02/13/2005
The Russian relay squad dealt the rest of the competition a crushing defeat today, winning the Women 4 x 6 km Relay by a massive 3:06.4 minute margin. In difficult conditions at the shooting range, only the Russians were able to deliver solid performance. Olga Pyleva, Svetlana Ishmouratova, Anna Bogaliy and Olga Zaitseva combined for only six errors. France finished second despite 13 misses and a penalty, ahead of Belarus (nine errors, + 4:17.6 minutes).
The Norwegian foursome, consisting of Frode Andresen, Egil Gjelland, Stian Eckhoff and Halvard Hanevold compensated for the absence of Ole Einar Bjoerndalen easily, winning for the third time in four Relay this season. They combined for a total of twelve errors but managed to avoid a visit to the penalty loop – unlike the squads from Russia (one penalty) and Germany (two penalties). In the end, Russia was 51.6 seconds behind Norway, the German deficit was 1:08.8 minutes (biathlonworld.com)
Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen took part in a cross country race in Reit-im-Winkle. Last test before the Skiing World championship was awful for Norwegian. He ranked 40-th and lost 1min 50 sec to the winner Slovakian Martin Bajcicak.
02/12/2005
German Kati Wilhelm profited from a lucky draw and won the Women 7.5 km Sprint despite two errors at the shooting range. Wilhelm was the first athlete on the track, which softened in the course of the race, making it impossible for later starters to equal the German's strong running performance. Poland's Magdalena Gwizdon scored her best result ever and finished second, ahead of Chinese Xianying Liu in third. Both shot perfectly but were unable to find the right speed on the track. (www.biathlonworld.com)
02/11/2005
32 year old Sergei Rozhkov (RUS) prevailed after an incredibly close
decision in the Men 10 km Sprint today. The winning margin ahead of
Sweden's Bjoern Ferry, the unfortunate runner-up, was merely three
tenths of a second. Ferry surged forward through the ranks with an
incredible final lap, climbing from eighth position after the
standing shooting session. Alexandre Syman (BLR) finished in third
rank, just another 0.3 seconds behind Ferry. It was the first career
podium finish for both. Rozhkov, Ferry and Syman all shot clean.
(biathlonworld.com)
02/10/2005
Russian Anna Bogaliy returned from the altitude of the Armenian training camp to climb onto the top of the podium in San Sicario today. In a race that was characterized by rather poor shooting despite excellent conditions, a single error at the shooting range was good enough for the win. Her compatriot Olga Pyleva also suffered just one miss to make it a Russian double at the top. She was 26.5 seconds behind Bogaliy. German Kati Wilhelm has two misses but secured the final spot on the podium with a fast fifth lap. She was 48.6 seconds behind at the end. (biathlonworld.com)
02/09/2005
German Michael Greis capitalized on the absence of Ole Einar Bjoerndalen to record his first career victory in the San Sicario Individual. A perfect performance at the shooting range combined with an amazingly strong effort on the course allowed him to move into the focus of attention in the first of the pre Olympic test competitions in Torino Cesana-San Sicario. His 53:18.7 minute total was 15.3 seconds better than the time of Russian Sergei Tchepikov, who came rather close to defeating the German despite an error at the shooting range. Sergei Rozhkov (RUS) shot flawlessly and finished third, 32.4 seconds behind Greis. (biathlonworld.com)
02/07/2005
This year’s YJWCH will be held in Kontiolahti, North Karelia,
Finland. 30 nations have registered to participate in the event.
These nations are: AUT, BLR, BIH, BUL, CAN, CRO, CZE, EST, FIN, FRA,
GER, GRE, HUN, ITA, KAZ, KOR, LAT, LTU, MDA, NED, POL, ROM, RUS, SLO,
SUI, SVK, SWE, UKR and USA.
The total number of athletes is 331, and with team officials the
number is 496.
A delegation of 11 persons from Presque Isle, the organizer of YJWCH
2006, comes to observe the event.
The conditions in Kontiolahti are once again excellent. There is 1
meter snow on the ground on the biathlon stadium, and the weather
has been favorable in all other respects as well.
To ensure a skilled and eager staff for the event, the organizers
have arranged a course for Kontiolahti secondary school students.
The course is called “Guide”, and the course program includes all
areas of organizing an international biathlon event. Students who
take the course get one credit for their studies register. There are
45 students taking the course, so it is quite popular among the 211
students of Kontiolahti secondary school.
The arrangements are in schedule, and international guests are
expected to join the joyful atmosphere in Kontiolahti. The opening
ceremonies in Joensuu Areena will be a memorable event, with the
patron of the event, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, Ms.
Paula Lehtomäki giving welcome speech.
For spectators and tourists, there are 40 km public skiing tracks in
the vicinity of Kontiolahti biathlon stadium. Kontiolahti Sport Club
office and Karelia Expert Tourist Service Ltd are willing to help
tourists with arranging accommodation as well as any other wishes. (biathlonworld.com)
British team named athletes, who will start in WCh and the rest races of WC.
Men: Joe Brooks, Tom Clemens, Lee Jackson, Marc Walker (Team captain).
Women: Emma Fowler, Adele Turner (britishbiathlon.com)
Swiss biathlete Matthias Simmen became twice champion in national challenge. He defeat all rivals, the most dangerous of them was Simon Hallenbarter (silver and bronze). Women`s sprint won Selina Gasparin, while Ines Schwarzer was the best in pursuit. (swiss-ski.ch)
German national team named biathletes, who`ll join the main team in the stages will additional quota of athletes (9 athletes) in Pokljuka and Khanty-Mansiisk. They are Sabrina Buchholz, Jenny Adler, Jörn Wollschläger, who were inveted to the starts with main team this season and a rookie Karsten Pump. (ksta.de)
02/02/2005
German women team is suffered from illness. Katrin Apel, Katja Beer, Andrea Henkel and Kati Wilhelm, and also coach Harald Boese are ill and going to start common trainings only at the end of this week. (www.heianorge.de.vu)
Biathlon skier Lars Berger was by many considered a big favorite to win the Norwegian 15-kilometer championship on Thursday. He started very fast and built a lead, but couldn’t hold on to the end. Berger was leading by 11 seconds to Ruud Hofstad at 1.8 kilometer. But he paid for the tough opening pace and ended up in third place 25.8 seconds behind the winner Ruud Hofstad. It was 4.2 seconds up to Jan Egil Andresen in second. His third place probably secured a spot on the Oberstdorf Worlds team.
- I have felt good in this period, but can feel that I have done eight races in a short time frame. Especially the last ones at altitude. But I’m happy with bronze, said Berger. (www.fasterskier.com)
The first IBU Press Conference
of the year took place today during the World Cup in Ruhpolding.
The main topic of the press conference was the present state of the
sport as seen by the IBU and the IBU strategy for the future. IBU
President Anders Besseberg commented at the beginning that the IBU
is very pleased with the current season. "We had to postpone two
competitions in Holmenkollen and in Oberhof for weather reasons, but
we have managed to keep our competition program on schedule until
now."
The main discussion was about the next TV contract for biathlon. The
current contract with EBU ends after the 2006 Olympic Winter Games
OWG in Torino. "We have more interested parties, who want to pay
more than they have paid in the past. The value of the biathlon is
growing."
Besseberg continued in his statement with information about IBU
Golden Classics, former Biathlon Trophy venues - Oberhof, Ruhpolding,
and Antholz, which are paying additional prize money, in addition to
the IBU prize money. These three venues will contribute 30,000 Euros
for each race. The fourth biathlon venue from this season, in this
group of Golden Classics is Khanty-Mansiysk,. They will pay for
World Championship Mixed Relay an extra purse of 30.000 Euros,
20.000 Euros, 10.000 Euros for the top three in the race.
Besseberg praised also the biathlon show event at Schalke between
Christmas and New Year Eve. "It was fantastic propaganda for our
sport. Hardly in any other place, with the exception of the relay
competition during ECH 2004 in Minsk with 80.000 spectators, can we
ever have 50.000 spectators as at Schalke. For me would be a good
idea to have two mixed relays in the period between Christmas and
New Year. But we want to hear the opinion of our athletes."
He describes his thoughts about the first World Championships Mixed
Relay in Khanty-Mansiysk during the World Cup Final. "It was a
format built here in Ruhpolding and then in Schalke, and now with
two men and two women we expect to see in Khanty-Mansiysk very close
race.”
The Executive Board of the IBU will decide during its meeting at the
end of June the World Cup locations for the period 2006-2010. "There
are many good candidates. Their bidding is now going to the
Technical Committee of the IBU and the decision will be taken in the
June," Besseberg added.
During the coming discussions with the organizers of the World
Championships 2009 in Pyongyang {KOR}, the possibility to have the
competitions in the evening because of time difference from Europe
will be discussed.
At the end of the Press Conference, Besseberg announced that the IBU
Headquarter has received a letter from IOC, in which it is stated
that IOC is understanding the IBU that it does not intend to request
any changes with regard to its disciplines for the 2010 Olympic
Winter Games in Vancouver in comparison to the program of the Torino
Games. (biathlonworld.com)
01/31/2005
Robin Clegg of Ottawa and Marie-Pierre Parent Ancienne Lorrette, Que., each won gold medals Sunday at the Canadian Biathlon Championships. Parent crossed the finish line in the women's six-kilometre mass start win in seventeen minutes 42.9 seconds, hitting all 10 targets. Clegg, who has been competing on the World Cup circuit, picked up his third consecutive gold by winning the 7.5-kilometre mass start in 19:09.8 with a clean shooting score. (biathloncanada.ca)
National biathlon and cross counrty championship of Great Britain were held in German Ruhpolding. Mark Walker and Tom Clemmens became champions among men accordingly in individual and sprint. Emma Fowler was totally the best among women winning all 3 races. (britishbiathlon.com)
01/23/2005
Sandrine Bailly (FRA) overcame a total of three errors in the two standing shooting sessions to win her third World Cup of the season. Her running was again absolutely excellent. She defeated Norway's Tora Berger, who didn't have a single miss all day, by 5.4 seconds. Behind them, German Simone Denkinger accomplished the first podium finish of her career. She suffered her only penalty when she missed with her final shot and was 17.8 seconds behind Bailly at the end.
Ole Einar Bjoerndalen scored his fifth win in a row today, his seventh of the season and the 50th of his career. He is clearly in a league of his own at the moment, shooting better than ever - he only missed one of fifty targets in the Antholz races - and usually recording the fastest course times. Russian Sergei Tchepikov ranked second and thus achieved his strongest result of the season, but he was really just the best of the rest. He had one error and finished 1:52.4 minutes behind Bjoerndalen. Halvard Hanevold (NOR) ended up in third position after two penalties (1:59.9 seconds behind). (biathlonworld.com)
01/22/2005
German Kati Wilhelm returned to the top of the podium after almost two years without a victory. Perfect shooting made the difference for her today, while some of her rivals ran somewhat faster but struggled at the range. Two Norwegians followed her onto the podium. Youngster Tora Berger also shot flawlessly and was 26.1 seconds behind Wilhelm at the end. Her team mate Linda Tjoerhom ran faster than Wilhelm but had two errors. She had a deficit of 38.5 seconds. (biathlonworld.com)
01/21/2005
Ole Einar Bjoerndalen (NOR) won his fourth race in a row today, his fourth sprint of the season, his sixth World Cup of the season and the 49th World Cup of his career. He thus set a new record for Nordic skiing, improving the old record of the legendary Bjoern Daehli. Bjoerndalen overcame an error at the shooting range to win the race in the total time of 27:06.8 minutes. His team mate Frode Andresen was 5.9 seconds slower today to finish second (one error), German Sven Fisher ranked third, 12.7 seconds behind (one error). (biathlonworld.com)
01/20/2005
Olena Zubrilova (BLR) won her first race of the season today, hitting all of her targets in the Women 15 km Individual in Antholz-Anterselva. In difficult conditions, she won in the time of 49:39.2 minutes and defeated Sweden's Anna Carin Olofsson by 35.5 seconds. Olofsson finished ahead of Russian Olga Pyleva despite an error in the final shooting session. Pyleva cleared in all four session to finish third, 50.2 seconds behind Pyleva. (biathlonworld.com)
01/19/2005
Norwegian Ole Einar Bjoerndalen delivered another perfect race today, outclassing the rest of the World with perfect shooting and the fastest course time of the day. His winning time of 54:48.0 minutes was a full
2:33.5 minutes better than that of China's Chengye Zhang, who sensationally finished second despite a penalty. Nikolay Kruglov (RUS, no error) ranked third, 2:44.4 minutes behind Bjoerndalen. (biathlonworld.com)
The President of the Russian Biathlon Union told “Sport-Express” (Russian national sport newspaper) about his first impressions of German stages and about future plans of Russian team. Read.
01/17/2005
Sixth stage of the European cup took place in Italian Ridnaun-Val Ridanna. German Simone Denkinger and Russian Maxim Tchoudov won all the races (sprint, pursuit and relay) as well as Olga Pyleva and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen in the World cup.
01/16/2005
Ole Einar Bjoerndalen equalled Olga Pyleva's success in Ruhpolding today. Like the Russian, he scored his third victory in as many races.
Bjoerndalen won in the time of 36.44.5 minutes, had two errors at the shooting range and defeated his young compatriot Lars Berger, who missed three of his targets, by 37.9 seconds. German Ricco Gross pleased the German fans with his third rank finish. He had just one error and was 51.6 seconds behind Bjoerndalen at the end.
Chinese Xianying Liu tragically lost a sure first career victory when she fell on the final descent into the Ruhpolding stadium. Olga Pyleva (RUS) used the chance to take the victory, passing the devastated Liu on the final stretch. Pyleva thus scored a perfect third win in Ruhpolding, after ranking first in the relay as well as in the sprint. Liu shot perfectly and was just 1.3 seconds behind at the end. Linda Tjoerhom (NOR) had two errors, just like Pyleva, and finished third (+5.3 seconds). (biathlonworld.com)
01/15/2005
Ole Einar Bjoerndalen won his third race of the season in Ruhpolding today. It was the 46th victory of his career. He recorded the fastest total time despite an error in the standing shooting session, finishing 3.6 seconds ahead of his rival Raphael Poiree who shot flawlessly. Italian Rene Laurent Vuillermoz sensationally finished third, 25.9 seconds behind Bjoerndalen. He also hit all of his targets and scored his best result ever. (biathlonworld.com)
01/14/2005
Russians Olga Pyleva and Svetlana Chernousova shared the top spot of the podium after they completed the Women 7.5 km Sprint in exactly the same time today. Both shot flawlessly and delivered impressive performances on the track as well. Pyleva took the lead in the Total Score with her first win of the season; Chernousova won her first race ever. German Martina Glagow also hit all of her targets and finished third, 4.9 seconds behind the two. (biathlonworld.com)
01/13/2005
The Norwegian relay squad returned to the top of the podium with a very impressive performance today. Egil Gjelland, Stian Eckhoff, Halvard Hanevold and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen combined for just four errors to win the Ruhpolding relay in the time of 1:28:46.2 hours. Germany had no chance to challenge the Norwegians at the end, collecting a total of nine errors and finishing 1:57.2 minutes behind in second rank. The team from Austria surprised with third place, 2:41.2 minutes behind, despite three penalty laps. (biathlonworld.com)
01/12/2005
The Russian ladies confirmed their status as being among the strongest when it comes to the relay with another win in Ruhpolding today. Although Norway looked like a sure winner towards the end of the race, Olga Zaitseva was able to cross the line in first place after disastrous shooting by Liv Grete Poiree. The Russian team, comprised of Olga Pyleva, Anna Bogaliy, Svetlana Ishmouratova and Zaitseva, only had six errors at the shooting range and won in the time of 1:19:28.4 hours, 36.8 seconds ahead of Germany (one penalty lap, eleven extra shots) and 44.4 seconds ahead of Norway (two penalty laps, eleven extra shots). (biathlonworld.com)
01/11/2005
Three weeks after the beginning of World Cup, with two Norwegian stages and the Swedish one, Sandrine Bailly looks very impressive with her trophies.
After some free days and the great Christmas show in Germany Sandrine speaks about the first races of the season, which are very promising for the January stages. Her interview to www.biathlonfrance.com
01/10/2005
In Garmisch-Partenkirchen took place the 5-th stage of European cup.Russians Dmitry Yaroshenko and Irina Malgina were best in individual races. German Karsten Heymann and Svetlana Chernousova, who were sent from the World cup. In general qlassification Pavel Rostovtsev and Julia Makarova stayed in the lead.
01/09/2005
Uschi Disl pleased the German crowd scoring her third win of the season in the Oberhof Pursuit. She was able to combine yet another tremendous running performance with decent shooting (five errors) to regain the yellow bib of the leader in the World Cup Total Score. Her team mate Kati Wilhelm (five errors) ranked second after she duelled with Norway's Linda Tjoerhom (four errors) on the final lap. Wilhelm crossed the finishing line 18.9 seconds after Disl, Tjoerhom followed 2.2 seconds later.
Frenchman Raphael Poiree
proved that he is truly a master of the Pursuit today, keeping his
composure in difficult conditions at the shooting range to overcome
Germans Sven Fischer and Alexander Wolf. Poiree had two errors and
won in the time of 35:25.7 minutes. Fischer (three errors) was 5.3
seconds behind and defeated his team mate Wolf in an exciting duel
on the final lap.
Wolf had 2 errors and improved from 14th rank at the start to finish
third. (biathlonworld.com)
01/08/2005
Perfect shooting did the trick for Norwegian Linda Tjoerhom today. She was the only one among the 89 starters who hit all ten targets and won the third World Cup race of her carrer. Germans Uschi Disl and Kati Wilhelm finished second and third, each with two errors and incredibly strong performances on the cross country course. Disl will have a 22.6 second deficit going into the Pursuit tomorrow; Wilhelm's gap is 44.5 seconds.
01/07/2005
German Sven Fischer won his fourth race of the season in front of his home crowd in Oberhof. Perfect shooting and especially a great performance on the track took him past four Norwegians in ranks two to five. Frode Andresen finished behind Fischer. He also stayed clear of the penalty loop but was 14.9 seconds slower than the German. Egil Gjelland, the winner of the Oestersund Pursuit, took the final spot on the podium. (biathlonworld.com)
Last interview with the president of Russian biathlon union Alexandr Tikhonov and with biathletes Sergei Rozhkov and Ivan Tcherezov. Read.
01/06/2005
Germany won the second Relay of the season despite a penalty lap and a total of 15 shooting errors today. Incredible running performances by Uschi Disl and Katrin Apel put the German team into a comfortable lead which Andrea Henkel and Kati Wilhelm defended all the way to the finish. Only the Russian squad was able to challenge the German dominance today, finishing second with just seven shooting errors (45.0 seconds behind). Slovenia ranked third in the end, 2:16.1 minutes behind Germany (one lap, six errors).
The Swedish squad won a World Cup Relay for the first time since 1993 today. Great performances by Bjoern Ferry and especially Mattias Nilsson and Carl-Johan Bergman counterbalanced the four shooting errors and 1:28.7 minute deficit that starter David Ekholm had burdened his team mates with. Germany finished second (35.4 seconds behind, two penalty loops, nine errors), ahead of Russia (+ 43.3 seconds, eight errors).The Norwegian team ....was disqualified after the race because of a breach of safety regulations by Lars Berger. Berger had mistakenly stepped off the mat during the standing shooting session as he scrambled for some rounds of ammunition he had dropped. (biathlonworld.com)
01/05/2005
In Priekuļos have taken Latvian biathlon championship. There were competitions in sprint and mass-start. Jānis Bērziņš biathlon federation president`s son won men` 10km race. 22 years old Bērziņš defeated Ilmars Bricis, the favourite of the race, by just one second. The most famous latviat biathlete gained revenge in mass-start, when he won lefting behind Kristaps Lībietis. According to this starts was formed national team for the closest World cup stages:
Ilmars Bricis, Raivis Zimelis, who didn`t start because of injury, Jānis Bērziņš and Kristaps Lībietis. Edgars Piksons stays at the reserve. (sportnews.lv)
Norwegian biathlete Gunn Margit Andreassen gave birth to the son. His height is 49sm, weight - 3,1kg. His father Frode Andresen and Gunn Margit decided to name him David.
01/02/2005
Official site of American biathlon
Federation usbiathlon.com informs about national trial for World
championship.
Denise Teela of Anchorage finished fourth in Friday's sprint, the
final race of the biathlon World Championship team trials, falling
short
in her bid to join three fellow Alaskans on the U.S. team.
Lanny Barnes of Durango, Co., matched her win in Thursday's pursuit
race with a victory in the sprint as the three-race series ended in
heavy snow and sleet at the Maine Winter Sports Center in Fort Kent.
Barnes missed only one prone target while covering the 7.5-kilometer
course in 26:23
Just four seconds behind Barnes was Sarah Konrad of Laramie, Wy.,
who secured the final spot on the women's World Championship team.
Konrad
will join Barnes on the team, as will pre-qualifiers Rachel Steer of
Anchorage and Jill Krause Beste of St. Cloud, Minn.
Tracy Barnes, Lanny's sister, took third with three penalties, 1:30
back. Teela was fourth, 1:37 back. She had five penalties.
Jacob Beste of Minneapolis and Tim Burke of Paul Smiths, N.Y.,
joined prequalifiers Jay Hakkinen of Kasilof and Jeremy Teela of
Anchorage,
Denise's husband, on the men's World Championship team.
