RobtheAggie

I was pleasantly surprised by the US in the relays yesterday. Dunklee did well, and the Single mixed was up in the top 5 until the last shooting. Mixed shot really well. Not a bad day.

The US have in recent years had Dunklee, Egan, Nordgren and Doherty. With both on the same day they have added Brown and Reid to the mixed with Dunkler and Doherty on the single mixed. Dunklee is usually good in the relay, but her form is not good right now.

Susan Dunklee gets another really bad race. But Egan and Reid qualify for pursuit.

Michal Krčmář and Adam Václavík have both tested positive for COVID. The will miss the next two weeks races. Pretty good article about Laegreid. I am looking forward to the races today!

Start Lists are out: Women's - Most of the big names are spread from #16 Eckhoff to #80 Wierer and #81 Alimbekava. Men's - Schemp at #89, as already mentioned Samuelsson at #2. @dcro We will at least see Dombrovski start!

Ukraine Team: Male: Dmitry Pidruchny, Artem Prima, Ruslan Tkalenko, Taras Lesyuk, Artem Tishchenko. Women: Daria Blashko, Julia Dzhima, Elena Pidgrushnaya, Katerina Bekh, Vita Semerenko or Anastasia Merkushina. The choice between Vita Semerenko and Merkushina coach Juraj Sanitra will be decided later. The Russian Men's Biathlon coach, Valery Polkhovsky, has tested positive for COVID. Alexei Volkov, the woman's coach will handle both teams. Speaking of Russia, Alexander Bolshunov has been at the center of rumors that he might consider making the jump to biathlon. And finally, there if lots of snow, and Fog! (There always seems to be fog in Oberhof).

So the continuing saga in Russia: "Russian Biathlon Union (RBU) President Viktor Maigourov has claimed a lack of incentive for athletes was to blame for the withdrawal of 33 junior competitors after they pulled out of an event following the arrival of doping control officers. Maigourov cited a combination of the fact the Izhevsk Rifle All-Russian competition lost its status as a qualifier for the Junior World and European Championships, and a poorly scheduled event calendar, as the reason for the mass withdrawal."

So I was thinking about iconic places on each of the world cup/world championship venues. If I were to stand on the course (away from the range) these are the places I would love to stand at. 1. Ostersund - On top of the hill, where they do the U turn near about 400 m from the end. 2. Hochfilzen - I have two, the sharp right hand turn where the camera is, as well as near the top of the long hill. 3. Oberhof - I think either the really fast right hand turn, or the "S" curve near the straightaway to the finish. 4. Ruhpolding - Skiing in front of the half horseshoe stands right before the range. 5. Antholtz -The meadow 6. Nova Mesto - Under the tunnel and up the hill! 7. Kontiollahti - The Wall 8. Oslo - There are a few, but when they biathletes are in the tuck, with the ski jump on the left, going to the range, that is really cool. Others: Khanty-Mansiysk - I really think the bridge over the road that is in the stadium area is cool. Pokjuka - The twisty downhill - lots of speed Now, many of these spots would not be the best to see, they would be going to fast, but they just look really neat! Sorry for the random post, I am just waiting for the next round to start!

Some more is coming out about the mass withdrawal's in the Russian event. The timeline is clearer here. "In Tchaikovsky, after the women were summoned for doping control after the last sprint, all Khanty juniors withdrew. And the next day, in Izhevsk after the men were summoned for doping control, all Tyumen juniors withdrew."

I thought as much, and thought the results were a little skewed as well. Maybe they only counted their nations in the National Championship.

So, I am not to sure how to take this. Russia might actually be getting s little more serious about doping, or it might simply be a sample size of how widespread the problem is. It seems that 12 females from the Junior girls sprint, and 21 from the men's sprit at the Izhevsk Rifle All-Russian competition in December withdrew from the race when doping control officers from RUSADA showed up. Another article noted: "The biathletes from Khanty-Mansiysk and Tyumen had the largest representation in these lists. Attention to this interesting fact was drawn by the winner of the World Ski Championships Nikolai Pankratov, who linked these events with the four-year disqualification of 20-year-old biathlete Victoria Konovalova." The Estonian Championships getting some love as well.

Ouch! But I do wonder how strange it is for those who compete in races they are not used to doing. It would be interesting to see how first time mass-start biathletes have done in the race on the WC level. Maybe another project ... @Werloc thanks for the results.

That may be the case but winning anything can be good for the mindset.

I wonder where Andrejs Rastorgujevs, and Baiba Bendika were. It would have been nice to see him win something. But nice shooting by Strolia and Tomingas.

Slovenian National Championship results: Sprint results are here. Pursuit results are here. Planko gets 2nd in the Sprint, and 1st in the Pursuit for the men. Jakov Fak and Klemen Bauer did not race.

My issue is I can not read Cyrillic, so I had no idea who I was watching. The course looks to be an interesting one though.

It was very impressive. I think that with less recovery time between shooting stages as well. If Rupholding ever hosts a Super Sprint, we now know what the course will be. Just wondering, did Sweden even finish the pursuit? They were so far back.

World Team Challenge now up as well.

No they decided it this way:

I found the Men's Individual race - https://biathlonrus.com/news/translyatsiya-individualnaya-gonka-u-muzhchin-na-chr-v-izhevske/ Looks like Canada was there.

The World Champs now have their mascot - Jurček the Gnome.

Stina Nilsson has been named to the Swedish team for the first IBU Cup in Arber.

For those who still need a biathlon fix: Slovenian National Biathlon Championship (Series of domestic races) 12 December - Super Individual results - 26 Dec - Sprint 27 Dec - Pursuit 3 Jan - Mass Start Balkan Biathlon Cup/Serbian Open Biathlon Championship - These are in Sjenica, a city south of the country near the border with B&H, Montenegro and Kosovo. This will run from 24 Dec - 27 Dec Russian Biathlon Championship in Tchaikovsky 22-28 December Women's 15 km Dec 24, 09:30 Link is here Junior 12.5 km race Dec 24, 12:30 Relay 3x6 km Juniors Dec 26, 09:30 Women's 7.5K Sprint Dec 26, 12:00 Sprint 7.5 km Junior Dec 27, 09:30 Women's 7.5K Sprint Dec 27, 12:00

Russia, Austria and Ukraine are all good choices. But I am going to go with Slovenia or Switzerland.