Biathlon IBU Cup 2020 - 2021

[Fly_like_a_don 1,142]

Russian clean sweep! Valeria with 2 misses but almost winning the sprint. She could make it to the main team of WC in future. 

[hckošice 15,522]

Zuzana Remeňová with points in her absolute seniors debut. Nice

[dcro 10,210]

Briliant showing for our team. 137th, 143rd, 145th and 146th (out of 146). Can't wait for the relay. 

[Werloc 3,191]

1 hour ago, dcro said:

Briliant showing for our team. 137th, 143rd, 145th and 146th (out of 146). Can't wait for the relay. 

Kozica ran a good sprint though, her final placement was better than everything that Lithuania tried to do today in both the women and men races  

 

Also, it's very interesting how the 15 yo with the worst shooting was actually the best Croat.

[dcro 10,210]

50 minutes ago, Werloc said:

Kozica ran a good sprint though, her final placement was better than everything that Lithuania tried to do today in both the women and men races  

 

Also, it's very interesting how the 15 yo with the worst shooting was actually the best Croat.

He better not be too good otherwise Slovenia will steal him away. 

 

But, really, there are two options for our biathletes. Either stay here and be mediocre at best, or try joining Slovenian training camps. If you are any good though, an ultimatum for nationality change will be coming up (as it was the case with Jakov Fak and Dijana Ravnikar).

[Werloc 3,191]

24 minutes ago, dcro said:

He better not be too good otherwise Slovenia will steal him away. 

 

But, really, there are two options for our biathletes. Either stay here and be mediocre at best, or try joining Slovenian training camps. If you are any good though, an ultimatum for nationality change will be coming up (as it was the case with Jakov Fak and Dijana Ravnikar).

I think the fact that you had 6 athletes start in the ibu cup and have two athletes running in World Cup is already a pretty decent sign that Croatia is trying to step up their game. Sure, the infrastructure is better elsewhere, but you have to start somewhere and if there will be more athletes flooding into the Croatian team, I'm sure you can pick yourselves up from this slump and become stronger players in the biathlon field.

[rybak 3,303]

Anyone noticed that  Campbell Wright had a clean shooting today and finished on 20th place? 

[Grassmarket 4,030]

1 hour ago, dcro said:

He better not be too good otherwise Slovenia will steal him away. 

 

But, really, there are two options for our biathletes. Either stay here and be mediocre at best, or try joining Slovenian training camps. If you are any good though, an ultimatum for nationality change will be coming up (as it was the case with Jakov Fak and Dijana Ravnikar).

Or wait for Oranje  to sign them up!  

[heywoodu 16,004]

15 hours ago, rybak said:

Anyone noticed that  Campbell Wright had a clean shooting today and finished on 20th place? 

Of course, he's part of the same 'team' Brazil is a part of, so we've been following him for a while  

 

He has always had impressive speed in the Junior Cup, so it was a matter of waiting for a really good shooting day...and that has arrived  

[RobtheAggie 340]

So my thoughts from the US participants in the first races:

For the Women:

43rd - Levins - she is #6 right now for the women.  She is 22 and this was her first IBU Cup race.  Not bad.

55th - Grossman - Hallie has been on the IBU Cup for a few years now.  She has had the odd WC start.  But this is about where I anticipated her.

71st - Phaneuf - Maddie started the first races in Finland this year and is currently the 5th biathlete for the US women.  

84th - Garso - Jaquelyn was in her first International race ever.  She acquitted herself pretty well.

116th - Stertz - Emma is another one who skied in her first ever IBU Cup event.  She does have quite a bit of Junior/Youth experience.

117 - Hochschartner - Lucy was in her first ever international race, missed 8 shots, but only finished  6:05 back.  

This was about what I anticipated.  I guess what I look for on Saturday is progression for all of the women.  I think that Levins, Grossman, and Phaneuf are on the relay.  I imagine the 4st spot is up for grabs.  I love that the USBA was willing to spend the money to take 6 women.  The US/Canada national this year has been mostly cancelled due to COVID.  Some of the states, ie Wisconsin and Washington have hosted local biathlon races, but those are not at the level needed for development.

 

For the Men

34th - Durtschi - Max did start one of the races in Finland and is a WC and IBU Cup veteran.  No surprise at all that he was best  US men's racer.  Good to see him shoot clean.

64th - Cervenka - Vaclav, 21,  lives in Minneapolis, his dad is a Czech immigrant and former biathlete and now coaches lots of the youth in Minnesota.  Vasha now lives in Nova Mesto to train.  This was his first IBU Cup level event.

72nd - Raleigh Goessling - Has been on the IBU Cup since the 18/19 season.  Right about where I thought he would end up, but he 9 hits is a nice surprise for him, he had only done that one before at the senior level.

93rd - Leopold - Lars was another in their first race on the IBU level.  He lives in Lillehammar, Norway to train.  Long time youth and junior international level skier.

107 - Bonacci - VIncent, 20, is from Montana. This was his first IBU Cup level event.  I think that 3 missis will be a little frustrating, but not a bad place to start.  He had only one IBU Junior level competition.

 

Just like the women, I imagine the relay is pretty set.  Durtschi, Goessling, with the other two spots up for grabs.  Cervenka looks to have the massive edge over the other two, but we will see.

 

I love that the USBA was willing to spend the money to take 5 men and 6 women.  The US/Canada national races this year has been mostly cancelled due to COVID.  Some of the states, ie Wisconsin and Washington have hosted local biathlon races, but those are not at the level needed for development.

 

Not a bad start.