RobtheAggie

I think they could. At least on the IBU Cup level, they are doing very well. It looks like they are currently sitting in 26th, but almost 500 points behind Romania. Congrats to Martin Jaeger . His last win was in Ridnaun in the Super Sprint in the 19/20 season. The US shot decent, with both Paul Schommmer and Raleigh Gossling making the pursuit tomorrow. 6 different nations in the top 6.

US puts 2 in the Pursuit. Not too bad. Loved that a Moldavian biathlete went clean, but finished up in the last 20 of the race. That is some serious concentration on the range, after skiing for a long time.

Nilsson had done pretty well on the first lap with only one penalty. Maybe she can hold on, but Bendika looks to be in a good place for the win.

Looks like Latvia might take their 2nd race in a row. Congrats.

Irwin continues to really struggle on the stand. In her races this year (2021), from most recent to earliest this is her standing shooting OEC - Sprint - Missed 3 - 40% OEC - Individual - Missed 3 - 70% Anthotz - Relay - Missed 6 (3 penalty loops) - 25% Antholtz - Individual - Missed 3 - 70% Oberhof - Relay - Missed 1 - 80% Oberhof - Sprint - Missed 3 - 40% Oberhof - Sprint - Missed 3 - 40%

Canada will now wait until the end of the OEC then pull the IBU Cup athletes home. Norway has closed its borders to all international travel. If this continues, the last IBC WC event is in trouble. On a positive note - "The organizers of the Pokljuka Biathlon World Cup said on Wednesday they were working on having at least some spectators present at the competition despite the epidemic. They would like to invite immunized health workers to Pokljuka to have at least a few people cheer for the athletes and to show appreciation for their Covid-19 efforts."

I do not think that any of us are surprised.

Lots more clarification on Olga Podchufarova. "Slovenian coach Vladimir Korolkevich told why Podchufarova was refused. In his opinion, the athlete was considered unworthy to enter the national team, although he himself finds this reason untenable. 'The issue was coordinated at the government level, as I wanted to get a strong athlete for the home world championship. The request for citizenship received a negative response. The official reason was the discrepancy between the level of wages and the minimum standard of Slovenia. But I think this is not the main reason. There are more significant points. Apparently, they thought that she was an athlete of the wrong level, although I believe that with such a leader, the women's national team of Slovenia could progress and grow,' Korolkevich told News.ru." She is going to return to Russian and try to make that team. Some consider her a traitor, but the RBU head, and Russian National team coach both said that she was welcome to try and make the team. Canada pulled all of their IBU Cup athletes home. There is lots of speculation that a travel ban to Canada will be forthcoming. No word if the WC athletes are going to be pulled home as well.

Rastorgujevs might win! Only 1 miss.

Odds and ends: 1. Olga Podchufarova who transferred to Slovenia from Russia, has now returned to Russia. She spent 18 months trying to get her Slovenian Citizenship, which she was never able to obtain. "As you know, I spent the last 18 months in Slovenia waiting an official permission to compete for the new country. But it turned out in such a way that I am now coming back home to Russia," she wrote. "Neither of the two sides expected this outcome. Without delving too much into details, the EU internal laws do not allow me to complete the citizenship procedure, which means that prospects to compete for the national team of this country zeroed out. All this story was a big challenge for me, I saw an experiment in this, my development and future growth. Of course, these developments dealt a blow below the waist for me and the Slovenian sporting federation because the initial prospects were totally different." 2. Loginov not out of the woods yet in Italy. 3. Lisa Vittozzi and Covid.

What a strange race. Lots of the more well known racers, those with WC experience, did not shoot well at all, but congrats to and . I only count 4 who shot clean, out of 118 who finished the race, interesting enough 6 missed 9 shots. So more missed the most number of shots, than missed the fewest. I went back to look at the 2020 OEC, all the races are archived on Eurovision. So the fact that there is not a stream for the Individuals and Sprints is a downgrade.

If I remember correctly, he is training in Norway. Also the 1960 Olympics were in Squaw Valley, CA, home of the first Olympic Biathlon. Lots of snow out there. Edit - He skies with Asker Ski Club in Asker, Norway - https://www.facebook.com/AskerSkiklubb.offisiell/ There is another American who trained/trains in Europe - Vasek Cervenka (Grand Rapids, Minn.) He is a dual Czech/US citizen, his father was a Czechslovak biathlete back in the day.

Looks like something here - https://www.eurovisionsports.tv/ibu/

Start Lists are out for the OEC Individual Men - 147 - 39 nations represented Women - 121 - 33 nations represented There are quite a few biathletes in both races that have WC experience.

US team is announced: U.S. Biathlon Open European Championships Team: MEN: Paul Schommer (Appleton, Wis.) - World Cup Max Durtschi (Ketchum, Idaho) Raleigh Goessling (Duluth, Minn.) Vasek Cervenka (Grand Rapids, Minn.) Lars Hammerness Leopold (Truckee, Calif.) Vincent Bonacci (Salt Lake City, Utah) WOMEN: Deedra Irwin (Pulaski, Wis.) - World Cup Maddie Phaneuf (Old Forge, N.Y.) Hallie Grossman (Craftsbury, Vt.) Chloe Levins (Rutland, Vt.) Kelsey Dickinson (Winthrop, Wash.) Lucy Hochschartner (Lake Placid, N.Y.) Looks like they brought Schommer and Irwin to get few more races. They were the weak legs in the relay last week.

Thanks, not student, professor. That makes it even stranger

A few random things, plus info on the Open European Championship and the World Championship: 1. The Czech Republic squad for the OEC, which might include Michal Krčmář and Vítězslav Hornig. Men: Tomáš Krupčík, Milan Žemlička, Mikuláš Karlík and Jonáš Mareček. Women: Tereza Jandová, Natálie Jurčová, Eliška Teplá, Anna Tkadlecová, Tereza Vinklárková and Tereza Voborníková. 2. The International Biathlon Union (IBU) will make a final decision this week on whether or not to allow Russian athletes to use national symbols at this year's world championship. 3. French Teams for the World Championship, no real surprises at all: Men: Quentin Fillon Maillet, Emilien Jacquelin, Fabien Claude, Simon Desthieux and Antonin Guigonnat. Women: Julia Simon, Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet, Anaïs Bescond, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Chloé Chevalier. 4. Removed, link no longer worked. 5. Interesting little article about Yu Shumei. 6. If anyone wants to read an article about the first decade or so of Swiss Biathlon, here it is. Here is the summary, they were really bad.

Irwin with an epic meltdown for the US. They were going so well. With Egan on the anchor leg, a top 10 was a real strong possibility, possible top 5. Now a top 15 would be a challenge. She lost 1:48 on that shoot.

Very sad for the US. Egan did not do well, and the really went well for the first two legs, but Paul Schommer had trouble and they ended up getting lapped.

No surprise, but Norway won the Single Mixed Relay with no penalty loops and 10 spares. They were to only team to do that. Of the 29 teams that started, only 15 made it to the finish. Northern Macedonia did not make it past the 2nd shoot. France was up in 3rd, 20ish seconds behind until the 6th shoot when they lost 40 seconds, and ended up in 4th. The biggest surprise to me was Ukraine. The normally very reliable shooting team went 6+15, but they still managed to finish in 7th, only 2:13 behind. In the most bizarre stat of the race, Russia had the fastest total course time, but only the 14th fastest range time. Finland on the other had, was the 14th fastest on the course, or next to last of the teams that finished, but was the 5th fastest in the range. Mixed Relay in about 90 min.

I think the short individual actually has more reliance on the shooting than the individual does. I love the way that there seems to be at least one person that you would not have guessed on the podium. Also, that Lowell Bailey won the Individual, it has a special place in my heart.

Mihail Usov of Moldova in 3rd place at 8.4km!!! I do not think that he will be able to stay ahead of Nawrath, but what a great result for him!

Thanks for confirming to me that I was not just hearing things.

Did anyone else notice a different sound with the shooting? There was a higher pitch sound as they shot. Or at least I thought so. People often say that the last shot in the individual is the hardest. I wonder if that one, or the relay, or mass start or pursuit is missed the most.

Quick question for those who have been to Arbor. Does the finish end with a slight uphill? It looked that way on the highlights.