Werloc

Yeah, I think athletes from bigger nations are more successful in these stressful shooting conditions, because they mostly only have to think about disappointing themselves and not the pressure of disappointing an entire nation and future funding of the sport. The amount of times that Kaukėnas and other Lithuanians have dropped the ball in shooting 4, I can no longer count.

Simon ruined the same amount of relays if not more than Braisaz, so really, they just need to accept the fact that they're a team of absolute wildcards.

I don't know... I know they won the first one this year, but Chevalier-Bouchet is a bit more reliable on the range and pretty quick.

I had this thought, do Norwegian biathletes that are regulars on the World Cup ever retire without getting a single win or a podium? So I did some research Lars Helge Birkeland has announced his retirement this year and he hasn't even been on the podium ever. Don't know if she was much of a regular, but Thekla Brun-Lie retired in 2019/20 season without getting on the podium either. 2017/18 season Hilde Fenne and Kaia Woen Nicolaisen retired with 8th place as their best result Elise Ringen in 2015/16 season with best placement as 10th Rune Brattsveen in 2013/14, had a relay gold from World Championships, but PB is 5th And that's all I got from 2010/11 to 2020/21 So if you acually get on the Norwegian team, it's pretty likely that you'll be able to podium and even win. Some of the recent Norwegian retirements included: Solemdal, Tora and Lars Berger, Flatland, Os, Svendsen, Bjoerndalen, Andresen, Fanny Horn Birkeland, L'Abee Lund.

This is probably going to be the worst prediction contest for me ever Although I love Samuelsson, I could've really used the points from JTB getting second

Camera men sabotaged both Natalija and Gabrielė. Nothing more to say...

@OlympicsFan arguing with you has no absolute point, because you only nitpick one thing from the whole message and then try to drive your point into the ground.

Athletes like Hettich are getting a chance because the depth of the German team is absolutely gone. Right now you have a neverending stream of average athletes. Hettich is nr. 3 German this season, Hammerschmidt is struggling to regain her old form, Hinz was really underperforming the entire season and young talent is at such a bad spot that Hildebrand might fight her way back into the World Cup team. I'd say the men's side is still salvagable at the moment, compared to the huge hole that the Germans need to climb out of on the women's side.

Braunhofer, Bionaz, Giacomel, Trabucchi, Lardschneider, Carrara are going to be wrecking kids soon. They are all so young and fresh, Italy's development is looking extremely good for the near future. I think they're only losing to Norway right now in regards to development of capable junior athletes.

Totally, and the fact is, Italy is looking like an absolute super team in 2-3 years, so unless you're Norway, it's pretty ideal to invest into your talent a bit more. You have 6 spots, save at least 1 for development.

Julia could have actually been a Dahlmeier probably, she absolutely destroyed the juniors if I remember correctly. Kummer, Horchlers as well.

I think it could have something to do with the fact that athletes are stuck in IBU cup until they're 24-26ish. Most recent talented German biathletes got their chances to run in the World Cup team when they were a lot younger - Dahlmeier, Preuss. Norway is one of the hardest teams to get into, but even their athletes come into the World Cup a bit more younger and fresh.

I think Germany this year really undervalued Nawrath and didn't give him a World Cup chance after a pretty stellar season last year.

Did you know that Germany actually participated in today's sprint? Could've fooled me

Lovely 0 points in the prediction contest today

We should just ban Oslo for destroying our fun every year

Yup, Holmenkollen is gone, but it seems that they'll try to look for a last second replacement for the world cup ending.

SERIOUSLY What is up with IBU story on Instagram saying that there won't be Holmenkollen this year??? Are we actually going to cancel the final stage of the World Cup for the second year in a row? Let's go end the season in Poland.

Jokes aside, that type of travel might actually affect the quality of athletes for the end of the season, when they're already tired. Sure, there will be some athletes that absolutely nope out of that, but there are some countries that won't have that choice since they need to keep up on their nation cup points.

But imagine... The biathlon season actually ending in America.

Yup, the amount of fans this season is absolutely overwhelming.

Do you want to explain why this man has the entire yearly budget of the Lithuanian biathlon team in his hands?

I was surprised that Nove Mesto became a cult classic after being gone from the calendar for so long. Even pushing out Ostersund in one year and Kontiolahti in the other.

We can go to Nemenčinė in Lithuania, there are a lot of people speaking Russian there, but we can't promise that we'll have 30 functional shooting lanes and snow.

I literally have 0 excuses to not start saving money for a trip to Otepaa in 2025