RobtheAggie

Fun fact in retrospect, the Ukrainians had a great week. Until last season, Ekaterina Bekh, Anastasia Rasskazova and Oksana Moskalenko all switched from Russia to the Ukraine. That turned out pretty good for them.

So ... it appears that Russia arrived in Canmore without their rifles. I do not know the validity of the source, but the Russians blame the Americans for this. I am not sure how flying into Canada without rifles can be the US's fault. This might be part of the visa issues that the Russian team was having.

It is - 17 F right now, -27 C! I can not imagine that the training runs are very fun. That is cold.

I have not found the US Squad, but here is the Canadian one. Men Christian Gow (Calgary, AB) Scott Gow (Calgary, AB) Jules Burnotte (Sherbrooke, QC) Aidan Millar (Canmore, AB) Brendan Green (Hay River, NT) Women Rosanna Crawford (Canmore, AB) Sarah Beaudry (Prince George, BC) Emma Lunder (Vernon, BC) Megan Bankes (Calgary, AB) As an aside, Canadian Megan Tandy who competed in World Cups for 12 years has retired. The article is here. Some interesting reasons for her retirement, and I wish her ex-husband, Illmar Heinicke, a speedy recovery.

Not a great day for the US, 2 qualified in the YB for the pursuit, and only 1 for the for the YG. Finland had a great day as well. 13 different nations have won medals so far.

The link was in English, but I think it must have been Dzhima.

Looks like some of the biathlon will be streamed here.

Russian Biathlon Union and the Russian Anti-Doping Agency have sent an updated report to the IBU about their progress in the fight against organized doping in Biathlon. Ekaterina Glazyrina is scheduled to return from her ban on 10 Feb. Since Russia has said that they will not travel to Canada and the US, I wonder if she will start at the European Championships? Also, despite what was previously announced, Russia seems to be heading to Canmore and Soldier Hollow. Two articles found here and here seem to indicate that they are going. Ukriane has announced who will be going to Canmore and Soldier Hollow: Women Olena Pidhrushna Julia Jim Yulia Zhuravok Nadezhda Belkina Maria Kruchov Jan Bondar Men Dmitry Pidruchny Pryma Artem Sergey Semenov Artem Tishchenko Taras Lesyuk At the end of the starts in Canmore Yulia Zhuravok, Artem Pryma and Sergey Semenov will return to Europe to conduct training camps before the European championship.

Canmore and Soldier Hollow provide 4 races where individuals can get good points without some of the major players on the scene. I can see some of the "smaller nations" who look at their World Championship chances as slim, really putting a lot of effort into these two weeks. I had not thought about the European Championships as a place to secure government financing. Good point.

I wonder the longevity of Dahlmeier's career. She is an incredible talent, but can not seem to stay healthy.

Understood about the updates. Top 9 teams in the 3x6 race all avoided the penalty loop.

France still has not used a spare round. That is great shooting!

Shooting 5 France Norway Sweden Germany Italy Canada All 6 within 52:8 sec.

Exchange 2 France Canada +15.3 Germany +22.3 Italy +28.7 Bulgaria +34.6

After Shoot 4 France 0+0 Canada 0+4 +3.3 Germany 0+1 +10.2 Italy 0+3 +20.0 Sweden 0+3 +30.1 Still 9 teams within 1:01 sec.

After Shoot 3 Germany 0+0 France 0+0 Canada 0+3 Italy 0+2 Bulgaria 0+1 All are within 25 sec Top 10 are all within 1:00.

Ukraine had 3 penalty loops on the first leg of the race!

After 2nd shoot France 0+0 Sweden 0+0 Norway 0+2 Germany 0+0 Italy 0+1

This is why it is fun to pay attention to the results from Youth/Junior Worlds, but trying to figure out who is going to do what moving forward is next to impossible. I does make for good discussions though.

Junior Womens 3x6 coming up. 24 teams including Australia and Greece!

Last year, and to the middle of this season Belgium's two best male athletes were German and French. I wonder from a larger perspective the sheer numbers of people in the pipeline for Russia, Norway, Germany and France. Compare that with Austria, Lithuania, or even the USA.

Congrats to Italy. Final Russia Germany Italy Norway France Czech Republic Congrats to Australia who although they ended up in 22nd place, they shot 1+16 for the event.

Shoot #2 Kazakhstan 0+0 Finland 0+2 Germany 0+0 Russia 0+1 Belarus 0+)

After Shoot #1 for the 4x7.5 Kazakhstan - Roman Yermin is skiing for them on this leg Switzerland Finland Slovenia Russia

One quick story posted here about the race. The Slovenian skier, Alex Cisar, actually lost his pole on the last lap, managed to catch back up and pulled ahead in the last 50 m to get the Silver.