, cleaning the first three shooting stages before incurring one penalty in her final standing shooting (0+0+0+1) to cross the line in a time of 29:33.3 minutes.

    In addition to experiencing the most successful weekend of her biathlon career by far, it was an emotional day for the 29-year-old Finn due to a personal reason. Laukkanen spread her arms like wings skiing down the homestretch with a commanding lead, pointing repeatedly to the sky and a black ribbon she wore around her right upper arm, before kneeling in the snow in the finish for a few seconds. With those gestures, she reportedly wanted to commemorate her shooting coach Asko Nuutinen, who passed away Friday after suffering a heart attack during the World Cup in Kontiolahti, Finland, a week ago. He was 60 years old.

    “It’s been a really emotional day for me. We have heard really really sad news that last night we lost our longtime shooting coach,” Laukkanen told reporters with a trembling voice in the press conference. “After this it was more or less only about working for him. Working as he has asked me to do for years and years. So I wasn’t thinking about losing or winning today, I was only thinking about him. And I feel really big pleasure that I was able to come to the finish like this, that I can own the victory for him.”

    “I knew it will be difficult after the first victory in my career took me so long,” she added. “And to do it again immediately with good shooting. But as I said I didn’t think about winning or losing today, just doing my work.”

    Finishing 26.5 seconds after her, the Czech Republic’s Gabriela Koukalová reached the finish, moving up from her fourth place starting position with a clean shooting performance (0+0+0+0).

    “I wanted to miss all targets yesterday because I was so tired I didn’t even want to race,” Koukalová confided in the press conference. “It’s difficult to concentrate, three World Cups after the main goal of the season [the World Championships] is too much. Last year it was many times easier… I tried to catch her, but about one kilometer before the finish I saw her far away so I was happy I didn’t have to fight with anyone and was just enjoying the last meters.”

    Despite four penalties (1+1+0+2), France’s Justine Braisaz defended the third place on the podium against a three-person chase group on the last loop (+1:01.4), falling back only one position after having finished the sprint in second.

    “I did not expect such a good place today during the race,” Braisaz commented in the press conference. “Because in the last shooting I completely [failed]. I really wanted to have a clean shooting today, and I did not succeed. So I am happy and surprised, too.”

    Her teammate Anais Bescond who had started the pursuit in third place fell back to 22nd position (+2:53.5) with seven penalties.

    Slovenia’s Teja Gregorin finished fourth with one penalty (+1:08.2), Austria’s Lisa Theresa Hauser shot clean as the only athlete aside from Koukalova on her way to move up from 22nd to fifth place (+1:12.5), while Norway’s Marte Olsbu finished sixth like in the sprint despite three penalties (+1:15.9).

    Unlike in Friday’s sprint race where Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier had still given up a seemingly commanding lead in the sprint World Cup discipline standings to Koukalova, she held onto her lead in the pursuit standings on Saturday, moving up from the 31st starting position to ninth place with a penalty in each of her standing shootings (0+0+1+1, +1:53.8). A 22nd place would have been sufficient to win the “small crystal globe” award in the pursuit. Laukkanen’s teammate Kaisa Mäkäräinen finished 8th  with two penalties in the standing stages (+1:51.2), and thereby claimed the third place in the World Cup pursuit ranking.

    “I knew that I didn’t need to have a perfect race today, just a good one, but that’s always easier said than done,” Dahlmeier told broadcaster ARD after the race. “I am incredibly happy that it worked out and that I could secure myself another small globe… It’s a bit of a weird feeling, standing at the start gate in the middle of the field and the clock ticks and ticks as one athlete after another skis out on the course. And you can only observe how far they have gone and have to wait and be patient, and not make a false start. But then the snow burns, then the chase begins!”

    US Biathlon’s Susan Dunklee experienced an uncharacteristically problematic day on the shooting range and fell back to 37th place (+4:00.2), after starting seventh and less than a minute behind Laukkanen. Dunklee had three misses between two prone stages and seven more in her standing shootings (2+1+4+3) therefore having to ski more than an additional kilometer in the penalty lap.

    “It is a testament to her fighting spirit that she notched the fourth-fastest ski time — one of her best ranks of the season — and never gave up despite suffering a biathlon blowout on the range,” teammate Clare Egan said of Dunklee, according to a US Biathlon press release. “Bad races happen to the best and Susan is no exception, but not everyone fights through till the end no matter what.”

    Egan herself started the pursuit in 34th position and initally was able to make up ground, but then fell back slightly to 41st place (+4:13.9) with four penalties (0+2+0+2).

    “I am satisfied with my race even though the result was not what I was hoping for, and that’s how I would summarize my entire season as well,” Egan said after the final race of her season. “I’ve made a good step forward but my competitors also work hard all summer and we seem to improve at a similar rate.”

    Canada Biathlon’s Julia Ransom moved up to 47th place (+5:04.8) with three penalties (1+0+1+1), after starting in 52nd position.

    [UPDATED] Later on Saturday in the last men’s 12.5 k pursuit of the season, the three best athletes of the season fought throughout the race exchanging in the lead, before they stood next to each other on the range for the final shooting to decide the winner.

    Russia’s Anton Shipulin managed to shoot clean with his elaborate rifle stock in the design of a red dragon, proudly waving to the cameras as he left the arena while his two competitors had to ski into the penalty lap. France’s Martin Fourcade – who had already secured himself the overall World Cup Total Score title as well as the award for the pursuit discipline – was left to duke it out against Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø, the winner of Friday’s sprint.

    On the last big climb before the Holmenkollen arena, Fourcade accelerated with a series of explosive jump-skate steps to decisively gap Bø. He even got fairly close to Shipulin on the finish stretch, who had slowed down a bit to grab a Russian flag before skiing over the line in a time of 32:11.9 minutes with one penalty (0+0+1+0), 5.7 seconds ahead of Fourcade who had incurred two penalties (1+0+0+1). While Fourcade shook hands with Shipulin, Bø came into the finish in third place, 21.6 seconds back and also with two penalties (1+0+0+1).

    “It was a crazy race, but I am happy that I managed to finish first,” Shipulin said in the press conference through a translator. “Tough conditions on the shooting range, I had to really work to concentrate on my shooting. On the last loop I was all alone until I saw Martin chasing me, then I got a little bit scared but I managed to [keep him behind].”

    It was Shipulin’s second win of the season, for which he credited his recently improved shooting performance.

    “It was a really exciting competition with Johannes and Anton,” Fourcade agreed with his rival. “I expected to fight with them for the victory on the last loop, but then Anton was simply stronger in the last shooting. My strategy was to be focused on my technique and skills and not on the results, like I did too often in the past few weeks focusing on records and not the victory.”

    Asked about his blazing attack on the final climb, Fourcade added: “Of course I train for that, but I think a lot of athletes do. I talked to Johannes, it was my revenge for the [2016] World Champs where he did exactly the same to me on the last uphill. But I know how it is, it can be different already tomorrow.”

    “I am happy with a new podium of course,” Bø said in the press conference. “I was not at my best in the skiing today. But I still managed to shoot 18 out of 20. As Martin said it was [annoying] that we did not shoot zero [misses] and could not fight with Anton in the finish, but it was quite interesting and fun to stand there in the last shooting … I expected Martin’s attack the second he did it, but I had no energy to fight with him. That was quite strong.”

    Sweden’s Fredrik Lindström placed fourth with no penalties (+44.7), and was the only man in the field who managed to shoot clean in all four stages.

    “For the podium, I was never really close“, Lindström told the IBU in a post-race interview. “But it was a great day anyway. Four times zero [misses], and especially in the standing stages that makes you climb a lot in the standings. Super happy with my performance.”

    US Biathlon’s Lowell Bailey, who had to start closer to the back of the field in 44th position, almost two minutes behind the leaders based on his sprint result, managed to move up 21 spots in the race despite three penalties (2+0+1+0).

    “I’m happy with the race, considering it started out pretty rough with the first two misses,” Bailey told US Biathlon after placing 23rd (+2:23.3). “I just read the wind wrong and didn’t correct enough. After that, I tried to keep my head in the race and make the best of it. I was happy with my skiing and glad to clean the last stage; this brought me up nine spots and I was able to gain another in the last loop. Now, it’s just one race to go. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

    Shooting quickly, Bailey recorded the ninth-ranked range time of the day and the ninth-fastest last loop.

    His teammate Sean Doherty started 35th but fell back after having to ski six times through the penalty lap (1+3+1+1) to finish 46th (+4:05.6).

    For Sunday’s mass starts as the final races of the 2016/2017 IBU World Cup season, the only qualified North American starters will be Dunklee (currently in 10th position in the World Cup Total Score standings) and Bailey (currently in eighth).

    The women’s season award in the mass start discipline once more will be decided between Germany’s Dahlmeier and Czech Republic’s Koukalova, while Germany’s Simon Schempp will try to defend his narrow lead on Fourcade. But during Saturday’s final loop, the French star did consider saving energy for the final competition.

    “No,” he simply quipped when asked about this in the press conference. “Of course the mass start is important tomorrow because it will decide about the [mass start] crystal globe. But I think today the pursuit was also really important, and you fight for victory and being one of the best athletes. You can’t be satisfied with only a third place when you can claim a second, and I think all athletes in my position would do the same.”

    Results: Women | Men

    ***

    Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby after winning the Norwegian 54 k classic Birkebeinerrennet, part of the Ski Classics series, on Saturday in Lillehammer, Norway. (Photo: Ski Classics)

    54 k Birkebeinerrennet (Rena to Lillehammer, Norway): Part of the Ski Classics series

    [UPDATED] Not even a snowmobile clipping him and sending him tumbling 20 k before the finish could keep Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby from winning the Birkebeinerrennet on Saturday in Norway. Representing Team United Bakeries, Sundby set a high pace from the start and broke the group down to three by 9 k, with Petter Eliassen of Team LeasePlan and Simen Østensen of Team BN Bank sticking with him until about 30 k in the 54 k marathon.

    With about 20 k to go, Sundby collided with a Ski Classics TV production crew snowmobile while trying to double pole in the snowmobile’s tracks. He was OK and went on to win by 48 seconds over Eliassen in second, and smiled about the incident after the finish.

    “It came in with tremendous speed and mowed me down,” Sundby told NRK, according to a loose translation.

    Ski Classics CEO David Nilsson told NRK he didn’t know exactly how that happened and emphasized that it was unacceptable.

    “We always put safety first, but it is a difficult balancing act with the snowmobile at high speed to get TV pictures,” he said, according to a loose translation. “The skiers often ski in the [snowmobile] track and here it happened and somehow the driver missed it.”

    While Sundby pulled out the win in 2:20:53.5 hours, Eliassen took second and Østensen followed another 3.5 seconds later for third place.

    In the women’s race, Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk (Team Santander) pulled out a 4 minute and 15 second win over Sweden’s Britta Johansson Norgren (Lager 157 Ski Team). Japan’s Masako Ishida (Team United Bakeries) was another 48.6 seconds back in third.

    “I’m really happy to win this race,” Kowalczyk said, according to a Ski Classics press release. “Everything went well and the cheering on the course was amazing. I will do the rest of the races in Visma Ski Classics, but this victory was the most important for me. Of course, I want to win again in Årefjällsloppet like I did last year, but to win here in front of this audience means so much to me.”

    Tord Asle Gjerdalen, who finished fourth in the men’s race, and Johansson Norgren continue to lead the overall Ski Classics standings with three races to go. The next stop is the Årefjällsloppet in Sweden on March 25.

    “It was a great race and we kept a high tempo up all the way,” Sundby said, according to the press release. “I was able to use uphills for my advantage and get a gap. I had good skis, the conditions were perfect, and to win here was one of my goals for the season. I have the Norwegian Championships in two weeks, and I haven’t counted out the option of going to Finland for the Visma Ski Classics finale.”

    Results

  • Sunday Rundown: Harvey Wins World Champs Gold in Lahti; PyeongChang + Vasaloppet (Updated)

    Sunday Rundown: Harvey Wins World Champs Gold in Lahti; PyeongChang + Vasaloppet (Updated)

    Canada’s Alex Harvey (3) celebrates his win in the men’s 50 k freestyle mass start, his first individual gold medal at a World Championships, on Sunday at 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland. He beat Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov (l) by 0.6 seconds while Norway’s Sjur Røthe (9) can be seen coming in for sixth place, behind (not pictured) Finland’s Matti Heikkinen, Great Britain’s Andrew Musgrave and Norway’s Martin Johnsurd Sundby, respectively. (Photo: NBC Sports screenshot)

    FIS Nordic World Championships (Lahti, Finland): Men’s 50 k freestyle mass start

    After a week of missing out on the medals at 2017 Nordic World Championships, Canada’s Alex Harvey, a four-time World Championships medalist from 2011, 2013 and 2015, achieved his first individual gold medal in the final race of this year’s World Championships in Lahti, Finland.

    Harvey, 28, won the men’s 50-kilometer freestyle mass start in a drag race to the finish. Entering the final descent into the stadium with Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov, Harvey rode his fast skis past both of them then had the most finishing kick in the final straightaway for a 0.6-second victory. He finished in 1:46.28.9 hours, while Ustiugov followed him across the line in second and Finland’s Matti Heikkinen from behind for third (+1.4), after passing Sundby around the outside of the last corner.

    Canada’s Alex Harvey (c) celebrates gold in the men’s 50 k freestyle mass start on Sunday at 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland, with Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov (l) and Finland’ Matti Heikkinen (r) joining him on the podium in second and third, respectively. (Photo: Cross Country Canada/Twitter)

    Sundby appeared to miss a pole plant soon after Heikkinen passed him and let off the pace a few meters before the finish. That’s where Great Britain’s Andrew Musgrave continued to accelerate and took fourth place, 2.9 seconds behind Harvey and 0.1 seconds ahead of Sundby in fifth. Norway’s Sjur Røthe followed another 0.4 seconds back in sixth, Switzerland’s Dario Cologna was seventh (+8.9), Norway’s Petter Northug eighth (+12.3), France’s Maurice Manificat ninth (+13.4), and Norway’s Hans Christer Holund 10th (+14.3).

    “I had really good skis,” Harvey said in a post-race interview with FIS. “I knew if I came into the corner in second place, that was the optimal position. So I was able to fight hard and hit that last corner in second and slingshot by Martin along the flat and then that was good after that.”

    “This is the best race of my life, for sure,” he added. “So I’m really happy.”

    Tad Elliott (Ski Club Vail) led the Americans in 27th (+3:16.8). Noah Hoffman (U.S. Ski Team) finished 50th (+8:53.1) and Kyle Bratrud (CXC Team) did not finish.

    Canada started four men, with Devon Kershaw finishing 38th (+5:45.5), Graeme Killick 43rd (+7:04), and Knute Johnsgaard in 55th (+12:03.3).

    For Harvey, the medal is his fifth at three World Championships and his first individual gold after winning the classic team sprint with Kershaw in 2011.

    Results

    ***

    IBU World Cup (PyeongChang, South Korea): Men’s and women’s relays

    Between the men’s and women’s relays on Sunday at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup in PyeongChang, South Korea, Canada had two teams in the top eighth, with its men’s team finishing seventh in the 4 x 7.5 k and women’s team eighth in the 4 x 6 k. Behind them, the U.S. men finished 10th and U.S. women 14th.

    France won the men’s relay by 33.8 seconds over Austria, using a total of 10 spare rounds but avoiding the penalty lap. Martin Fourcade anchored France to the win in 1:12:09.5 hours, after Jean-Guillaume Béatrix initially tagged them in first, his older brother Simon Fourcade raced them into second with near-perfect shooting (using just one spare to clean), and Simon Desthieux picked off one more place to give Fourcade a 16-second lead for the final leg.

    Austria achieved second place with Lorenz Wäger, Simon Eder, Julian Eberhard, and Dominik Landertinger combining for zero penalties and nine spares.

    Norway finished third (+45.4) with Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen, Ole Einar Bjørndalen, Vegard Gjermundshaug, and Henrik L’Abée-Lund. They had one penalty on Gjermundshaug’s third leg, and used a total of eight spares.

    Canada’s Christian Gow, Scott Gow, Nathan Smith, and Brendan Green finished seventh (+3:03.1) with zero penalties and nine spares. After Christian tagged his older brother Scott in ninth, Scott raced them into sixth place before Smith slipped four places to 10th at the final exchange. On the final leg, Green raced them into seventh, requiring two spares to clean.

    The Americans finished about nine seconds later in 10th (+3:12.8) with Lowell Bailey, Leif Nordgren, Paul Schommer, and Sean Doherty combining for zero penalties and nine spares, just like Canada. Bailey had originally put them in second at the first exchange, Nordgren dropped to seventh, then Schommer to 13th, before Doherty finally brought them back to 10th out of 24 teams.

    In the women’s relay, Germany pulled off a 22.8-second win over Norway, with one penalty and eight spares. Nadine Horchler put Germany in third at the first exchange, then Maren Hammerschmidt raced them into first by the race’s halfway point. From there, Denise Herrmann, a former cross-country World Cup regular, had to ski a penalty lap and tagged off in second, 13.5 seconds out of first. With teammate Laura Dahlmeier sitting out the relay, Franziska Hildebrand anchored Germany to the win in 1:07:35.6 after she used just one spare to clean.

    Norway placed second with Kaia Wøien Nicolaisen, Hilde Fenne, Tiril Eckhoff, and Marte Olsbu accumulating one penalty and 11 spares. Olsbu beat out the Czech Republic’s Gabriela Koukalová by one-tenth of a second at the finish, as the Czechs placed for third (+22.9), with Jessica Jislová, Eva Puskarčíková, Lucie Charvátová, and Koukalová (with a total of one penalty and nine spares).

    Canada took eighth (+1:34) with Rosanna Crawford, Julia Ransom, Megan Tandy, and Emma Lunder. Crawford tagged in second at the first exchange, Ransom slipped one place to third, Tandy lost another place to tag in fourth, and Lunder ultimately anchored them to eighth.

    The U.S., with Clare Egan, Susan Dunklee, Joanne Reid, and Maddie Phaneuf, finished 14th (+3:08.3) with one penalty and 10 spares. After Egan had a penalty on the first leg, Dunklee skied the fastest second leg to move the team from 19th to 14th, then Reid put them in 11th by the final exchange. Twenty-one teams competed in the women’s race.

    Results: Men | Women

    ***

    Ski Classics 90 k Vasaloppet (Sälen to Mora, Sweden)

    John Kristian Dahl (r) of Team United Bakeries outlunges Ski Classics sprint leader Andreas Nygaard (r) of Team Santander for the win in Sunday’s 90 k Vasaloppet in Mora, Sweden. (Photo: Visma Ski Classics)

    [UPDATED] In Sunday’s 93rd annual 90-kilometer Vasaloppet from Sälen to Mora, Sweden, the ninth event of the Ski Classics series, John Kristian Dahl (Team United Bakeries) outlasted Andreas Nygaard (Team Santander) by one-tenth of a second for the win in 3:57:18.1 hours. The race came down to a five-way fight for first, with Stian Hoelgaard (Team Leaseplan) finishing 0.6 seconds back in third. The top 15 men were all within 21.7 seconds of the podium, and Brian McKeever, a member of Canada’s Para Nordic Ski Team, placed 20th (+2:31.1).

    “It has been a fight all day,” Dahl said, according to a Ski Classics press release. Three days ago, he had been unsure about starting the Vasaloppet following a back injury. “I was tired already after 30 k and had to let go of the lead group, but I fought my way back taking it step by step and hill by hill.”

    In the women’s race, Britta Johansson Norgren (Lager 157 Ski Team) broke away from the field to win by 1:37.9 minutes in 4:19.43.4.

    Astrid Øyre Slind (Team United Bakeries) finished second, and Sara Lindborg (Team Serneke) placed third, 9 minutes and 4.2 seconds behind Norgren. Kateřina Smutná (Team Santander) dropped out of the race about halfway through.

    “I am very tired but also so happy to win today,” Norgren said, according to the press release. “It felt pretty easy until Oxberg [Sweden] with 30 k to go, but then it got really tough and I had to fight all the way to the finish.”

    It was Norgren’s first Vasaloppet win after placing second the last three years. She increased her lead in the overall Ski Classics to 215 points over Smutná, while Tord Asle Gjerdalen continues to lead the men’s overall standings ahead of his Santander teammate Nygaard, who is 349 points behind in second place. Gjerdalen did not race Sunday’s Vasaloppet.

    Results

  • Germany Wins First Gold of IBU World Champs; France and Russia Steal Mixed-Relay Show

    Germany Wins First Gold of IBU World Champs; France and Russia Steal Mixed-Relay Show

    The mixed relay podium on the opening day of 2017 IBU World Championships in Hochfilzen, Austria, with Germany in first (c), France (with Martin Fourcade at far left) in second, and Russia in third (r). (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    Germany was front and center for the first race of 2017 International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Championships on Thursday in Hochfilzen, Austria, but there was a sideshow that stole a good chunk of the limelight between France (namely Martin Fourcade) and Russia (namely Alexander Loginov).

    The action began with the 2 x 6 + 2 x 7.5-kilometer mixed relay, a co-ed event where teams start women for the first and second legs, followed by men for the third and fourth legs.

    Germany ran away with the lead with a rock-solid performance from third-leg Arnd Peiffer, who cleaned both his prone and standing stages without using any spare rounds, but the team had to credit second-leg Laura Dahlmeier, who built the lead in the first place.

    Dahlmeier, the World Cup Total Score leader, raced from sixth to first after getting the tag from her teammate Vanessa Hinz just 9.8 seconds out of first. Dahlmeier used two spares to clean prone and another two to clean standing, yet she avoided the penalty lap and remained in third for much of her race — behind Italy’s Dorothea Wierer and France’s Marie Dorin Habert.

    As she left the range for the last time and embarked on her last loop, Dahlmeier remained in third, nine seconds behind Wierer in first. Dorin Habert remained on Wierer’s heels, 1.6 seconds back.

    Dahlmeier caught both by the second exchange and tagged Peiffer in first, 0.8 seconds ahead of France and 3.8 seconds ahead of Italy.

    The rest was history as Peiffer extended the gap to 11.1 seconds over Italy’s Lukas Hofer after the first shooting stage on the third leg. With another clean bout one loop later, Peiffer was up to 20 seconds ahead of Hofer, who used one spare in prone and cleaned standing without a miss.

    “After the prone shooting I was alone on the loop, that is a pretty thankless job,” Peiffer told German broadcaster ZDF after. “Then I tried to focus on my tempo, to keep pushing into the standing shooting, and that worked well. But it was not clear to me while on the course that it would work out like that.”

    Germany’s Arnd Peiffer (r) tagging his teammate Simon Schempp during the final exchange of the mixed relay at 2017 IBU World Championships on Thursday in Hochfilzen, Austria. Peiffer tagged in first, and Schempp held the lead through the finish. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    Peiffer tagged German anchor Simon Schempp 21.2 seconds ahead of Italy’s last leg, Dominick Windisch, and 46.5 seconds ahead of France’s Martin Fourcade in third. Russia entered the final exchange with France, with Loginov tagging Anton Shipulin just 0.9 seconds behind France.

    That’s where things got interesting. Schempp executed as needed to secure the win — cleaning prone without any spares and using just one in standing — and Windisch as his most immediate threat fumbled on the last stage when the he missed two and left the range in fourth, 32 seconds behind Schempp.

    There, Fourcade moved into second with his second-straight flawless stage (0+0, 0+0), 17.9 seconds behind Schempp, and Shipulin remained in third (+18.6) after cleaning both stages as well (0+0, 0+0). Fourcade and Shipulin started the race together and jockeyed between third and fourth for the first two loops, until both moved ahead of Windisch and had the opportunity to battle for second place on the last loop.

    For Fourcade, who had already won 10 races (including relays) this season and entered the World Championships mixed relay as a defending champion with France, it wasn’t so much about the silver. It was about beating Russia.

    As Fourcade and Shipulin descended a downhill together on the last loop, Fourcade took the lead by the bottom and attacked on the long uphill that immediately followed. Shipulin remained on his heels as the two came within view of Schempp, who was skiing what appeared to be a casual pace off the front — although Schempp would later say he was going full speed.

    “I think you could see that they wanted to get back up to [Schempp],” German men’s head coach Mark Kirchner told ZDF of Fourcade and Shipulin on the last loop. “But when they reached the highest point of the course it looked like they rather skied tactically, who becomes second and who becomes third. Then I was sure that this would end well for us.”

    About 100 meters before the finish, Schempp glanced back to see Fourcade and Shipulin charging hard. Schempp appeared unfazed and maintained his pace, holding his arms up to celebrate before he crossed the line first.

    Germany’s Simon Schempp (2) celebrates his team’s victory in the mixed relay on the opening day of 2017 IBU World Championships in Hochfilzen, Austria, after he held off France’s Martin Fourcade (second from r) in second and Russia’s Anton Shipulin in third. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    Germany took the relay gold in 1:09.06.4 hours, while Fourcade finished 2.2 seconds later to secure silver for France. One second later, Shipulin anchored Russia to bronze (+3.2).

    “Fourcade really attacked enormously,” German men’s assistant coach Andreas Stitzl told ZDF. “Thank God Fourcade and Shipulin were not totally in agreement, so it went our way.”

    Schempp later said he realized those two were getting closer, “but there was a bit of a buffer,” he told ZDF. “I wasn’t certain, so I still skied full speed … Of course this is an enormously cool start for our team into the World Championships, immediately with a first place. And I think I am speaking for everyone that we are overjoyed.”

    It was the first mixed-relay win for Hinz and Dahlmeier.

    “These are big emotions, winning it all in a team together with the men,” Dahlmeier told ZDF. “I have never won a mixed relay before, and this is only my second one ever. I think this means a lot to the whole team, that we became world champions right in the first race.”

    “I am still a little bit speechless,” Hinz said. “I was very happy that the coaches trusted me with this assignment, and it means quite a lot to me.”

    During the flower ceremony, Germany’s four racers stood on the highest step of the podium. France followed them to the second step, with Anais Chevalier, Dorin Habert, Quentin Fillon Maillet, and Fourcade, and Russia was introduced third, with Olga Podchufarova, Tatiana Akimova, Loginov, and Shipulin.

    As the four Russians approached the French team to shake hands in usual fashion, Fourcade shook the hands of the two women, but did not come in contact with the two men. As Russia proceeded to its spot on the podium, Fourcade clapped sarcastically, then stepped down from the podium and attempted to leave the ceremony. Not long after, he returned, likely having been instructed to.

    “I’m a bit sad,” Fourcade said at the post-race press conference. “I just want to remember that one week ago the president of the Russian federation asked the IBU to take disciplinary sanctions against me because I did a tweet about Loginov and today they decide to not shake my hand on the podium so I’m a bit surprised the president of the Russian federation wants to disqualify his own athletes.”

    While it’s tough to pin down exactly which tweet Fourcade was referring to, he wrote on Twitter, “We didn’t think it was possible so they did it………….” on Wednesday, the day before the opening race of World Championships, likely when he learned Loginov would be starting the relay. Loginov is coming off a two-year ban for EPO use and dominated the competition at last month’s IBU Open European Championships.

    Russia’s Alexander Loginov (l) takes a tumble after tagging his teammate Anton Shipulin (third from l) in the final exchange of the 2017 IBU World Championships mixed relay in Hochfilzen, Austria. France’s Martin Fourcade (second from l) skated left after getting the tag from his teammate Quentin Fillon Maillet (far r). (Photo: ORF screenshot)

    Whether the Russian men didn’t shake Fourcade’s hand on the podium, or vice versa; whether they were upset about his tweet or the fact that he appeared to go out of his way to trip Loginov in the exchange zone on Thursday (after Loginov had tagged Shipulin right after Fourcade), one thing is clear: there is some definite tension between Fourcade and Team Russia.

    And it’s not all on Fourcade; this has been months in the making after World Cup athletes demanded that the IBU implement stricter anti-doping policies and measures. Fourcade walked out of a meeting last month, telling NRK, “I am pissed off.” The next day, the IBU Executive Board announced it would hold an “Extraordinary Congress” before World Championships to vote on rule changes. The IBU announced the Congress decisions on Wednesday, which included plans to impose higher fines and reduced quotas for nations that violate anti-doping rules. Moreover, 2021 World Championships will not be held in Tyumen, Russia.

    An IBU press release on Thursday didn’t get into details beyond the mixed relay itself: “Today is not the best example of a sprint finish battle that I could have done,” Shipulin said, according to the release. “I hope the rest of the World Championships it will be better.”

    In terms of shooting performance, Russia was the best of the 25-team field with a total of four spares (three of which came on Loginov’s standing stage) and zero penalties. France had eight spares and overcame one penalty (on Fillon Maillet’s standing stage), and Germany used a total of seven spares but avoided the penalty lap.

    “I was expecting us to be in the mix and fight for the medals,” Kirchner told ZDF, “but you can’t plan it working out like this, standing on the first position is always a surprise.”

    Norway’s Marte Olsbu (front left) and Italy’s Lisa Vittozzi (front right) leading early in the mixed relay at 2017 IBU World Championships on Thursday in Hochfilzen, Austria. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    Italy (Lisa Vittozzi, Wierer, Hofer, Windisch) placed fourth, 28.7 seconds out of first and 25.5 off the podium, with six spares and zero penalties.

    Vittozzi initially put the team in first at the first exchange, 1.8 seconds ahead of Norway’s Marte Olsbu in second. There, Austria’s Lisa Theresa Hauser followed 5.7 seconds back in third, and American Susan Dunklee was fourth, 7.6 seconds out of first.

    Dunklee used two spares to clean prone and another two in standing (0+2, 0+2), but posted the second-fastest course time of the first-leg skiers to stick with the leaders through the first exchange. While Vittozzi hit all 10 of her targets (0+0, 0+0), Olsbu used a spare (0+1, 0+0) and Hauser required two (0+2, 0+0).

    “It wasn’t overly tricky wind but there is more mental pressure in championship situations,” Dunklee wrote in an email about the conditions and why many of the top racers struggled on the range on Thursday. “The days when it matters most can be the days that it’s hardest to perform normally.”

    She explained that she was disappointed with her shooting percentage but happy with her speed.

    “My skiing feels sharper than it has all year and my body feels ready. That’s a big confidence booster going into the rest of the week,” Dunklee added.

    Susan Dunklee racing the first leg of the 2017 IBU World Championships mixed relay for the U.S. She tagged off in fourth and the U.S. went on to finish 16th. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    The U.S. finished 16th (+3:20.2), with two penalties and 13 spares. Second-leg Clare Egan remained in the top 10 until her standing stage, where she skied a penalty lap (0+1, 1+3) and slipped to 17th by the exchange, 2:01 minutes out of first. There, Lowell Bailey took over and used one spare in each stage (0+1, 0+1) and skied the sixth-fastest third leg to hand off in 16th, 2:24.2 back. The team’s anchor, Sean Doherty had the team’s second penalty in his prone, but cleaned standing without any spares (1+3, 0+0) to finish 16th.

    “We had a disappointing result as a team, but the Championships are long,” Dunklee wrote. “The most important thing is to take one day at a time and come to the venue fully focused and ready to make the most of each opportunity.”

    Canada’s Julia Ransom (r) tagging teammate Rosanna Crawford after the first leg of the mixed relay at 2017 IBU World Championships in Hochfilzen, Austria. Canada went on to finish 13th. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

    Canada finished more than a minute ahead of the U.S. in 13th (+2:18.2), with nine spares and zero penalties. Julia Ransom started the Canadians off and used four spares (0+3, 0+1) to tag Rosanna Crawford in 18th, 59 seconds out of first. Crawford used three spares as well in prone but also avoided the penalty lap, and cleaned standing (0+3, 0+0) to tag her boyfriend Brendan Green in 15th, 1:29 back.

    Green improved one place to 14th, using just one spare in his prone stage (0+1, 0+0) and tagged Scott Gow 2:06.8 out of first. Gow cleaned prone and used one spare in standing (0+0, 0+1) to finish 13th, just 0.6 seconds ahead of Switzerland in 14th.

    “The goal during my leg was to ski hard and push the shooting as much as I could,” Gow wrote in an email.

    Both his shooting and range times were sixth-fastest among the anchor legs.

    “My shooting was good, and all I can attribute it to is my prep the last two weeks,” Gow explained. “Shooting conditions were quite good, a little bit of wind here and there, so the environment wasn’t too much of a factor. I spent the last two weeks adding extra stress to my shooting and making sure all the fundamentals were in place, and that is what helped me today.

    “I’m happy with my race and our team is optimistic for what is to come,” he added. “There were a lot of positives from the past two weeks within the whole team, so there a lot of possibilities.”

    Personally, Gow’s main focus for the championships is the men’s relay after Canada earned a historic bronze in the event at 2016 World Championships.

    “Last year our team had an incredible result in the relay and it would be great to have another awesome team result at these championships,” he wrote. “Aside from the relay, I’m looking most forward to the sprint. I’ve had some great sprints this year and I’d like to continue the good trend.”

    IBU World Championships continue Friday with the women’s 7.5 k sprint at 8:45 a.m. Eastern time. Watch it live on Eurovisionsports.tv.

    Results

    — Harald Zimmer contributed

    Scott Gow anchoring Canada to 13th in the mixed relay, the opening race of 2017 IBU World Championships in Hochfilzen, Austria. (Photo: Glen Crawford)
  • Thursday Rundown: Ruhpolding and Soldier Hollow (Updated)

    Thursday Rundown: Ruhpolding and Soldier Hollow (Updated)

    The women's freestyle-sprint prologue podium on Thursday, the final day of 2017 U.S. Cross Country Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. Canada's Dahria Beatty (AWCA/NST U25 Team) took first, Hannah Halvorsen (Sugar Bowl Academy/USST) second, and Caitlin Gregg (Team Gregg) third.
    The women’s freestyle-sprint prologue podium on Thursday, the final day of 2017 U.S. Cross Country Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. Canada’s Dahria Beatty (AWCA/NST U25 Team) took first, Hannah Halvorsen (Sugar Bowl Academy/USST) second, and Caitlin Gregg (Team Gregg) third.

    U.S. Cross Country Championships (Soldier Hollow): Freestyle-sprint prologue

    [UPDATED] One and done. That was the case Thursday for the U.S. Cross Country Championship’s freestyle sprint at Soldier Hollow (SoHo) where only a qualifier was held to determine the final standings — no heats were contested. With just-under-freezing temps and a light snow falling, the men set off at 15-second intervals.

    The men’s podium was an all-Canadian affair as they swept the top-three positions. Jess Cockney of the Canadian World Cup B-team placed first in 3:15.20. Julien Locke of the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) and Canadian National U25 Team skied to second (+2.69), his AWCA/U25 Team teammate Knute Johnsgaard was third (+2.72).

    The top American skier was Alaska Pacific University’s Logan Hanneman in fourth (+3.37). The second-fastest U.S. skier was Sun Valley Ski Education Education Foundation (SVSEF) Gold Team skier Cole Morgan (+5.03). Morgan was the sixth-fastest athlete overall. The third American and seventh overall was John Hegman (+5.71) also of the SVSEF Gold Team.

    The women’s skate sprint also featured a preliminary with no heats. Canada’s Dahria Beatty (AWCA/NST U25 Team) placed first in 3:13.60. Sugar Bowl Academy and U.S. Ski Team Development Team member Hannah Halvorsen was second (+3.15), and Team Gregg’s Caitlin Gregg third (+4.80). The third-fastest American was APU’s Chelsea Holmes (+7.24) who finished sixth overall.

    The national championship week at Soldier Hollow has concluded.

    Men’s Results | Women’s Results

    ***

    IBU World Cup (Ruhpolding, Germany): 4 x 6 k women’s relay

    [UPDATED: includes quotes from Canada’s Rosanna Crawford and Americans Susan Dunklee and Maddie Phaneuf]

    The women’s 4 x 6-kilometer relay in Ruhpolding, Germany, came down to the very end, with Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier holding off France’s Celia Aymonier and Norway’s Marte Olsbu to the finish. Dahlmeier secured the win in the first women’s relay of 2017, crossing the line in 1:09:53, just 3.5 seconds ahead of Aymonier and 4.5 ahead of Olsbu.

    The Germans used six spare rounds and avoided the penalty lap for the victory, with Dahlmeier lifting them from fifth at the final exchange to first at the finish.

    While both Aymonier and Olsbu cleaned both shooting stages without any spares, Dahlmeier had to use one on the final standing stage. She had to pass Olsbu twice to secure the victory.

    “I wanted to slowly pull myself up to her, not over-pace, and have enough energy left for the next climb,” Dahlmeier recalled in a post-race interview with Germany’s ARD. “At some point I knew we had the top equipment today. If I’m ahead for the last downhill then I will bring the win home.”

    The German women's 4 x 6 k relay team, with (from left to right) Vanessa Hinz, Maren Hammerschmidt, Franziska Preuss, and Laura Dahlmeier after winning Thursday's IBU World Cup at home in Ruhpolding, Germany. (Photo: IBU)
    The German women’s 4 x 6 k relay team, with (from left to right) Vanessa Hinz, Maren Hammerschmidt, Franziska Preuss, and Laura Dahlmeier after winning Thursday’s IBU World Cup at home in Ruhpolding, Germany. (Photo: IBU)

    She teamed up with Vanessa Hinz, Maren Hammerschmidt and Franziska Preuss for the win. It was Preuss’s first race back after a long break due to illness. While she said she was “very nervous”, Preuss cleaned her prone stage and used two spares to clean standing.

    On the second leg, Hammerschmidt and Fenne tangled on a downhill turn. The came through the exchange in second and fourth, respectively, behind Ukraine’s Anastasiya Merkushyna (who brought her team from 10th to first by the race’s halfway point).

    “Thankfully, it still worked out fine in the end,” Hammerschmidt told ARD.

    France took second, using a total of seven spares and no penalties, with Anais Chevalier, Justine Braisaz, Anais Bescond, and Aymonier, respectively.

    Norway had near-flawless shooting all around with just one spare, used by third-leg skier Tiril Eckhoff, who teamed up with Kaia Wøien Nicolaisen, Hilde Fenne and Olsbu for third place.

    The Norwegians held off Ukraine by 4.3 seconds for the final spot on the podium.

    Canada placed 10th (+3:00.6), using just three spares and no penalties, with Megan Tandy, Rosanna Crawford, Emma Lunder, and Julia Ransom. Crawford elevated the team to eighth after the second leg, but they slipped two spots over the third and fourth legs.

    “We had a great shooting day today, and some really fast skis,” Crawford said, according to a Biathlon Canada press release. “I think with just three spares for the whole team, our expectations should be quite a bit higher, but this year the ski speed seems to be below where we usually are.”

    The U.S. women finished 17th (+5:08.2), with 11 spare rounds and no penalties, with Susan Dunklee, Maddy Phaneuf, Clare Egan, and Joanne Reid. Dunklee started the team off and raced to 11th at the first exchange, then they slipped back to 16th and finally 17th at the finish out of 23 teams.

    “I enjoy the extra challenge of starting at the back of a mass start,” Dunklee said, according to a US Biathlon press release. “I’m good at weaving through crowds and it’s incredibly satisfying to pass lots of people.”

    “Shooting on Point 2 is exactly where I wanted to be at that point in the race, and I felt comfortable there,” she added.

    Dunklee tagged to Phaneuf, who, in her first World Cup race of the season, used two spare rounds to clean 10 targets.

    “I’m happy to have the opportunity to be racing on the World Cup again,” Phaneuf told US Biathlon. “Today’s race went OK, the shooting was average for me and the skiing was tough. The atmosphere here in Ruhpolding is so amazing, so that made the racing very exciting. I’m looking forward to race the sprint on Saturday. Huge shoutout to the wax techs and staff for some fast skis and support.”

    “It was wonderful to finally put together a full women’s team and we look forward to improving upon today’s performance in the coming weeks,” Dunklee added.

    Results

  • Koukalová Wins Second Mass Start of Season; Dunklee 9th, Crawford 25th

    Koukalová Wins Second Mass Start of Season; Dunklee 9th, Crawford 25th

    US Biathlon’s Susan Dunklee skis through the arena during the women’s 12.5 k mass start at the 2017 IBU World Cup on Sunday in Oberhof, Germany. (Photo: USBA/NordicFocus)
    US Biathlon’s Susan Dunklee skis through the arena during the women’s 12.5 k mass start at the 2017 IBU World Cup on Sunday in Oberhof, Germany. (Photo: USBA/NordicFocus)

    After twice shooting clean on Sunday, American Susan Dunklee found herself in third place going out on the next loop of the women’s 12.5-kilometer mass start at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup in Oberhof, Germany, pushing hard to keep up with Czech Republic’s Gabriela Koukalová and Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier.

    “I was not skiing a sustainable pace,” Dunklee explained in an email to FasterSkier. “Sometimes it makes more sense to keep yourself in the race as long as you can and worry about consequences later.”

    While Koukalová stayed clean also in the next two shooting stages to win the race in a time of 37:20.5 and Dahlmeier only shot one more miss to finish second (0+0+1+0, +31.5), Dunklee had to pay a bit for her tempo when she incurred a penalty in the first standing stage and two more in her last standing bout.

    She left the range after the final shooting in ninth position, but was challenged on the long Birxsteig climb by four athletes who shot clean in the last stage: Norway’s Marte Olsbu, Sweden’s Anna Magnusson, Poland’s Magdalena Gwizdon, and Russia’s Tatiana Akimova.

    “Skiing hard earlier in the race (e.g. with Gabi and Laura) meant that I didn’t have much fight in me on the first huge climb and I lost time there,” Dunklee wrote about the last loop. “To make up for it, I tried to conserve some energy for the last hills, rely on faster skis than the girls around me (our techs did a fantastic job today) and ski tactically.”

    Dunklee fought back, and managed to overtake all of those four skiers again to finish ninth (+1:43.5) with three penalties (0+0+1+2) and the 12th-ranked overall course time. She was passed on that loop only by Finland’s veteran Kaisa Mäkäräinen, who had a rough day on the range with seven penalties, but skied the best course time to finish eighth (+1:39.9).

    During the week’s races in Oberhof, Dunklee missed more targets than she usually does to finish 50th in the sprint with four penalties and 44th in the pursuit with nine penalties.

    “I created a very specific periodization plan for my shooting this year and I believe in it,” Dunklee wrote. “Each week has its own focus, which creates subtle differences in how I approach the shooting. I have now learned that the type of focus I had for this week (and incidentally, Östersund) doesn’t work well. Today I shifted over early to the speed focus I had planned for next week and that was a good decision. My periodization plan is an experiment and a work in progress that I hope to have nailed for next year.”

    “My standing shots all felt good except for my very last shot,” Dunklee said, according to a US Biathlon press release. “I couldn’t get the barrel to stay on the target. Rather than taking an extra breath to reset, I over held it. That is my only regret of the day.”

    When the provisional start list was first released on Saturday, Biathlon Canada’s Rosanna Crawford narrowly missed the qualification for the elite mass start field (with starts being awarded to the top-25 ranked athletes in the overall World Cup plus five more not among those with the best results of the competition week). But she was excited to learn the night before the race that she would be “called up” from a reserve standby list to replace a sick athlete.

    “I love Mass Start races, there is so much potential!” Crawford wrote in an email to FasterSkier. “The best are nervous and the rest of us are the underdogs wanting to prove we belong.”

    Biathlon Canada’s Rosanna Crawford after finishing 25th in the women’s mass start at the 2017 IBU World Cup in Oberhof, Germany. (Photo: ZDF screenshot)
    Biathlon Canada’s Rosanna Crawford after finishing 25th in the women’s mass start at the 2017 IBU World Cup in Oberhof, Germany. (Photo: ZDF screenshot)

    After a clean shooting performance in the Oberhof sprint, Crawford was able to shoot well again on Sunday, totaling just two penalties (0+1+1+0), but was unable to keep pace with the leaders with the 28th-ranked course time.

    “Like the last two races, it’s skiing that is really holding me back,” Crawford explained.
    “So I just went out for a good workout and a chance to work on my shooting. I am really angry at my prone miss, just like yesterday [in the pursuit] that was all me! But 18/20 is still a pretty good day. I can only hope that the ski shape turns around in the next few weeks. Our wax techs again did a good job today!”

    Crawford waved to the spectators on the finishing stretch and took a bow as she crossed the line in 25th place (+3:08.6).

    “The crowds here are pretty incredible, there was a lot of people cheering ‘Go Canada’ which really helped fuel me around the course,” she wrote.

    The spectators were particularly fired up after seeing a double-victory for Germany’s Simon Schempp and Erik Lesser in the men’s mass start earlier on Sunday. And with the return of home-crowd favorite Dahlmeier after a longer rest and training period over the holiday break, as well as her teammate Franziska Hildebrand also fighting for a position at the top, they had every reason to cheer during the women’s race as well.

    “I think I did everything right,” Dahlmeier told German broadcaster ZDF of her reason for skipping the sprint and pursuit races. “I did not exactly know good my form would be after the break. Today I had a bit heavy legs from training. But I am happy with the second place and glad that the return worked out like this. It was a lot of fun to ski in front of such an audience today.”

    “The first three World Cup weekends were more strenuous, due to the good results and the yellow bib [of the overall World Cup leader],” she added. “When I go to the start, I want to give it 100 percent, not just coast along. So my feeling was that it would be useful to skip a race, and that this happened to be in Oberhof was due to the competition calendar. But I am glad that I could do this one race.”

    “I didn’t have so good expectations for this,” Koukalová said at the press conference on her race week in Oberhof, with two victories and a second place. “The main goal of the season is the World Championships in Hochfilzen. So I hope that I am still not in the best shape now, because I know it is more difficult to win there than here.”

    Czech Republic’s Gabriela Koukalová (bib 1, first place) and her teammate Eva Puskarčiková (bib 12, third place) celebrate at the finish of the women’s 12.5 k mass start on Sunday at the 2017 IBU World Cup in Oberhof, Germany. (Photo: IBU)
    Czech Republic’s Gabriela Koukalová (bib 1, first place) and her teammate Eva Puskarčiková (bib 12, third place) celebrate at the finish of the women’s 12.5 k mass start on Sunday at the 2017 IBU World Cup in Oberhof, Germany. (Photo: IBU)

    Koukalová was also excited that teammate Eva Puskarčiková placed third (+45.4 with no penalties) to stand on the podium with her, and that they were the only two athletes in the field who shot clean. It was the second World Cup podium of the career for Puskarčiková, after a third place in the pursuit in Pokljuka, Slovenia, earlier this season.

    “I don’t know how to say it, but I have many times deeper feelings than to stand there alone,” Koukalová said at the press conference. “It’s very positive and I am very happy for Eva, because she was still sick around Christmas and so she is something like a hero for me. It’s amazing, she is crazy.”

    “I hope so, I hope it will be better and better,” Puskarčiková said with a smile when questioned if her confidence is increasing with each success now.

    In a three-way sprint finish, the fourth place went to Kazakhstan’s Galina Vishnevskaya, the best result of the 22 year old’s career (+1:11.6 with one penalty), ahead of Ukraine’s Yulia Dzhima (+1:12.6 with three penalties) and Germany’s Hildebrand (+1:14.0 with two penalties).

    If the IBU, which likes to stress its “biathlon family” motto, had a fair-play award, it should have gone to Austria’s Lisa Theresa Hauser, who voluntarily gave up a pole to Germany’s Vanessa Hinz after accidentally breaking hers by stepping on it. Hauser’s good deed was not rewarded, as she soon after fell on a steep downhill turn, clogging the sights of her rifle with snow and had to pull out of the race. Hinz finished 21st.

    The IBU World Cup resumes with a men’s relay on Wednesday, Jan. 11 and a women’s relay on Thursday, Jan. 12 in Ruhpolding, also located in Germany.

    Results

  • Saturday Rundown: La Clusaz, Nove Mesto & Rossland (Updated x3)

    Saturday Rundown: La Clusaz, Nove Mesto & Rossland (Updated x3)

    Susan Dunklee (US Biathlon) after achieving fourth place on Saturday for a personal-best pursuit result at the IBU World Cup in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. (Photo: USBA/NordicFocus)
    Susan Dunklee (US Biathlon) after achieving fourth place on Saturday for a personal-best pursuit result at the IBU World Cup in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. (Photo: USBA/NordicFocus)

    Welcome to The Rundown, your quick primer of need-to-know information about the day’s racing. We’ll be updating this digest as the day goes on with additional results, photos and quotes. The Rundown is NOT a race report; stay tuned for complete race reports later today with interviews from the day’s top racers.

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    IBU World Cup in Nove Mesto: 10/12.5 k pursuits

    [UPDATE] Third one day, fourth the next. That’s the streak Susan Dunklee (US Biathlon) is riding after notching her third career podium on Friday in the women’s sprint, followed by a fourth place in the women’s 10-kilometer pursuit on Saturday in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic.

    Dunklee posted the fastest range time and third-fastest shooting time overall and shot 18 for 20 (0+1+1+0) en route to fourth (Dunklee’s best pursuit result), 28 seconds behind France’s Anaïs Chevalier, who won in 30:38.1 minutes. Italy’s Dorothea Wierer landed on the podium in second (+9.5) and Friday’s sprint winner, Tatiana Akimova of Russia, placed third (+19.4). Chevalier missed just one in the first prone stage (1+0+0+0) to improve on her second-place sprint finish on Friday, which was her first podium. Wierer rose from seventh at the start to second with two penalties (0+1+1+0) and Akimova had just one miss on the first stage as well (1+0+0+0).

    Canada’s Julia Ransom tied her career best by racing to her first top 20 of the season in 19th (+1:48.5) after starting 26th. She cleaned three straight stages (0+0+0+1), and skied into 18th after the third and fourth stages, before losing one place to Norway’s Marte Olsbu (19th, +1:47.2) at the finish.

    Also for Biathlon Canada, Rosanna Crawford finished 32nd (+2:51.8), up from 37th at the start, with two penalties (1+0+1+0). Megan Tandy finished 57th (+5:32.7) with five penalties (1+1+0+3), after starting 44th.

    American Joanne Reid slipped two spots to 54th (+4:29) with two misses (1+0+1+0).

    According to the provisional start list for Sunday’s mass start, Dunklee will be the lone North American woman competing.

    US Biathlon’s Lowell Bailey raced from 20th at the start to ninth at the finish, 1:22.1 minutes behind French winner Martin Fourcade, for his best result of the season in the men’s 12.5 k pursuit.

    The first starter with a two-second head start, Fourcade hit 19 of 20 targets and cleaned the last two shooting stages (0+1+0+0) to win the second-straight men’s race in Nove Mesto. Russia’s Anton Shipulin, who started second, ended up second again at the finish (+30.2) after a penalty on each of the last two stages (0+0+1+1). France’s Quentin Fillon Maillet and Germany’s Simon Schempp both cleaned all four stages (0+0+0+0) and battled to the very end in a fight for third. Fillon Maillet took third place by one-tenth of a second, 38.3 seconds behind Fourcade, while Schempp finished fourth (+38.4).

    Bailey steadily picked off places throughout the race with just two penalties (1+0+1+0), and after leaving the range for the last time in 11th, he moved up two more spots on the final loop to place ninth for his first individual top 10 of the season.

    Canada’s Scott Gow finished 40th (+3:31.2) after starting 18th, with a total of three penalties (0+2+1+0). Brendan Green moved up slightly from 54th at the start to 52nd (+5:30.6) with five penalties (1+0+3+1), and American Russell Currier was lapped.

    Bailey was listed as the lone North American on the provisional start list for Sunday’s men’s mass start.

    Results: Women | Men 

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    FIS Cross-Country World Cup in La Clusaz: 10/15 k freestyle mass starts

    The men's 15 k freestyle mass start podium on Saturday at the World Cup in La Clusaz, France, with Norway's Finn Hågen Krogh (c) in first, Martin Johnsrud Sundby (l) in second, and Russia's Alexander Legkov (r) in third. (Photo: FIS Cross-Country/Twitter)
    The men’s 15 k freestyle mass start podium on Saturday at the World Cup in La Clusaz, France, with Norway’s Finn Hågen Krogh (c) in first, Martin Johnsrud Sundby (l) in second, and Russia’s Alexander Legkov (r) in third. (Photo: FIS Cross-Country/Twitter)

    It was a good day for Alex Harvey of the Canadian men’s team as well as Dahria Beatty of Canada’s women’s team, and for the U.S., Erik Bjornsen, Rosie Brennan and Liz Stephen, all of which landed in the top 30 in La Clusaz, France. Two U.S. favorites, Jessie Diggins and Sadie Bjornsen did not start the freestyle mass starts due to illness.

    Harvey raced to seventh in the men’s 15-kilometer freestyle mass start, finishing 26 seconds behind Norwegian winner Finn Hågen Krogh. The big news of the day was Krogh beating his teammate and reigning overall World Cup champion Martin Johnsrud Sundby by 0.3 seconds in 34:09.3. Sundby won the last two distance races: a 15 k classic pursuit in Lillehammer, Norway, and 30 k freestyle last weekend in Davos Switzerland.

    While Sundby had to settle for second on Saturday, he held off Russia’s Alexander Legkov, who placed third, 3.1 seconds behind Krogh.

    Russia had two in the top five with Sergey Ustiugov in fifth (+25.3), behind Norway’s Didrik Tønseth in fourth (+12.1). Right behind Ustiugov, Finland’s Matti Heikkinen placed sixth (+25.4), 0.6 seconds ahead of Harvey in seventh.

    Erik Bjornsen led the U.S. men with his first top 20 of the season and second-best result of his career, placing 20th (+1:02.3). (He had previously finished 18th in a 15 k classic in February 2014.) Two weekends ago in Lillehammer, Bjornsen placed 24th in the classic sprint.

    Noah Hoffman finished 49th (+2:14.6) and Eric Packer was 66th (+4:12.5) for the U.S. Canada’s Knute Johnsgaard placed 63rd (+3:50.1), while Andy Shields was lapped for 70th place, Devon Kershaw did not finish, and Len Valjas didn’t start.

    The all-Norwegian women's 10 k freestyle mass start podium at the La Clusaz World Cup in France, with winner Heidi Weng (c), runner-up Marit Bjørgen (l), and Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (r) in third. (Photo: FIS Cross-Country/Twitter)
    The all-Norwegian women’s 10 k freestyle mass start podium at the La Clusaz World Cup in France, with winner Heidi Weng (c), runner-up Marit Bjørgen (l), and Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (r) in third. (Photo: FIS Cross-Country/Twitter)

    In the women’s 10 k freestyle mass start, Heidi Weng outlasted her Norwegian teammate Marit Bjørgen by 2.1 seconds for first, crossing the finish line in 23:43.5. Bjørgen placed second and it was an all-Norwegian podium with Ingvild Flugstad Østberg in third, 0.8 seconds behind Bjørgen and 2.9 seconds after Weng.

    Rosie Brennan was the top U.S. woman in 22nd (+1:31.9) for her first top 30 this season and Liz Stephen was next across the line in 23rd (+1:36.5). Kikkan Randall placed 36th (+2:10.6), and Caitlin Patterson 37th (+2:12.7).

    Canada’s Dahria Beatty landed in the points for her second-straight race and notched her best distance result in 26th (+1:38.7), Cendrine Browne was 41st (+2:32.3), Emily Nishikawa 48th (+2:52.4), and Sophie Carrier-Laforte 59th (+5:59.8).

    Results: Men | Women

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    NorAm Mini Tour in Rossland: Freestyle sprints

    Andy Newell and Erika Flowers celebrated their reunion in Rossland with a couples victory in the freestyle technique sprints today. The Stratton Mountain School (SMS) Elite Team couple is racing in the NorAm as a bonus race before their Christmas break in Bozeman, Mont.

    Flowers, who was second in the interval start on Friday, won the A-final in 3:15.65, 0.44 seconds ahead of AWCA’s Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt. Nakkertok’s Katherine Stewart-Jones was 7.09 seconds back, just 0.04 seconds ahead of yesterday’s winner, Chelsea Holmes of APU.

    On the men’s side, Newell won comfortably in 2:44.81 after winning the qualifier and each heat.  Black Jack’s own Julien Locke was second, 1.05 seconds back.  Yesterday’s winner, NTDC Thunder Bay’s Evan Palmer-Charrette was third, 0.05 seconds behind Locke.

    Sunday, the mini tour wraps up with a classic pursuit, where the leader after two days starts first and everyone else chases with the first person at the finish line winning the overall.

    “Starting at the front tomorrow,” Palmer-Charrette wrote, “the plan is quite simple, stay there!! I’ll have some nerves on the start line knowing there’s a group of guys hunting me down so the big focus is to ski smooth and stay relaxed.”

    On the women’s side with larger gaps, Holmes shared the most interesting race plan.

    “My strategy for tomorrow is… no surprise here… I think the expression is to go out ‘like a bat out of hell’ and do my best. It will be a hard race any which way — for sure!”

    Results