RobtheAggie

Sad news, Anfisa Restova died.

US teams for on snow camp in Europe in November. Final teams will be announced after that. WOMEN Deedra Irwin (Pulaski, WI/National Guard Biathlon)* Kelsey Dickinson (Winthrop, WA/Craftsbury Green Racing Project)* Margie Freed (Apple Valley, MN/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) Jackie Garso (Lake Clear, NY/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) Cheresa Bouley (Zimmerman, MN/Minnesota Biathlon) Grace Castonguay (Jackson, NH/Ethan Allen Biathlon Club) Lina Farra (Heber City, UT/NYSEF) Michaela Keller-Miller (Plymouth, MN/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) Anna French (Plymouth, MN/Team Altius) Alternate: Lexie Madigan (Truckee, CA/Team Crosscut) MEN Sean Doherty (Center Conway, NH/National Guard Biathlon)* Campbell Wright (Wanaka, NZL/U.S. Biathlon)* Paul Schommer (Appleton, WI/Team Crosscut) Maxime Germain (Chamonix-Mont Blanc, FRA/National Guard Biathlon) Vincent Bonacci (Salt Lake City, UT/Team Crosscut) Bjorn Westervelt (Stowe, VT/University of Vermont) Vaclav Cervenka (Grand Rapids, MN/National Guard Biathlon) Jake Brown (Saint Paul, MN/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) Luke Brown (Saint Paul, MN/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) Alternate: Eli Nielsen (Stehekin, WA/National Guard Biathlon) *Pre-qualified for World Cup team

USBA had their Schutezenski Races in Soldier Hollow over the weekend. Deedra Irwin won both the Sprint and Mass Start, Paul Schommer and Campbell Wright split the men's races. I would anticipate a roster to be coming out soon.

Another article about Kuzmina. Strange news for sure.

25 year old Austrian IBU Cup level biathlete Lucas Pitzer has had to stop biathlon due to heath issues.

Interesting. They do seem to have a robust junior/youth series in France to make up for it. But if France says it is "too far and expensive" how are less wealthy nations going to pay for it? I think that it is more of the first thing.

Doll has announced that this will be his last season.

In case you care, you can now legally bet on Biathlon in the state of Arkansas! Along with a whole list of of other activities.

Ouch. Some harsh words from Ski Nordique.net "What sporting interest for these summer world championships? Year after year, the IBU promises us to develop its summer circuit, to do its utmost to attract the best to its world championships but, as often, the 2023 edition scheduled for this weekend in Slovakia will be a total flop. Obviously it is not a question of disrespecting all the biathletes present, who will fight for the medals, but one wonders above all in the name of what these events can lead to world titles? The Norwegians, the French, the Italians, the Russians, the Belarusians, the Swiss, the Austrians, the best Swedes and the best Germans are all absent, yes that's a lot to talk about a world championship. The events scheduled for Osrblie are just a sham and look just like a party between four or five Eastern European nations. If the IBU wants to organize real worlds, no doubt they would have to organize them elsewhere, in a place that attracts the best teams, and probably not every year. Moreover, the best biathletes are not mistaken and choose, to show themselves and test themselves, the City Biathlon, the Blink Festival and the Martin Fourcade Nordic Festival, then their national championships. So organize world championships to please five nations, why not, but it's time to rename them "Slavic Championships"... This strong propensity of the IBU to want to distribute medals at all costs, there are already more than enough in winter, is really not likely to enhance performance, quite the contrary." The IBU does not mandate nations to attend the winter World Champs, why should they mandate the summer ones? I think that larger question, and this is a hard one to deal with is how does the IBU manage the schedule for the summer events. The summer is primarily a training season. Unless an event fits into the training schedule, most teams will not attend. So either they need to alter their summer training, or they do not attend.

Daria Virolanen's move to Finland has been approved. She will be able to represent them this season.

Tero Seppala might be left off the Finnish team as he has refused to train with the National team coach, he wants to train with his personal trainer.

Lithuanian Summer Biathlon Cup Sprint: Men 10km: 1. Karolis Dombrovskis (0+2) 2. Jokūbas Mačkinė (0+0) +6.6 3. Maxim Fomin (1+1) +42.7 Women 7.5 km: 1. Natalija Kochergina (2+2) 2. Sara Urumova + 49.7 sec 3. Viktorija Augulytė + 4 min. 57.4 sec.

Latvian Summer Biathlon Championships: Dāmas 12,5km: 1. Annija Keita Sabule 2. Sanita Buliņa 3. Sandra Buliņa Vīri 15km: 1.Renārs Birkentāls 2. Edgars Mise 3. Aleksandrs Patrijuks

Taken from here - the Facebook page of Ruhpolding

City Biathlon Wiesbaden Men: Tarjei Boe Benedikt Doll Roman Rees Dmytro Pidruchnyi Sturla Holm Lægreid Martin Ponsiluoma Niklas Hartweg Fabien Claude Florent Claude Women: Dorothea Wierer Vanessa Voigt Hanna Oeberg Julia Simon Anna Weidel Yuliia Dzhima Anna Gandler Hanna Kebinger Aita Gasparin Course d’adieu Denise Herrmann-Wick Vanessa Hinz Marte Olsbu Roeiseland Karolin Horchler Maren Hammerschmidt Tiril Eckhoff Sunday 13 August 12h15 : course de qualification féminine 12h40 : course de qualification masculine 13h10 : course d’adieu 13h45 : défi par équipes juniors 14h30 : finale féminine (7×1,4 km, 6 tirs) 15h30 : finale masculine (7×1,4 km, 6 tirs) 16h30 : remise des prix It will be good to see Eckhoff one more time.

Two pieces of biathlon news related to Russia. Russia is blocking the transfer of Daria Virolainen to the Finnish team. She has a Finnish passport, but the 34 year old's transfer has been stymied by the RBU. The other one is that the Uzbekistan Biathlon team has requested from the IBU the ability to participate in the Summer Continental Cup hosted by the RBU and Belarus. This is interesting because the decision by the IBU could signal a softening to the hard stance they have taken on Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine.

One article said it allegedly happened during the Blink Festival.

And one more, Baiba Bendika is pregnant.

Just think, 20 years from now, a great young biathlete on tour!

Almost official ...

Blink schedule is out. August 2, Wednesday: BLINK Lysebotn Up, 7.5km uphill race, start in Lysefjorden 11:30: 1km and 2km girls and boys 12:15: 7.5km skating women senior, women junior 14:00: 7.5km double poling women and men senior 15:30: 7.5km skating men senior, men junior August 3, Thursday: BLINK Classics at Ålgård 18:45: Start BLINK Classics 20:45: Estimated finish BLINK Classics August 4, Friday: BLINK in Sandnes Sentrum 7:30 – 14:20: Cross-country skiing and biathlon: competitions for age groups and juniors 12:00-21:00: OBOS Kid Camp 14:30-15:15: Biathlon: Shooting elite 15:30-15:50: Cross-country skiing: Prologue women and men 15:55-16:50: Biathlon: Shooting duel women and men 17:10-18:25: Biathlon: Super sprint qualification elite women and men 18:25-18:55: Cross-country skiing: 10km mass start women 18:55-19:45: Biathlon: Super sprint final women and men 19:45-20: 25: Cross-country skiing: 15km mass start men 20:45: Prize-giving ceremony August 5, Saturday: BLINK in Sandnes Sentrum 7:40-14:20: Cross-country skiing and biathlon: competitions for age groups and juniors 12:00-21:00: OBOS Kid Camp 14:30-15:15: Biathlon: Shooting elite 15:20-15:40: Cross-country skiing: Prologue women and men 15:45-17:37: Biathlon: Quarter-finals start women and men 17:44-19:20: Cross-country skiing: Sprint quarter-finals and semifinals women and men 19:22-20:08: Biathlon: Semi-finals mass start women and men 20:10-20:23: Cross-country skiing: Finals sprint women and men 20:25-21:05: Biathlon: finals mass start women and men 21:25: Prize-giving ceremony

Johannes Tinges Boe got bit by a snake in his garden and had to go to the ER. For those who asked for more Estonia, the 2024 Summer Biathlon Championship has been awarded to Otepaa.

In happy news, Belarussian biathlon couple Dzinara Alimbekava and Anton Smolski are expecting their first child. So, even if Belarussian biathletes were able to compete in IBU events this upcoming season she would not be there. By the way, Alimbekava now goes by Smolskaya.

Some sad news, the presumed body of Eyvind Sporaland was discovered by a hiker near Lillehammer.

Often during the training season we get some strange stories. This is one of those. It appears that Erika Jänkä, a member of the Finnish women's biathlon team, was out for a training run, and a bear charged her. She played dead and the bear eventually left.