Season Review 2022/23: Women!

The winner of the Overall Title this season is someone who was not among the top favourites at the start of the season. Julia Simon has always been capable of winning races but was not consistent enough to challenge for the Total Score. This season she sorted out her shooting issues and was brilliant on the range and super consisitent and that is what won her her first big crystal globe! She accumulated 1093 points to finish 182 points ahead of her nearest rival winning 4 races and getting 12 podium finishes. She became World Champion in the Pursuit and took bronze in the Mass Start and Mixed Relay.

Making a late charge to finish second in the overall was Dorothea Wierer with 911 points. She had a great end to the season finding her best form after Christmas. She won 3 and had another 3 podium finishes. She won gold and silver in the women’s Relay and Mixed Relay’s respectively at World Championships.

Third place on the total score went to a resurgent Lisa Vittozzi with 882 points. After a couple of tough season she has regained her confidence on the range and that translated into 1 win and 7 more podium finishes. She won the Individual score taking the crystal globe as well as the bronze medal in the World Championships Individual race. She also anchored the women’s relay team to gold in Oberhof as well as getting silver in the Mixed Relay and bronze in the Single Mixed Relay.

The blue bib was won by Elvira Oberg once again with 764 points. I’m sure she hoped for more this season but it wasn’t to be. She had illness to deal with and maybe too much expectation on her shoulders.

The Silver bib for the over 33’s was won for a second season by Denise Herrmann-Wick with 874 points and a 4th place finish in the total score.

In Oberhof at the World Championships Denise Herrmann-Wick won the Sprint gold, Julia Simon won the Pursuit, Hanna Oberg won the Individual and the Mass Start. The women’s relay gold went to Italy.

The relay score was won by France by 20 points ahead of Norway in second and Sweden in third. The nations cup also went to France with 8128 points.

We had a new winner this season and that was Anna Magnusson in the Sprint race in Annecy. New to the podium this season were Lou Jeanmonnot with a second place in the Ruhpolding Individual and the Oestersund Mass Start. Chloe Chevalier also made the podium for the first time in the Antholz Sprint finishing second.

The winner of the total score on the IBU Cup was Tilda Johansson. She finished just 2 points ahead of Gilonne Guigonnat in a very close battle that went right down to the final race. Paula Botet won the Sprint score, Marthe Krakstad Johansen won the Pursuit score, Lisa Spark came out on top in the Individual score, the Super Sprint went to Maren Kirkeeide and the Mass Start score to Gilonne Guigonnat. Norway came out ahead in the nations cup score.

For the Juniors it was Anna Andexer who won the Total Score. The Sprint and Pursuit scores went to Anaelle Bondoux and the Individual to Jeanne Richard. Germany won the nations cup score.

In para biathlon the overall titles went to Kendall Gretsch in sitting, Bohdana Konashuk in standing and Linn Kazmaier in VI.

We had more retirements this year with Vanessa Hinz hanging up her skis half way through the season. Federica Sanfilippo decided to change code to cross country after not being selected for the Italian team for Oberhof. At the end of the season Marte Olsbu Roeiseland, Tiril Eckhoff, Anais Chevalier-Bouchet and Denise Herrmann-Wick all ended their stellar careers. Fuyuko Tachizachi retired too and the Finnish duo of Nastassia Kinnunen and Mari Eder also decided to finish!

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Season Review 2021/22: Biathlete 23!

Well it hasn’t been a great year for biathlete23! No wins, no podiums and and the lowest points total in the history of biathlete23. 😭

For anyone unfamiliar with Biathlete23 (where have you been?!) this blog follows the results of whichever biathlete happens to be in bib23 for each race. It treats them like one athlete and adds up the score to see how this biathlete would have performed over the year.

So far in Biathlete23 ‘s career:
Year 1: 802 points
Year 2: 948 points
Year 3: 760 points
Year 4: 921 points
Year 5: 774 points Year 6: 730 points (3 fewer races) Year 7: 957 points

This year the overall points were 629. The women scored 310 points which would have put biathlete23 in 23rd (of course!) position in the total score between Chloe Chevalier and Paulina Fialkova. The men scored 319 points which would have put biathlete23 in 29th place on the total score between Michal Krcmar and Felix Leitner.

The season started in Oestersund and Mari Eder was the first biathlete of the season in bib23. She finished 31st in the individual. Grzgorz Guzik was 66th in the men’s individual. In the sprints Tuuli Tomingas was 37th and Vladimir Iliev 34th. That meant a total of 21 points.

Oestersund was up again for the first round proper of the World Cup. Philipp Nawrath was 38th in the sprint and Tuuli Tomingas was 21st. In the pursuits Milena Todorova did not start and Simon Desthieux was 27th so that made 37 points altogether.

Round two was in Hochfilzen. Jake Brown raced the sprint and was 49th but Denise Herrmann was 13th. Lukas Hofer was 14th in the pursuit and Ekaterina Avvakumova was 40th so that was another 56 points in the bag.

The spiritual home of biathlete23 Annecy was next but this year it wasn’t such a good hunting ground. There were no points in the sprint with Emma Lunder coming 56th and Klemen Bauer 90th! Uliana Nigmatullina was 26th in the pursuit and Felix Leitner was 22nd. In the mass starts Olena Bilosiuk was 30th and Lukas Hofer 24th. 50 points was added to the total.

Oberhof was next on the cards and Fabien Claude came 23rd in the sprint so he could also wear bib23 in the pursuit where he moved to 7th. On the women’s side Ekaterina Avvakumova was 58th in the sprint and Chloe Chevalier was 17th in the pursuit. Thanks to the French we left with 78 points.

In Ruhpolding Monika Hojnisz-Starega was 31st in the sprint but Sebastian Stalder was 109th! Julia Simon was 8th in the pursuit and Daniil Serokhvostov was 16th. Ruhpolding gave us 59 points.

Antholz was the last venue before the Olympics. Tsukasa Kobonoki was 33rd in the individual and Baiba Bendika was 21st. Michal Krcmar came 7th in the mass start and Valeriia Vasnetcova was 15th for a total of 90 points.

The Olympics in Beijing didn’t count toward the World Cup so there were no points to gain there. It was a shame as Dominik Windisch got the best result of the season finishing 5th in the mass start!

Kontiolahti was round 7 and Suvi Minkkinnen was 25th in the sprint while Simon Eder was 10th. In the pursuits Aita Gasparin was 22nd but Jakub Stvrtecky was 47th and out of the points. 66 points were earned in Finland.

A new round was next in Otepää and it was a decent one for bib23. Michal Krcmar was 22nd in the sprint and Jessica Jislova 16th. Well done Czechs! Martin Ponsiluoma was 26th in the mass start and Mari Eder 19th. That added 76 more points to the total.

Holmenkollen in Oslo was the final chance to score points. None were scored in the sprints though with Clare Egan finishing 49th and Pavel Magazeev not even starting the race. Fortunately in the pursuits Linn Persson was 15th and Simon Eder was 16th. In the mass starts Mari Eder was 22nd and Michal Krcmar was 14th. 96 points were added to the overall total.

There was one small glimmer of light in this dismal season and that was the victory of biathlete23 at the Youth World Championships in the individual thanks to Sara Andersson. Hopefully the future will be brighter and don’t forget most of next season will be in the year 2023! It’s a sign! 🤩

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WC4 Oberhof 2022: The Pursuits!

It was back to normal conditions in Oberhof with wind and snow! Making life difficult for everyone.

It didn’t seem that difficult to begin with for Alexander Loginov that is until he imploded at the final shoot. He was clean on the first prone and followed by Sturla Laegreid and Tarjei Boe. He was clean on the second prone too and was building a good lead.

At the first standing he had issues with his rifle and had to hand feed some rounds but he only missed one target. Jacquelin had moved up to second and Erik Lesser third. Quentin Fillon Maillet was also in the hunt now in fourth.

Jacquelin had a fall just after leaving the range and lost some time. He didn’t look so good on his skis today either but he was still in with a chance at the final shoot.

Loginov came in alone but missed three out of five with fast, inaccurate shots. This left the door wide open and Fillon Maillet, Sebastian Samuelsson, Sturla Laegreid and Tarjei Boe all stepped through it. Jacquelin had it slammed in his face with 3 misses.

Fillon Maillet had the lead and no one could catch him. He went on to take his third pursuit win in a row. Samuelsson was second and there was a big fight for third which Tarjei Boe won on the line from Laegreid and Loginov.

Roman Rees was 6th and Florent Claude took 9th for his personal best. The big mover of the day was Maxim Tsvetkov who went from 52nd to 12th with 19/20!

The women’s race was not so exciting at the front. Like Loginov, Marte Olsbu Roeiseland built herself a big lead but unlike him she didn’t blow it! It was a great performance by the yellow bib holder. She missed two targets but it didn’t matter as no one could get near her.

Hanna Sola didn’t start the race so it was down to Julia Simon and Dzinara Alimbekava to chase her down. At the first shoot it was Hanna Oberg and Mari Eder who took over as chasers with clean shooting.

By shoot two it was still Hanna Oberg but now with Kristina Reztsova who were trying to catch Roeiseland. At the first standing Reztsova missed 3 and Oberg hit them all to stay second. Alimbekava was now in third.

That’s the way it stayed to the end with Alimbekava finally getting a podium after a run of 4th place finishes.

Anais Chevalier-Bouchet was 4th, Julia Simon 5th and Lisa Hauser 6th. The biggest mover was Monika Hojnisz-Starega who went from 47th to 13th with 19/20.

Roeiseland keeps the yellow bib for Ruhpolding and Fillon Maillet takes over in yellow for the men.

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WC3 Annecy 2021: Women’s Sprint!

It was a beautiful day for biathlon in Annecy for the women’s sprint. The sun was out, the wind was light and the crowds were back! What more do you want?

Well 10/10 on the shooting range for a start! And that’s exectly what we got from our winner today. She followed up her win last week with another today. Marte Olsbu Roeiseland is on a roll right now. She is skiing well and shooting even better.

With her perfect shoot she finished 15 seconds ahead of second placed Anais Bescond. Cheered on by the home crowd she got her second podium this season. The perfect 10/10 and a great ski is a dream come true at your home race.

Third place went to Elvira Oberg. She missed two targets in the prone but is so fast on her skis just now that she only finished 16 second off the lead. The way she is skiing she could take more time in the range to make sure of all the targets and that would get her a first win. It’s coming.

Lisa Hauser was 4th with 10/10 on her birthday, Kristina Reztsova was 5th with 9/10 to get her personal best and Dzinara Alimbekeva was 6th also with 9/10.

Twenty women shot the perfect 10/10 today which is very impressive. Mari Eder wasn’t one of them but she did get her best result for a while in 9th with 9/10. Italy’s top two were very well matched today. Both Lisa Vittozzi and Dorothea Wierer missed two targets but finished within 0.2 of a second of each other!

This results puts Roeiseland further ahead in the overall and obviously leaves her in a great position for Saturdays’ pursuit.

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Nove Mesto 2020: The Sprints!

It was a very different Nove Mesto which greeted our biathletes for the Sprint races. There are no fans here due to corona virus so the stand are all lying empty. Some people have complained about it but they would complain more if they caught it, sneezed on their grandmother and killed her so we just have to get on with it.

One person who wasn’t complaining was Denise Herrmann. The silence in the stadium helped her hit 10/10 and with her fast skiing no one could beat her in the sprint. Anais Bescond also hit 10/10 to take second place. It was great shooting considering the windy conditions.

Third place went to home favourite and bib23 wearer Marketa Davidova with 9/10. It was a shame for her not having the huge Czech crowd there to cheer for her podium place.

Mari Eder was 4th with her best result for a while, Tiril Eckhoff was 5th despite 2 misses and Hanna Oeberg was 6th with 1 miss. Dorothea Wierer was 24th meaning her lead in the total score is getting smaller!

Elvira Oeberg got her personal best in 8th with 10/10 as did Regina Oja in 20th with 9/10. Fanqi Meng improved ger PB to 38th with 10/10 and Erika Jaenkae got a massive PB in 46th with 9/10.

In the men’s race it was speed that won the day with Johannes Boe hitting 10/10 and winning by nearly 23 seconds! Quentin Fillon Maillet was second also hitting 10/10 but wasn’t fast enough for the win. Third went to Tarjei Boe who also shot the perfect score to complete the Boe-dium!

Home boy Michal Krcmar was 4th and Jakov Fak 5th both with 10/10 and Martin Fourcade was 6th with 1 miss and two broken poles!

Tero Seppala got his personal best in 7th with 10/10. Sturla Laegreid made his World Cup debut for Norway, hit 10/10 and finished 13th! Fangming Cheng got his PB in 16th with 10/10 and another debutant 19-year-old Tommaso Giacomel of Italy hit 10/10 to finish 27th! Said Khalili got his best result so far in 44th despite 2 misses.

Special mention for Jakub Stvrtecky who fell, got caught in the nets at the side of the tracks and had to use the spare rifle but still hit 10/10!

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Pokljuka 2018: The Relays!

So it has finally begun! The new biathlon season got underway on Sunday with both the mixed relays – the single and well the double I suppose! Normal service was resumed with Norway and France winning, or was it?

The Single Mixed relay went to the Norwegian pair of Thelka Brun-Lie and Lars Birkeland. They finished ahead of the Austrian team Lisa Hauser and Simon Eder in second. Ukraine took third. Not too many surprises there but there was some exceptional shooting from Anastasiya Merkushyna and Artem Tyshchenko who only used 1 spare in the whole race.

Canada were leading the race at one point and so were France but the shooting let those teams down a little. Japan were 10th and usually do well in this race.

It was the Mixed Relay where we got a surprise. France won with a strong team of Bescond, Braisaz, Martin Fourcade and Desthieux. However second place went to Switzerland with fantastic performances from the birthday girl Elisa Gasparin, Lena Hacki, Benni Weger and Jeremy Finello.

Third went to Italy, with the usual suspects, Vittozzi, Wierer, Windisch and Hofer despite a penalty loop.

Finland also had a great race with Eder(formerly Laukkanen) and Makarainen putting them in the lead but the men, Seppala and Hiidensalo, couldn’t hold it and eventually finished 5th which is still a great result.

The biggest excitement of the day however was reserved for Timofey Lapshin’s moustache. It’s amazing! Curled up at the ends and everything!

Racing continues on Wednesday with the Individual and goes right through until Sunday with the Pursuits.

Apologies to my regular readers as the blog coverage is going to be patchy before Christmas. It seems I am so busy writing about biathlon for other people that I don’t have a lot of time to do it for myself. Hopefully normal service will be resumed after Christmas!

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