RobtheAggie

More interesting news out of Russia. It appears that the RBU elections that are planned for two days from now have seen some very strong influence over the "anticipated" winner of the election. It has gotten to a point, at least according to this article, that Perm has been suspended. It seems that Trans-Baikal Territory has also had issues.

I was skeptical as well. Here are a few more articles about it. Article #1 Article #2 Trying to piece together the translated Russian, it looks like the host federation did not order the bullets until too late and a biathlon race turned into a rollerski race with out much notice.

Russian youth biathlon competition happened without bullets.

Dinara Alimbekova and Anton Smolsky got married over the weekend.

"After several years of continuous training regime, I decided that I needed a break. I want to rest both physically and mentally, and there is no better time for such a holiday than the period after the Olympics," Hojnisz-Starega was quoted as saying by the Polish Biathlon Association on Sunday. "It absolutely doesn't mean retirement. I'm still thinking about starting at the Olympics in 2026," she added.

Baltic Biathlon Cup at Otepää Women's Sprint: 1. Tomingas, Tuuli 0-1 2. Kulm, Susan 2-2 (+15.54) 3. Zhurauskate, Lidija 3-0 (+55.39) Men's Sprint: 1. Zahkna, Rene 0-0 2. Strolia, Vytautas 0-2 (+23.02) 3. Fomin, Maksim 0-0 (+24.12) Women's Mass Start: 1. Tomingas, Tuuli 0-0-2-1 2. Klum, Susan 0-0-2-1 (+3.38) 3. Ermits, Regina 1-3-1-(+1.42) Men's Mass Start: 1. Rastorgujevs, Andrei 0-0-0-2 - His first race in 18 months due to his suspension. 2. Zahkna, Rene 0-0-1-1 (+10.29) 3. Rankel, Raido 1-1-1-0 (+28.09)

The Biathlon Congress Handbook (agenda) is available here. One thing that I noticed here is who was not at the meeting. The missing Federations were: Full Members Argentina Armenia Liechtenstein Chinese Taipei Uzbekistan Provisional Members Andorra Dominican Republic

There is already a candidate for the 2028 World Champs. Hochfilzen has announced their candidature. It is widely speculated that Le Grand Bonnard will also bid.

The Finnish Biathlon Federation has made a statement on Virolainen. From the President - " ACCORDING TO OUR FEDERATION, SHE IS NOT A FINNISH CITIZEN. THE ATHLETE DID NOT CONTACT OUR UNION. I KNOW SHE HAS BEEN LIVING IN FINLAND FOR A LONG TIME. ALL FINNISH CITIZENS CAN PARTICIPATE IN QUALIFYING COMPETITIONS. ANYONE CAN CONTACT US. THERE ARE STRICT SELECTION CRITERIA. LET’S RESPECT THE TRAINING PROCESS OF ATHLETES." Sorry for the all Caps, that is what the quote was in. This is kind of easy to see what they are doing here. There might be legs to this rumor.

From what the article said, she recently (2021?) had her 3rd child. She skied on the Russian Cup last winter, even before the Russian ban. She is 33 years old, has lived in Finland and participated in the Finnish Summer Biathlon Championships and finished 2nd in one race. Her Russian career was over, but it seems like she wants to extend her career.

Interesting article about how Biathlon seems to be getting the better youth skiers. Daria Virolainen might move to the Finnish Team.

I know. I wonder when both Belarus and Russia are able to compete in IBU races again, what number of slots will they have. Ukraine was able to retain their previous number. Will Russia and Belarus be able to do the same? It will be interesting to see how that side of things is resolved.

Two more women have announced they are pregnant. Both will miss the season, but return next year. Anna Sola and Irina Leshchenko of the Belarus team will miss the upcoming season.

Maybe true, but it is a whole lot more beautiful! Also, the US did pretty well. I was just wishing that they would not get dead last.

Irene Lardschneider of Italy has announced her retirement in the middle of summer training. She cited "medical reasons" as for the reason.

Schedule: 14h35 : mass-start de biathlon dames 15h25 : mass-start de biathlon hommes Women's start-list Marte Olsbu Roeiseland Anaïs Chevalier Dorothea Wierer Marketa Davidova Julia Simon Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold Chloé Chevalier Mari Eder Darya Blashko Deedra Irwin Federica Sanfilippo Susan Kuelm. Men's start-list: Quentin Fillon-Maillet Emilien Jacquelin Tero Seppälä Fabien Claude Antonin Guigonnat Vytautas Strolia Michal Krcmar Sean Doherty Sverre Dahlen Aspenes Eric Perrot Martin Uldal Karol Dombrovski

Well, now is the time to see if the younger ladies are ready.

Max Cobb is the new Secretary General of the IBU.

US actually got a medal! Maxime Germain with a bronze in the Junior Men Super Sprint Final.

Sad news out of Bulgaria. Yuri Mitev, a two time Olympian (1980 and 1984) who represented Bulgaria has died. He was also a fixture in the development of the Turkish team.

Now for the Mass Starts:

US Rollerski Biathlon Championships Sprint

The area they are trying to develop into a ski resort area is up in the Northwest of the country. If Lebanon can have a ski resort, so could Saudi Arabia. https://www.arabnews.com/node/1996866/saudi-arabia

Random news for the day that touches Biathlon. It appears that there is a very odd bidder for the 2029 Asian Winter Games. It is ... Saudia Arabia! The games would include biathlon, hence why I included it here.