This season was one dominated by one woman – Tiril Eckhoff. It didn’t get off to the best start for her however finishing 67th in the Kontiolahti individual and 43rd in the sprint but after those poor results she never looked back. She took her first Overall Title with 13 wins out of 26. She made history by becoming the first biathlete to win 7 sprint races in a row. She also won 6 pursuits on her way to a points tally of 1152.
She came very close to winning the big crystal globe last season but just missed out to Wierer in the end. This season she was unstoppable and throroughly deserves the title.
Second place in the Total Score went to Marte Olsbu Roeiseland with 963 points. Franziska Preuss took third place with 840 points. For both women it was their best finish to date in the overall.
The indiviudal globe was shared this season between Lisa Hauser and Dorothea Wierer. After her stellar results obviously the sprint and pursuit globes also went in Eckhoff’s suitcase. The mass start globe went to Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold in the very last race.
For the first time this season we had the blue bib standings for the Under-25’s which was won by Dzinara Alimbekava with 734 points. Tandrevold was second with 707 points and Marketa Davidova third with 649 points.
There was also another unofficial bib called the silver bib for athletes who are 33-years-old and over. It was created by Susan Dunklee and Clare Egan and knitted by Dunklee herself! The winner was Anais Bescond with 442 points and 33 years! 😉
There were three maiden wins this season. They were for Lisa Hauser in the Antholz pursuit, Dzinara Alimbekava in the Hochfilzen sprint and Ingrid Tandrevold in the Oestersund Mass Start.
The World Championships saw Eckhoff take gold in the sprint and pursuit. Marketa Davidova won her first world title in the individual and Lisa Hauser did likewise in the mass start.
The relay globe went right down to the wire with Sweden clinching the title by winning the final race in Nove Mesto. They tied on points with Germany but thanks to their other win in Kontiolahti the title went to Sweden. Unlike last season when Norway dominated the relays the wins were spread around with Germany winning in Oberhof and Russia in Antholz. However Norway took the big win by taking the World title in Pokljuka as well as a victory in Hochfilzen.
The Mixed Relay globe went to Norway after they won the World Title and the final race in Nove Mesto. Russia won the only other mixed race in Oberhof.
The Overall winner on the IBU Cup was Vanessa Voigt. The sprint title went to Anastasia Shevchenko, the pursuit and individual to Voigt and the relay title to Russia.
At the Open European Championships in Duszniki Zdroj Monika Hojnisz-Starega won gold in the individual, Baiba Bendika took sprint gold and Kamila Zuk was victorious in the pursuit.
The Junior World title went to Camille Bened in the individual and Amy Baserga did the double in the sprint and pursuit. France were relay champions.
The Youth titles were won by Jeanne Richard in the individual while Lena Repinc won sprint and pursuit gold. France were again champions in the relay.
Follow biathlon23 on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
biathlon23 