RobtheAggie

Swiss Team has been announced: Women: Irene Cadurisch Aita Gasparin Elisa Gasparin Selina Gasparin Lena Häcki Men: Jeremy Finello Niklas Hartweg Sebastian Stalder Eligius Tambornino Benjamin Weger Lena Haeki is the most frustrating biathlete in the WC tour I think. She could be so good ... Turning to Hartweg and Stalder is a good sign for the long run, Tamborino is 34, they are the bright future, but I wonder how big their learning curve will be.

Results from a few more trial races: Austria and Belarus from Obertilliach. Men's sprint: 1. Felix Leightner (0+0) 26:17.0 2. Simon Eder (0+0) +4.4 3. Anton Smolsky (0+1) +31.9 4. Nikita Lobastov (0+0) +39.1 5. Harald Lemmerer (1+1) +1:04.7 6. Julian Eberhard (2+0) +1:05.7 Women's short individual: 1. Dinara Alimbekava (0+0+0+1) 29:20 2. Lisa Hauser (0+0+1+0) +0:05 3. Hanna Sola (0+0+1+2) +0:26 4. Christine Reider (0+1+0+0) +0:55 5. Julia Schwaiger (1+0+1+0) +1:14 6. Dunja Zdouc (0+0+2+0) +1:30 And a short individual (10km women and 11.5 km for the men) in Finland where a missed shot was a 20 seconds penalty. Good to see Maddie Phaneuf shoot so well. I imagine the shooting times were pretty quick, as the 20 sec penalty was not even as much as a normal penalty loop. Pidhrushna was 36 seconds faster than the next closest on skis, she was really moving. Shooting conditions must have been pretty poor as the fewest misses was Pidruchniy and Nordgren with 3 each. I imagine the Ski Tunnel helped bring the teams that far North.

Bendika and Bricis, along with Kauken are insisting that their positive COVID test results were not a big deal. They argue that it is simply the flu. They will be retested in a day or so, so that both Bendika and Kauken can participate in FInland. Both will miss opening round, but are trying to be ready for week 1.

Wide ranging and good interview with Ricco Groß. The French Team: Women: Justine Braisaz Julia Simon Anaïs Chevalier Anaïs Bescond Chloé Chevalier Caroline Colombo Men: Émilien Jacquelin Quentin Fillon Maillet Antonin Guigonnat Simon Desthieux Fabien Claude Martin Perrillat Bottonet

US Team: Women: Clare Egan (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) Susan Dunklee (Barton, Vt.) Joanne Reid (Grand Junction, Colo.) - I think that they only get three starts this season after sort of a mess last year. Deedra Irwin (Pulaski, WI) Maddie Phaneuf (Old Forge, NY) Men: Sean Doherty (Center Conway, N.H.) Leif Nordgren (Hinesburg, Vt.) Paul Schommer (Appleton, WI) Jake Brown (St. Paul, MN) Max Durtschi (Ketchum, ID).

From the official Swedish Biathlon Federation website.

Belarus roster to Kontiolahti. Men: Anton Smolsky, Sergey Bocharnikov, Roman Eletnov, Maxim Vorobey, Nikita Lobastov, Dmitryi Lazovskij. Women: Irina Kryvko, Dinara Alimbekava, Hanna Sola, Elena and Irina Kruchinkina Czech Republic team:

The Alpen Cup is still scheduled to happen this season. If so, they could have a very strong first stop with no IBU Cup yet. Also with so few Junior races, the quality might increase. ALPENCUP COMPETITION FORE, DATES, COMPETITION TYPES OBERTILLIACH (AUT) 12/03/20 - 12/13/20 SINGLE | SPRINT SPRINT | SPRINT | SUPER SINGLE The OPA BAC in Obertilliach is offered to seniors and juniors. If the quotas (40 per nation) allow it, young people can also start. However, no youth classes are offered. Only OPA BAC Alpine countries are allowed to start. 2 FORNI AVOLTRI (ITA) 07.01.21 - 10.01.21 SINGLE | SPRINT 3 ARBER (GER) 01/28/21 - 01/31/21 SINGLE | SUPER SPRINT 4 POKLJUKA (SLO) 03/18/21 - 03/21/21 SPRINT | SUPER SINGLE

One thought, what if you made it mandatory to have a non European biathlete on team. It could be either from the Americas or Asia. It could add another wrinkle in the game. One more thing to manage. Not saying this is a good idea, just an idea.

Sweden's team: Hanna Öberg Mona Brorsson Linn Persson Johanna Skottheim Elvira Öberg Anna Magnusson Elisabeth Högberg Sebastian Samuelsson Jesper Nelin Martin Ponsiluoma Peppe Femling Malte Stefansson

I am not disagreeing that fact. But he took it to a new level. I like most people, but not him. Here is the link of his headbutt - https://youtu.be/KkrEoWUz1ow?t=212

Rafa Marquez ... I can not stand that guy. Was a dirty player when he played the US, then came to MLS and seemed to not even care at all. I do not even care too much for the MLS team he was on, I just could not stand the guy.

I also have reached an age where I can appreciate a great performance, even if I do not like the athlete. That helps. Now that I think about it, very few Americans cared that Lowell Bailey won the gold.

It would be like Norway in Cross Country skiing or biathlon. When Lowell Bailey who his gold, or Susan Dunklee won her two silvers I was so happy. If the JTB does not win a race in a weekend, everyone is surprised. With the US in track and swimming, a win becomes expected. I love the distance running more, there if a US runner wins, I am very excited.

The problem is the US is somewhere in the middle. They are a "big" nation, but still fighting for 80th spot sometimes. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the less heralded or newer nations. I love following the two Macedonian brothers, or the Danish biathlete that sometimes races. It makes me look at the entire start list and results list.

I will also be pulling for her. I love the Greenland flag.

I cheer for the Americans, the Swiss, the French and those from "smaller" biathlon nations. I lived in France and Switzerland. I actually just published a paper about the first of many woeful decades of Swiss biathlon. I do not have strong feelings against anyone, mostly because in the US the coverage we get, if any, is never the sultry details.

I agree, she was going to need to prove her ability with the rifle. In the sprint she looked ok, the short individual, not so much. I did wonder in the sprint if she was really trying not to ski too fast. I thought she would have been faster. I saw a stat where she and H. Oberg had the same ski time. I would not have anticipated that. For her sake, I hope that she is able to race, and that the domestic season works out. Her on the IBU Cup would give those races a little more sizzle.

Two races this weekend to get things going: Mass start in Sjusjoen - And a sprint in Vuokatti, Finalnd - Bulgaria, Finland, Ukraine, and USA. Glad to see all 6 US women in the top 12, and all within 50 seconds of each other. Mari Eder had a really fast ski time compared to the others as well. Same thing on the men's side, it was good to see the US team with the exception of Chervenko who is the youngest on the team all within about 2 seconds of each other. Not the greatest shooting as they all missed 2 except for Max Durtschi who went clean.

Russia has announced their team for the first series of races: Men: Aleksandr Loginov, Matvey Eliseev, Anton Babikov, Evgeniy Garanichev, Semen Suchilov, Eduard Latypov, and Petr Paschenko. Women: Larisa Kuklina, Svetlana Mironova, Yuliana Kaisheva, Evgeniya Pavlova, Irina Kazakevich, Tamara Voronina, Anastasia Goreeva. Ekaterina Yurlova-Percht announced she is taking the season off as she announced that she is expecting a baby. "Now all my concentration is on preserving health - own and future baby. I'm definitely not saying goodbye to biathlon."

Sweden has cancelled all domestic level biathlon events until 14 December at least. This means that two events: Jämtland Härjedalen Cup (Östersund) - December 5th and 6th, Swedish Cup (Bodens) - December 12th and 13th Are cancelled. This also means that Stina Nilsson might not get enough points to make the IBU Cup squad

Hold that, a COVID outbreak has happened at Canmore. No names were published as to who was infected.

The Canadian Team on its way to Europe. Finns might be limited to only competitions in Finland.

Not a real surprise. It should be interesting to see how they do having never seen the course in 2022. Just wondering where you saw this? I have not seen any official announement.

I also enjoyed "seeing" racers from Romania, Greece, Latvia and the UK on the start list. Greece was the most optimistic one to see. Maybe they are putting more resources into the sport now.