RobtheAggie

Julien Eberhard is out of Hochfilzen and Le Grand-Bornard due to a rib injury suffered during a fall in Oestersund. He is replaced by Lucas Pitzer. Jesper Nelin is also out, replaced by Emil Nykvist. Nelin has a cold.

Races start this week in Martel, Italy. Friday 10 December 10h30 : Men's Individual 14h00 : Women's Individual Sunday 12 December 10h30 : Men's relay 14h00 : Women's relay

Apparently the Italians are not the only team on the women's side with lots of challenges between their top starts. It appears that Hannah Sola and Dzinara Alimbekava are not on good terms at all. Sola was married this summer with Alimbekava the only member of the team not invited. It appears that COVID had a role in this as well. Alimbekava was seriously dating Russian biathlete Stretslov, but COVID prevented the two from seeing each other. Alimbekava started training with the Belarus men's team and grew close to Anton Smolski, who was married to a former Junior Biathlete. He eventually left his former wife to be with Alimbekava. Sola is a former teammate and friend of the now former wife of Smolski.

Valentina and Vita Semerenko will spend the next two weekends on the IBU Cup and not go to Hochfilzen and Annecy.

No Gelsenkirchen Stadium event this December.

Johannes Dale is sent back to the IBU Cup with Filip Fjeld Andersen taking his place. Also Stina Nilsson is back on the World Cup with Johanna Skottheim demoted to the IBU Cup.

The US men have closed the gap on Austria for the 10th Nations Cup spot. It looks like this may be a battle all year. That 10th spot is so important as it provides a 5th starting spot. The Women currently sit in 15th. Considering that Susan Dunklee has done very little so far this season, it is possible that they could also challenge for the 10th spot.

US men did pretty well. They had to penalty loops and still managed to finish in 12th place. Not too bad. The women's Pursuit was a lot of fun to watch!

Babikov wins the Men's sprint by less than a second over Anderson. Bogetveit in 3rd place. Fomin of Lithuania went clean and finished in 13th place while Max Durtschi of the US finished in 14th. Garanichev shot clear but finished over a min back in 11th. 9 shot clear. Mexican Raul Antonio Figueroa missed 6 shots and finished 18:57 behind.

US had a good day, too bad that Joanna Reid missed 4 while in the stand and on the broadcast. Deedra Irwin got her first World Cup points. There will be 5 US biathletes in mass starts. Not too shabby.

Womens race a little more diverse in nationalities. Zingerle takes the win by .8 over Petrenkko of Ukraine. Stina Nilsson missed 8 shots and was 1:08 behind.

Men's Super Sprint - Norwegian Andersen, relegated from the World Cup won by 2.2 over Bjoentegaard. 7 of the 30 in the final were Norwegian. The US had two as Cervenka finished 9th and Durtschi 26th. Top 8 were all Norwegian and German with Strelow in 3rd.

Russia Team making a switch for week 2 - Vasily Tomshin and Alexander Povarnitsyn join the WC team in Sweden while Matvey Eliseev and Evgeny Garanichev go to Norway for the IBU Cup.

Ouch.

Major overactions of the weekend - 1. Eckhoff is the worst biathlete ever, will she ever learn to shoot well? 2. The French are trash and will never win a race this year. 3. Canada is going to dominate! 4. Sweden will win every race outside of the races the Canadians win. Except for Stina Nillson, she should go do Nordic Combined. Did I sum it up the overactions?

So lessons learned from the almost first week of the IBU CUP. Germany and Norway have strong teams again. But for seemingly different reasons. Norway has such a strong team that top biathletes on other national teams would be on the WC, but Norway is so good they are on the IBU Cup. If this continues, could we see someone like the Andersen brothers leave for another national team because of the backlog of talent at the top? I am not saying them, but as an example. Germany seems strong because they appear to have lots of biathletes who are around the same level, but a step below the elite one, if that makes any sense.

So good to see results on the IBU Datacenter, not sure if I like the new app yet, but it is still really early. Good to see China back on the world stage. One perfect shooting this morning and it was a Lativian, Inese Golubeva. Congrats to starting out the season that way. Nice showing by Megan Banks of Canada. 10th place. US did ok, not sure why Chole Levens did not start, but Kelsey Dickinson missed one, and finished in 35th. Hallie Grossman really struggled on the range with 7 misses.

This may need another thread, but anyone want to do a low key fantasy biathlon game. Let me explain. For those who read Biatholn23 it would be something like he/she does. Each of us would choose a number 10-30 at the beginning of the season. Each race, you get the number of IBU points that that bib number earned. It would change each race, so it would give you something a little extra to pay attention to. Anyone up for this?

Swiss Team: Women Roster - Selina Gasparin, Elisa Gasparin, Aita Gasparin, Lena Haecki, Amy Baserga. - Selina will most likely retire at the end of the season. Men's Roster: Benjamin Weger, Sebastian Stalder, Jeremy Finello, Niklas Hartweg, Joscha Burkhalter

Obertilliach Spring Pre-Season Race today: Women's: 1. Dzinara Alimbekava 22:43,9 (1+0) 2. Hanna Sola +20,7 (1+1) 3. Irina Leschenko +53,3 (0+1) 4. Milena Todorova +1:00,7 (0+2) 5. Julia Schwaiger +1:07,6 (1+0) 7. Clare Egan +1;20,7 (0+1) 9. Susan Dunklee +1:26,4 (1+0) 14. Karin Innerhofer +1:59,6 (0+3) 17. Dunya Zdouc +2:26,9 (0+2) Men's

France has announced that they will not send biathletes to the Junior events in Martell and Hochfilzen. They will compete domestically, and will join the International stage at the European Youth Championships.

Sweden team: Peppe Femling Oskar Brandt Malte Stefansson Jesper Nelin Martin Ponsiluoma Sebastian Samuelsson Women's list: Hanna Öberg Elvira Öberg Linn Persson Stina Nilsson Mona Brorsson Anna Magnusson Johanna Skottheim (only second week)

Norwegian Team for WC Women : Tiril Kampenhaug Eckhoff, Fossum IF Emilie Ågheim Kalkenberg, Skonseng UL Karoline Offigstad Knotten, Vingrom IL Ida Lien, Simostranda IL Marte Olsbu Røiseland, Froland IL Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, Fossum IF Men: Filip Fjeld Andersen Geilo IL Sivert Guttorm Bakken, Vingrom IL Johannes Thingnes Bø, Markane IL Tarjei Bø, Markane IL Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen, Geilo IL Johannes Dale, Fat Ski Club Sturla Holm Lægreid, Club de ski de Bærums If Alexader Andersen makes the team, you could have two sets of brothers at the same time, on the same team.

IBU Cup -Norwegian Team - This is such a strong IBU Cup team Women Juni Arnekleiv, Dombås IL Karoline Erdal, Førde IL Ragnhild Femsteinevik, Hålandsdal IL Eline Grue, Kvikne IL Randi Sollid Nordvang, Vingelen IL Åsne Skrede, Geilo IL Men Aleksander Fjeld Andersen, Geilo IL Sverre Dahlen Aspenes, Skatval Skilag Erlend Øvereng Bjøntegaard, IL Bevern Håvard Gutubø Bogetveit, Førde IL Johan-Olav Smørdal Botn, Stårheim IL Endre Strømsheim, Bærums Skiklubb