Biathlon IBU Junior & Youth World Championships 2019

[RobtheAggie 340]

I agree that Dougherty and his generation are still a few years away from making a real impact on the World Cup.  With the retirement of Lowell Bailey and Tim Burke, Dougherty has been thrust to the head of the US team.  

 

This is what makes youth/junior Worlds so much fun.  As much as I would love to see Ukaleq Astri Slettemark make a major impact on the Womens biathlon world, it will still be about 5 years before we can see what she will really become.  It does make for a great story.

[Werloc 3,164]

Especially with the fact that not every single winner is destined for crystal globes, but when you see someone special, you just know. For example, Laura Dahlmeier's relay performance demonstrated that she is a winner and that she will be big.

[Werloc 3,164]

So, since we sparked the discussion, I thought I would look this up for funsies:

 

How many junior category medalists we actually lost in Biathlon since 2009/10 season

 

2010

Yann Guigonnet (France) - individual gold (quit in 2015)

Michael Galassi (Italy) - individual silver (quit in 2013)

Tom Barth (Germany) - individual bronze, sprint bronze (quit in 2013)

Reka Forika (Romania) - individual gold (quit in 2016)

Leslie Mercier (France) - individual bronze) (quit in 2011)

Evgeny Petrov (Russia) - sprint gold, pursuit bronze (quit in 2011)

Manuel Muller (Germany) - sprint silver, pursuit gold (quit in 2011)

Sophie Boilley (France) - sprint silver, pursuit gold (quit in 2015)

Vladimir Alenishko (Russia) - pursuit silver (quit in 2014)

Nastassia Kalina (Russia) - pursuit silver (quit in 2015)

2011

Aleksandra Alikina (Russia) - sprint silver, pursuit silver (quit in 2013)

Tom Barth (Germany) - sprint gold, pursuit bronze (quit in 2013)

Ludwig Ehrhart (France) - sprint bronze, pursuit silver (quit in 2012)

Nikolay Yakushov (Russia) - individual bronze (quit in 2012)

Florie Vigneron (France) - individual bronze (quit in 2011)

2012

Elena Badanina (Russia) - individual bronze (quit in 2013)

Kurtis Wenzel (Canada) - individual gold (quit in 2013)

Marius Hol (Norway) - individual silver (quit in 2012)

Elena Ankudinova (Russia) - sprint gold (quit in 2015)

2013

Dino Butkovic (Croatia) - individual silver (quit in 2014)

2014

Jarle Gjoerven (Norway) - pursuit silver (quit in 2014)

Dany Chavoutier (France) - individual bronze (quit in 2014)

2015

Aleksandr Dediukhin (Russia) - individual silver, sprint gold (quit in 2015)

Vemund Gurigard (Norway) - individual bronze, sprint silver (quit in 2015)

Lena Arnaud (France) - sprint gold (quit in 2018)

2016

Susanna Kurzthaler (Austria) - individual gold (quit in 2016)

Andrea Baretto (Italy) - individual silver (quit in 2017)

2017

Nikita Lobastov (Russia) - individual bronze (quit in 2018)

Kirill Streltsov (Russia) - sprint silver (quit in 2018)

2018

Sturla Laegreid (Norway) - individual silver (quit in 2018)

Sverre Aspenes (Norway) - sprint bronze, pursuit gold (quit in 2018)

 

A lot of these cases, the juniors dropped the sport mostly after the junior championships, some of them trying a couple of IBU races. A lot of Russians and Norwegians, I think some might have quit since it's very hard making the team and most of others left the sport, because it was their hobby and they did not want that as a career after university. Lastly, a lot of them are medalists from the individual race. Sidenote: Tom Barth looked like he had a lot of potential.

 

 

 

Edited January 29, 2019 by Werloc

[RobtheAggie 340]

Junior Mens 4x7.5 up soon then women's 3x6.

 

 

[RobtheAggie 340]

23 hours ago, RobtheAggie said:

Finish 

Germany

Slovenia

Italy

One quick story posted here about the race.

The Slovenian skier, Alex Cisar, actually lost his pole on the last lap, managed to catch back up and pulled ahead in the last 50 m to get the Silver.

[RobtheAggie 340]

After Shoot #1 for the 4x7.5

Kazakhstan - Roman Yermin is skiing for them on this leg

Switzerland

Finland

Slovenia

Russia

[RobtheAggie 340]

Shoot #2

Kazakhstan  0+0

Finland  0+2

Germany 0+0

Russia 0+1

Belarus 0+)

[Gianlu33 4,556]

What amazing shooting for Cappellari 

[Gianlu33 4,556]

It's "only" bronze but it was a great performance for our guys! Congrats

 

 

[Monzanator 4,501]

13 hours ago, Werloc said:

So, since we sparked the discussion, I thought I would look this up for funsies:

 

How many junior category medalists we actually lost in Biathlon since 2009/10 season

 

2010

Yann Guigonnet (France) - individual gold (quit in 2015)

Michael Galassi (Italy) - individual silver (quit in 2013)

Tom Barth (Germany) - individual bronze, sprint bronze (quit in 2013)

Reka Forika (Romania) - individual gold (quit in 2016)

Leslie Mercier (France) - individual bronze) (quit in 2011)

Evgeny Petrov (Russia) - sprint gold, pursuit bronze (quit in 2011)

Manuel Muller (Germany) - sprint silver, pursuit gold (quit in 2011)

Sophie Boilley (France) - sprint silver, pursuit gold (quit in 2015)

Vladimir Alenishko (Russia) - pursuit silver (quit in 2014)

Nastassia Kalina (Russia) - pursuit silver (quit in 2015)

2011

Aleksandra Alikina (Russia) - sprint silver, pursuit silver (quit in 2013)

Tom Barth (Germany) - sprint gold, pursuit bronze (quit in 2013)

Ludwig Ehrhart (France) - sprint bronze, pursuit silver (quit in 2012)

Nikolay Yakushov (Russia) - individual bronze (quit in 2012)

Florie Vigneron (France) - individual bronze (quit in 2011)

2012

Elena Badanina (Russia) - individual bronze (quit in 2013)

Kurtis Wenzel (Canada) - individual gold (quit in 2013)

Marius Hol (Norway) - individual silver (quit in 2012)

Elena Ankudinova (Russia) - sprint gold (quit in 2015)

2013

Dino Butkovic (Croatia) - individual silver (quit in 2014)

2014

Jarle Gjoerven (Norway) - pursuit silver (quit in 2014)

Dany Chavoutier (France) - individual bronze (quit in 2014)

2015

Aleksandr Dediukhin (Russia) - individual silver, sprint gold (quit in 2015)

Vemund Gurigard (Norway) - individual bronze, sprint silver (quit in 2015)

Lena Arnaud (France) - sprint gold (quit in 2018)

2016

Susanna Kurzthaler (Austria) - individual gold (quit in 2016)

Andrea Baretto (Italy) - individual silver (quit in 2017)

2017

Nikita Lobastov (Russia) - individual bronze (quit in 2018)

Kirill Streltsov (Russia) - sprint silver (quit in 2018)

2018

Sturla Laegreid (Norway) - individual silver (quit in 2018)

Sverre Aspenes (Norway) - sprint bronze, pursuit gold (quit in 2018)

 

A lot of these cases, the juniors dropped the sport mostly after the junior championships, some of them trying a couple of IBU races. A lot of Russians and Norwegians, I think some might have quit since it's very hard making the team and most of others left the sport, because it was their hobby and they did not want that as a career after university. Lastly, a lot of them are medalists from the individual race. Sidenote: Tom Barth looked like he had a lot of potential.

 

 

 

 

Yes, these juniors from top biathlon nations like Germany, Norway or Russia are like destined to be left on the sidelines due to the strenght of the World Cup team. However those Russians for instance could think about changing nationality to Belarus or sth like that? I'm sure Germans or French could represent Belgium or Luxembourg for what it's worth? Of course there are some extreme cases like South Korea too (Frolina, Laphsin).

 

Poland & Czech Republic or Slovakia are quite different for that matter, any successful junior faces very little competition in the seniors and has a clear shot at World Cup full-schedule. Davidova is making the most of that already but Zuk simply isn't (and that in a season where Guzik & Gwizdon are out of the WC squad).