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biathlonworld
40 I 2016
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biathlonworld
T H E WO R L D O F B I AT H LO N I P E R S O N A L I T I E S I E V E N T S I R E S U LT S
INTERVIEW
Karolin Horchler
Second Winter Youth
Olympic Games
IN LILLEHAMMER
CHAT WITH A CHAMPION
Tora Berger
HISTORY
HAPPENS
IN OSLO
IBU WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2016
THE IBU VIRTUAL
GALLERY PROJECT
BACK TO THE FUTURE
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EDITORIAL
Dear Biathlonworld readers,
The overwhelming 2015/16 season
has come to an end. Looking back,
there is one thing that one cannot deny:
it was exciting. The season had all that
we love about the sport of biathlon: intense duels and unexpected winners,
young talents discovered and surprises
from legendary veterans, suspense until the last start and head-to-head battles till the finish line.
In this issue of Biathlonworld magazine you will find all these biathlon
emotions in the World Championships
article. Oslo 2016 was more than just
an event – it was a massive biathlon
festival celebrating our sport. These
two weeks will now be recalled as a
cherished chapter of biathlon history.
It is also history that made a headline for the top theme of this issue. In
the main article of this magazine, we
will invite you to a biathlon museum;
the new on-line project, the IBU Virtual
Gallery, will allow you to access biathlon history from any place on this planet. The project, which will allow you to
time-travel decades back, will become
a unique collection of biathlon relics,
legendary profiles, equipment modification and historic World Championship medals.
In the biathlon nations column, we
have tried to unveil the secret behind
the most successful team of Oslo 2016:
France. The story looks at the biathlon system in France and answers the
question of how this seemingly small
biathlon nation has become so successful. We have also interviewed the
biggest star on the French team and
the most celebrated athlete of Oslo
2016: Martin Fourcade, who talks about
the motivation behind his WCH performance and his fifth crystal globe.
Another big event for Norway this
season was the Youth Olympic Games
(YOG). In the YOG article you will find
competition stories, including a sensational success by the Chinese team,
who sealed their historic gold medal in
the single mixed relay. A special guest
of the YOG was retired biathlon legend
Tora Berger. In her interview for this issue, she looks back at her career and
shares some tips for young athletes.
This season saw the grand debut of
the IBU Junior Cup series. The youth
competing at these competitions today
will likely become the future biathlon
stars of tomorrow. This issue covers
the final IBU Junior Cup in Pokljuka and
looks at the background of two Junior
Cup Total Score winners: Dominic Reiter of Germany and Darya Blashko of
Belarus.
Biathlon would be nothing without our spectators. One fan has been
around for so long that he is slowly
becoming a biathlon symbol. In the
story on Norbert Stark, you will get
more closely acquainted with the most
popular fan and find out how he gets to
travel to all the events.
Wishing you a fun read,
Your Biathlonworld team
40 I 2016
biathlonworld 3
TABLE OF CONTENT
12
30
62
Editorial
3
Table of contents
4
IBU Events Summer 2016
6
8
The IBU Virtual Gallery Project
Martin & Gabi
12
Dominating from Start to Finish
More Crystal Globes
16
Second Winter Youth Olympic Games
Kuzmina Returns
Making the right, vital Decisions
BMW IBU World Cup Biathlon 9 Khanty Mansiysk - RUS
4 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
30
60
12TH Regular IBU Congress in Chisinau - MDA
Martin Fourcade
Season Closes 56
IBU Cup 8 Martell - ITA
EVENTS
18
50
Successful series for future Biathlon Stars
PERSONALITIES
IBU World Championships Biathlon 2016 Oslo - NOR
44
in Lillehammer - NOR
It takes a Team to win...
History happens in Oslo
36
IBU Open European Championships 2016 Tyumen - RUS
IBU Junior Cup
HOT TOPIC
Back to the future
Single Mixed Relay & Mass Start
62
Another Beautiful Season
Karolin Horchler
68
Grateful for Everything I’ve Experienced
Tora Berger
Chat with a Champion
72
82
Dominic Reiter and Darya Blashko
74
IBU Junior Cup Total Score Winners
Tcherezov, Os, Bolliet, Kocher and more 78
End of the Season Retirements
RULES, MATERIAL AND TRAINING
Photo Finishes
82
Thrills, Drama and Suspense
BIATHLON NATIONS
My Hero, our Superman
86
So long... Klaus Siebert
French team success
88
Development, Teamwork, Atmosphere
BACKGROUND
Norbert Starke
92
Fan Zone - The Fan in the Hat...
Imprint
94
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PREVIEW EVENTS
SUMMER 2016
CZECH REPUBLIC
IBU SUMMER BIATHLON WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2016
OTEPÄÄ EST
FRIDAY
10:00* Mixed
SATURDAY
09:30* Sprint
SUNDAY
09:30* Pursuit
26.08.2016
27.08.2016
* All times local time (CET + 1hrs)
24.08. – 28.08.2016
28.08.2016
13:00* Mixed
Relay Junior
Relay
12TH REGULAR IBU CONGRESS 2016
CHIŞINĂU MDA
Junior Women
Men
14:15* Sprint Women
16:30* Sprint Junior Men
11:30* Sprint
Junior Women
Men
13:45* Pursuit Women
15:45* Pursuit Junior Men
11:15* Pursuit
TECHNICAL DELEGATE
IBU REFEREES
JAKES Vlastemil - CZE
ZWAHLEN Robert - SUI, KORDEZ Matej - SLO
PREVIEW EVENTS
SUMMER 2016
6 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
01.09. – 04.09.2016
© 2015 adidas AG
ADIDASCROSSCOUNTRYSKIING.COM
HOT TOPIC
IBU VIRTUAL GALLERY PROJECT
Back to
the future
THE IBU VIRTUAL GALLERY PROJECT
PAST – PRESENT – FUTURE Yet another successful biathlon season has come to an end –as the saying goes, it is
now history. The word “history” itself tends to be associated with the old-fashioned. Some people believe that we
should leave the past behind, that the future – or, as in our case: next season – is more important. But within the IBU
there has been a growing desire not to let our sport’s present and past history just gather dust in some old drawer.
Biathlon has developed enormously over the past years, and the current sport needs to be depicted, documented and
made available to an interested public using state-of-the-art technology.
For that reason, the IBU has decided
to not only use the usual offline and online media to share the extraordinary
victories with biathlon fans around the
world while the season is underway,
but also to document the developments, the key players, the technology,
the memorable moments and everyday
stories in a unique, comprehensive
online project: the IBU VIRTUAL GALLERY.
A physical museum in the conventional sense would only allow a relatively small number of biathlon fans
and visitors to see and experience the
materials, and it would also be very
static. It is not appropriate for an international federation and for a sport that
is practised worldwide to restrict the
number of visitors by having its muse8 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
um in a fixed geographical location. For
a progressive sport well-versed in the
use of social media like biathlon, creating a digital museum is a better, more
innovative solution that can continue
to grow and develop over the years as
digital media technology and the number of display items, pictures, videos,
collections and knowhow continues to
progress and grow. With this digital
tool the IBU not only wishes to create
a platform to preserve biathlon history
for posterity, but also to help biathlon
fans and aficionados around the world
to network with each other and maintain contact with the IBU itself. The aim
is to enable fans, fan clubs, our national federations and the IBU to stay
in touch, and this will positively benefit
our sport. The IBU Virtual Gallery will
Draft design of
rooms inside the
main building
HOT TOPIC
summer biathlon etc.), anti-doping and
the history of the IBU are on display
here. Using 3D scanning techniques,
visitors will be able to rotate the different items to view them at any angle.
Using social media links they can share
any gallery content they like on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and vg.com.
beginnings of the world’s oldest sport.
Users can follow a stone-age man as
he goes hunting on skis, discover the
first written records of a biathlon competition in the Middle Ages and witness
the historic conversation between the
founder and first head of the Union
Internationale de Pentathlon Mod-
And that is not all – in addition to posting content and items on social media,
users can also look up anything that
interests them in the specially-created
archive and library to their heart’s content. The Main Building will also house
a special room dedicated to presenting
the fan clubs from around the world.
erne (UIPM) Sven Thofelt and the IOC
President at the time, Avery Brundage, during an aeroplane flight, when
Thofelt – the sport’s first major advocate – managed to convince Brundage
to make biathlon an Olympic discipline.
become part of daily biathlon coverage,
alongside our website and our digital
and social media platforms.
BIATHLON WORLDS
3-D views of
museum artefacts
At the start of their voyage of discovery through the ‘worlds of biathlon’,
visitors will be transported to a winter landscape on the edge of a forest.
From here, they can visit the following
locations by either clicking on them
individually or by taking the speciallydesigned tour:
THE MAIN BUILDING
Draft design of
exterior of main
building
The Main Building starts in the present day and depicts the historical development of modern biathlon since
the first World Championships in 1958.
Topics such as biathlon equipment,
training, competitions (Olympic games,
World Championships, World Cups,
THE HOUSE OF ORIGINS
In the House of Origins we can gaze
back into the even more distant past.
In the area around a rustic log cabin,
visitors can explore the (pre)historic
THE BIATHLON HALL
OF FAME
The third digital ‘world’ is where
the IBU will honour celebrities from
the world of biathlon. This is where
we want to showcase the top athletes, their stories and their personal
SO WHAT IS THE
IBU VIRTUAL GALLERY?
The IBU Virtual Gallery is a virtual reality consisting of five online ‘worlds’, each
of which will interactively present the individual facets of biathlon and optimally depict content and answer questions about the
sport. The IBU will be employing state-ofthe-art technology: a vast array of different
media such as film footage, 3D avatars and
3D simulations, plus various methods such
as gamification, links to social media content
and virtual reality make this online service
a unique platform for sharing insights into
the technologically savvy sport of biathlon.
Another major advantage of a digital gallery
is that it is available from anywhere in the
world 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
40 I 2016
biathlonworld 9
HOT TOPIC
victories. The Hall of Fame will allow
visitors to venture off an a very special
journey of discovery with those celebrities: a digital avatar of the celebrities
will take users back to their childhood
and explain the key milestones of their
careers. So if you have ever wanted
to have a real chat with your personal
biathlon hero, the Hall of Fame is the
perfect place for you.
THE VENUE VIEWER
After the three digital buildings,
which are predominantly intended for
imparting knowledge and information
like a museum, the Venue Viewer is a
hands-on look at the global sport of biathlon in its true place: the outdoors.
Simply showing such a nature-loving
sport in indoor scenarios would not be
appropriate for biathlon, which is an
outdoor sport. Users need to be given
the opportunity to inspect the historical
and current venues and biathlon sites
themselves and the Venue Viewer will
10 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
allow users to visit and view competition venues around the world from the
comfort of their own homes, such as by
going on a stadium tour and taking a
look behind the scenes. With the help
of our national federations, we can provide the public with a wealth of insider
information about biathlon venues.
EXPERIENCE THE WORLD
OF BIATHLON
As technology progresses, the fifth
digital world will offer more and more
digital fun and hands-on biathlon activities.
Users who have always wanted to
become an active athlete can try their
hand at being a professional biathlete.
They can test their talent using different courses, which are based on 3D
models of original venues. Then, after
a few rounds of training, they can compete against other users or even their
real biathlon idols. This will give users
a unique, hands-on look at the rules,
techniques, idiosyncrasies and challenges of the sport of biathlon. In this
‘world’ we have also chosen to focus
on the interaction and public relations
between biathlon and its international
federation, the IBU.
Biathlon snapshots
(1965) and Biathlon
starter bib during
Squaw Valley Winter
Olympics (1960)
WHO IS DOING THE WORK
ON THIS PROJECT?
Last November the IBU successfully
hired a history major and trained museum education officer
as a project manager.
She set to work viewing and categorising
the existing material and preparing it for
digitalisation.
In addition to developing a comprehensive
concept, the project
manager took the first
steps towards cataloguing the history of
biathlon. The project
has also involved the
work of the IBU Communications Director
and of the former Secretary General of the IBU, Peter Bayer,
who is considered a ‘wandering encyclopaedia’ of biathlon, in a consultant
role.
It was clear from the very beginning
that the project would trigger, and provide, massive synergistic benefits in a
whole range of areas.
While the project is being completed,
various comprehensive archives are
being built up. For instance, thousands
of analogue and digital images are
being entered into a special-purpose
image database. Over the following
months this data is to be catalogued
and made available for posterity in an
Original formal IBU
foundation document
Draft design of
rooms inside the
main building
WCH medals,
2015/16 season
Poster from the
first ever WCH
(Saalfelden, 1958)
IBU image archive. This work has already uncovered a number of historical
gems which we will be showing to the
public on our social media profiles in a
future Throwback Thursday campaign.
In addition to the images, work has
commenced on cataloguing and digitalizing the existing books, articles
and files in a library/archive database.
These efforts will culminate in a special online IBU library and an IBU archive, which should be made available
for individual research projects. But
while the IBU has a large number of
files and pictures at its disposal, it does
not have as many physical objects ‘to
choose from’, which is why one of the
main tasks over the next months will
be to get in touch with biathlon celebrities, national federations, companies
and fans around the world to collect
items, written records, further images
and – more importantly – the stories
behind. At the same time, an IT company has been working on the digital
side of things, taking care of the 3D
scanning, the digital design and ‘interior decoration’ of the project.
THE MOTTO:
“MAKE IT YOURS”
To make the IBU Virtual Gallery as
diverse and dynamic as possible, the
IBU hopes that many people interested
HOT TOPIC
in biathlon from around the world will
get in touch with us to tell us their stories, or lend us their biathlon-related
items short-term for 3D scanning,
following the motto of the IBU Virtual
Gallery, “Make it yours”. we are specifically looking for image and video
material (especially from 1990 or earlier), any kinds of objects such as old
skiing clothing, shooting ranges, training equipment, rifles, invitations, event
programmes, pins and literature about
biathlon. In keeping with this motto,
we are also very interested in hearing
what you would personally like to see
in the Virtual Gallery: after all, we want
to know what you have always wanted
to know about biathlon but never dared
to ask. You will find more information
in regular updates on our website and
in our newsletter. You can also contact
our project manager directly by email
to: Marie-Luise.Kreilinger@ibu.at or
by phone at +43-662 85 50 50 17. •
TEXT Peer Lange, Marie-Luise
Kreilinger
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HOT TOPIC
SEASON REVIEW
Martin &Gab
THE CRYSTAL COLLECTORS
Dominating from Start to Finish
No question about it; Martin Fourcade and Gabriela Soukalova dominated the 2015-16 BMW IBU World Cup season. From time to time,
others challenged, but never got the upper hand. Now that it is all over,
they both went home with huge haul of crystal
globes. Fourcade has all small four discipline
globes lined up neatly behind the big World
Cup Total Score Crystal Globe, while Soukalova has three of the petite trophies alongside
the big Crystal Globe. It was in many ways a
two-person season.
NUMBER FIVE IN A
ROW FOR MARTIN
This was a milestone season for
Fourcade; celebrating 100 days in
Yellow, matching and topping his idol
Raphael Poirée in career wins, four
WCH Gold medals and one Silver medal, World Cup Total Score title number
five, leading to a sweep of the four disciplines. It will be hard even for Fourcade to top a year like that.
CROSS-COUNTRY, THEN
DISMANTLING
Yet at the beginning of each season,
the comment is the same and he pulls
out another amazing string of successes. A year after the mononucleo12 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
sis battle, Fourcade started
this season with a stab at
cross-country just prior
to Östersund. He finished 22nd in the 10K
at Ruka, Finland, only
43.2 seconds back
and 17 seconds behind
French
teammate
Maurice Manificat.
The top biathlete
admitted
being
satisfied with the
result; then shortly
thereafter started to dismantle every biathlon rival that stood in his way
for the next 17 weeks.
SEASON REVIEW
season focused on beating Martin,
focused too much on that and my
results were not what I expected.
It was a mental error that I will try
not to make again.”
bi
LIKE BJÖRNDALEN
Fourcade is the consummate
planner and high achiever like Ole
Einar Björndalen, aiming for higher
standards and goals than in the
previous season. Many of his rivals focused on the IBU
HOT TOPIC
World Championships this year, as he
did. The difference was that Fourcade
was also focused on each World Cup
competition before the WCH, knowing
that those weekly bouts in the stadium
are the best training for that late season peak. This focus had led him to
115 podiums in 235 World Cup starts;
putting him on the podium 48.9% of
the time! The only person close to that
percentage is Björndalen with 248 podiums in 525 World Cup starts; a 47.2%
success rate.
This season was almost a mirror image of the 2014 OWG season when the
French star admitted that he wanted
to win Gold medals in Sochi but also
to win the World Cup Total Score. Others focused only on Sochi and in most
cases, failed miserably while he came
home with two individual Gold medals
and one Silver medal…and won the Total Score by a wide margin.
ONE SLIP-UP
Fourcade’s 2015-16 dominance is
easy to track: 16 podiums with 10 victories, 5 second places and one third,
almost split evenly; 8 podiums in the
first 12 competitions and 8 in the second thirteen. The ten victories this season give Fourcade 49 career World Cup
wins! No one else this year was close
to his totals and consistency. His only
real slip-up was after all of the Crystal Globes were securely his, the 40th
place in the Khanty sprint; he should
be forgiven for that hiccup!
HAPPY TO WIN
FOCUSED ON WINNING,
YELLOW
This annual dismantling
of every challenger is the
Fourcade pattern; he
comes to the season
focused on winning
and wearing Yellow
throughout
the season, while
the others are focused simply on
trying to beat him,
like Anton Shipulin this year. Shipulin admitted in a
February interview,
“I came to the new
The modest Fourcade summed up
his season, on his 100th day in the
Yellow Bib, when he also tied his boyhood idol Poirée for career wins. “I
do not feel like a legend and never
will. I just try to do my best and
am happy if I can win. This was
a beautiful competition and I
am happy that I succeeded.”
This successful season
was number five in a row
for Martin Fourcade.
Looking forward, number six is possibly just a
year away!
JOHANNES AND
THE CONTENDERS
There are plenty of
equally talented men that
40 I 2016
biathlonworld 13
HOT TOPIC
SEASON REVIEW
finished the season once again hidden
by Fourcade’s huge shadow. However,
none of them came close to him.
Johannes Thingnes Boe finished
second in the Total Score, due to a
late season surge and third place Anton Shipulin almost missing in action
after Presque Isle. Johannes only had
five podiums and two victories, but the
wins, two second places plus three
fourths were in the last seven competitions of the season. Although behind
Fourcade in the experience category,
the younger fun-loving Boe brother has
shown that he can focus. After making
the long trip to North America he said,
“I need to ski fast and hit these targets
or this trip was a waste.” The next day,
he blew Fourcade and Shipulin away by
more than 27 seconds in winning the
Presque Isle sprint, starting his excellent finish to the season. Johannes
could be Fourcade’s biggest threat
next season.
SHIPULIN
The Russian team leader came to
the new season as the man who could
top Fourcade. Yet while Fourcade was
standing on top of the podium and
wearing Yellow, Shipulin did not get
a podium until a third place in Hochfilzen and had his only win at Antholz
in late January. Unfortunately, that
was basically the peak of his season.
Even with two more podiums after that,
he could never challenge for a win or
a WCH medal, eventually slipping behind Johannes, with 806 points to 820
and ceding the young Norwegian second place in the Total Score. After this
disappointment, Shipulin apologized to
his fans via his Facebook page commenting that he had learned a lot from
his failures and would try to be better
next season.
SCHEMPP
Simon Schempp was the man who
might have beaten Fourcade this past
season, except for one thing. Schempp
was repeatedly ill; each time seemed
to take a bit more from his reserves,
until like Shipulin, from Presque Isle
onward, he was a shell of his early season self. That said, Schempp had nine
podiums and five victories this season;
at his best, he dominated on the tracks
and the shooting range. If healthy all
season… there is always next year.
14 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
EDER
Simon Eder had a solid season, finishing with a career-high fifth in the
Total Score. His win over Fourcade
in the Ruhpolding (Oberhof) pursuit
proved to be a season highlight, although his WCH Bronze medal in the
20K individual had to be equally memorable. Eder’s strong season was like
Fourcade’s, very consistent but just a
few steps farther back.
SOUKALOVA AND THE
LADIES IN WAITING
That is the story: Soukalova kept
waiting for someone to take the Yellow
Bib from her and her rivals kept waiting for her to fall apart, so they could
get the upper hand and snatch the
Yellow Bib off her back. Quickly to the
ending of this story; neither happened
and Soukalova walked away with the
big Crystal Globe plus the sprint, pursuit and mass start titles. Only the individual slipped away in the hands of
Dorothea Wierer. Those four globes
are quite a nice haul for the 26-yearold whose only previous crystal trophy
was for the individual title in 2014!
The Soukalova success story is a
simple one of consistency. That was
her dominating characteristic, not the
eleven podiums with four wins, three
seconds and three thirds. Her 11th in
the WCH pursuit, 9th in the Antholz
sprint and 8th in the Hochfilzen sprint
were the low points in her season!
She was in the top 6 in 19 of the 25
competitions this season; that is how
she won the World Cup Total
Score. Those results went
along with her stability on
the tracks and shooting.
She fired 400 shots in
individual competition
this season, with 370
hitting their mark!
That is a 92.5% success rate. The smiling redhead commented, “I do no dry
shooting. I have the
dots on the wall at
home, so if my teammates come over,
they can think I do it,
but I never do, not for
the past two years! But
when I go to training, I am
very focused and make every
shot count.”
The other part of Soukalova’s
success may be in her personality.
Time after time, she has admitted that
biathlon is all about fun; she really
does look at the sport or her success
as life-and-death issues. At the same
time, her seeming lack of confidence
may be what drives her; fear of failure
may be the greatest motivator of all
time. In an interview just prior to the
IBU WCH, she said, “I do not think that
I will still be in Yellow as the end of the
season.”
So much for that; she held on for
1074 points to 1028 points win over
Marie Dorin Habert when the season
abruptly ended in Khanty Mansiysk.
SEASON REVIEW
This was despite missing the podium in every WCH competition,
while Dorin Habert stood on
the podium in every time
she started. There is no
doubt that Soukalova’s
consistency was the key
to victory in the World
Cup Total Score and the
three disciplines.
DORIN HABERT
Eighteen
months
after the birth of her
daughter, Dorin Habert
completed the most successful season of her career. She matched Soukalova’s
eleven
podiums,
finished second in the Total
Score, and won three IBU WCH
Gold medals, one Silver medal
and two Bronze medals. After second
place in the Östersund 15K, she struggled a bit with her shooting, but from
the Canmore mass start until the end
of the season, she was literally on fire
with seven podiums in nine starts! That
made her the biggest challenger to
Soukalova and pushed the final globe
decisions down to the wire. This might
have been an even closer battle, without her early season shooting issues.
DORO
Wierer’s three wins, and the WCH
Pursuit Silver, the small Crystal Globe
in the individual, plus third place in
the World Cup Total Score capped a
career season for the young Italian.
She was a podium contender all season; her lightening fast shooting and
powerful ski technique keeping her in
contention every week. She won the
individual title with dominating cleanshooting performances in Östersund
and Ruhpolding. Besides the WCH
medal, two podium appearances and
a near miss in the relay in her Antholz
home stadium showed a newfound maturity this season. Prior to the Antholz
sprint Wierer said, “I have never done
well here. I am not sure why; pressure
or too many friends around. I am not
sure.” After years of never making the
podium at home, she finished second
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the Atomic Skintec is such a unique waxless ski – ideal for top-level XC training
without the need for time-consuming waxing.
AToMIC.CoM
HOT TOPIC
in the sprint. “I am really happy to do
this because there was so much pressure; I finally switched off my phone
and tried to relax.”
KAISA
Only two women had four victories this season, Soukalova and
fourth place in the Total Score, Kaisa
Mäkäräinen. She only had eight podiums but won a WCH Mass Start Bronze
medal. Mäkäräinen won twice in December: the Östersund pursuit and the
Pokljuka mass start. Then a bit like
Schempp, January was marked by illness. She missed only one competition
but was not at full strength until Canmore. All of her summer training paid
off and the Finnish veteran had a solid
WCH and then won the two final competitions of the year, again proving that
she is a force to be reckoned with.
HILDEBRAND
Franziska Hildebrand finished fifth
in the Total Score for the second year
in a row. Unlike the three women just
in front of her, Hildebrand started the
HOT TOPIC
SEASON REVIEW
IT TAKES A TEAM
TO WIN…
MORE
CRYSTAL
GLOBES
season strong, but could not carry
it through the end. She peaked with
three podiums including a sprint win
during the two weeks in Ruhpolding.
To that point, her shooting was immaculate and her skiing better than ever.
January 18 was her final individual podium of the season with illness setting
her back. Still, with five individual podiums, a WCH Mixed Relay Silver medal
and Relay Bronze medal, Hildebrand
finished the year on an up note, holding off teammate Laura Dahlmeier by
seven points for the fifth spot in the
seasonal standings.
BEST-OF-THE-BEST: MARTIN AND GABRIELA
There were many contenders for
the Crystal Globes when this season
started, but when the season ended,
the two most consistent and dominating figures Martin Fourcade and Gabriela Soukalova took home nine of the
ten trophies. In another highlight-filled
season, they were by far the best-ofthe best! •
TEXT
Jerry Kokesh
Evgeny Tumashov
PICTURES
16 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
Martin Fourcade and Gabriela Soukalova dominated the Crystal Globe
hunt winning nine of the ten possible
individual titles. Likewise two teams,
Norway and Germany dominated the relays and Nations Cup competitions that
depended not on a single individual but
a team effort. With five Crystal Globes
up for grabs, Norway went home with
three titles while Germany won two.
HAT TRICK FOR NORWAY
The biggest prize, especially in
terms of bragging rights is the Nations Cup title. This one goes to the
team that is consistently excellent on
a week-in/week-out basis; with their
three best athletes finishing near the
top of the results in every start. After
a strong showing at the IBU WCH, it is
no surprise that Norway completed a
hat trick with Men’s Nations Cup titles
for the past three years. Actually, this
Crystal Globe could almost be shipped
automatically each season directly to
Oslo because the Norwegians have
won this title in seven of the past nine
seasons. This title is a testament to
quality performances; a perfect score
in an individual competition is 462
points; 420 in a normal relay. Norway
swept the Ruhpolding sprint for a 462
and earned the maximum points in
three relays. None of the other teams
in the top five this season came close.
Second place Germany’s best day
with 442 points came in the season’s
final competition, the Khanty Mansiysk
pursuit. Russia, France and Austria
rounded out the top five men’s squads
this season.
SEASON REVIEW
Wierer-led fourth place
Italy with a first-ever
top five finish; simply
a continuation of the
record-breaking season
that included first-time
relay and mass start wins.
Ukraine finished fifth.
MIXED AND MEN’S
RELAYS TO NORWAY
The German women, led by Laura
Dahlmeier teamed up for the Nations
Cup Crystal Globe for the second year
in a row. Like the Norwegian men, the
World Cup podiums weighed
heavily in determining the Mixed and
Men’s Relay crowns that went to Norway. In the five mixed relays this past
season, Norway won twice and finished
third on three occasions, giving them
264 points to second place Germany’s
252 points. The Germans won the WCH
Silver medal to Norway’s Bronze, but
Germany’s seventh place in the Canmore Single Mix doomed them to sec-
still young German team had a perfect day with a podium sweep in the
Hochfilzen sprint plus equally brilliant
days with more than 430 points in the
Pokljuka and Ruhpolding sprints. They
capped the season with more big point
days led multi-WCH medalist Laura
Dahlmeier in the WCH sprint and individual competitions. Their season total
of 7406 points put Germany 230 points
ahead of second place France. Czech
Republic finished third, riding mostly
on the coattails of Soukalova and Veronika Vitkova.
The big surprise was Dorothea-
ond place for the season. World Champion France finished third.
Three relay wins helped the Norwegian men claim the Nations Cup win
and pushed them to the Relay Globe.
This was despite only starting their
WCH Gold medal line-up of Björndalen,
Tarjei, Johannes, and Svendsen twice
in five competitions; a testament to
the depth and quality of the Norwegian
men’s team.
Russia won two of the first three relays and finished second in the other,
but fourth in Presque Isle and sixth at
the WCH resulted in second place for
CRYSTAL TO LAURA AND CO
HOT TOPIC
the season. WCH Silver medalists Germany finished third. Special mention
goes to Canada for their all-time best
WCH Bronze medal and seventh in the
seasonal standings.
RELAY CRYSTAL TO GERMANY’S WOMEN
2015 World Champion did not win a
relay all season, yet won the Crystal
Globe by the smallest of margins, one
point over Olympic Champion Ukraine.
Still the German women were consistent, despite never being able to start
their top team of Preuss, Hildebrand,
Hammerschmidt and Dahlmeier until
the all-important World Championships. Ukraine who won the thrilling
Ruhpolding relay by 1.2 seconds over
Germany finished fifth at the WCH,
dooming to the second spot for the
season. WCH Silver medalists France
finished third, while the Norway, the
surprise World Champions finished
eighth.
No doubts, when it came to team effort, no one could top Norway and Germany all season long! •
TEXT
Jerry Kokesh
Evgeny Tumashov
PICTURES
40 I 2016
biathlonworld 17
EVENTS
IBU WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS BIATHLON 2016 - OSLO
HISTORY
HAPPENS
IN OSLO
18 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
EVENTS
IBU WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS OSLO - NOR 29.02. - 13.03.2016
PARTICIPANTS 144 Women and 156 Men from 34 Nations SPECTATORS 135.000
MEDIA A total of 586 Media Representatives, among them 100 Journalists,
54 Photographers, 23 Photo Journalists, 26 Radio, 409 TV (225 Editors/Production)
40 I 2016
biathlonworld 19
EVENTS
A crowd of 135,000 cheering spectators from 42 nations, twenty proud
World Champions, 450 journalists
from around the world, 1,350 devoted
volunteers, 11 adrenaline-pumping
competitions… Behind these statistics stand an unforgettable atmosphere and a new chapter in the history of biathlon. The biggest event of
the season, Oslo 2016 was emotionally charged with triumph, pride and
sometimes disappointment. Each
competition, each medal had a lifelong story and an ambitious dream
behind it.
NRK with over a staff of over 300 producing the local programming and the
world feed,, had their own studio at the
Medals Plaza, started with their coverage with zeroing already and went on
until late evening. For two weeks, Norway was talking “Biathlon only!” There
was always something going on: a big
party in downtown following the medal
ceremonies, fireworks in front of the
hotel at the end of competition day,
fans pitching their tents in the forest
surrounding Holmenkollen.
Oslo 2016 was the 51st World Championships for the sport biathlon and the
third time that Holmenkollen hosted
the event. The organizers promised
that these IBU WCHs would be “bigger
and better than ever,” turning Oslo into
a massive celebration of the sport for
about two whole weeks.
Norway’s host broadcaster NRK
has prepared the nation’s audience
for these Championships like never
before. They followed the Norwegian
Biathlon Team in training and competitions for more than a year leading
up their home World Championships.
The day before the opening competition, Holmenkollen stadium resembled
a mystic fairytale valley: a heavy layer
of snow covered the tracks; fog was
rolling in with the surrounding pine
forest adding to the dramatic atmosphere.
However, when the 25 teams lined
up for the mixed relay, the fog was
gone, leaving just gray cloudy sky for
the long-anticipated start of World
Championships: the mixed relay.
Norway’s rising star, Marte Olsbu,
got the audience onto their feet in
the very first leg. She used just one
20 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
FRENCH PERFECTION IN
MIXED RELAY
spare, maintaining the lead until Susan
Dunklee of the USA passed her in the
final loop. For US team, this in itself
was a minor victory. France’s Anais
Bescond struggled on her leg, needing three spares to clean, costing her
precious time. She tagged Marie Dorin
Habert in eighth position.
Dorin Habert pushed hard to get
back to the leading group. She moved
up to fourth after prone, and managed
to get into the lead. A fall on the tracks
kept her from tagging Quentin Fillon
Maillet in the top spot, but as the men
left the stadium only .4 seconds separated Norway, Germany and France.
The final leg was a battle between
Norway’s Tarjei Boe, Germany’s Simon
Schempp and France’s Martin Fourcade that would decide the first medMIXED RELAY 2 x 6 KM / 2 x 7.5 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
FRANCE
FRA 0+2 0+6 0+8 1:14:01.0
0.0
BESCOND Anais, DORIN HABERT Marie, FILLON MAILLET Quentin, FOURCADE Martin
GERMANY
GER 0+5 0+2 0+7 1:14:05.3
+4.3
PREUSS Franziska, HILDEBRAND Franziska, PEIFFER Arnd, SCHEMPP Simon
NORWAY
NOR 0+7 0+3 0+10 1:14:15.4
+14.4
OLSBU Marte, ECKHOFF Tiril, BOE Johannes Thingnes, BOE Tarjei
UKRAINE
UKR 0+3 0+6 0+9 1:14:30.8
+29.8
SEMERENKO Valj, PIDHRUSHNA Olena, SEMENOV Sergey, PIDRUCHNYI Dmytro
AUSTRIA
AUT 0+1 0+2 0+3 1:15:08.1 +1:07.1
ZDOUC Dunja, HAUSER Lisa Theresa, EDER Simon, LANDERTINGER Dominik
Mixed Relay Start
Ole Einar
Bjoerndalen - NOR
als. To the home crowd’s disappointment, Boe used three spares, costing
him 18 seconds and his chance for
victory. He compensated in standing,
rapidly dropping the five targets, while
Fourcade and Schempp needed a spare
each all five shots whereas Fourcade
and Schempp used a spare round each,
but this was not enough. A familiar battle ensued Fourcade and Schempp,
with Fourcade holding a 1-meter lead
throughout the last loop. He rocketed
to the finish line, leaving Schempp behind. Fourcade commented, “We knew
we were among the favorites today, but
you never know… This was a very emotional win for us today; our first win in a
team compeittion since 2009.”
Schempp admitted that he wanted
to go after Fourcade, but “Martin shot
faster in the standing and then I had to
work hard to close the gap. That took
away the power I needed to try for the
Gold.”
Tarjei promised to get it back the following week. “I am 90% happy with the
Bronze medal, and will get the other
10% next week!” He had a great laugh
with Fourcade, commenting “Fourcade
is so unbeatable that I will not race any
more at these Championships!” The
French star replied with a big smile,
“Good!”
MEN’S SPRINT: FOURCADE
AND THE KING
French Mixed
Relay Team
After two snowy cloudy days, it
stopped snowing for the 102 men in the
sprint, a unique blend of fast skiing and
equally fast but accurate shooting.
Fourcade in the Yellow/Red bib
put everything on the line. He started
fast, took his time to clean prone but
showed his usual speed in the standing. The only challenge among other
early starters came from Russia’s Evgeniy Garanichev, but one penalty in
standing put him behind. After Fourcade’s sterling performance, his opponents knew it would take no less than
perfection to beat him.
The ten-time World Champion
Ole Einar Björndalen made a glorious comeback and was the closest to
Fourcade’s perfection. The 43-year old
“King of Biathlon’s” whole season was
focused on these Championships. The
whole crowd was on their feet after he
shot clean. Would he top the heir apparent? Despite the deafening roar of
the crowd, he finished second, 26.9
seconds behind Fourcade.
Björndalen admitted that taking a
break in February and skipping the
North American World Cups may have
been a good idea. “It looks really good
now… A month ago, I knew that I had
to train and focus on this. I felt strong
today. I am satisfied.” He added, “There
is not a tear about not beating Martin;
he was so strong, his skiing was amazing and today’s Silver is like Gold for
me. It has been a long time since I
have been on the podium at the World
Championships.”
Fourcade, happy with his victory, admitted his strategy was simply to have
a good competition. “I really did not try
EVENTS
to start slow, just be steady and shoot
clean. I think some others did start too
fast since it was the World Championships, and they paid for it.”
The day’s big surprise that day came
from Ukraine’s Sergey Semenov, who
knocked the reigning champion Johannes Thingnes Boe from his seemingly secure last spot on the podium.
This was his first podium of the season
and first podium of his career not in the
20K individual. “It was a big surprise
for me, and I think it was the biggest
surprise for everyone. Many fans know
I’m good in the individual, but the sprint
is not my best event. Now I think everything is possible.”
GOLDEN GIRL THRILLS
HOME CROWD
Cloudy skies and a blanket of fresh
snow that same afternoon set the
stage for the 96 women in the sprint.
Defending Champion Dorin Habert
hoped to match her teammate’s earlier success.
Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen set the
bar high with a fast clean prone stage.
She led until a standing penalty threw
her out of contention to the disappointment of her many fans waving “Go
Kaisa!” signs.
Saturday afternoon was all about
Norway’s “Golden Girl” Tiril Eckhoff.
The 25-year old overcame the stress
and pressure to win her first World
Championships medal and Norway’s
first Gold medal of the Championships.
She had the crowd on their feet as
40 I 2016
biathlonworld 21
EVENTS
SPRINT MEN 10 KM
she confidently cleaned prone. At that
point, it was clear that Eckhoff, fast on
the tracks all season, could take Dorin
Habert’s title as long as the Norwegian
shot clean in standing. She did, putting
Dorin Habert 15 seconds back in second place.
The Czech Republic’s Gabriela Soukalova and Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier
battled for the Bronze in the last loop.
Both women had a single penalty, but
Dahlmeier accelerated on the last
loop to take the Bronze spot on the podium. The Yellow-Bib wearing Soukalova missed the Bronze, but there were
more opportunities ahead.
After the finish, Eckhoff was seen
giving interviews in Norwegian on the
big screens at Holmenkollen. There
was no need for translation, her emotions were written clearly on her face:
disbelief, overwhelming happiness,
and comforting relief after all the builtup pressure.
The “Golden Girl” said, “I won my
first skiing competition here, in Holmenkollen, so it’s an amazing feeling
to come back and win the title of World
Champion. I had a dream of one day
becoming one, but I never expected it
would come true.”
NAIL-BITING PURSUIT
The men’s pursuit opened the third
competition day, with Fourcade holding
22 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
the advantage, 30 seconds and what
seemed like ages before Björndalen
and the others followed. Their task was
simple, catch the Yellow Bib. However,
with each loop, Fourcade’s lead only
grew: 30, 34, 50 seconds. Gold medal
number three seemed inevitable until
a penalty in the first standing opened a
small window of opportunity for Björndalen; close behind after Fourcade
added two more penalty loops in the
final standing stage.
Björndalen, however, also missed
one shot, but the other competitor’s
mistakes kept him solidly in second
place. As Fourcade triumphantly skied
across the finish line holding his national flag, the competition continued
for the Bronze. Johannes, with three
penalties, was in third on the final loop,
but the veteran Svendsen pulled away
to claim his first medal of the week.
Svendsen, who moved from 15th to
third, was thrilled to be on the podium.
“Johannes said he was tired on the last
loop, so I decided to try it… the crowd
was a huge help… Before this, I started
training for this from scratch, and it
was perfect… I saw myself during the
flower ceremony and I think I had the
biggest smile in the stadium.”
For Fourcade, his smile was not only
about the medal: the win secured the
27-year old his fifth world Cup Total
Score Crystal Globe in a row! “This is
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
FOURCADE Martin
BJOERNDALEN Ole Einar
SEMENOV Sergey
BOE Johannes Thingnes
WINDISCH Dominik
GARANICHEV Evgeniy
PEIFFER Arnd
SCHEMPP Simon
LANDERTINGER Dominik
ILIEV Vladimir
FRA
NOR
UKR
NOR
ITA
RUS
GER
GER
AUT
BUL
0+0
0+0
0+0
0+1
1+0
0+1
0+0
1+0
1+0
0+1
0
0
0
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
25:35.4
26:02.3
26:03.0
26:10.9
26:14.9
26:15.8
26:17.5
26:19.2
26:21.4
26:27.6
0.0
+26.9
+27.6
+35.5
+39.5
+40.4
+42.1
+43.8
+46.0
+52.2
NOR
FRA
GER
CZE
ITA
SWE
CZE
USA
FIN
GER
0+0
0+0
1+0
1+0
0+0
0+0
0+0
0+1
0+1
0+0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
1
1
0
21:10.8
21:25.8
21:30.6
21:48.6
21:49.0
21:54.7
21:56.8
21:59.0
21:59.3
22:01.7
0.0
+15.0
+19.8
+37.8
+38.2
+43.9
+46.0
+48.2
+48.5
+50.9
SPRINT WOMEN 7.5 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
ECKHOFF Tiril
DORIN HABERT Marie
DAHLMEIER Laura
SOUKALOVA Gabriela
WIERER Dorothea
BRORSSON Mona
VITKOVA Veronika
DUNKLEE Susan
MAKARAINEN Kaisa
HILDEBRAND Franziska
something that I had no doubts about,
but winning five years in a row… I never
imagined this in my wildest dreams…
This is all crazy; the pursuit win and the
third Gold medal, 46th World Cup win
and the Crystal Globe,” Regarding the
three missed shots, he added “I knew
that I could miss two, but really I did
not plan that. The shots looked good;
I just need to be stronger next time.”
Björndalen, matching his sprint Silver, was satisfied. “For sure I am surprised that I also kept the silver today. I
know that the standard of the pursuit is
Biathlon Fans
Podium Sprint Women
really high. There are so many athletes who have a chance to go on the
podium. It was a really good race for
me.”
DAHLMEIER’S FAIRY
TALE COMES TRUE
Martin Fourcade - FRA
Once upon a time, there lived a
little girl in Bavaria. She liked skiing
and, as she grew older, she got into
biathlon. Her parents told her, “If
you are really good, you might meet
a king one day”. In 2013 the girl
made her World Cup debut at the
Holmenkollen Ski Arena, finishing
27th in the mass start. On March,
6, 2016, she won her first World
Championship title there and as her
parents predicted a long time ago,
she met King Harald V of Norway.
It was a dream-come-true day for
Dahlmeier, who shot clean to dominate the pursuit. The home crowd
had high expectations for the Sprint
World Champion Eckhoff, but a penalty in the first prone took her out of
contention.
The first standing was decisive,
as one-by-one, the women headed
into the penalty loop. Dorin Habert
missed two targets, while Italy’s
Dorothea Wierer and Eckhoff each
missed one. Dahlmeier cleaned and
skied away on her own with a comfortable margin over her teammate
Franziska Hildebrand.
The last standing was a solo
performance; she approached the
range with the rest of the field out of
sight, and the eyes of a packed Holmenkollen stadium only on her. She
the
glove
specialist
since 1839
EVENTS
was very careful, slow, focused and
precise! The rest of the field was battling for Silver and Bronze. Wierer won
her first individual WCH medal, finishing second, whereas Dorin Habert
passed Hildebrand on the last loop to
complete her Oslo collection: mixed
relay Gold, sprint Silver and pursuit
Bronze.
Dahlmeier commented her special
day and dreams coming true, “It was a
perfect race for me. The last lap was
amazing, as I had time to look around,
greet the German team, and pick up
a German flag. I am World Champion
now!”
ANOTHER FRENCH DAY IN
OSLO: INDIVIDUAL WOMEN
With each passing day the Holmenkollen spectators became more and
with the lyrics of the Marseillaise.
The French domination continued on
Wednesday when French teammates
Dorin Habert and Anais Bescond went
1-2 in the 15K individual.
The day started with a heavy fog, so
the organizers postponed the competition for 2.5 hours. Timed to perfection,
the 15k started just as the fog lifted and
the clouds gave way to sunshine.
The atmosphere heated up by the
time the favorites in the middle of
the field were leaving the start gate.
Bescond was the half-way leader, with
two clean first bouts, followed by Dorin
Habert, 4 seconds behind.
The medals were decided in the final standing stage. One-by-one, the
leaders added a minute to their time:
Yurlova, Soukalova, Bescond and Dorin
Habert. The latter two still retained
their lead; the French coaches were
going crazy along the course, anticipating a new record for France: two women on the podium in a World Championship competition.
In the last loop, Dorin Habert and
Bescond sealed their Gold and Silver
medals, with four women were left battling for Bronze: Hildebrand, Veronika
Vitkova, Dahlmeier, and Krystyna Guzik
were all within a few seconds of each
other. Dahlmeier used all her energy
to cover the last loop and grab the last
spot on the podium.
The two teammates, hugged each
other at the finish line, both teary-eyed
in disbelief at making the podium together. This Gold was the fourth medal
in four competitions for Dorin Habert;
the previous medals had taken the
pressure off. “I was so happy after
the sprint and pursuit that I relaxed. I
calmed down and my head was empty… Even when I missed that shot in the
last bout, I really did not care. I was not
worried.” Bescond’s Silver medal performance was her first podium of the
season.
Dahlmeier’s Bronze proved yet
again that biathlon was all about not
giving up. “After the prone shooting, I
was thinking top 10. […] I did not think I
could hold the Bronze medal,” she admitted.
NO LIMITS
“I gave everything I had – probably
more,” was Martin Fourcade’s description of a day when he went above and
beyond the limits of energy and willpower that athletes sometimes face.
The French star had an extremely
fast first loop, giving him a wide lead
of 12.5 seconds on Austria’s Dominik
Landertinger and Simon Eder who had
dominated the field earlier. The seemingly easy route to the podium was
temporarily delayed by a one-minute
penalty. Although Fourcade left the
shooting range in eighth place, he still
believed that the tables could turn in
his favor. “I knew I was still in position to fight with them in spite of my
one mistake,” he said later. He fought
and closed the gap with strong skiing
and not allowing him any more missed
shots on the range.
Laura Dahlmeier - GER
Emil Hegle
Svendsen - NOR
PURSUIT MEN 12.5 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
FOURCADE Martin
SVENDSEN Emil Hegle
FAK Jakov
DESTHIEUX Simon
LESSER Erik
SEMENOV Sergey
SHIPULIN Anton
FILLON MAILLET Quentin
FRA
NOR
NOR
NOR
SLO
FRA
GER
UKR
RUS
FRA
0+0+1+2
1+0+0+1
0+0+0+1
0+2+0+1
0+0+0+0
0+0+0+0
0+0+0+2
1+0+1+1
0+0+0+1
0+1+1+0
3
2
1
3
0
0
2
3
1
2
32:56.5
33:16.6
33:27.7
33:34.8
33:38.4
33:39.4
33:39.8
33:46.5
33:56.4
33:56.4
0.0
+20.1
+31.2
+38.3
+41.9
+42.9
+43.3
+50.0
+59.9
+59.9
GER
ITA
FRA
GER
UKR
GER
FIN
CZE
UKR
USA
0+0+0+0
0+1+1+0
0+0+2+1
1+0+0+0
0+0+1+0
0+0+0+0
2+0+2+0
1+0+2+0
0+0+1+0
0+1+3+0
0
2
3
1
1
0
4
3
1
4
30:49.2
31:37.5
31:46.5
31:51.0
32:07.8
32:08.2
32:29.2
32:31.7
32:37.4
32:41.7
0.0
+48.3
+57.3
+1:01.8
+1:18.6
+1:19.0
+1:40.0
+1:42.5
+1:48.2
+1:52.5
PURSUIT WOMEN 10 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
24 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
DAHLMEIER Laura
WIERER Dorothea
DORIN HABERT Marie
PIDHRUSHNA Olena
PREUSS Franziska
MAKARAINEN Kaisa
VITKOVA Veronika
DZHIMA Yuliia
DUNKLEE Susan
The decisive last standing proved
fatal for Johannes’ chances of getting
on the podium: the young Norwegian
picked up a penalty, adding a min-
ute to his time. Both Austrians shot
clean, taking the lead. Leaving the
last standing stage, Fourcade had to
close a 6.1 second gap between him
and Landertinger. The spectators witnessed the fight of a true champion:
Fourcade was making an inhumane
effort with his coaches going crazy
along the course yelling, “Allez, allez!”
Fourcade said, “The coach told me that
Landi was only three seconds ahead;
he lied, but I knew that Landi is strong
and that this would be a hard last kilometer. I had my eyes closed going up
the last hill; I was in so much pain.”
The two Austrians were happy to be
on the podium, ahead of the 2017 World
Championships in Hochfilzen. Eder
said, “Two medals; this might be the
best day ever for Austria.” Eder usually shoots fast, but toned it down for
the day. “I had a good mix between fast
and safe shooting today… Winning an
individual medal at the World Championships has been a big goal for me.
I have been close before, but today I
have done it.”
EVENTS
WOMEN’S RELAY:
INCREASING PRESSURE
As the women lined up at the start
of the relay, the sun came out from
behind the clouds, bringing with it the
special World Championships atmosphere: excited fans and the dream of
more Norwegian medals. Although no
one ruled out the possibility of a Norwegian podium finish, very few could
have dreamed that the four local heroes would end the day with an audience with King Harald.
Accordingly, no one expected the two
main contenders for Gold, Germany
and France would fall back to 10th and
21st place in the first leg. Their competition would be all about getting back
into the race. Justine Braisaz’s with
5 spares and Franziska Preuss’ with
2 spares seemed to open up an opportunity for the surprise leaders: the
USA’s Susan Dunklee, Fuyuko Tachizaki of Japan and Austria’s Lisa Theresa
Hauser. Mäkäräinen finished first, and
with no individual podium in Oslo yet,
EVENTS
INDIVIDUAL WOMEN 15 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
DORIN HABERT Marie
BESCOND Anais
DAHLMEIER Laura
VITKOVA Veronika
SOUKALOVA Gabriela
GUZIK Krystyna
WIERER Dorothea
VARVYNETS Iryna
RUNGGALDIER Alexia
FRA 0+0+0+1 1
FRA 0+0+0+1 1
GER 1+0+1+0 2
CZE 0+1+0+0 1
CZE 1+0+0+1 2
GER 1+0+0+0 1
POL 0+0+1+0 1
ITA
1+1+0+0 2
UKR 0+0+0+1 1
ITA
1+0+0+0 1
44:02.8
44:15.0
45:20.6
45:29.6
45:39.6
45:40.5
45:42.2
45:46.1
45:59.1
46:00.3
0.0
+12.2
+1:17.8
+1:26.8
+1:36.8
+1:37.7
+1:39.4
+1:43.3
+1:56.3
+1:57.5
FRA
AUT
AUT
NOR
CZE
SLO
GER
RUS
GER
FRA
49:13.9
49:19.0
49:28.3
50:11.1
50:30.3
50:54.3
51:08.6
51:18.5
51:25.8
51:32.3
0.0
+5.1
+14.4
+57.2
+1:16.4
+1:40.4
+1:54.7
+2:04.6
+2:11.9
+2:18.4
INDIVIDUAL MEN 20 KM
this was a confidence booster.
Although in 21st place, it was still too
early to give up on the strongest team
of the season, anchored by Marie Dorin-Habert. Second leg Bescond used
all the energy she had after a tough
15K the day before, to shoot clean and
bring France back into contention.
Likewise for Germany’s Hildebrand,
who took the lead after standing.
Norway’s Fanny Birkeland tagged
the Sprint World Champion Eckhoff, in
eighth place. Eckhoff’s leg was a déjàvu of her breathtaking sprint performance. As the ‘golden girl’ approached
the shooting range, the pressure in the
stadium was rising and the tension was
building. Despite this, she did it again:
10 out of 10 for Eckhoff, the second
time in her life! Both times in her career this has happened at her home
World Champs, in front of 20,000 fans!
As Eckhoff tagged Marte Olsbu,
she not only handed her an excellent
20-second lead on Dahlmeier and
Dorin Habert but also the extreme
pressure of potentially scoring a second gold medal for Norway. This was
a great mental and physical test for a
young biathlete. Olsbu’s skiing speed
was of top standard, but the shooting
statistics were not on her side. Would
she hold the lead and keep her nerves
under control on the shooting range?
Olsbu passed the test, and although
she used four spares to close her targets, she held onto the gold, crossing
the line with flags flying.
Olsbu, the new hero of the Norwegian women’s relay team, described
the last loop pressure. “I just went as
26 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
fast as I could. I was happy to cross the
line in first, as we have put a lot of work
into achieving this.”
Dorin Habert, in second tried to
pass the Norwegian in the final loop.
“I tried and I gave my all to catch up
with her. I am happy for her, and for
us too.”Germany’s anchor Dahlmeier,
fought hard on the last loop, but the
2015 World Champions finished third.
She commented, “There were so many
strong teams on the track, and as I
passed the King on the last loop, I realized I would have to settle for third.”
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
FOURCADE Martin
EDER Simon
KRCMAR Michal
FAK Jakov
LESSER Erik
GARANICHEV Evgeniy
BIRNBACHER Andreas
FOURCADE Simon
0+1+0+0
0+0+0+0
0+0+0+0
0+0+0+1
0+0+0+0
0+0+1+0
0+1+0+0
0+1+1+0
0+0+1+0
1+0+0+1
NORWEGIAN SUCCESS
AND A HISTORIC CANADIAN
BRONZE
After a sensational win by the Norwegian women, the relay thriller continued the next day in the men’s relay.
28, 000 spectators in the stadium created a warm, unforgettable atmosphere. The pressure was on the ”Golden Girls” counterparts. Along with the
Germans, the Norwegians were the
1
0
0
1
0
1
1
2
1
2
Anais Bescond - FRA
Podium
Individual Men
Marte Olsbu - NOR
Simon Schempp - GER
main contender for Gold, but would the
quartet of Björndalen, Svendsen and
the Boe brothers would have to contend with Fourcade and Co.
Russia was hoping for a podium
place, but Maxim Tsvetkov’s crash in
the first loop and Garanichev’s penalty
threw the team out of medal contention. Instead, Canada surprised everyone, even themselves.
Björndalen dominated again and
took the lead. He tagged Tarjei, who
put it all on the line to keep his team
in the lead. After adding two spare
rounds, Tarjei was finally leading in the
field by the second exchange, just 0.3
seconds ahead of Germany.
Johannes then got the competition safely back in control of the Norwegians. His fast clean prone was
matched by Canada’s Scott Gow, with
Germany’s Arnd Peiffer 10 seconds
behind. Johannes blew away standing and left the range with a 16-second
lead over Peiffer, with Gow another 8
seconds behind.
The anchor leg saw Canada’s
Brendan Green following Schempp and
Svendsen. Svendsen cleaned the prone
with ease, as did Schempp and Green;
the Norwegian lead over Germany was
now down to 21 seconds.
Svendsen used two spares in the
final standing stage, but still left the
shooting range ahead of Schempp,
who used one spare. Green went 5-for5 to seal Canada’s first relay medal in
history. Later Green confessed that he
RELAY WOMEN 4 x 6 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
NORWAY
NOR 0+3 0+3 0+6 1:07:10.0
0.0
SOLEMDAL Synnoeve, BIRKELAND Fanny Horn, ECKHOFF Tiril, OLSBU Marte
FRANCE
FRA 0+5 0+3 0+8 1:07:15.3
+5.3
BRAISAZ Justine, BESCOND Anais, CHEVALIER Anais, DORIN HABERT Marie
GERMANY
GER 0+0 0+4 0+4 1:07:38.6
+28.6
PREUSS Franziska, HILDEBRAND Franziska, HAMMERSCHMIDT Maren, DAHLMEIER Laura
POLAND
POL 0+2 0+5 0+7 1:08:18.4 +1:08.4
GWIZDON Magdalena, HOJNISZ Monika, NOWAKOWSKA Weronika, GUZIK Krystyna
UKRAINE
UKR 1+4 0+1 1+5 1:08:37.7 +1:27.7
SEMERENKO Valj, VARVYNETS Iryna, PIDHRUSHNA Olena, DZHIMA Yuliia
RELAY MEN 4 x 7.5 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
EVENTS
NORWAY
NOR 0+1 0+5 0+6 1:13:16.8
BJOERNDALEN Ole Einar, BOE Tarjei, BOE Johannes Thingnes, SVENDSEN Emil Hegle
GERMANY
GER 0+2 0+3 0+5 1:13:28.3
LESSER Erik, DOLL Benedikt, PEIFFER Arnd, SCHEMPP Simon
CANADA
CAN 0+1 0+4 0+5 1:13:40.2
GOW Christian, SMITH Nathan, GOW Scott, GREEN Brendan
AUSTRIA
AUT 0+3 1+7 1+10 1:14:10.3
GROSSEGGER Sven, EDER Simon, EBERHARD Julian, LANDERTINGER Dominik
CZECH REPUBLIC
CZE 0+2 0+5 0+7 1:14:11.2
KRCMAR Michal, SOUKUP Jaroslav, MORAVEC Ondrej, SLESINGR Michal
0.0
+11.5
+23.4
+53.5
+54.4
was extremely nervous. “I was so nervous that I almost lost my lunch before I
started. We were aggressive and put it
on the line today.”
Svendsen cited his the Norwegian
women’s victory the day before as a
source for his inspiration. “We were a
bit jealous of them wearing those gold
jackets. I am an emotional guy, and
watching them on TV was an amazing
experience… I was really nervous before I started, waiting there all alone,
but after that I was fine.”
SHE DOES IT AGAIN: MASS
START TO DORIN HABERT
Norway’s triumph in the women’s
relay left the local fans hungry for a win
in the mass start. Eckhoff led early, but
fell behind Dorin Habert after missing
the final shot in the second prone. The
pressure and fatigue accumulated over
two weeks came to a head in the first
standing stage. The leaders shuffled,
with the clean-shooting Dorin Habert
establishing a comfortable lead over
the rest of the field, followed by Soukalova, up from 18th position to 4th. Dorin Habert slowly increased her lead,
coming to the final standing alone. She
cleaned and skied away to her sixth
medal in six competitions: another
Gold medal.
The battle for the Silver and Bronze
spiced up the competition. Three women were in contention after the final
standing stage: the Yellow Bib Soukalova; Dahlmeier, and Mäkäräinen.
These Championships had been unkind to Soukalova, with fourth and fifth
in the sprint and individual. The mass
start was her last medal hope. She fell
40 I 2016
biathlonworld 27
EVENTS
back in the last loop, however, leaving only Dahlmeier and Mäkäräinen
fighting for the medals. The veteran
Mäkäräinen was powerful on the uphills, but Dahlmeier’s skis were faster
on the downhill; she passed Mäkäräinen in the final sprint to finish second.
The Finnish star, however, was not
disappointed with third place. “It is
a big thing for our small team. I am
proud to take this medal back home.”
Dorin Habert looked very happy and
surprised about her clean shooting, “It
is hard to find words to describe my
feelings. I think today was very hard.
I never thought I could have perfect
shooting in the mass start, as I always
had some mistakes during the season.”
The French star had her biggest
fan, daughter Adele with her in Oslo.
Dorin commented, “My daughter takes
part in my success. She’s there and it
is very nice to see her, even when she
cries during the night.”
JOHANNES VERSUS MARTIN
Fourcade made the competition dynamic from the very start, powering
off before the first prone in an attempt
to create a gap on the field. The stadium announcer called the competition “more like a cross-country sprint
than biathlon mass start.” The shooting would show which it was. Fourcade
missed his first shot, and went into the
penalty loop. Now the competition was
all about getting back to the leading
group as he pursued another medal.
For a moment, it looked as if Eder in
the lead would stop him, but Johannes
made a powerful pass trying to get
away; déjà-vu of Fourcade’s first loop.
His bold, daring move cost him the last
shot, while Fourcade and Bjorndalen
shot clean. Bjorndalen was in the lead
with the Fourcade hard on his heels.
Again, Fourcade found energy to make
a move on the final hill before the stadium, opening up a 15-meter gap on
the group.
Having cleaned the final standing,
Fourcade had five seconds on Bjorndalen and Boe. The final loop was an
accurate definition of a “thriller in the
snow.” Tens of thousands of spectators
experienced unbearable drama with
their home favorite, Johannes, battling
head-to-head with Fourcade. The two
men fought a spectacular duel, jockeying back and forth, giving the home
crowd justified hope of a win. Johannes
did it, in front of the King Harald V and
in front of his people. In disbelief, he
got down onto his knees and kissed
the snow, and the home soil that had
brought him the strength and will to
win. His legendary teammate Björndalen claimed the Bronze.
The smile refused to leave the face
of the new World Champion, who was
cheerful after a brief audience with the
King. “Today was a really strong performance by all three of us. We all went
into the attack for the Gold on the last
loop, but I managed to take it… I was
not thinking about Gold until I crossed
the finish line; I knew that Martin has
a great finish, and I would either get
Gold or Silver… I think maybe my motivation for this Gold medal was bigger
than Martin’s for a fifth Gold. This is a
dream come true.”
Fourcade was satisfied with Silver.
“I had a perfect strategy, but one man
was stronger. He was going for gold in
the last loop and I was trying hard just
to follow him. I gave everything for the
Silver; I am satisfied.”
NOT OVER
The two week IBU World Championships flew by in a blink of an eye. Yet,
28 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
Johannes Thingnes
Boe - NOR
Relay Men
Team Canada
EVENTS
MASS START WOMEN 12.5 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
DORIN HABERT Marie
DAHLMEIER Laura
MAKARAINEN Kaisa
SOUKALOVA Gabriela
BESCOND Anais
VITKOVA Veronika
OLSBU Marte
PREUSS Franziska
BIRKELAND Fanny Horn
SKARDINO Nadezhda
FRA
GER
FIN
CZE
FRA
CZE
NOR
GER
NOR
BLR
0+0+0+0
0+0+1+0
0+0+1+0
0+1+0+0
1+0+1+0
1+0+0+1
1+0+2+0
1+0+1+0
1+0+1+0
0+0+0+0
0
1
1
1
2
2
3
2
2
0
35:28.5
35:35.8
35:36.6
35:59.4
36:07.7
36:11.2
36:12.4
36:12.7
36:19.6
36:20.5
0.0
+7.3
+8.1
+30.9
+39.2
+42.7
+43.9
+44.2
+51.1
+52.0
NOR
FRA
NOR
ITA
GER
NOR
SLO
UKR
RUS
USA
0+0+1+0
1+0+0+0
0+0+0+0
1+0+0+1
1+0+0+0
1+1+0+0
0+0+1+0
0+0+0+0
0+1+0+1
0+0+0+1
1
1
0
2
1
2
1
0
2
1
37:05.1
37:07.9
37:11.8
37:24.9
37:25.0
37:26.9
37:27.0
37:36.7
37:46.1
37:46.8
0.0
+2.8
+6.7
+19.8
+19.9
+21.8
+21.9
+31.6
+41.0
+41.7
Norwegian women, the resurgence
of Björndalen, and the French dominance on Norwegian territory, until
successfully reversed by Johannes on
the last day. It could all change once
again next year.
The next IBU World Championships
will take place in Hochfilzen, Austria on
February 8-19, 2017. •
TEXT
Biathlonworld team
Evgeny Tumashov
PICTURES
MASS START MEN 15 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
FOURCADE Martin
WINDISCH Dominik
PEIFFER Arnd
BOE Tarjei
FAK Jakov
SEMENOV Sergey
SHIPULIN Anton
BAILEY Lowell
WWW.TOKO.CH
Kaisa
Makarainen -FIN
the season was far from over: the fight
for the world rankings and the Crystal Globes would continue in Khanty
Mansiysk. Oslo 2016 had seen it all: a
sensational bronze medal for the Canadian men; a big surprise by the four
Probably
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EVENTS
BMW IBU WORLD CUP BIATHLON 9 - KHANTY MANSIYSK
BMW IBU WORLD CUP 9 KHANTY MANSIYSK - RUS 15.03. - 20.03.2016
30 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
EVENTS
CLOSES
SEASON
IN WIND-BLOWN
KHANTY MANSIYSK
40 I 2016
biathlonworld 31
EVENTS
Just over twelve hours after the
IBU World Championships ended in
Oslo, the World Cup crew was packed
and on its way east via charter flight
to the World Cup Final in Khanty Mansiysk. The two weeks of mild weather
in Oslo were quickly forgotten as the
plane touched down on the frozen Siberian tundra; it was back to winter.
Landing at the airport, the local fans
greeted the biggest names in biathlon
like Hollywood stars with signs and
requests for photos.
KAISA SLEEPS IN;
TAKES THE SPRINT
The big surprise in the first day’s
sprint came from Norway’s 25-year
old Marte Olsbu. Her sterling anchor
leg just days earlier in Oslo sealed
Norway’s Gold medal; she came into
this final sprint full of confidence.
That confidence resulted into another
quick tour of the 7.5K course, flawless
shooting performance and the early
lead.
Kaisa Mäkäräinen had a single
penalty in standing, which seemingly
opened the opportunity for others.
When the Finnish star left the penalty
loop, she was six seconds behind Olsbu but was ready to fight. Mäkäräinen
accelerated over the last loop and
found her name atop the leader board.
Yet, it was too early to celebrate.
Just as she crossed the finish line, Ga-
Podium Sprint Women
briela Soukalova was cleaning prone,
ready to challenge for the win. Leaving
the shooting range, she tangled skis
with Russia’s Svetlana Sleptsova, who
was heading to the penalty loop. The
Czech star could not hold her slim lead
in the final loop and finished second.
Perhaps the happiest person on the
podium was the now-confident Olsbu.
She admitted that WCH Relay Gold
motivated and inspired her. “It feels
very good. I am very motivated after
my relay leg in Oslo. My shooting in the
World Championships was not good,
Julian Eberhard - AUT
SPRINT WOMEN 7.5 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
MAKARAINEN Kaisa
SOUKALOVA Gabriela
OLSBU Marte
BRAISAZ Justine
WIERER Dorothea
PREUSS Franziska
PIDHRUSHNA Olena
BESCOND Anais
SKARDINO Nadezhda
DORIN HABERT Marie
FIN
CZE
NOR
FRA
ITA
GER
UKR
FRA
BLR
FRA
0+1
0+0
0+0
0+0
0+0
1+0
0+0
0+1
0+0
0+1
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
1
20:42.3
20:45.4
20:47.1
21:06.5
21:10.1
21:14.5
21:16.2
21:19.3
21:23.9
21:26.9
0.0
+3.1
+4.8
+24.2
+27.8
+32.2
+33.9
+37.0
+41.6
+44.6
AUT
GER
GER
AUT
GER
USA
NOR
GER
LAT
ITA
0+0
0+0
0+0
0+0
0+0
0+1
1+0
0+1
0+1
0+1
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
24:18.6
24:19.7
24:41.6
24:46.8
24:56.7
25:11.2
25:20.6
25:22.0
25:25.4
25:33.8
0.0
+1.1
+23.0
+28.2
+38.1
+52.6
+1:02.0
+1:03.4
+1:06.8
+1:15.2
SPRINT MEN 10 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
32 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
EBERHARD Julian
SCHEMPP Simon
PEIFFER Arnd
LESSER Erik
BURKE Tim
DOLL Benedikt
RASTORGUJEVS Andrejs
WINDISCH Dominik
Flower Ceremony
Kaisa
Mäkäräinen - FIN
so I was happy about my clean shooting today.”
Mäkäräinen, who also won Khanty
sprint last season, was surprised
about her first place. “I am a little
surprised that it is possible to win the
race with one penalty. It was great to
win a medal on the last day in Oslo, I
was quite tired after WCH, but I slept
until 12 o’clock, I think it was my key to
victory today.”
FIRST PODIUM FOR
EBERHARD
The Russian team with no medals
in Oslo had high hopes for the Khanty
World Cup, but the fan support and
home field advantage were not enough
to succeed in men’s sprint, with no one
RACING
IN OUR
BLOOD
Photo © Agence ZOOM
X-IUM
EVENTS
The X-IUM WORLD CUP series from Rossignol has been
developed for skating styles, with the aim of offering supreme
performance skis for a given type of snow. The result: a double
Olympic ski champion with Martin Fourcade.
ANOT HERBESTDAY
in the top 20. The main favorite and
“man to beat” was France’s Martin
Fourcade. He started fast, but shocked
the crowd with three prone penalties.
After adding another in standing, he
finished in a season-worst 40th place.
The frosty and snowy day started
and ended well for the birthday boy
Arnd Peiffer, who turned 29. He took
the early lead with a clean prone stage,
later only topped by Austria’s Julian
MARTIN FOURCADE
GOLD MEDAL IN PURSUIT 12,5 KM / INDIVIDUAL 20 KM
SILVER MEDAL IN MASS START 15 KM
EVENTS
Eberhard. The Austrian has excellent
ski speed. Yet shooting always seems
to be a challenge, except on this day
when he shot clean and stood atop the
podium for the first time in his career.
His win surprised the clean-shooting Simon Schempp, who had crossed
the finish line with a fist pump, thinking victory was his. “When I crossed
the finish line, I thought it was a victory, but Julian was stronger than me,
and he managed to beat me.”
Peiffer, who usually performs well
in Khanty, was happy with his podium
present. “It is a nice present when you
are on the podium, so I am very happy
with it. Everything suits me well here
in Khanty, especially the track. I am
disappointed about not coming back
here next season.”
UNBEATABLE KAISA
Mäkäräinen was starting first in the
pursuit, and won again, but it was not
easy. She went through a half hour of
non-stop battles, missed shots and
penalty loops, constantly changing
leaders and a nerve-wracking last
loop, before claiming the win.
In the first standing, Dorin Habert
and Soukalova were the only women
to clean. They established a 20-second
gap on the field, with Mäkäräinen was
leading the chase pack.
The leaders both had penalties in
the final standing stage; with Dorin
34 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
Habert, Dorothea Wierer, Soukalova,
Franziska Preuss, Fanny Horn Birkeland and Mäkäräinen behind them skiing together within striking distance.
Mäkäräinen powered past everyone
on an uphill and carried the lead to the
finish line. The rest of the women battled for the remaining podium spots.
Dorin Habert closed the gap, but had
to settle for second. Wierer pulled
away from Soukalova to take the last
podium spot.
The French star admitted that
Mäkäräinen was hard to beat. “When
Kaisa passed us, we could not do anything; I was just fighting the other girls
for second place.”
FINAL LOOP BATTLE IN
PURSUIT: JOHANNES VS.
SCHEMPP
Björndalen and Fourcade decided
to skip the pursuit, saving their energy
for the next day’s mass start. Unfortu-
Erik Lesser - GER
Podium Pursuit
Women
Gabriela
Soukalova - CZE
PURSUIT WOMEN 10 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
MAKARAINEN Kaisa
DORIN HABERT Marie
WIERER Dorothea
SOUKALOVA Gabriela
PREUSS Franziska
BIRKELAND Fanny Horn
PIDHRUSHNA Olena
OLSBU Marte
DZHIMA Yuliia
BRAISAZ Justine
FIN
FRA
ITA
CZE
GER
NOR
UKR
NOR
UKR
FRA
1+0+1+0
0+0+0+1
0+0+1+0
1+0+0+1
0+1+0+0
0+0+1+0
0+0+2+0
0+1+1+1
0+0+0+0
2+0+0+0
2
1
1
2
1
1
2
3
0
2
30:06.7
30:08.2
30:12.4
30:13.2
30:13.3
30:19.8
30:49.6
30:52.3
30:56.6
31:05.1
0.0
+1.5
+5.7
+6.5
+6.6
+13.1
+42.9
+45.6
+49.9
+58.4
GER
NOR
GER
SUI
GER
USA
SWE
AUT
GER
CZE
1+1+0+1
0+0+0+1
0+0+1+1
0+0+0+0
1+0+1+0
0+0+1+1
0+0+0+0
0+1+0+2
1+1+0+2
0+1+0+0
3
1
2
0
2
2
0
3
4
1
33:27.8
33:36.3
33:43.5
33:46.5
33:55.1
33:59.1
34:04.6
34:10.4
34:11.3
34:13.1
0.0
+8.5
+15.7
+18.7
+27.3
+31.3
+36.8
+42.6
+43.5
+45.3
PURSUIT MEN 12.5 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
SCHEMPP Simon
LESSER Erik
WEGER Benjamin
DOLL Benedikt
BURKE Tim
LINDSTROEM Fredrik
PEIFFER Arnd
SLESINGR Michal
Johannes
Thingnes Boe - NOR
nately, that final competition was cancelled and their seasons were over.
Eberhard started with number one
but two penalties in the first prone
dropped him from the contenders. Two
clean prone stages put 2015 Pursuit
World Champion Erik Lesser in the
lead, until he picked up a penalty in the
first standing stage. That opened the
door for Johannes and Schempp who
cleaned that first standing stage. They
left the stadium together, setting up
the battle for the win.
Single penalties by Johannes,
Schempp and Lesser made for a drama-filled final standing stage as 11th
started Benjamin Weger cleaned, putting him in the podium battle. The last
loop saw a tough fight for the first and
the last podium spots. Boe left the stadium with a slight lead, but Schempp,
in great shape was hungry for a victory
after his Oslo disappointments. His
fast last loop sealed the win. Weger
moved past Lesser at one point, but
faded to fourth in the final few hundred
meters. Still, it was the season best
result for the Swiss athlete.
It turned out after the race that the
Lesser/Weger tussle was about more
than just third or fourth place. “In the
beginning of the lap I wanted to get
ahead of Weger to secure a gap. Last
year we had a similar fight in the mass
start, and he beat me. Now it was reversed; I am satisfied with that.”
Johannes, who crossed the finish
line with an “I-did-all-I-could” hand
gesture, was satisfied with the outcome. “I came out of the shooting
range in the first place, and I knew
there would be a fight with Schempp.
On the final downhill Simon had more
power. I see now that I am in 2nd in the
World Cup Total Score, and I would like
to preserve this.”
This was Schempp’s fifth victory this
season; he admitted his shape has
improved since Oslo. “After the World
Championships my shape is getting
better and better. I feel a lot of power
in my legs. Nevertheless, I thought the
win was possible only 200 meters before the finish.”
GONE WITH THE WIND
The last competition day in Khanty
started as usual: athletes arriving for
zeroing, journalists and photographers getting their morning coffee in
anticipation of the Globe ceremony and
the final party. Except it was windy;
that wind quickly turned into a storm.
Some of the lighter women were almost blown away by the unexpectedly
powerful gusts. The Jury postponed
the competition and gathered to discuss a cancellation option. The decision, however, was made quickly after
the wind blew down a tall light pole
onto the shooting range.
EVENTS
IBU Race Director World Cup Borut
Nunar commented on the cancellation. “We have a really extreme wind
that tore down the banners; now the
light pole is on the ground. It’s completely unsafe outside. Safety is our
priority.”
TYUMEN ON THE SCHEDULE
Even though the 2015-16 BMW IBU
World Cup season was over, many athletes still had national biathlon championships and show races on their
schedules; Mäkäräinen was planning
a couple of cross-country races. Yet
some were already thinking holidays.
Johannes was heading to London with
his girlfriend, and then heading off
to the beach, while Wierer was going
tropical in Miami, the Bahamas, and
Cuba.
This was a farewell of sorts to
Khanty Mansiysk as Tyumen will host
a World Cup next season and the next
scheduled event here is an IBU Cup in
2018. •
TEXT
Marina Dmukhovskaya
Evgeny Tumashov
PICTURES
40 I 2016
biathlonworld 35
EVENTS
IBU OECH BIATHLON 2016 - TYUMEN
36 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
EVENTS
A NEW LOOK FOR THE IBU OPEN
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
SINGLE MIXED RELAY
MASS START
&
IBU OECH BIATHLON 2016 TYUMEN - RUS 21.02. - 28.02.2016
40 I 2016
biathlonworld 37
EVENTS
The “Pearl of Siberia” biathlon
complex in Tyumen, Russia hosted the
2016 IBU Open European Championships. Twenty-six federations with 82
men and 65 women trekked to southwestern Sibeia to compete at the one
of “the three best venues worldwide”,
according to Ole Einar Bjorndalen,
who also skied at this venue. The IBU
OECH competition program changed
this year with the addition of the single mixed relay and the mass starts.
HOME TEAM ON TOP
Thirteen teams started the first competition of the week, the single mixed
relay, under the gray skies, gusty winds
and the temperature around 1C. Victoria Slivko and Anton Babikov used only
four spares to claim the first Gold medal. The Silver medal went to Germany
with seven spare rounds, while Norway
used six spares to pick up the Bronze
medal.
SINGLE MIXED RELAY
The single mixed relay, with its short
loops, clean shooting undoubtedly
gives the best athletes on the shooting
range an advantage. No wonder that
Slivko, who hit all ten targets, tagged
Babikov in first. At the fourth shooting stage, Babikov matched his teammate, again shooting clean. With each
lap Russia increased their lead, and
at the last exchange the clean-shoot-
ing Slivko tapped Babikov with a 40
second bulge over Sweden, Germany
and Norway. The Russian came to the
last prone with a confident lead, but
the wind gusts became stronger, forcing him to use the first spares in the
competition. Vetle Sjastad Christiansen with clean shooting moved Norway
closer to their rivals, but still stayed in
fourth. Despite two spares at the final
standing, Babikov left the stadium with
a significant lead. Germany’s Matthias
Dorfer shot fast and clean, leaving in
second; Sweden was third, followed by
Norway 2.4 seconds back. On the last
lap Christiansen was really fast, overcame the Swedish and finished in third,
bringing his team Bronze.
Podium Mixed Relay
MIXED RELAY
A few hours later, the Russian team
made the local fans even happier with
a second Gold medal in the hotly-contested regular mixed relay, winning
just .1 seconds ahead of the surprising team from Slovakia. Anastasia
Zagoruiko, Olga Iakushova, Matvey Eli-
Luise Kummer,
Matthias Dorfer - GER
and Victoria Slivko,
Anton Babikov - RUS
SINGLE MIXED RELAY 6 KM / 7.5 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
RUSSIA
RUS +0+ +0
SLIVKO Victoria, BABIKOV Anton
GERMANY
GER +0+ +0
KUMMER Luise, DORFER Matthias
NORWAY
NOR +0+ +0
TANDREVOLD Ingrid Landmark, CHRISTIANSEN Vetle Sjastad
SWEDEN
SWE +0+ +0
OEBERG Hanna, ARWIDSON Tobias
KAZAKHSTAN
KAZ +0+ +0
POLTORANINA Olga, TRIFONOV Alexandr
36:59.0
0.0
37:36.9
+37.9
37:51.7
+52.7
38:08.2
+1:09.2
39:01.5
+2:02.5
MIXED RELAY 2 x 6 KM / 2 x 7.5 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
38 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
RUSSIA
RUS 0+5 1+4 1+9 1:10:56.3
0.0
ZAGORUIKO Anastasia, IAKUSHOVA Olga, ELISEEV Matvey, GARANICHEV Evgeniy
SLOVAKIA
SVK 0+3 0+2 0+5 1:10:56.4
+0.1
FIALKOVA Paulina, GEREKOVA Jana, KAZAR Matej, OTCENAS Martin
NORWAY
NOR 0+5 0+7 0+12 1:12:00.4 +1:04.1
NERAASEN Sigrid Bilstad, LANDHEIM Bente, L‘ABEE-LUND Henrik, BOGETVEIT Haavard
GERMANY
GER 3+4 0+3 3+7 1:12:10.0 +1:13.7
HORCHLER Nadine, HORCHLER Karolin, BISCHL Matthias, GRAF Florian
BULGARIA
BUL 1+4 0+5 1+9 1:13:25.1 +2:28.8
YORDANOVA Emilia, STOYANOVA Desislava, ILIEV Vladimir, ANEV Krasimir
SPRINT WOMEN 7.5 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
HORCHLER Nadine
HORCHLER Karolin
KNOLL Annika
SHCHERBININA Anna
SKARDINO Nadezhda
PANFILOVA Mariya
ZAGORUIKO Anastasia
TOMESOVA Barbora
KUMMER Luise
FIALKOVA Paulina
GER
GER
GER
RUS
BLR
BLR
RUS
CZE
GER
SVK
0+1
0+0
0+0
0+1
0+0
0+0
1+1
0+1
0+2
0+1
1
0
0
1
0
0
2
1
2
1
21:53.0
22:05.7
22:21.5
22:25.0
22:27.5
22:30.6
22:31.0
22:44.9
22:54.7
22:55.7
0.0
+12.7
+28.5
+32.0
+34.5
+37.6
+38.0
+51.9
+1:01.7
+1:02.7
RUS
NOR
RUS
GER
BUL
GER
NOR
RUS
NOR
BLR
0+1
0+0
0+0
0+0
0+1
0+0
0+0
1+1
0+0
0+0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
2
0
0
23:40.3
23:45.5
23:50.0
23:59.9
24:12.0
24:18.2
24:20.5
24:22.1
24:26.8
24:32.2
0.0
+5.2
+9.7
+19.6
+31.7
+37.9
+40.2
+41.8
+46.5
+51.9
SPRINT MEN 10 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
GARANICHEV Evgeniy
L‘ABEE-LUND Henrik
BABIKOV Anton
GRAF Florian
ILIEV Vladimir
BISCHL Matthias
BOGETVEIT Haavard
ELISEEV Matvey
CHRISTIANSEN Vetle Sjastad
KRYUKO Viktar
seev and Evgeniy Garanichev brought
home Gold number two with one penalty and nine spare rounds. Slovakia
with only five spares ended up with
the Silver medal; team Norway used
Henrik
L’Abee-Lund - NOR
twelve spare rounds for another IBU
OECH Bronze medal.
UNEXPECTED SLOVAKIA
Germany and Slovakia were the early leaders, coming to the first exchange
in that order, followed by Czech Republic, Austria, Norway and Italy. Russia’s
second leg Iakushova, who was tagged
by Zagoruiko with a penalty lap just
eleventh, moved up her team to the
fourth spot. Germany’s Matthias Bischl
and Slovakia’s Matej Kazar matched
their teammates and with only one
WHAT IS
YOUR
TARGET?
MINE IS
VICTORY.
EVENTS
used spare left almost together for
the last exchange. Fast Eliseev, who
used just two spares in prone, moved
his team to the third; Norway with six
spare rounds followed him 27 more
seconds back.
THREE PENALTIES
The German team that led for most
of the relay seemed to be a favorite in
the battle for the Gold. But an unexpected thing happened when Florian
Graf, hitting only two targets had three
penalties. Otcenas used one spare and
left the stadium as a leader. After the
final standing, the Slovakian with one
spare, left only 5.9 seconds in front of
Garanichev with the same spare round.
The Russian, who was cheered by the
local fans, reduced this gap and at the
finish line both gave it all. Joy filled the
stadium as Garanichev crossed the
finish line mere .1 seconds in front of
Otcenas. Norway’s Haavard Bogetveit,
who left the final standing 10 seconds
behind Graf, was really fast on the last
loop and for the second time that day,
Norway moved from fourth to third after the final shooting stage.
penalty and just a second place after
standing, she managed to close the
gap on first and to win the Gold medal.
It was a big day for the Horchler sisters when the Silver medal went to Nadine’s clean-shooting sister Karolin.
Their teammate Annika Knoll, who was
one of the last starters, also hit all the
targets to take the Bronze medal, giving Germany a podium sweep.
shooting rivals could not catch him.
Norwegian Henrik L’Abee-Lund hit
all the targets and became the only
athlete with the potential to push the
Olympic medalist to second. But at the
end he missed the victory by 5.2 seconds, scoring the Silver medal. Russia’s Babikov cleaned both stages,
gave his all on the tracks and finished
third, winning the Bronze.
GOLD/SILVER SISTERS
HOMETOWN FAVORITE
PURSUITS
The women’s sprint started the
second day of the competition in Tyumen. 62 athletes left the gates under
the same gray skies, but less wind on
the shooting range. Nadine Horchler
of Germany was extremely fast on the
tracks, so fast that even despite one
In the men’s 10K sprint, hometown
favorite Garanichev won his second
Gold medal in two days. Despite one
penalty after the standing stage, the
Russian left the stadium in first and
increased his lead until the finish line.
With a strong last lap even clean-
The women were treated to big
crowds in the stadium on a windy day
with a mixture of sun and clouds for the
late afternoon competition. The results
of the pursuit competitions had more
impact than usual, as they determined
the starters in mass starts.
Podium Sprint Women
CLOSE BATTLE
Nadezhda Skardino of Belarus won
the women’s pursuit Gold medal, with
two penalties after a close battle with
Karolin Horchler. She moved from fifth
at the start, 34 seconds back to claim
her first IBU OECH title. Her ski speed
and accurate shooting were the keys
to her victory. Skardino cleaned the
first three stages, but the final standing stage was crucial as always in this
competition. Knowing the title was on
the line; she shot cautiously, but still
missed the first and last shots. The
two penalty loops gave Horchler, who
cleaned the last stage, the chance to
move up, but the Belarusian ski speed
prevailed in the final loop, giving her
the title. The battle for the Bronze
was equally close. Norway’s Ingrid
Landmark Tandrevold with total three
40 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
Anton Babikov - RUS
EVENTS
PURSUIT WOMEN 10 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
SKARDINO Nadezhda
HORCHLER Karolin
TANDREVOLD Ingrid Landmark
ZAGORUIKO Anastasia
FIALKOVA Paulina
HORCHLER Nadine
KUMMER Luise
RUNGGALDIER Alexia
CHEVALIER Chloe
NECHKASOVA Galina
BLR
GER
NOR
RUS
SVK
GER
GER
ITA
FRA
RUS
0+0+0+2
1+0+1+0
0+1+2+0
1+1+0+1
0+0+2+1
2+1+1+0
0+0+1+1
0+0+0+2
1+1+0+1
0+2+0+2
2
2
3
3
3
4
2
2
3
4
30:01.7
30:09.1
30:15.8
30:16.1
30:31.8
30:39.5
30:43.6
30:51.0
30:51.5
31:03.9
0.0
+7.4
+14.1
+14.4
+30.1
+37.8
+41.9
+49.3
+49.8
+1:02.2
RUS
RUS
GER
NOR
RUS
RUS
SVK
CZE
FRA
BUL
0+0+0+1
0+0+0+1
1+0+1+0
0+0+0+0
0+0+1+1
2+1+0+1
0+0+0+0
0+0+0+0
0+0+0+1
2+0+2+1
1
1
2
0
2
4
0
0
1
5
30:01.5
30:01.6
30:47.5
31:01.9
31:11.4
31:11.8
31:25.9
31:32.8
31:33.5
31:35.6
0.0
+0.1
+46.0
+1:00.4
+1:09.9
+1:10.3
+1:24.4
+1:31.3
+1:32.0
+1:34.1
PURSUIT MEN 12.5 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
BABIKOV Anton
GARANICHEV Evgeniy
GRAF Florian
CHRISTIANSEN Vetle Sjastad
PASHCHENKO Petr
ELISEEV Matvey
KAZAR Matej
SOUKUP Jaroslav
GUIGONNAT Antonin
ILIEV Vladimir
penalties, in the final sprint overcame
Russia’s Zagoruiko, taking the Bronze
medal.
SIDE-BY-SIDE
Nadezhda
Skardino - BLR
Babikov and hometown hero Garanichev gave the spectators quite a show,
battling for the whole 12.5K in the
men’s pursuit. They matched each other with their rifles and skis. Both shot
clean in the first three stages. On the
tracks, they were side-by-side or one
just in front of the other the whole way.
In the last standing stage, both had a
single penalty; first Garanichev and
then Babikov. That set up the final loop
struggle and the eventual skin-of-histeeth win for Babikov, with the two men
both striving for the win until the final
EVENTS
MASS START WOMEN 12.5 KM
ers. The young Norwegian caught the
more experienced Russians and in the
finish sprint, once again, she proved
to be the strongest, winning another
Bronze medal.
LAST COMPETITION
Florian Graf, with one penalty
matched his teammate Kummer with
the mass start Gold medal in the men’s
mass start; the last competition of the
week. The Silver medal went to the
Olympic Sprint Bronze medalist Jaroslav Soukup of Czech Republic with the
same penalties. Bulgaria’s Vladimir
Iliev despite two missed shots took the
Bronze medal.
meters. Germany’s Florian Graf with
two penalties moved up from fourth in
the sprint to claim the Bronze medal in
the pursuit.
ALL GERMANY DAY
None of 30 women managed to shoot
clean in the harsh weather conditions
that came to Tyumen for the last day of
competition. Wet snow added misery to
the strong wind gusts that crossed the
shooting range, making shooting even
harder. Luise Kummer of Germany
took the Gold medal in the first ever
IBU OECH mass start with two penalties. Slovakia’s Paulina Fialkova had
three penalties and won her second
Silver medal in Tyumen. Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold of Norway with four
penalties once again literally snatched
the Bronze medal in the final meters..
STRONGEST
Russia’s Galina Nechkasova shot
clean and left as the leader after the
first prone, followed by teammate
Anastasia Zagoruiko and Annika Knoll
of Germany. Kummer went for a penalty loop and was just 15th. In the
next prone Knoll hit all five targets as
well and left in first. While her rivals
were picking up two and three penalties in the first standing, Kummer accurately closed all the targets, taking
the lead. For the final standing stage,
the young German came with enough
time to cover one penalty loop and still
leave in first. Clean-shooting Fialkova
left in second, followed by Iakushova,
Zagoruiko and Tandrevold, all within
8 seconds. The Slovakian crossed the
finish line in second, ahead of the oth42 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
MANY CONTENDERS
Due to a more gentle wind then
during the first competition, the men
had an easier time on the shooting
range than the women. After the first
prone 16 clean-shooting athletes left
the stadium within 15 seconds, led by
Eliseev. With two missed shots in the
next prone, Eliseev fell out of the field
of the top competitors. The first standing did not reduce the amount of medal
contenders. Austria’s Tobias Eberhard,
Germany’s Bischl and Babikov stayed
in the lead with still clean shooting.
Graf, with a penalty in the second
prone, moved back to fourth. At the
final standing Graf took it all to make
up for the unlucky mixed relay, hit all
the targets and left in first. Soukup
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
KUMMER Luise
FIALKOVA Paulina
TANDREVOLD Ingrid Landmark
IAKUSHOVA Olga
ZAGORUIKO Anastasia
JISLOVA Jessica
NECHKASOVA Galina
HORCHLER Nadine
TOMESOVA Barbora
KNOLL Annika
GER
SVK
NOR
RUS
RUS
CZE
RUS
GER
CZE
GER
1+0+0+1
2+0+1+0
1+0+2+1
0+0+3+0
0+1+2+0
0+0+1+2
0+1+3+1
2+0+2+0
1+0+2+1
0+0+1+1
2
3
4
3
3
3
5
4
4
2
36:05.1
36:13.1
36:16.4
36:16.9
36:17.9
36:51.2
36:53.7
36:54.1
36:59.2
37:00.3
0.0
+8.0
+11.3
+11.8
+12.8
+46.1
+48.6
+49.0
+54.1
+55.2
38:20.5
38:24.6
38:29.0
38:34.8
38:54.8
38:56.5
39:06.7
39:08.3
39:12.1
39:12.4
0.0
+4.1
+8.5
+14.3
+34.3
+36.0
+46.2
+47.8
+51.6
+51.9
MASS START MEN 15 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
GRAF Florian
SOUKUP Jaroslav
ILIEV Vladimir
BABIKOV Anton
GJERMUNDSHAUG Vegard
BISCHL Matthias
L‘ABEE-LUND Henrik
EBERHARD Tobias
PASHCHENKO Petr
CLAUDE Florent
GER
CZE
BUL
RUS
NOR
GER
NOR
AUT
RUS
FRA
0+1+0+0
0+1+0+0
0+1+1+0
0+0+0+1
1+1+0+0
0+0+0+2
1+0+1+2
0+0+0+2
2+0+1+0
1+0+0+0
matched Graf and followed him in second. Babikov, after the penalty loop left
in third; it seemed that he would safely
keep that place until the finish line because Iliev was 14 seconds behind the
Russian. But the Bulgarian demonstrated great speed, reducing the gap
from Babikov with each meter until
reaching the finish line in third place
and taking the last medal.
The 2017 Open European Championships will held at the end of January in
Duszniki Zdrój, Poland. •
TEXT
Mariya Osolodkina, Jerry Kokesh
Evgeny Tumashov
PICTURES
1
1
2
1
2
2
4
2
3
1
Florian Graf - GER
Start Mass Start
Women
EVENTS
WINTER YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES - LILLEHAMMER
SECOND WINTER
YOUTH
OLYM
IN LILLEHAMMER
44 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
EVENTS
PIC GAMES
40 I 2016
biathlonworld 45
EVENTS
The second Youth Olympic Winter
Games were held in Lillehammer,
Norway from February 12-21 for the
71 NOCs with 1,100 athletes aged 15
to 18. Four biathlon events; sprints,
pursuits, single mixed and mixed relays took place at the Birkebeineren
Stadium.
FAMILY TRADITIONS
The first biathlon competitions at the
Games were blessed with perfect conditions; blue, clear skies, no wind, hard
track and temperature around minus
9C.
Emilien Claude of France won the
first Youth Olympic Gold medal in the
men’s 7.5K sprint with clean shooting.
The youngest of three Claude brothers,
was perfect on the shooting range and
the tracks, adding to the family trophy
case with an individual Olympic medal.
Silver went to local favorite Norway’s
Sivert Guttorm Bakken with two penalties, 7.1 seconds back. Egor Tutmin of
Russia took the Bronze in third place
with two penalties, 18.0 seconds back.
46 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
WORLD CHAMPION
More women shot clean than the
men; it was a recipe for success only
for the winner. With clean shooting and
a powerful last loop Germany’s Juliane Fruehwirt in her first international
event took the Gold medal in women’s
6K. Norway’s Marthe Krakstad Johansen, supported by the local fans,
claimed the Silver medal with one penalty, 5.6 seconds back. Arina Pantova
of Kazakhstan, the recently crowned
World Champion in the youth women’s
pursuit, was fast on the tracks and despite two misses won the Bronze medal, 17.1 seconds back.
TWO MEDALS FOR RUSSIA
The early morning temperature of
-19C, rose to a balmy -5C by the time
the pursuits started. The same perfect conditions of the previous day with
clear skies, bright sun, lack of wind and
hard track greeted the first 50 young
biathletes this day.
In the men’s pursuit, Sivert Guttorm
Bakken of Norway, with a penalty after
the each stage won the Youth Olym-
pic Gold medal. Egor Tutmin with five
penalties took the Silver medal, 1:10.7
back. His teammate Said Karimulla
Khalili matched Bakken on the shooting range, moving up from the 6th
at the start to win the Bronze medal.
1:17.7 back.
WOMEN
In
the
afternoon,
Khrystyna
Dmytrenko of Ukraine missed twice in
the first prone to claim the Gold medal
SPRINT YOUTH MEN 7.5 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
CLAUDE Emilien
BAKKEN Sivert Guttorm
TUTMIN Egor
BUCHER-JOHANNESSEN Fredrik Qvist
HELDNA Robert
KHALILI Said Karimulla
FRA
NOR
RUS
NOR
EST
RUS
0+0
1+1
0+2
2+0
0+1
1+1
0
2
2
2
1
2
19:01.5
19:08.6
19:19.5
19:29.1
19:37.0
19:46.1
0.0
+7.1
+18.0
+27.6
+35.5
+44.6
GER
NOR
KAZ
UKR
FRA
ITA
0+0
0+1
1+1
1+0
0+1
0+0
0
1
2
1
1
0
18:23.5
18:29.1
18:40.6
18:46.7
18:52.6
18:55.2
0.0
+5.6
+17.1
+23.2
+29.1
+31.7
SPRINT YOUTH WOMEN 6 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
FRUEHWIRT Juliane
JOHANSEN Marthe Krakstad
PANTOVA Arina
DMYTRENKO Khrystyna
JEANMONNOT LAURENT Lou
COMOLA Samuela
Podium Sprint
Youth Men
Juliane
Fruehwirt - GER
EVENTS
in the women’s 7.5K pursuit, finishing
first. Marthe Krakstad Johansen of
Norway took the Silver medal with four
penalties, 7.5 seconds back. France’s
Lou Jeanmonnot Laurent had just
two penalties and moved up from fifth
place to the Bronze medal at the finish,
7.6 seconds behind.
377 SPARES
The exciting single mixed relay at the
Birkebeineren Biathlon Stadium had a
fantastic finish and an unexpected winner. The sunny weather changed to
gray, overcast skies with a temperature around 0C for the 27 teams in the
competition. The conditions on the
track and the shooting range were different as well; the course became a little bit soft and wet, while the wind was
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crossing the shooting range resulting
in 377 spare rounds during the competition.
The People’s Republic of China with
Fanqi Meng and Zhenyu Zhu surprisingly took the Gold medal with two
penalties and three spares. The Silver medal went to the home team of
Norway with one penalty and twelve
spares, .3 seconds back. The Russian
Federation after a photo-finish got the
EVENTS
PURSUIT YOUTH MEN 10 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
BAKKEN Sivert Guttorm
TUTMIN Egor
KHALILI Said Karimulla
BRAUNHOFER Patrick
CLAUDE Emilien
RIETHMUELLER Danilo
NOR
RUS
RUS
ITA
FRA
GER
1+1+1+1
0+1+3+1
1+1+1+1
3+0+1+0
1+1+2+2
1+1+3+1
4
5
4
4
6
6
28:10.7
29:21.4
29:28.4
30:01.5
30:29.3
30:30.3
0.0
+1:10.7
+1:17.7
+1:50.8
+2:18.6
+2:19.6
UKR
NOR
FRA
USA
ITA
CHN
2+0+0+0
2+0+1+1
0+0+1+1
0+0+0+0
0+1+0+0
0+1+1+0
2
4
2
0
1
2
25:12.9
25:20.4
25:20.5
25:47.6
25:58.5
26:12.5
0.0
+7.5
+7.6
+34.7
+45.6
+59.6
CHINA
CHN +0+ +2
MENG Fanqi, ZHU Zhenyu
NORWAY
NOR +0+ +1
JOHANSEN Marthe Krakstad, BUCHER-JOHANNESSEN Fredrik Qvist
RUSSIA
RUS +0+ +3
PONEDELKO Ekaterina, TUTMIN Egor
41:35.4
0.0
41:35.6
+0.2
41:50.3
+14.9
PURSUIT YOUTH WOMEN 7.5 KM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
DMYTRENKO Khrystyna
JOHANSEN Marthe Krakstad
JEANMONNOT LAURENT Lou
LEVINS Chloe
COMOLA Samuela
MENG Fanqi
Bronze medal with total three penalties and thirteen spare rounds, 14.9
seconds back.
EXCITING FINISH
The leaders constantly changed;
China led after the first leg; Johansen
tapped her teammate second, while
Italy was third. In the second leg Zhu
went for two penalties after standing
and dropped to tenth. Now Finland was
in first, followed by Ukraine and Italy.
When the girls handed to the boys for
48 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
the last time, Norway was in the lead,
USA with no penalties moved to the
second and France tagged in third. For
the final standing France and Norway
came in together and started to miss
together. Zhu used that chance and
with clean shooting left the stadium in
first. Norway followed him in second;
Russia was third with France on their
back. Bucher-Johannessen showed
great speed on the last lap, reduced the
gap from Zhu with just .3 seconds separating his team from Gold. Not less
1.
2.
3.
MIXED RELAY 2 x 6 KM / 2 x 7.5 KM
1.
2.
3.
NORWAY
NOR 0+6 0+5 0+11 1:18:35.6
0.0
OEYGARD Marit, JOHANSEN Marthe K., BUCHER-JOHANNESSEN Fredrik Q., BAKKEN Sivert G.
GERMANY
GER 0+5 0+4 0+9 1:18:43.2
+7.6
FRUEHWIRT Juliane, PFNUER Franziska, GROSS Simon, RIETHMUELLER Danilo
ITALY
ITA 0+1 0+5 0+6 1:20:06.0 +1:30.4
COMOLA Samuela, LARDSCHNEIDER Irene, CHRISTILLE Cedric, BRAUNHOFER Patrick
exciting battle was behind them for the
last podium place. Claude gave it all in
the final meters, by catching up Tutmin
and crossing the finish line simultane-
Podium Single
Mixed Relay
Krystyna
Dmytrenko - UKR
ously. After the photo-finish, the Bronze went
to Russia, leaving France in fourth.
FINAL COMPETITION AT THE
YOG: THE MIXED RELAY
Norway’s Sivert Guttorm Bakken held off the
furious anchor leg push by Germany’s Danilo
Riethmueller to give Norway the Gold medal
in the mixed relay, the final biathlon competition at the 2016 YOG. Norway had eleven spare
rounds on their way to a 1:18:35.6 win, just 7.6
seconds ahead of Silver medalist Germany with
nine spare rounds. Italy claimed the Bronze
medal with a mere six spares, 1:30.4 back.
21 SECONDS; NO SPARE ROUNDS
The Norwegians had a 21-second lead over
Germany when Bakken took over for the an-
Fredrik Qvist BucherJohannessen - NOR
chor leg. However Germany
had a chance to win, with
Reithmueller who has been
fast on the tracks all during
these competitions. Still the
deciding battle was on the
shooting range. Bakken,
although short on energy
and power shot clean, using
no spare rounds. The German was flying around the
tracks, gaining with each
step, but one spare round
in prone and two in standing. Riethmueller was more
than 17 seconds faster on
EVENTS
his leg than Bakken, but the spare
rounds kept the young German from
topping his rival.
SIX MEDALS FOR NORWAY
The mixed relay win gave Norway
the medals lead in biathlon at the YOG,
with two Gold medals and four Silver
medals, one in each of the six competitions. •
TEXT Mariya Osolodkina
PICTURES
(YIS)/IOC
Youth Information Service
EVENTS
IBU JUNIOR CUP BIATHLON
IBU JUNIOR CUP
SUCCESSFUL SERIES FOR FUTURE
BIATHLON STARS
OBERTILLIACH
50 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
WORLD CUP / IBU CUP
MODEL
This first season, using the World
Cup/IBU Cup model of disciplines and
points, but fewer starts consisted of
three Cup competitions and the IBU
JOECH: Obertilliach (32 nations, 213
athletes), Martell (25 nations, 170
athletes), Lenzerheide (14 nations, 77
athletes) and Pokljuka (28 nations, 170
athletes).
At the conclusion of the IBU JOECH
in Pokljuka, the first seasonal titles
were awarded, with the IBU Junior
Cup Total Score titles going to Darya
Blashko of Belarus and Dominic Reiter
of Germany.
DARYA BLASHKO
Darya Blashko of Belarus won the
Women’s Total and Sprint Scores, besides that, she also won the first-ever
Junior Cup competition; the women’s
sprint in Obertilliach, where she started with bib number one and with clean
shooting, literarily and figuratively,
MARTELL
The first season of the IBU Junior
Cup circuit concluded in mid-March
with the IBU Junior Open European
Championships. It would be an understatement to call this first season
simply a success. It was overwhelmingly successful; a chance for the biathlon stars of tomorrow to compete
against their peers while gaining international experience several times
in a season; not just at the IBU YJWCH.
Podium Sprint
Junior Women Obertilliach
EVENTS
also finished first, writing her name in
a biathlon history.
That win set the stage for the rest of
her season, adding podiums in Martell
and Lenzerheide plus solid results at
the IBU YJWCH. Although she missed
podium at Pokljuka, the strength of her
early season gave her the Total Score
and Sprint titles.
“It was very important for me to win,
primarily because it is the result of a
IBU JUNIOR CUP BIATHLON 1
OBERTILLIACH - AUT
SPRINT JUNIOR MEN 10 KM - 1
1. STRELTSOV Kirill
2. PORSHNEV Nikita
3. JACQUELIN Emilien
RUS
RUS
FRA
0+0
1+0
1+0
0
1
1
25:54.0
26:08.2
26:16.9
+14.2
+22.9
BLR
GER
GER
0+0
0+1
1+1
0
1
2
21:56.3
22:10.0
22:23.3
+13.7
+27.0
BLR
RUS
UKR
0+0
0+1
0+0
0
1
0
26:03.4
26:22.0
26:24.5
+18.6
+21.1
GER
GER
RUS
0+0
0+1
0+1
0
1
1
21:32.4
22:11.2
22:14.0
+38.8
+41.6
SPRINT JUNIOR WOMEN 7.5 KM - 1
1. BLASHKO Darya
2. SCHNEIDER Sophia
3. STRASSBERGER Theresa Maria
whole season work, it was a battle.
There were many strong athletes who
could beat me. I am really happy that
I could manage to win those awards. It
gives me huge motivation for the coming years.”
SEE WHERE YOU ARE
1. STRASSBERGER Theresa Maria
2. SCHNEIDER Sophia
3. KAPLINA Elizaveta
The first-year junior, whose international career started in the 2012-13
season, added to her experience competing in IBU Cups and in the Canmore
World Cup. Blashko sees these opportunities as important. “I am glad I had
a chance to start in all those different
DOMINIC REITER
The 20-year-old Reiter, like Blashko
claimed the Junior Cup Total Score by
53 points and the Sprint title. His final
spectacular weekend, with three podiums, and a 30-for-30 shooting streak
in Pokljuka ensured the titles. “I am
really happy about the Total Score, as
I was quite aware of my good position
before the JOECH started. My goal was
to obtain an individual medal there,
POKLJUKA
LENZERHEIDE
1. VARABEI Maksim
2. PORSHNEV Nikita
3. IVKO Maksym
competitions…To get better and compete at the highest level, you need to
see where you are.”
40 I 2016
biathlonworld 51
EVENTS
MARTELL - ITA
1. TRUSH Vitaliy
2. ZOBEL David
3. REITER Dominic
UKR
GER
GER
0+0
2+0
0+2
0
2
2
27:16.8
27:37.2
27:59.5
+20.4
+42.7
UKR
KAZ
BLR
0+0
0+0
1+0
0
0
1
24:31.6
24:38.7
24:42.5
+7.1
+10.9
RUS
RUS
ITA
0+1
0+1
0+0
1
1
0
27:57.7
28:04.6
28:33.0
+6.9
+35.3
KAZ
BLR
ITA
0+0
0+1
1+0
0
1
1
24:50.3
24:54.0
24:57.7
+3.7
+7.4
1. KRUCHOVA Mariya
2. BELCHENKO Yelizaveta
3. BLASHKO Darya
1. KRYUKOV Evgeny
2. TRETIAKOV Viktor
3. GHIGLIONE Luca
because it did not work out at the IBU
YJWCH. Now I consider myself really
lucky to have won the Total Score.”
INDIVIDUAL: DMITRII
SHAMAEV AND ANASTASIYA
MERKUSHYNA
Three Individual competitions were
conducted: Lenzerheide, in Cheile Gra-
distei and in Pokljuka. The fourth competition was replaced by sprints due
to the lack of snow. Russia’s Shamaev
and his teammate Kirill Streltsov finished 1-2 ahead of Austria’s Felix Leitner, who won two Gold medals and a
Bronze medal at the IBU YJWCH. at
the Junior World Championships two
gold and one bronze. The title was decided in the exciting final competition
1. PANTOVA Arina
2. BLASHKO Darya
3. RUNGGALDIER Carmen
on Pokljuka’s perfectly groomed trails.
Shamaev with two penalties finished
ninth, just .4 seconds ahead of Leitner and 25 seconds ahead of Streltsov.
Shamaev won the title by a mere four
points.
The YJWCH Silver medal and the
Podium Sprint Junior
Women - Martell
First International Competition
at Lenzerheide
The two-year-old venue at Lenzerheide, Switzerland made its international debut this past winter when it
hosted IBU Junior Cup 3 January 9-10.
This high-altitude venue at 1400 meters is surrounded by beautiful mountain scenery and a perfect setting for
Junior Cup 3.
This was the smallest of the Junior Cups, with 36 men and 34 women,
mainly because many nations like Germany and Italy were holding national
qualifying competitions for the IBU
YJWCH that were scheduled for just a
few weeks later.
GOOD CONDITIONS
Regardless of the small field, the
Lenzerheide competitions were an un52 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
qualified success. The conditions were
excellent both days even with a bit of
sleet and snow on the first competition
day. The tracks were well-covered with
snow that the organizers started making back in October, plus natural snow.
This was confirmed by former Swiss
biathlete Mattias Simmen, IBU referee
course, “both days, the tracks remained
in good condition; fair and equal for all
of the competitors from first to last.”
The Russian junior team dominated
both the individual and sprint competitions.
Stadium
Lenzerheide - SUI
SWIX SETS
NEW
STANDARD
SWIXASETS
A NEW
STANDARD
WITH
COMPLETELY
RENEWED
SWIXASETS
A NEW
STANDARD
WITH A COMPLETELY
RENEWED
WAX SYSTEM!
WITH
COMPLETELY
RENEWED
WAXA SYSTEM!
WAX SYSTEM!
740 test occasions Æ 3700 unique tests
Podium Sprint Junior
Men - Lenzerheide
740 test occasions
3700 RECIPES
unique tests
18ÆNEW
win at Pokljuka was enough for
Ukraine’s Merkushyna to claim the
7400 km of skiing distance ≈ 1/4 lap around the world women’s individual title. Although
equivalent to the distance between Lillehammer, Norway
she did not start in Lenzerheide,
7400 km of skiing distance
≈ 1/4USA
lap around the world km of skiing
distance ≈ and
1/4Seattle,
lap
around
the world her three competitions during7400
the
equivalent to the distance between Lillehammer, Norway
season gave her the win overequivalent
Natato the distance between
Lillehammer,
Norway
and Seattle,
USA
lia Ushkina of Russia.
18RECIPES
NEW RECIPES
18 NEW
PURSUIT TITLE TIES
Russia’s Nikita Porshnev and
Emilien Jaquelin of France each
had a second and fifth place in the
pursuits, resulting in each having
Natalia Ushkina - RUS
SWIX SETS A NEW STANDARD
WITH A COMPLETELY RENEWED
and Seattle,
WAXUSA
SYSTEM!
18 NEW RECIPES
7400 km of skiing distance ≈ 1/4 lap around the world equivalent to the distance between Lillehammer, Norway
and Seattle, USA
1-2 FOR RUSSIA IN
WOMEN’S INDIVIDUAL
Russian Natalia Ushkina, despite
two penalties, led her teammate
clean-shooting Kristina Reztsova
across the finish line in the women’s 12.5K. Ushkina was able to
outrun the two minutes of penalties
with her fast skiing to take the win
in 42:33.5. Darya Blashko of Belarus finished third with one penalty,
1:11.1 back.
In the men’s 15K, Ondrej Santora of Czech Republic had a single
SWIX_CNX_IBU_022015_105x205.indd 1
10.0
SWIX_CNX_IBU_022015_105x205.indd 1
10.0
94 points, tying for the seasonal
pursuit title. Ironically, French
teammates Lena Arnaud and Chloe
Chevalier also tied, with 84 points
for the women’s pursuit victory.
Lena Arnaud - FRA
IBU JUNIOR CUP:
A BIG WIN
Ivor Lehotan, IBU Vice-President
for Information, confirmed the suc-
Viktar Kryuko - BLR
Foto © ernst-wukits.de
EVENTS
THE SYSTEM FOR
WINNERS
POLE RACE SHARK
GLOVE NORDIC RACE SHARK
penalty to take first place in 39:38.1
over Russia’s Kirill Streltsov, with
three penalties, 1:39.9 back. Santora’s teammate Ondrej Hosek with
two penalties finished third, 2:11.8
back.
The shooting was surely affected
by the altitude and the tough tracks.
Switzerland’s Laura Carduff commented, “The track is brutally difficult, it is almost entirely uphill and
then you have luckily have a short
rest before shooting but the legs do
really hurt.”
Ondrej Santora - CZE
IBU JUNIOR CUP BIATHLON 4 & OECH
EVENTS
POKLJUKA - SLO
INDIVIDUAL JUNIOR MEN 15 KM
1. KRYUKO Viktar
2. DUDCHENKO Anton
3. YEREMIN Roman
BLR
UKR
KAZ
0+0+1+0
0+0+1+0
1+0+1+0
1
1
2
39:05.3
40:20.3
40:45.9
0.0
+1:15.0
+1:40.6
UKR
GER
FRA
0+0+0+0
0+0+0+0
0+0+1+0
0
0
1
39:53.3
40:28.4
40:42.2
0.0
+35.1
+48.9
BLR
GER
GER
1+1
0+0
0+2
2
0
2
25:08.0
25:10.6
25:20.3
0.0
+2.6
+12.3
FRA
FRA
GER
0+0
2+0
0+0
0
2
0
23:02.2
23:25.6
23:31.4
0.0
+23.4
+29.2
GER
FRA
UKR
1+0+1+0
1+0+0+2
0+1+2+0
2
3
3
32:56.7
33:23.9
33:38.1
0.0
+27.2
+41.4
FRA
FRA
GER
1+0+0+1
2+0+0+1
0+1+1+0
2
3
2
36:28.5
36:50.2
37:47.9
0.0
+21.7
+1:19.4
INDIVIDUAL JUNIOR WOMEN 12.5 KM
1. MERKUSHYNA Anastasiya
2. MAIER Christin
3. ARNAUD Lena
SPRINT JUNIOR MEN 10 KM
1. KRYUKO Viktar
2. REITER Dominic
3. ZOBEL David
SPRINT JUNIOR WOMEN 7.5 KM
1. ARNAUD Lena
2. CHEVALIER Chloe
3. MAIER Christin
PURSUIT JUNIOR MEN 12.5 KM
1. ZOBEL David
2. JACQUELIN Emilien
3. DUDCHENKO Anton
PURSUIT JUNIOR WOMEN 10 KM
1. SIMON Julia
2. ARNAUD Lena
3. MAIER Christin
Tuuli Tomingas - EST
cess of the IBU Junior Cup’s first season. “The IBU Junior Cup is a big win
for us; I have heard this from both the
national federations and the coaches.
Of course, we will analyze the season
and look for ways to improve in the future. We were quite pleased to see that
IBU Cup and World Cup venues agreed
to host these competitions, adding this
junior level to their programs.
Very happy we are about that
offer, the previous operators of
IBU Cups and organize IBU Junior Cups. IBU President Anders
Besseberg was very pleased and
satisfied with this new successful series; he did not expect to
see so many athletes competing
right from the beginning.
Although the Scandinavian nations did not participate this season, Lehotan is optimistic about
their future participation. “Once
they see that the IBU takes this
series very seriously; that the
structure and the entire organi-
zation are of high quality and the number of participants at the IBU YJWCH is
the same, then I can imagine it is possible that we will see even more participants in the next season.” •
TEXT
SUNDAY SPRINTS
DIFFICULT CLIMBS
Sprints on Sunday followed the individual competitions and once again,
the Russian team was prominent in the
results.
Tuuli Tomingas of Estonia won the
women’s sprint in 23:13.9, with Irina
Tomingas commented, “I’m really
happy with this victory because the
climbs here are very difficult. I stayed
clean at the shooting range and that is
particularly pleasing.”
STRELTSOV WINS
MEN’S SPRINT
LENZERHEIDE - SUI
INDIVIDUAL JUNIOR WOMEN 12.5 KM
1. USHKINA Natalia
2. REZTSOVA Kristina
3. BLASHKO Darya
RUS
RUS
BLR
0+1+0+1
0+0+0+0
0+0+0+1
2
0
1
42:33.5
43:04.1
43:44.6
+0:30.6
+1:11.1
CZE
RUS
CZE
0+0+0+1
1+1+0+1
0+1+0+1
1
3
2
39:38.1
41:18.0
41:49.9
+1:39.9
+2:11.8
EST
RUS
KAZ
0+0
0+0
0+0
0
0
0
23:13.9
23:23.5
23:33.9
+0:09.6
+0:20.0
INDIVIDUAL JUNIOR MEN 15 KM
1. SANTORA Ondrej
2. STRELTSOV Kirill
3. HOSEK Ondrej
SPRINT JUNIOR WOMEN 7.5 KM
1. TOMINGAS Tuuli
2. KRUCHINKINA Irina
3. BELCHENKO Yelizaveta
SPRINT JUNIOR MEN 10 KM
1. STRELTSOV Kirill
2. MALINOVSKII Igor
3. YEREMIN Roman
Ilka Schweikl, Jerry Kokesh
Harald Deubert
PICTURES
RUS
RUS
KAZ
0+1
0+1
2+1
1
1
3
24:54.7
25:07.9
25:14.5
+0:13.2
+0:19.8
Kruchinkina of Russia in second, 9.6
seconds back. Yelizaveta Belchenko
of Kazakhstan was 20 seconds back
in third place. All three shot clean as
well as fourth place Kristina Reztsova
of Russia and fifth place Darya Blashko
of Belarus, 23.7 and 40.6 seconds back,
respectively. Despite her fifth place,
Blashko retained her lead in the IBU
Junior Cup Total Score.
Kirill Streltsov of Russia had a single
penalty in the standing stage, but that
did not stop him from claiming the win
in 24:54.7. His teammate Igor Malinovskii gave Russia a 1-2 finish. Malinovskii
also had a penalty, finishing 13.2 seconds back. Kazakhstan picked up third
just as in the women’s sprint; Roman
Yeremin, with three penalties finished
19.8 seconds back. The win for Streltsov gave him enough points to tie with
Yeremin at the top of the IBU Junior Cup
Total Score. •
TEXT
Jerry Kokesh
Harald Deubert
PICTURES
40 I 2016
biathlonworld 55
EVENTS
IBU CUP 8 - MARTELL
TITLES ON THE LINE AT
IBU CUP FINAL IN MARTELL
KUZMINA RETURNS
Beautiful, picturesque Martell,
Italy provided the perfect winter setting for IBU Cup 8, with many of the
seasonal titles and crystal globes on
the line during this last weekend of
the IBU Cup season.
WOMEN’S SPRINT
Spectacular scenery, perfect weather and track conditions greeted the
first competitors under the blue skies
and the temperature around -2C for
the opening women’s sprint. Cleanshooting Marine Bolliet of France, perfect on the tracks confidently claimed
the victory even starting well back in
the field at number 56. Norway’s Hilde
Fenne matched Bolliet on the range,
56 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
but was not fast enough to catch her,
crossing the finish line in second.
Karolin Horchler of Germany also
shooting clean could only manage the
third place.
Bolliet commented, “I am so happy
now, as my whole season was not so
good. And it is really important to finish it with a win and a smile on the
face.”
NASTYA IS BACK
The double Olympic Champion Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia, skipped
two seasons due to the birth of her
daughter Olivia last summer, picked
Martell as the place to resume her career. Despite the long break, she had
IBU CUP 8 - MARTELL
Antonin
Guigonnat - FRA
Nadiia
Bielkina - UKR
Podium Sprint
Women 1
just a single penalty in her comeback
competition, finishing 10th and gaining World Cup qualification for next
season.
CLOSE BATTLE FOR MEN
Alexey Slepov, despite three standing penalties, finished second, just 7.5
seconds back. With his usual great
speed, the Russian flew over the penalty loops and the last lap, securing
the podium spot. Norway’s Andreas
Waernes finished in a career-best
third place, with a single standing penalty, a mere .2 seconds ahead of Florent Claude of France.
Guigonnat was inspired by Bolliet, “When I saw Marine winning with
beautiful running and perfect shooting, I thought that we guys have to do
the same.”
PURSUIT TITLES
After the flower ceremony Russia’s
Svetlana Sleptsova was awarded the
EVENTS
UNDENIABLE VICTORY
Slepov took advantage of his ski
speed and only one penalty to win the final sprint of the season. His teammate
Petr Pashchenko with late number 101
with one penalty had to battle the softening snow but flew over the final loop
to finish second and earned enough
points to claim the sprint globe. After
good results at the IBU OECH, Florian
Graf returned with renewed confidence
to shoot clean and finish third.
FOCUSED ON SHOOTING
The winner of the IBU Cup Total and
Sprint score was Nadine Horchler,
who was very happy with those titles. “I
was a little bit nervous before the race,
but now I am so glad. I am very proud
The men had conditions matching
the women. Many of them cleaned
prone but standing remained a challenge for almost everyone. Still, the
winner, France’s Antonin Guigonnat
mastered the day shooting clean and
skiing powerfully to the win. Russia’s
SPRINT WOMEN 7.5 KM - 1
1. BOLLIET Marine
2. FENNE Hilde
3. HORCHLER Karolin
FRA
NOR
GER
0+0
0+0
0+0
0
0
0
22:59.1
23:34.1
23:45.8
0.0
+35.0
+46.7
FRA
RUS
NOR
0+0
0+3
0+1
0
3
1
24:13.4
24:20.9
24:22.5
0.0
+7.5
+9.1
UKR
RUS
FRA
0+0
0+1
2+0
0
1
2
23:06.3
23:21.6
23:24.7
0.0
+15.3
+18.4
RUS
RUS
GER
0+1
0+1
0+0
1
1
0
23:06.2
23:39.7
23:43.7
0.0
+33.5
+37.5
RUSSIA
RUS 0+5 0+7 0+121:17:09.6
SLEPTSOVA Svetlana, SHCHERBININA Anna, SUCHILOV Semen, SLEPOV Alexey
FRANCE
FRA 0+5 0+4 0+9 1:18:07.8
VARCIN Coline, BOLLIET Marine, BEGUE Aristide, GUIGONNAT Antonin
UKRAINE
UKR 0+4 0+5 0+9 1:19:19.2
ZHURAVOK Yuliya, BIELKINA Nadiia, RUSINOV Dmytro, SEMAKOV Vladimir
0.0
SPRINT MEN 10 KM - 1
1. GUIGONNAT Antonin
2. SLEPOV Alexey
3. WAERNES Andreas Dahloe
SPRINT WOMEN 7.5 KM - 2
1. BIELKINA Nadiia
2. SLEPTSOVA Svetlana
3. BOLLIET Marine
SPRINT MEN 10 KM - 2
1. SLEPOV Alexey
2. PASHCHENKO Petr
3. GRAF Florian
MIXED RELAY 2 x 6 KM + 2 x 7.5 KM
1.
2.
3.
+58.2
+2:09.6
1.
2.
3.
RUSSIA
RUS
+0+ +1
NECHKASOVA Galina, SHOPIN Yury
NORWAY
NOR
+0+ +0
BRUN-LIE Thekla, CHRISTIANSEN Vetle Sjastad
FRANCE
FRA
+0+ +1
SIMON Julia, CLAUDE Florent
38:38.9
0.0
38:47.1
+8.2
39:03.0
+24.1
seasonal women’s pursuit title, while
the men’s IBU Cup pursuit score went
to her teammate Anton Babikov.
STRONG LAST LAP
Despite the perfect, windless conditions on the track and range, there
were a lot of penalties with just few
clean shooters on the second sprint
day. Nadiia Bielkina of Ukraine with
early start number 21 hit all the targets at the both stages and showed a
good speed on the track to claim her
first individual carrier podium. With
a clean prone stage Sleptsova took
the lead after prone, but one penalty
dropped her to second at finish. Bolliet
started the competition with two penalties putting her in 34th after prone.
However, she cleaned prone and flew
into the third podium spot.
of my season and this win.” Pashchenko, smiling and holding his globe
commented, “Despite the fact that my
main challengers Matvey Eliseev and
Anton Babikov were not here, I am extremely happy that I could take it.”
MIXED RELAYS TO RUSSIA
The final competition day of the IBU
Cup season started with cloudy skies,
light wind on the range and temperature around -1C.
The Russian team of Svetlana
Sleptsova, Anna Shcherbinina, Semen Suchilov and Alexey Slepov, using
twelve spare rounds, won the mixed
relay finishing with almost a minute
gap on their rivals! France followed
them in second with only nine spares,
while Ukraine used nine spare rounds
as well to finish third.
40 I 2016
biathlonworld 57
EVENTS
IBU CUP 8 - MARTELL
FOUR CONTENDERS
On the first leg Ukraine’s Yuliya
Zhuravok became the only athlete not
to use a spare round, allowing her to
leave the stadium in first. By the exchange she was caught by the fast
Sleptsova and France’s Coline Varcin.
At the second exchange France came
first, Russia 2.2 seconds back, Germany and Ukraine had 10 seconds gap
from them. To the last exchange Aristide Begue and Suchilov came .1 seconds apart. Ukraine’s Dmytro Rusinov
tagged his teammate only in 1:08.9;
Germany was only in sixth, 1:43.2 behind.
WAVING GOODBYE
Fast anchor leg Slepov increased the
lead over France’s Antonin Guigonnat
at each split. With a clean prone and
two spares at the standing, he left the
range waving goodbye to his French
rival. Guigonnat used only one spare
round, but there was no chance for
him to catch the fast Russian. Ukraine
held on to third, finishing 7 seconds
before Germany crossed the line.
LAST COMPETITION
Galina Nechkasova and Yuriy Shopin doubled the fun for Russia, taking the single mixed relay with eleven
spares and one penalty. Norway used
seven spare rounds to become second.
France scored the second podium of
the day by finishing third with one penalty and seven spares.
The battle for the final podium spots
went until the last leg. The French
team was leading during most of the
58 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
competition. After the last prone,
where Florent Claude used a spare,
clean shooting Norway’s Vetle Sjastad
Christiansen and Shopin with one
spare, reduced the gap to 20 seconds.
At the final standing Claude gifted his
rivals with four spares and penalty,
while Shopin with two spare rounds
left in first, followed by the Norwegian
in 6.8 seconds and only in 11.1 seconds
ahead of Claude; they finished in the
same order.
Shopin commented the success of
his team, “Sure, it is really great to
finish the season with those wins be-
cause Russia won in almost every IBU
Cup competition this year. We wanted
to finish what we’ve started in the
same spirit as during the whole season, and we managed to do it.”
Galina
Nechkasova - RUS
Petr
Pashchenko - RUS
NATION SCORES TO RUSSIA
Russian added to their trophy collection at the end of the day when they
picked up the Women’s and Men’s Nation Cup titles. •
TEXT
Mariya Osolodkina
Mariya Osolodkina
PICTURES
Nadine Horchler - GER
EVENTS
NEWS
MAKING THE RIGHT,
VITAL DECISIONS
12 TH REGULAR IBU CONGRESS
01 SEP - 04 SEP 2016 I CHIŞINĂU – MDA
MOLDAVIAN HOSPITALITY
Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, is
the country’s largest city, with a population of 712,000. Its history dates back
to 1466; many buildings from medieval
times have been preserved. Chisinau
is famous for its unique architecture
along with its parklands and ponds. The
symbol of Moldova is its wine industry,
with a wine trail that passes through all
wine-growing areas. In an effort to preserve its history, the country maintains
its ancient Orthodox monuments: early
Christian mountain monasteries and
medieval cathedrals.
Chisinau is easily reached by plane
and is accessible by train with a daily
connections from major cities like Bucharest and Moscow.
AGENDA
IBU President Anders Besseberg
commented on the September Congress, “I am convinced that the upcoming Congress will provide us with an
excellent opportunity to hold open discussions and consequently make the
right, vital decisions. These decisions
will equip everyone involved in our
sport with the tools necessary to tackle
the challenges in front of us.”
The current 54 full members will
have a right to vote. The IBU has two
provisional members, namely Kenya
and Ireland that are entitled to attend
60 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
Congress Hall
NEWS
EVENTS
For four days in September the capital of Moldova, Chisinau, will become a setting for a big
family reunion. As representatives from over fifty biathlon nations will set their foot on Moldavan ground, the IBU Congress will begin.
Every two years the IBU and its member federations reunite to discuss further developments
in the sport and to decide important issues. Based on the IBU Rules, the Executive Board must
convene an ordinary Congress every two years in even years. This time the 12TH Regular IBU
Congress will take place in Chisinau, Moldova September 1 – 4. The busy work days include
congress sessions, workshops, presentations, discussions and networking.
The Congess Hotel in
Chisinau - MDA
but not permitted to vote. The Congress
delegates will decide about the hosts of
the IBU World Championships Biathlon in 2020 and 2021. The competition
will be tough, with many strong candidates bidding to host 2020 and 2021
IBU WCHs. For the WCH´s 2020 Nove
Mesto na Morave (CZE), Oberhof (GER),
Antholz (ITA), Pokljuka (SLO) will
be competing for the right to host
the biggest biathlon event of the
year. As for the WCH´s 2021,
Nove Mesto na Morave (CZE),
Antholz (ITA), Pokljuka (SLO),
and Tyumen (RUS) are currently
bidding to become hosts.
Another item on the agenda is
IBU Congress 2018 venue. The
following cities are official candidates: Porec, CRO; Prague, CZE;
Oslo, NOR, Midway Utah, USA.
The upcoming Congress will
also elect Vice-President for
Sport. Three candidates be running for this position are Baiba Broka
(LAT), Max Cobb (USA) and Dagmara
Gerasimuk (POL).
BUSY SCHEDULE
On the first day of the Congress
the delegates will have an opportunity to attend one of IBU-organized
workshops: a presentation of the new
“Rules for Elections and Voting”, and
Communications workshop, focused
on the new IBU Virtual Gallery project.
The guests will proceed to Congress
Opening and dinner, hosted by the Biathlon Federation of the Republic of
Moldova.
The weekend days will be filled with
sessions and meetings and some receptions organized by the Congress
and World Championships bidding
committees.
Monday, September 5 is the scheduled departure day with some sightseeing on the schedule, before farewells are made just over two months
before the new season begins. •
Marina Dmukhovskaya
Radisson Blu, Maxim
Chumash
TEXT
PICTURES
40 I 2016
biathlonworld 61
PERSONALITIES
MARTIN FOURCADE - FRA
MARTIN FOURCADE
ANOTHER
BEAUTIFUL
SEASON
Martin Fourcade finished the 2015-16 season just like he finished the four previous ones; wearing the
Yellow Bib and triumphantly holding that big Crystal Globe above his head. That makes five in a row; a
feat no other biathlete has ever achieved. Only Ole Einar Björndalen has won more of the big Globes with
six, but not in consecutive years.
62 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
PERSONALITIES
“I am proud of this season; I have had so many
beautiful seasons in the past that it is hard to
say this was the best, but it was one of the best.”
40 I 2016
biathlonworld 63
PERSONALITIES
MR. CONSISTENCY
Yet all season long, Fourcade was
the best: week in, week out. While his
rivals came and went; he was again
Mr. Consistency among the men. He
started the season looking a bit rusty
on the shooting range with five penalties and 21st place in the Östersund
20K, just a couple of days after testing
the cross-country waters. Then in typical Fourcade style, he went on a tear
of only single digit results including
five wins and four second places until
January 22; that day he finished 28th in
the Antholz sprint.
That slip made little difference; the
tone of the season was set. The second
half was almost a mirror image with
five more wins including three individual titles at the IBU World Championships. It was another masterful season
by the “best athlete of the moment,”
according to Björndalen.
STRONG FROM THE START
A year after battling mononucleosis,
Fourcade came to the season with a
64 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
plan, one that worked perfectly once
again. “My training plan is built around
being strong from the start; I need to
be strong from the start if I want to
be confident. I do not worry about my
rivals; I just do what I need to win.”
That might be what makes Fourcade
so masterful in this complicated sport
of biathlon. He thinks about what he
needs to do to win, while the others are
trying to figure out how to beat him.
FRESHER
His preparation for this monumental season was different than other
PERSONALITIES
years. He moved to Oslo for the summer with just his wife accompanying
him; and trained there, outside of the
spotlight. With a knowing sparkle in
his eyes, Fourcade said, “After the bad
year with mononucleosis (and coming
to the season short on training after a
forced layoff), I knew when I started to
train this season I needed to be more
calm and relaxed if I wanted to be on a
better level; being in Norway with only
my wife, made me fresher for the new
season.”
ON THE TRACKS
pecially in the WCH 20K individual in
Oslo. The eventual World Champion
trailed Dominik Landertinger by a few
seconds as he headed out for the final
loop. Fourcade had already overcome
the one-minute penalty from a missed
prone shot with his aggressive skiing.
“I know how fast Dominik is on the last
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loop; my coach told me he was 3 seconds ahead. What a fight; I gave everything I had and probably more. I did
one uphill with my eyes closed because
I had no energy to open them! At the
wax cabins, they told me, ‘2 seconds;’
they lied. I just thought what a teammate told me earlier that day, ‘pain is
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That solitary training and freshness
he gained prevailed throughout the
season, especially on the tracks. It was
clear in Östersund that Fourcade was
unquestionably stronger than anyone
else on the tracks; he won the sprint by
51 seconds with one more penalty than
second place Arnd Peiffer and the pursuit by 35 seconds with two more penalties, using his skis to bury the opposition. That pattern prevailed throughout
the season and served him well, es-
PERSONALITIES
temporary; satisfaction is forever.”
Fourcade claimed victory for the 9th
time in eleven 20K individual competitions, winning by 5.1 seconds with his
skis and his mind.
KNOW MY WEAKNESSES
The multiple World and Olympic Gold
medalist was not just physically strong,
but also mentally tough as he showed
in that 20K. That mental strength is
comes from one place, within Martin
Fourcade. “I do not work with a mental
coach; I only work with myself in every
training session. I know my weaknesses; I have many. I am the only one who
knows them. I think about those weaknesses in every training session; I work
on them all year. I think that is the best
way to train mentally.”
his pursuit win in Presque Isle, his
100th day in the Yellow Bib and equaling his boyhood idol Raphael Poirée
for World Cup wins at 44. Fourcade
ended the season at 49 wins! Yet that
momentous day was not his biggest
day of the season. “I was proud of that
but my best day may have been the
World Championships sprint in Oslo.
After that, so much pressure was off
my shoulders; I felt so much peaceful than before. Then I had one Gold
medal which was my aim for the World
Championships and I was not so far
from winning the Overall World Cup.
I felt then that the season was what I
wanted it to be.” Pursuit and 20K Gold
medals sealed his Total Score title and
set him up for a possible sweep of all
four individual titles in Oslo.
HARD FIGHT
That 20K win was one of the many
highlights on the way to a sweep of all
five of the men’s Crystal Globes this
past season. The normally seriouslooking Fourcade was all smiles after
Even in the best of years, not everything goes as planned. Johannes
Thingnes Boe won the WCH mass start
and Fourcade had to “settle” for the
Silver medal which he described as a
WWW.TOKO.CH
PRESSURE GONE
“big disappointment. But I fought really
hard to get that Silver medal and I am
quite proud of it. I have lost a few beautiful competitions in my career and that
was one of them. I was proud to be a
part of this competition, the sport and
the entertainment that it provides.”
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FOURCADE MartinMALE
DATE OF BIRTH 14.09.1988
2003
TRAINER Siegfried Mazet
SKIS Rossignol
RIFLE Anschütz
BIATHLON SINCE
RESIDENCE Font Romeu
PROFESSION Soldier
HOBBIES Cycling, Running,
Windsurfing
2015/2016 SEASON
1.
89%
WORLD CUP TOTAL SCORE
SHOOTING STATISTICS
OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES
2010
2014
IN
SP
PU MS
14. 35. 34. 2.
1. 6. 1. 2.
RL MR
6.
8.
6.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
2009
2011
2012
2013
2015
2016
IN
SP
13.
10.
25.
1.
1.
1.
PU MS
18.
2.
1.
2.
12.
1.
8.
1.
1.
2.
7.
1.
15.
10.
1.
10.
10.
2.
RL MR
4.
12.
2.
2.
3.
9.
3.
11.
2.
2.
1.
YOUTH/JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
IN
5. Y
8. J
2007
2008
SP
9. Y
11. J
PU
9. Y
10. J
RL
2.
3. Y
5. J
WORLD CUP TOTAL
08/09 24.
11/12 1.
14/15 1.
09/10 5.
12/13 1.
15/16 1.
10/11 3.
13/14 1.
TOP RESULTS BY COMPETITION
1.
2.
3.
IN
10
1
1
SP
14
11
8
PU
16
8
7
MS
9
7
1
TOP RESULTS
1. 15/16 IN Oslo (WCH)
15/16 SP Oslo (WCH)
15/16 PU Oslo (WCH)
15/16 PU Presque Isle
15/16 SP Canmore
15/16 IN Ruhpolding
15/16 MS Ruhpolding
15/16 PU Hochfilzen
15/16 PU Oestersund
15/16 SP Oestersund
14/15 SP Khanty-Mansiysk
14/15 IN Kontiolahti (WCH)
14/15 IN Oslo Holmenkollen
14/15 MS Oberhof
14/15 SP Oberhof
14/15 PU Hochfilzen
14/15 PU Oestersund
14/15 SP Oestersund
13/14 MS Oslo Holmenkollen
13/14 IN Sochi (OWG)
13/14 PU Sochi (OWG)
13/14 MS Oberhof
13/14 PU Hochfilzen
13/14 SP Oestersund
13/14 IN Oestersund
12/13 MS Khanty-Mansiysk
12/13 SP Khanty-Mansiysk
12/13 SP Sochi
12/13 IN Sochi
12/13 PU Oslo Holmenkollen
12/13 IN Nove Mesto (WCH)
12/13 MS Ruhpolding
3.
12/13
12/13
12/13
11/12
11/12
11/12
11/12
11/12
11/12
11/12
11/12
10/11
10/11
10/11
09/10
09/10
09/10
15/16
15/16
15/16
15/16
15/16
14/15
14/15
13/14
13/14
13/14
13/14
13/14
12/13
12/13
12/13
12/13
12/13
11/12
11/12
11/12
10/11
10/11
10/11
10/11
10/11
10/11
09/10
15/16
14/15
14/15
13/14
13/14
13/14
12/13
12/13
12/13
12/13
11/12
11/12
11/12
10/11
10/11
10/11
09/10
SP
PU
IN
PU
SP
MS
PU
SP
SP
PU
IN
PU
MS
MS
PU
SP
PU
MS
MS
PU
PU
SP
SP
MS
PU
SP
MS
MS
SP
MS
SP
PU
SP
SP
PU
PU
SP
SP
PU
SP
PU
SP
IN
MS
SP
PU
PU
PU
SP
SP
PU
PU
SP
PU
MS
SP
SP
PU
SP
IN
SP
Ruhpolding
Oestersund
Oestersund
Khanty-Mansiysk
Khanty-Mansiysk
Ruhpolding (WCH)
Ruhpolding (WCH)
Ruhpolding (WCH)
Kontiolahti
Oestersund
Oestersund
Khanty-Mansiysk (WCH)
Fort Kent, ME
Antholz-Anterselva
Oslo Holmenkollen
Oslo Holmenkollen
Kontiolahti
Oslo (WCH)
Ruhpolding
Ruhpolding
Pokljuka
Hochfilzen
Oslo Holmenkollen
Pokljuka
Kontiolahti
Kontiolahti
Pokljuka
Sochi (OWG)
Hochfilzen
Oslo Holmenkollen
Oslo Holmenkollen
Nove Mesto (WCH)
Nove Mesto (WCH)
Hochfilzen
Kontiolahti
Nove Mesto
Hochfilzen
Khanty-Mansiysk (WCH)
Fort Kent, ME
Presque Isle, ME
Ruhpolding
Ruhpolding
Ruhpolding
Vancouver (OWG)
Presque Isle
Nove Mesto
Pokljuka
Oberhof
Oberhof
Annecy
Khanty-Mansiysk
Pokljuka
Pokljuka
Hochfilzen
Antholz-Anterselva
Antholz-Anterselva
Nove Mesto
Oslo Holmenkollen
Oestersund
Oestersund
Kontiolahti
The rest is history; four WCH Gold
medals and a Silver medal and a full
set of Crystal Globes to fill another
shelf in the enormous trophy case in
the Rossignol museum; an amazing
season for Fourcade.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
Still, Fourcade sees room for improvement. “I am a more complete
biathlete than in 2012 (when he won
three WCH Gold medals and a Relay
Silver medal). I am a person who had
some disappointments and will learn
from that…At the end of the season, I
find my weakness and say, ‘now what
can I do to improve?’ Finding those solutions makes me a bit stronger each
year.”
SUMMER AGENDA
Despite his consistent results, Fourcade’s shooting was not as good as it
might have been, so that is on his list
for summer improvements. “Being
faster in prone is something I worked
on (last year) but want to be better. Of
course being more consistent in standing; these are two ways to move forward next year…I always look to others
to learn things. For example, I watch
Simon Eder on the shooting range.
There is so much I can learn from him.”
PERSONALITIES
EMOTIONS, NOT MEDALS
The quest never seems to stop for
this man even with all of his accomplishments. His goals are no longer
specific. “I have won so much; more
than I ever dreamed. Now it is not
about results anymore. Now I am doing (biathlon) because I love it so much
and get much emotion form being a
biathlete. It is so difficult to say I want
something specific like an Olympic
Gold medal, because I already have it! I
had those goals up until Sochi, but now
I cannot have the same way of thinking. Now I am just trying to improve
my level and be as successful as I have
been; to get the same or even better
emotions than before. I am just trying
to be the most complete biathlete that
I can be.”
BEAUTIFUL SPORT
Without realizing it, Fourcade admitted to a specific goal as he moves
forward to another season and beyond.
“I really want to make biathlon more
popular. I think it is a beautiful sport
and it deserves to be more popular.” •
TEXT Jerry Kokesh
PICTURES
Evgeny Tumashov
40 I 2016
biathlonworld 67
KAROLIN HORCHLER - GER
KAROLIN
HORCHLER
PERSONALITIES
�abriela �oukalov�
Grateful for Everything
I’ve Experienced
Karolin Horchler looks back at the 2014-15
season knowing that it was special; the best
«
in her career that dates back to 2008. She had five podiums including four victories in a row; plus two relay podiums. This year Horchler
moved to the World Cup and made it to the podium twice in relays.
She capped this season with two more IBU Cup podiums and two
Silver medals at the IBU OECH in Tyumen.
68 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
It is probably not just the hard work
and every day hours of training that had
made her successful. Part of the success is hidden in her life, communication with people and in other
small things. It is also really important to take life and sport with
the sense of humor. Karolin
combines all that; she has time
for sports, for friends and family, she can take it easy or be
very persistent, she can enjoy
her life. It is no wonder that her
dreams and goals, which she
held for many years, started to
become reality.
Biathlonworld: How and why
did you decide to do biathlon?
Karolin Horchler: The answer, as a
decision on that, is easy – I came to biathlon after my older sister Nadine who
is a biathlete as well. At the age of 6, I and
my other twin sister Kristin started with
the cross-country skiing. Later, when I
PERSONALITIES
was 12 years old I changed to biathlon.
That sport gave me so much pleasure, so
I just wanted to become better and better,
wanted to improve and to achieve high
results.
BW: Did Kristin continue to compete?
KH: No, unfortunately seven years ago
she quit biathlon, so just two sisters are
left, Nadine and me.
BW: You went to biathlon after your
older sister, but what did you want to
become when you were a kid?
KH: Hard to tell. I guess, as a child I
didn’t have any special wishes or ideas
about who I want to become later...
BW: Do you remember your first big
and important achievements?
KH: Sure, I do. I remember how I competed, and my first international medal at
the Junior World Championships 2010 in
Torsby. I finished second in the individual
40 I 2016
biathlonworld 69
PERSONALITIES
HORCHLER KarolinFEMALE
competition and shot clean in all four
ranges! It was a very emotional moment
for me, as well as the whole event.
BW: You shoot clean really often, is it
your strongest side?
KH: Yes, I would say that shooting anyways is my strongest side. From the beginning of my career I could shoot especially well. Maybe one of the small secrets
is that I really like to shoot and it gives me
shooting. I like competing side-by-side
with my rivals on the tracks.
DATE OF BIRTH 09.05.1989
BW: What do you like in biathlon and
what is the hardest?
KH: I think that the most interesting
thing in biathlon is the change between
running and shooting. Those sports are
so different, but at the same time, the
athlete who can combine them well together – will succeed and will be the best.
Cooking
RESIDENCE Bad Arolsen
PROFESSION Soldier
HOBBIES Friends, Knitting,
2015/2016 SEASON
TOP RESULTS BY COMPETITION
73.
WORLD CUP TOTAL SCORE
OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
YOUTH/JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
2008
2010
IN
10. J
2. J
SP
11. J
18. J
PU
14. J
16. J
PERSONAL BEST RESULTS WORLD CUP
9. 15/16 SP Canmore
23. 15/16 MS Canmore
24. 15/16 PU Antholz-Anterselva
RL
WORLD CUP TOTAL
14/15 63.
a lot of pleasure to close all the targets,
to be as accurate as I can. But I cannot
say that I do not like to run, I do. Just here
I can improve my skills more and more,
year by year.
BW: So, probably the favorite competition is with four stages?
KH: Yes. I guess I perform best of all
in pursuits and not just because of the
70 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
BW: Maybe there is something negative?
KH: I cannot say that there is something negative, but what I do not like in
such way, it’s the mountain bike during
summer trainings.
BW: You are very positive and smiling person, probably you had funny
moments during the competitions?
BIATHLON SINCE 2001
TRAINER Gerald Hönig
SKIS Rossignol
RIFLE Anschütz
15/16 73.
KH: I think that almost every athlete
has funny situations during the career.
The last one that has happened to me
was at the final IBU Cup in Martell in the
previous season. It was a mixed relay and
I had an amusing moment at the beginning of the competition. I was the first leg
runner; the snow in the start area
was so deep, so when the gun
went off, I wanted to start
the race, but my pole got
stuck! It was funny,
but I couldn’t take it
out from the snow,
and just had to
run without it and
to push with one
pole…
BW:
Every
person has to
have some rest
after the hard work.
What do you like to do
at your free time?
KH: Probably like every athlete can
say; we don’t have too much free time. I
like to spend it with my family and friends;
I just try to enjoy my days off and don’t
waste the time. But most of all I like to
stay with my twin sister. Also I’m fond of
going away to foreign countries.
BW: Other than biathlon, what are
you good at?
KH: Hard to say… But I like to cook with
my friends and best of all I can bake.
Karolin Horchler with
BW: What is your biggest dream?
her sisters Kristin and
KH: If we talk about sport, my biggest
Nadine.
dream will definitely be – to take part in
Olympic Games and to win a medal there.
And privately – to go through life healthy
and happy; to look back one day in future
and to be grateful for everything I’ve experienced. •
Mariya Osolodkina
Evgeny Tumashov and
private archive
TEXT
PICTURES
17 QUESTIONS TO KAROLIN HORCHLER
1.Favorite book? “Das
ultimative Geschenk”
2.Movie? “Intouchables”
3.Food? Sushi
4.Competition Venue?
Canmore
5.Competition? Pursuit
6.Country? Canada
7.Place for rest? Garden
8.Singer, song? James
Blunt; “Another Love from
Tom Odell”
9.Flowers? Gerber Daisies
10.Winter and summer
sports? Kayak, Alpine Skiing
11.Subject at school?
Biology
12.Idol in biathlon? Ole
Einar Björndalen
13.Hobby? Meet with friends,
reading
14.First thing you will do in
a free time? Paragliding
15.If you had a chance to
meet someone for one
day who would it be?
Angela Merkel
16.What don’t you like in
people the most? Not
being on time.
17.Three main advantages
in your character? Focused, honest, very kind,
consciousness for body,
soul and mind
PERSONALITIES
TORA BERGER - NOR
TORA BERGER CHAT WITH A CHAMPION
KEY TO SUCCESS:
HAVING FUN
The Second Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway were not only about the competing, but also
about learning and sharing. During the Games a group of young biathletes had a unique opportunity, to listen
to and chat with the Athlete Role Model, Double Olympic Gold medalist and multi World Champion Tora Berger
of Norway, who told them about her sports life, shared some secrets, gave advice and answered questions.
72 biathlonworld
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TORA BERGER - NOR
when you learn how to deal with them,
can you become a real winner. “When I
was young, I was not a good loser, but
my mother always told me to be happy for the person who wins. So I just
learned how to be happy for others.”
WRITTEN TASKS
LEARNING TO LOSE
Berger, one of the most well-known
biathletes, retired just two seasons
ago. Her first World Cup start was
back in 2002. At that time, which
seems unbelievable now, she was not
fast enough and could not shoot well
Before winning her first World
Championships medal in 2006, Berger
learned much more than that. When
she became older, she also understood how to bring
something positive even from
a bad start, “Every time when
I had a bad race, I was trying
to figure out what I did well
and what was bad, so in the
PERSONALITIES
better!” She continued, “And especially during the competitions, you never
should give up, your opponents always
can make mistakes… Even if you are
leading by one minute, you still have
to fight until the finish line because
everything can happen.”
HAVE FUN
Berger has been not only watching
all of the biathlon competitions during
CHAT WITH A CHAMPION
enough to have good results. Now
she admits that back then she never thought about being an Olympic
Champion. “I was doing something I
liked and I had fun. I was motivated for
the training, but never thought about
the possibility of winning Olympic and
WCH medals.” Every athlete goes
through doubts and losses, but only
next race I could be better.”
Then she revealed one of her
most important and effective
secrets, “To do that, I was
writing down the tasks before
the competitions. I always
wrote what I had to do in the competition and it was really important for me;
what I have to think about every time
I am on the course, at the stadium or
on the shooting range. After the race I
also wrote down everything I remembered, good and bad. That helped me
to find right tasks for the next competition.”
NEVER GIVE UP!
Still, many athletes have times when
they want to quit. Even big names are
not exceptions of this rule. “Yes, I
guess that ever athlete has difficult
moments in their career. For a few
years I was not good and even thought
about quitting. Probably, I was over
trained and did not have good motivation. But then I just decided to try
harder and become the best. You have
to find out what you are doing wrong
and what you have to do to become
the YOG, but also awarded the medalists with the mascots at the ceremonies. She really enjoyed being a part of
that and watching the young stars rising, “I see that they are really fast; they
shoot well. I know how it is like and
understand that it’s not so easy here
with a lot of spectators, but they manage to do it. What I see at the stadium…
are the good athletes and the future of
biathlon.” She gave important advice
to all young athletes for whom she is
a great example of a person who went
to the top of her sport through hard
work and determination. “Have fun!
Sure, you have to train and work hard,
but if you want to become the best, you
have to have good motivation and have
fun. Having fun is the most important
thing.” •
TEXT
Mariya Osolodkina
Mariya Osolodkina
PICTURES
40 I 2016
biathlonworld 73
PERSONALITIES
DOMINIC REITER - GER & DARYA BLASHKO - BLR
IBU JUNIOR CUP
TOTAL SCORE
WINNERS
74 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
The last day of the IBU JOECH in
Pokljuka saw the first winners of
the IBU Junior Cup Total Score;
Dominic Reiter of Germany and
Darya Blashko of Belarus. Winning
an overall title takes more than
just a couple of podium spots, but
consistent, stable results throughout the whole season.
PERSONALITIES
Dominic Reiter
Darya Blashko
Dominic Reiter of Germany
Namely steady results were the recipe for Germany’s 20-year-old Dominic
Reiter, who had three podiums and finished in the top nine in every competition. In his first international season,
the young German won both the Total
Score and the Sprint Score.
Reiter started cross-country skiing
as a five-year-old in his home town of
Ruhpolding. He trained with friends,
which has always made it fun, “At the
local ski club it was important to first
properly learn properly cross-country
skiing technique. Technical training
was first, then shooting the air rifle at
age of eight.” His family has a long history in biathlon; both his father Alois
and uncle Ernst, a two-time Olympic relay medalist preceded him in
the sport. He has worked with many
coaches in his young career, but it all
started with this first coach, his father. One of his birthday presents was
shooting training for him and friends at
the Chiemgau Arena.
Shooting
Accordingly, he is an excellent shot,
especially in difficult conditions. He
went 30-for-30 at the JOECH in Pokljuka. Early in the season, although his
ski speed was lacking, he was always
finishing near the top of the results. “I
am good at keeping my nerves under
control and staying focused…Having
nerves of steel and being able to focus
totally on the shooting gives me confidence.”
Head-to-head Battles
It might be assumed that the individual competition is his favorite, but
he prefers the head-to-head competitions, especially when there is a gap
to close by attacking in the first loop.
In the same manner, he loves the
side-by-side situations on the shooting range. No matter the competition,
Reiter looks forward to every one and
strives to be on the podium every time.
A young German has become a better
40 I 2016
biathlonworld 75
PERSONALITIES
competitor this season, more relaxed
and self-confident. “I am no longer the
world champion in training that I used
to be a few years ago.”
Ambition
Yet, he feels that his true strength is
simple: ambition. “If you are not ambitious, you will not go to training as often and you will not like it that much:
if you do not like your training, you will
not be consistent. If you are not consistent, your competition will not work
out, either.” With that in mind, his next
goal is the IBU Cup circuit.
Darya Blashko of Belarus
For the 20-year-old Blashko, this
was not the first international season;
she started her international career in
2012-13. Last season at the IBU YJWCH
at her home stadium in Raubichi,
Blashko won the youth women’s sprint
Gold medal and another in the relay.
Only a silly mistake prevented her to
take one more medal of the Championships; she was battling for the second
place in the pursuit, cleaned the final
standing stage, but cross-fired and finished 56th!
That individual Gold was special for
her. “That was my first international
medal and in some way it might be unexpected, but we trained and worked a
lot for that. So it became really important and memorable for me.”
Acrobatics and Circus
Biathlon has not been Blashko’s only
sport; she participated in acrobatics
and circus starting at the age of six.
“I really liked it, but than just only by
chance switched to cross-country skiing. Later, at the time when I had to decide to do sports or to continue studying, I was invited to try biathlon. From
the age of 12-13 I started to shoot; that
is my favorite part of this sport, I always
liked to shoot. And now it is my strongest side, I guess, just have to “pull” a bit
the skiing…”
In her first years as a biathlete
Blashko’s results were less than great,
but she understood that to improve, she
had to continue to work. She trained
hard for many years; this season
showed that her efforts were not in vain.
Motivation
The young Belarusian was glad to finish the season winning not only in Total,
but also the Sprint score. “It was very
important for me to win, primarily because it is the result of a whole season
work, it was a battle and it gives me
huge motivation for the coming years.” •
TEXT
Mariya Osolodkina
Harald Deubert
PICTURES
76 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
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BIATHLON MOMENTS
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further enhance its premium value and commercial strength
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PERSONALITIES
NEWS
END OF THE SEASON RETIREMENTS:
TCHEREZOV I OS I BOLLIET
KOCHER AND MORE
At the time when most athletes ramped up their training for a new season, more than a dozen
recently retired biathlon veterans are at home, no longer concerned about two-a-day training
sessions, but thinking about starting a life away from biathlon.
competition! His second big highlight
came at the 2011 IBU WCH in Khanty
Mansiysk when he teamed up with
Björndalen, Emil Hegle Svendsen, and
Tarjei Boe for the relay Gold medal.
Being just days after the Japanese tsunami; the quartet donated their prize
money to tsunami relief. Since that
time, Os has bounced around from
the World Cup to the IBU Cup. His last
World Cup appearances were at Canmore and Presque Isle this season.
He was on the podium in the Canmore
mixed relay, where the Norwegians
finished third.
ALEXANDER OS - NOR
The group of recent retirees includes
Russia’s Ivan Tcherezov, Germany’s
Andi Birnbacher, Canada’s Zina Kocher, Marine Bolliet of France and the
Norwegian Alexander Os, who waited
until June 1 to make the tough decision
to retire after 13 years of World Cup
competition.
MEMORABLE COMPETITIONS
The 36-year-old Os has been around
the World Cup and IBU Cup circuits
78 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
since 2003, when he made his debut
in the Oslo Sprint, with an inauspicious
56th place. Over the course of his career, he had seven individual World
Cup podiums but never a victory. Yet he
was a part of two memorable competitions: the 2009 IBU WCH Pursuit when
15 men skied off the tracks, eventually resulting in two jury decisions that
gave teammate Ole Einar Björndalen
the Gold medal and his 86th World Cup
win. Os won the Bronze medal in that
Congress Hall
IVAN TCHEREZOV - RUS
EMIL
HEGLE SVENDSEN
Team Madshus
International
A JOB!
Os, well-known for his bearded
face, commented on his retirement,
in a Facebook post. “After some
back and forth, I have decided to step
down my biathlon career. Biathlon is
a lot of fun, but now I have come to
a place in my life where it is time to
move on. In addition to our beautiful
daughter Solveig, we are expecting another daughter in July, we
have bought a house and I got a job.
I got a job! Who would have thought
that?! I am truly grateful for all help
and support given by family, friends,
fans, coaches, support teams, servicemen, sponsors and other helpers.” The retired biathlete starts as
CEO of the Reistadlopet on June 1st.
TCHEREZOV
Os’ retirement comes on the heels
of twelve other veteran biathletes
Birnbacher like Tcherezov overcame injuries late in
his career on several occasions. He had six World Cup
The Congess
Hotel inpodiums in his career. The 35-year-old
wins
and thirteen
endedChisinau
his career
on a high note with a single penalty 9th
- MDA
place in this year’s IBU WCH in Oslo. His final competition
came ironically in the same stadium where he claimed his
first ever World Cup win. Birnbacher, who has two small
children said he planned to spend more time fishing and
camping with his family.
Photo: Nordic Focus
ANDI BIRNBACHER - GER
PERSONALITIES
NEWS
THE IBU AND THE BIATHLON FAMILY SAY, “CONGRATULATIONS!” TO ALL OF THESE RETIRING ATHLETES AS THEY MOVE ON TO
CHRISTIAN DELORENZI - ITA
FRITZ PINTER - AUT
who called it a career this past spring.
The most prominent of this group were
two-time Olympic medalist and multi
World Champion Ivan Tcherezov of
Russia and Andi Birnbacher of Germany. The always smiling Tcherezov who
came back from a devastating rollerski
accident was a seven-time World Cup
winner, with 19 career individual World
Cup podiums. He won a Relay Silver
medal in the 2006 Torino OWG and Relay Bronze at the 2010 Vancouver OWG,
plus three WCH Relay Gold medals in
2005, 2007, and 2008.
aly’s Christian DeLorenzi and Christian
Martinelli.
The 38-year-old Pinter is the oldest
of this year’s retirees. Over a 16-year
career, he had three World Cup individual and eight relay podiums, including
a 2005 WCH Relay Bronze medal.
Similar to Pinter, DeLorenzi had two
individual and four relay podiums in
PINTER, DELORENZI
AND MARTINELLI
Other men who moved on after this
season were Austria’s Fritz Pinter, It-
ZINA KOCHER - CAN
Kocher was the most veteran of this group,
with 267 World Cup starts. The long-time CaCongess Hotel
nadianThe
biathlete
frominCanmore was a threetime Olympian
and-had
Chisinau
MDAthe honor of competing
in her home-country’s 2010 Vancouver OWG.
In addition to competing in the Vancouver
Games, she also had the distinction of being
on the IBU Cup podium at home in Canmore
in 2015.
80 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
his 12-year World Cup career that included 292 starts and competing in the
2006, 2010 and 2014 Olympic Winter
Games.
SEVEN LADIES
Several ladies left the sport for
new challenges this year, including France’s Marine Bolliet, Barbora
R O L L E R
S K I S
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CHRISTIAN MARTINELLI - ITA
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MARINE BOLLIET - FRA
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AUDREY VAILLANCOURT - CAN
NATALYA BURDYGA - UKR
HANNAH DREISSIGACKER - USA
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BARBORA TOMESOVA - CZE
Bolliet, who was a 2014 Olympian,
ended her career on an almost perfect
note, with three podiums in her final
IBU Cup at Martell this March that in-
cluded a clean-shooting sprint win. The
28-year-old split her career World Cup
and IBU Cup circuits, with and 89 and
78 starts respectively. •
TEXT
Jerry Kokesh
IBU Archive
PICTURES
40 I 2016
biathlonworld 81
PHOTO FINISHES
PHOTO
FINISHES
THRILLS, DRAMA AND
SUSPENSE
First Part of the First Foot
The photo-finish was first introduced at the 1912 Summer Olympic
Games in Stockholm for track and
field, where bunched extremely tight
finishes are common in the sprints and
hurdles.
The photo-finish concept is very simple; today a camera aimed at the finish
line taking 10,000 frames per second
records the finish in the minutest detail. The photo shows the winner even
82 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
if the competitors are only millimeters
apart. This is a big step up in accuracy
from the first systems that “only” recorded 1,000 frames per second.
Defining a winner by photo-finish,
Back in the 1970’s, biathlon like all other
sports was hand-timed, using mechanical stopwatches; getting the final results
compiled sometimes took all day and into
the evening! Those days are long gone, with
electronic and digital technology producing
almost instantaneous timing and results.
One of the most revolutionary developments in sports timing is the photo-finish
that only came to biathlon just over 10 years
ago, but now is an essential part of every
competition.
skiing is “based on the first part of
the first foot crossing the finish line”.
This explains the commonly used skithrust-out technique at the finish line.
Many photo finish photos look very unnatural: bended ski poles, stretched
out bodies or hands. The reason for
that is the photography technique: the
recording is made “over time” rather
than “over space”.
According to the IBU Event and
Competitions Rules, the photo-finish
camera “must be placed exactly in
line with the finish line and in such a
position that the entire finish line is
seen by camera”. A second camera,
also installed at the finish, records
Photo finish: the poles
are bended as the
recording was made
“over time”, not “over
space”
Photo Finish
Camera
PHOTO FINISHES
Photo finish
equipment
the competitor’s number as they cross
the finish line. The combined images
eliminates errors and clearly defines
the winner in extremely close finishes.
Photo Finish Tie
Martina Beck and
Sandrine Bailly tie in
2003 WCH pursuit
The first recorded tie at the photofinish in biathlon history occurred at
the 2003 IBU World championships in
Khanty Mansiysk when Martina Beck
and Sandrine Bailly tied in the women’s pursuit. The results board first
showed Beck as the winner, then Bailly. The photofinish would have defined
the winner, but right before the finish
the camera was moved by a journalist
who was trying to make his way to the
podium area. Due to the lack of evidence, a tie and two Gold medals was
announced at the press conference.
Looking back at this milestone in
her career, Bailly commented, “I had
no tactics; I had no experience with a
situation like this. I tried to do my best
PHOTO FINISHES
on the last sprint. I did not know how
to reach with my leg at the end of a
sprint, which I tried to learn after that.”
Two Men on Top of
the Podium
The photo-finish is used in pursuits,
mass starts and relays, where the first
person crossing the line is the win-
ner. This rule, however, has an exception: sometimes when the technical
problem arises with time-tracking in
a sprint or individual, the photo finish
is used as a backup. This happened
in the 2014 Antholz sprint. Germany’s
Simon Schempp was declared the
winner, with Italy’s Lukas Hofer .3
seconds back. After examining the
finish line back-up systems, the jury
concluded that the photo beam signal
from Schempp was mistakenly taken
from the athlete right next to him. The
jury decided that Schempp and Hofer
should share first place. SIWI DATA’s
Christian Winkler, sitting next to
Schempp and Hofer at the press conference, explained this special tie.
“When athletes finish, we have three
different systems recording the times:
the transponders, the photo beams,
and the photo finish. The rule for the
sprint and individual is that the photo
beam is the official time of the athlete.
When athletes arrive together, there
is real time processing of the signals
of that moment, because you want to
have result in real time. When Simon
Schempp arrived I was alerted because his time kept jumping back and
forth. We decided to check our backup systems, and showed our evidence
to the jury.”
Hofer, with his first World Cup win
that day, went from elated to disappointed to elated in just 20 minutes.
“The first moment I was really happy,
and then I saw that Simon was coming and was really sad about the small
.3 seconds gap. I thought it was OK,
Svendsen and Fourcade at Sochi Olympics
Mass Start
2014 Antholz sprint
Winners Lukas
Hofer ITA and Simon
Schempp GER
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as I was still on the podium at my home town. Walking to
the prize ceremony, we saw that we were both in first; I was
again extremely happy.”
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Olympic Gold on the Line
One of the more dramatic photo finishes in biathlon history
is final sprint duel between Emil Hegle Svendsen and Martin
Fourcade in the mass start at the Sochi OWG. This was not
the first time the two men’s duel ended with a photo finish:
in 2013 World Championships Pursuit in Nove Mesto the they
were so close, that SIWIDATA had to turn the picture blackand-white to see who was first. In Sochi, Fourcade drove his
leg for the finish line, hoping for the miracle as he crashed in
the snow, but missed his third Olympic Gold medal by 3 cm.
Svendsen, who almost lost his chance Gold in a careless
victory gesture, commented, “I thought I had things under
control, but when I saw the result of the photo finish, I didn’t
have things so under control. I was surprised to see how
close it was.”
The photo of Svendsen with his hands up in the air, celebrating the seemingly secure victory and Fourcade in the
snow made headlines worldwide; the thrill of Gold and the
heartbreak of Silver at the end of a fiercely fought battle. •
TEXT
achs
Profi-W in Germany
made
Marina Dmukhovskaya
IBU Archive
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Sochi Olympics Mass Start: Photo Finish image
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BIATHLON NATIONS
IN MEMORIAM
“MY HERO,
OUR SUPERMAN”
SO LONG…
KLAUS SIEBERT
MEDAL-FILLED CAREER
The native of Saxony in Germany came
to the sport in the days of big-bore rifles,
multiple shooting ranges in the forest
when the 20K individual was the big biathlon competition…and accurate shooting was the route to medals. He stormed
into the spotlight as a 19-year-old with a
sprint Bronze medal at the 1975 World
Championships in Antholz. Yet his first
really big success in 1976 ironically came
in Minsk; the same place where he ended
his coaching career in 2014. At the “old”
Raubichi 40 years ago, he won two World
Junior titles in the sprint and relay for
the DDR. Those were the springboard for
a short but successful World Cup career
from 1978-1980. In that span, he won
three WCH Gold medals and two more
Bronze medals, plus an Olympic Silver
medal in the relay at Lake Placid, New
York in 1980. One of Siebert’s biggest triumphs was at the 1979 World Championships in Ruhpolding when he topped Alexander Tikhonov in the 20K for the Gold
medal and then teamed up with Manfred
Beer, Frank Ulrich and long-time friend
Eberhard Rösch for Gold in the relay. Siebert then won the World Cup Total Score
that year to cap a career season. After the
Olympic medal in 1980, Siebert retired as
an athlete.
COACHING: SETTING AN
EXAMPLE
Ending an athletic career sent him reluctantly in the direction of coaching. He
started as a sports school shooting coach.
That first job helped him form a philosophy he followed throughout his career. In
an interview several years ago, Siebert
explained, “It is important to build up a
relationship with the athletes. You have to
be an example for the athletes; you have
to show them the way. What I demand
from myself, I also demand from the athletes and they accept that. That makes for
86 biathlonworld
40 I 2016
Biathlon lost one of the great ones on April 24, with the passing of the
man in the flaming hat Klaus Siebert; multi-World Champion, Olympic
medalist World Cup Total Score Champion and in his final acts, a
determined and inspirational coach. Klaus Siebert died after a long
battle with cancer, just four days shy of his 61st birthday.
an open relationship that allows you to
talk about problems in training and personally. That makes the coach the first
person the athlete talks to; the best situation in the coach/athlete relationship.”
LOVE A CHALLENGE
Those relationships are what carried
Siebert through his days as an assistant
coach in Germany, shooting coach in Austria, then on to China and finally Belarus.
He always loved to push the envelope,
never settling for the easy route. “I love
a challenge; it does not always have to
be easy. What matters is good personal
chemistry between the coach and the athletes.”
OWE HIM EVERYTHING
That chemistry first melded as he guided
German stars including Katja Beer, Sven
Fischer and Ricco Gross to biathlon glory.
Gross commented, “I have many fond
memories of Klaus. He supervised me
for 20 years; I could not have found one
much better; I owe him everything. He
was always a role model; not only as an
athlete and coach, but as a human being.
He always demanded everything from his
athletes, yet he always managed to educate his athletes and see them as mature
adults. That is probably the most important lesson I learned from him.”
AN OLD SOFTIE
Siebert, at times seemingly gruff was really an old softie; carrying his heart on
his jacket sleeve and under that hat with
the flames that was his trademark during
the last years in Belarus. When a friend
approached on the shooting range, the
smile always came out, but just as quickly
he would be grimacing, full of pain like
on the “infamous” day when Darya Domracheva cross-fired in the mass start at
Oberhof. Days like these were insights
into his soul, according to Domracheva.
“Klaus” behavior in different situations
was a lesson for me; how he looked at and
accepted challenges and how he reacted
to our losses.” That was part of his charm
and character; a deep and caring attitude
that never faded.
COACH, PSYCHOLOGIST
AND FRIEND
Siebert’s days in Belarus were the icing
and cherry on the cake that topped his career. Coming to the team in 2008, he took
IN MEMORIAM
a young group of women that included
the YJWCH Silver medalist Darya Domracheva and built a close-knit team that
has consistently been in the top six in the
Nations Cup since that time. It was not always easy, but the coach kept pushing the
envelope, challenging them daily. They
trained in near his home in Altenburg, the
work with Klaus was learning. It was not a
purely a lesson like in school, but lessons
with some advice.”
In a tribute to Siebert, Nadezhda Skardino
said, “He was for us the coach, psychologist, teacher and friend…Our team was
the biathlon family!!!”
The tough-love and hard work paid off
when Domracheva broke through with
the Bronze Olympic medal in Vancouver.
She followed up with two World Cup wins
in Kontiolahti just weeks later, building
a pattern of individual and team success
that continued for the next four years.
MY HERO
Italian Alps, the far east of Russia and of
course in Minsk; absorbing his sometimes
harsh lessons. “How many times do I have
to explain this,” he blared on the shooting range when someone did not follow
through on a basic shooting drill. Yet a
few hours later, he was laughing at lunch
with them. Domracheva commented on
the learning process. “For me all the
Cancer struck him for the first time in
December 2010; the team was shaken
but not beaten. They finished third in the
Oberhof relay; sending heartfelt finish
line greetings to their coach who was
watching on television; he was in their
hearts and minds.
The veteran coach retuned the next summer, with support from the Belarusian
Federation and his fellow coaches. Seeing
him struggle with chemotherapy while
coming back to coaching his biathlon family, Domracheva, who saw him as a father
figure, called him, “My hero.”
MEDALS AND A TEAR
As the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games
approached, the cancer returned, but Sie-
BIATHLON NATIONS
bert deferred treatment until after the
season. He calmly guided Domracheva
to her record three Gold medals and a
Bronze by Skardino. The charismatic
Siebert was quietly beaming with pride
the night Domracheva accepted that first
Gold medal and each evening thereafter.
Hearing her say quietly, “I won them for
my coach,” brought a tear to his eyes.
A SMILE
After his death, she said, “In the stadium,
he was the best support I could have. All
we can do now is to keep the best memories and the many nice moments we had
with him…I will only try to think about him
with a smile.”
The triple Olympic Champion added, “But
maybe most important; what everybody
can learn from Klaus, is to love the active
life, life with sport...and fight for it.”
OUR SUPERMAN
Skardino summed up Klaus Siebert’s
impact. “Thank you for all the time you
spent with us; taught us, were happy
with us, and upset us. Thank you that you
have been with us; you are in my heart, in
my soul, and in my memory! You are our
Claus! Zibych! Zibushka! You are our Superman!” •
TEXT Jerry Kokesh
PICTURES
IBU Archive
40 I 2016
biathlonworld 87
BIATHLON NATIONS
FRENCH TEAM
s
s
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u
S
m
a
e
T
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c
Fren
w
m
a
e
nt, T
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p
o
Devel
This is not a Martin Fourcade/Marie Dorin Habert phenomenon; it has
been going on throughout the modern
era of biathlon. Although France has
not won the Men’s or Women’s Nations Cup in the past 15 years, they
have only been out of the top 5 once.
There are a lot of pieces to the puzzle
that makes French Biathlon a model
for success.
26 Senior Athletes
This season, the French Team had
a combined men’s and women’s 38
podiums in World Cup competitions,
16 combined IBU Cup podiums and
10 medals in the combined, YOG, IBU
YJWCH and IBU JOECH. When it came
to the 2016 IBU WCH in Oslo, Team
France left with eleven medals, while
home team Norway had nine, Germany
eight and Russia zero. The combined
World Cup/IBU Cup success comes
from a team comprised of nine women and seventeen men! By comparison, the Russian team had twenty-two
athletes competing the first IBU Cup/
World Cup weekend alone and a much
bigger group over the course of the
season. Russia counts their total number of biathletes in six figures; France
has 143 official biathletes over the age
of 19! Size is a factor in making any
team successful, not just the French
team. Obviously, a bigger initial pool
of potential biathletes increases the
88 biathlonworld
39 I 2016
possibility of finding the big talents
like Martin Fourcade, Johannes
Thingnes Boe or Laura Dahlmeier.
Cross-Country to Biathlon
Yet talent does not always manifest itself into stardom and success.
There are many other considerations
and factors. Development is an area
where the French Federation excels.
Christophe Vassallo, Co-Development
Director commented, “Our program
starts with the ski clubs; we do not have
biathlon clubs, only seven regional biathlon teams, who just compete with air
rifles. We do not have enough biathletes
to have regional competitions with smallbore rifles. Early on, at around age 12 or
13, cross-country skiers interested in biathlon start working with the air rifle, to see
if they like biathlon. There are currently 190
girls and 230 boys in this under-14 program.
At the next level, U16, we currently have
73 girls and 93 boys who are still primarily
cross-country skiers, with about 20% fully
committed to biathlon. They go to the regional
air-rifle competitions with the regional coaches. Once an athlete commits to biathlon, we
ask them to buy a small-bore rifle.”
Never Too Early
The bottom line here is many years of work
with the air rifle and biathlon as a “hobby” sport
of sorts, teaches “good habits.” All of this early
biathlon shooting development is supervised by
FRENCH TEAM
BIATHLON NATIONS
Year after year, winter after winter, the French team, with a small pool of athletes from a country that
can hardly be called “biathlon crazy” takes on the powerhouses of Germany, Norway and Russia and
regularly stands above them on the podium.
e
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39 I 2016
biathlonworld 89
BIATHLON NATIONS
FRENCH TEAM
dedicated volunteer coaches, not paid staff. Vassallo continued,
“We say it is never too early to start biathlon shooting. Our success comes not from starting early, but from offering a chance
to many young athletes to see and be a part of our vision.”
Sports Schools
The sports school comes into play at the next level. The
Fourcade brothers, Beatrix, Dorin Habert all came through this
program starting at age 18. “By this time, the athletes all have
more than five years of shooting experience. The sports school
is really the ground level for development to international competitions; the best athletes are fully committed to biathlon at
this point. Currently, we have 29 girls and 51 boys in our U19
program.”
Our history; your future.
Larsen Biathlon has considerable experience and expertise in biathlon
and shooting sports. We specialize in biathlon rifles and accessories.
The company is owned by Kjell Gunnar Larsen, a renowned gun maker
for over 40 years; making stocks work for both hunting and competition
rifles.
Several Olympic and championship medals have been won, using Larsen
Biathlon equipment. This has made our name known internationally.
Larsen Biathlon is synonymous with quality.
The sport of biathlon started as a training exercise
for Norwegian soldiers. We took this back home,
and out to the world, once again.
Thank you for choosing our products for your
success!”
Hans Ivar Larsen
Kjell Gunnar Larsen
Teamwork
The most important part of the French system, according to Vassallo, “is
teamwork. At every level we are lucky to have coaches who don’t count the time
they spend on the field. All those coaches feel the same way.”
Atmosphere; Trust
This system has a relaxed feel to it, much like the competitive French teams.
Of course the pressure for success builds at the highest levels, but everyone is
pulling in the same direction. Siegfried Mazet, long-time men’s shooting coach
emphasized the importance of teamwork and atmosphere as crucial to their
success. “The French Team from my side works in a very nice atmosphere.
Each group (coaches, waxing, physiotherapist, athletes, and headquarters) all
want to work together. Everyone has some responsibility in creating the team
spirit. Everyone brings something to the table with their own personality, and
most importantly, they trust each other.”
Professional, But Time for Fun
Personalities are a big part of this team. Former Biathlonworld TV producer
Joris Wauman commented, “Everyone takes their job extremely seriously (staff
and athletes), and are very professional about it, but they don’t take themselves
very seriously at all. All the lead characters are an embodiment of this from the
coaches and top athletes like Martin and Marie to the wax team. Head Coach
Stephane Bouthiaux is very professional but protects his athletes like a father.
Within this group, there is always time for a laugh and some fun. They don’t
hesitate to go out during the season; having some leisure time in the city, or an
evening out in a restaurant. This leads to a great team spirit.”
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Handmade in Germany
Team Spirit
That team spirit shows up every week. Several years ago,
a French athlete commented, “I like being on the podium,
but if it is one of my teammates, then I am just as happy.”
Dorin Habert said after she and teammate Anais Bescond finished 1-2 in the WCH 15K, “It is so wonderful to
share this with a good friend that I have known for many
years.”
Relays add to the team spirit have always been a big part
of the French success story. Fourcade commented after
the WCH Mixed Relay Gold medal in Oslo. “This was a very
emotional win for us today; our first team win since 2009.”
There are many intangibles that comprise the ongoing
success: youth development, an eye for talent, great athletes and dedicated coaches. Still other nations have many
of these same things plus more resources and have trouble
matching the French success.
Skating
Skilanglauf
Cross-Country Skiing
All About Believing
According to Vassallo, “We had some top athletes in the
nineties who showed the way. Since then everybody at every
level knows and believes that success is possible.” •
TEXT
Jerry Kokesh
Christian Manzoni
www.novapedsports.de
PICTURES
Germany since 1879
Schein Orthopädie Service KG
Hildegardstr. 5
42897 Remscheid, Germany
Tel. +49 2191 910-0
Fax +49 2191 910-100
info@schein.de
THE FAN
IN THE HAT…
Norbert Starke is hard to miss in the crowd at any World Cup;
he is well-known mustachioed white-bearded man wearing
the hat adorned with 330 pins topped with a stuffed animal
mascot. The jovial German is possibly the most recognizable
biathlon fan of all time. Over the past 24 years of his passionate travel from World Cup to World Cup, he has gone from just
a biathlon fan to that special fan in the hat that shows up on
virtually every TV broadcast during the season. Biathlonworld
met the legendary fan in Oslo where he talked about his biathlon passion, the stadiums and athletes and … the key to his
successful, 55-year marriage: two separate televisions.
BW: How long have you been
travelling to the events?
NS: I have been travelling to biathlon events since 1992, for 24
years now. When I had a full-time
job, I could not travel that much, but
since I have retired 12 years ago, I go
to almost all events, usually seven or
eight World Cups a season.
BW: How do you afford to travel to so
many events?
NS: Before retiring, I was in German border guard. I still have a part time job in the
off-season as a security guard. All of my salary
from that job pays for my winter travels.
BW: Who is your favorite athlete at this moment?
NS: I like a lot of the Russian athletes. I wish athletes
like Anton Shipulin or Evgeniy Garanichev were winning
more medals this season! Naturally, I support all the athletes
on German team. However, each nation in biathlon deserves
to win. We saw it here in Oslo, in the men’s relay when Canada
finished third. Good job, Canadians!
92 biathlonworld
38 I 2016
BW: What is your impression of the atmosphere in Oslo?
NS: This is my seventeenth time in Norway and sixteenth time in Oslo. I like it
here; the only thing I wish was different is
when Norwegians are not on the podium,
there are not many people at awards ceremony… Not many people cheer at the finish
when the home team is not on the podium…This
is similar to what I observed in Khanty Mansiysk.
BW: Have you established personal connections to the athletes?
NS: I have met and talked to many athletes, including Martin Fourcade, Anton Shipulin and all
of the Germans. I was friends with Victor Maigourov when he was competing; his German is
very good. Biathlon is different from football; biathletes are accessible. You are
closer to them in the stadium. They
are very approachable, you actually get a chance to talk to
them from time to time.
Norbert Starke
FANCLUBS
FAN ZONE
BACKGROUND
Darya Usanova (KAZ)
@rexskiwax
BW: What does your family think about
your hobby and your travelling?
NS: My wife and I have been married for
55 years. I also have three grown-up kids
and five grandchildren. They all watch
biathlon, but my grandchildren still go to
school, so they can’t travel with me. As
for my wife, she does not like biathlon.
We have two televisions. Mine is in the
basement where I watch biathlon and
she has her own upstairs.
of
The King
Ski Wa xes
Made in Finla
New!
BW: What is your favorite
venue?
NS: I like all the venues, but
I think the bigger, the better.
The atmosphere is just not the
same in the small stadiums with
fewer spectators.
BW: What is so fascinating about biathlon?
NS: Biathlon is about dignity and mutual
respect: the athletes compete fairly; the
same can be said about the spectators.
Everyone is friendly; they all say “hi” and
are respectful to all of the teams when
they cheer. •
Marina Dmukhovskaya
Evgeny Tumashov, Christian
Manzoni
TEXT
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IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF
BIATHLONWORLD MAGAZINE:
HOT TOPIC
• N EW LOOK FOR IBU: REBRANDING
• S UMMER TRAINING:
PREPARATION FOR THE NEXT SEASON
EVENTS
• I BU SUMMER WCH 2016
OTEPÄÄ - EST
• 1 2 TH REGULAR IBU CONGRESS
CHISINAU - MDA
PERSONALITIES
• L AURA DAHLMEIER, DMITRY
GUBERNIEV AND OTHERS
The next Biathlonworld Magazine debuts in
end of October 2016
PUBLISHER
International Biathlon Union
Peregrinstraße 14, 5020 SALZBURG - Austria,
Telephone: +43-6 62-85 50 50, Telefax: +43-6 62-8 55 05 08,
homepage: www.biathlonworld.com
EXECUTING EDITORS
Peer Lange, Marina Dmukhovskaya, Jerry Kokesh, Mariya Osolodkina,
PICTURES
Christian Manzoni, Evgeny Tumashov, Mariya Osolodkina, Harald Deubert,
PLARAS, Youth Information Service (YIS)/IOC, IBU Archive, Private Archive
TRANSLATION
Anna Bauer, Daria Shirokova, Yulia Haitz, Anastasiya Gromova, Marina
Bokareva, Samuel Gray, Maria Greinwald, Sonja Willner
ARTWORK
dzign Werbeagentur, D-83125 Eggstätt, rudolph.fischer@dzign.de
PRINT
Ortmann Team GmbH, D-83404 Ainring, www.ortmannteam.de
ADVERTISING MANAGEMENT
Peer Lange, peer.lange@ibu.at
DISTRIBUTION
DPV Direct GmbH, Düsternstraße 1-3, D-20355 Hamburg
The opinions expressed in this magazin are those of authors and not neccessarily
those of the Publisher. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means or stored in any retrieval system of any nature without prior
written permission. Application for permission for use of copyright material including
permission to reproduce extracts in other published works shall be made to the publishers. Full acknowledgement of author, publisher and source must be given.
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